B.C. LUMBER WORKER Page 9 June 21, 1951 Replying on behalf of the Union to Brother Abrams’ letter which appears here, I should like to remind Brother Abrams that while I must agree that the last two Conventions did Jay down a demand for the Union Shop, never- theless the present “maintenance of membership” clause was accepted by the majority of the members in Dis- trict No. 1 by secret ballot. In regard to the Jetter being sent jut by the employers which was to have the reference to the act deldted, I have checked, and some of the Lo- cal Unions already received their copies and we will check to see why your Local Union has not received Tetters. I think it would have been better had you written to the District Office requesting why your Local had not received copies of the revised letter. In regard to your 30 years’ Union membership, I want to congratulate you for your length of service as a union member. I hope that by the type of remarks you are now making in your letter, that it is not your in- tention to destroy all the good you have done in the past 30 years. The facts arc, and you know the facts, that for Union officials, in the 'A, salaries are set by convention ction and by the by-laws, These can only be changed by a referendum ballot of the membership which has been conducted in every occasion in this regard. It is my recollection that you have been a dele- gate to a majority of the Conventions of the IWA and in so doing, you de- bated and helped formulate the present policy of salary payments. _ You state that we are paid for statutory holidays, I would like to point out to you, in case you have forgotten, that the salary of the Dis- trict officers is monthly. It would be impossible to compute it on any other basis. Because of the overtime work which is necessary in a good many instances and which does not carry with it, time and one-half provisions, it is compensated by a straight monthly salary, The Editor: Union Shop or security has long been an issue in this organization of ours. The last two Conventions de- manded this, big banners across the hall demanded Union Shop. Before the Jast agreement was final- ized a recommendation was sent by Local 1-357 that arrangements be made whereby a Union official with a Company official contact these Jong outstanding non-members and find out why. Also it was understood that the Jast paragraph on the letter handed to new employees was to be deleted, (This refers to Jabor act.) But to my knowl- edge this is still in the letter. Why? I was assured only recently by a Dis- trict officer that something had been THIS STARTED IT ¥ done. But nothing has. Why? Being a union member for some 30 years it has always been my conten- |tion that a Union Official should have no more than the men he is represent- ing. But think . . . they have paid statutory holidays; they have Union shop; they have health insurance. Have we??? They get every raise the industry get plus the above. Will they get us something they already have? Two plants in this area have hired D.P.’s. These men refuse to join the jUnion. One official replied, when lasked if they had to join, “No”. Plant action is a good thing when backed by the Union Officials, Let's have some action. JIMMY ABRAMS, 1-357. If that is what you are trying to point out in your letter then I must agree you are correct in that we do have paid statutory holidays. I would also like to point out that if no statu- tory holidays occurred in a month, it would not change the compliment, compunction or amount of the pay we receive. You state that as officials we have Union Shop. I do not understand what you are trying to arrive at by this statement. We are nominated and elected every two years, the only se- curity being that by satisfying the ma- jority of members who elect us they may again vote in our favor. Should anyone fail to satisfy the membership majority, he will surely be defeated, regardless of what service he has given in the past or the length of time em- ployed in the Union. I would appre- ciate a further enlightenment from you on this matter of the Union Shop. You further state we have been helped by insurance, Long before your present District officers were elected to these positions, a contract was signed between the Medical Services Association and the Travellers Insur- ance to provide proper coverage at that time for Union officials. To get this coverage, the employee must pay half the costs. This is health insur- ance to some degree, I must agree with you, but I think if you will make a study of health insurance, you will find that it provides far more than the rudiments that our plans now cover. Your Jast remark is that we get every raise the industry gets. You are aware that the by-laws contain this provision and it is ill-becoming for anyone with your Union experience to show such gross negligence in keep- ing informed of the requirements of the by-laws. You ask, “will they get us some- thing they already have?” I wonder whether, if you were elected, Brother Abrams, to office, if the Union cut down on some condition, would you be very happy and would you not be the first to cry ‘discrimination’. TI cannot understand the latter part of your letter re D.P.’s; whether it _ ABRAMS CRITICAL; MITCHELL REPLIES was a company official or a Union official who stated that they did not have to join the Union. In conclusion, your Editor has al- ways maintained that plant action is a good thing when backed ‘by sound thinking and not mischievous letters to tear down your representatives when striving to gain the very condi- tions which you enumerate in your letter. GEO. H. MITCHELL, Managing Editor, B.C, Lumber Worker. CIO REJECTS WAGE BRIBES —Bribes in the form of wage in- creases are being offered or- ganized labor to help throw wage and price controls out of the window. So James B. Carey, CIO. secretary-treasurer, charged before the Senate Banking Com- mittee. Challenged, he cited the offer of Westinghouse to his In- ternational Electrical Workers of a nine-cent increase if the union would help try pressure OPS into lifting price ceilings on electrical products. SCAB LABOR PROTECTED —The “worst blow so far” to the labor movement was the way leaders in building trades unions described the 6-3 rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in three re- lated cases. Various building trades unions had walked out in support of the IBEM and Car- penters who refused to work |further for contractors who en- gaged sub-contractors using non- union help. The court ruled these were violations of the Taft-Hart- ley Act. U.B.C. Prof. Backs Strikes Legislation dealing with labor relations enacted in Can- ada is more hostile to trade unionism than were the Do- minion Waretime Labor Regu- lations. This opinion is expressed by Professor Stuart Jamieson, of the University of British Columbia, in a recent article appearing in the “Cana- dian Journal of Economics and Political Science”. The outstanding features -of re- cent legislation, both in the United States and Canada, he notes, are the numerous restric- tions on labor’s standard weapon —the strike, usually by compul- sory delay and conciliation. He thinks the principle of com-~- pulsory mediation or conciliation of disputes is itself open to ques- tion in terms of the objectives which it seeks to achieve. : - Voluntary agreements means a meeting of minds over terms on which all issues and questions are to be settled. If this has not been reached by negotiation, a strike may develop, but Professor Jamieson goes on to say that “strikes, like obsolescence and risk, are perhaps a necessary price to pay for the benefits of a dynamie economy in which change is the essence.” Another notable comment is that the road to stability in in- dustrial relations seems to lie in the direction of greater rather than less union security, Such security depends, in the long run, on recognition of the proper status of the union, which involves recognition on the part of management, government and the public that its power and authority over the workers, and the importance of its role in in- dustry and the community are at least equal to (though not iden- tical with) those of management. The article reflects a thorough understanding of the subjects discussed, and makes a definite contribution to Canadian litera- ture in this field. : 326 West WA ao WEAR A HAND-TAILORED SUIT. & BRAEMAR Cordova St. WORKMANSHIP, STYLE AND FIT GUARANTEED Price $GO-50 Up We Carry High Grade Woollene For Wen and Ladies Braemar Custom Tailors \ Vancouver, B.C.