Page 6 ae 2 ‘An Appreciation WITH the open-handed hospitality characteristic of Brit- ish Columbia, the IWA, in company with other CCL unions in the province, has extended a warm welcome to the delegates attending the Eleventh Annual Convention of the Canadian Congress of Labor this week. The Convention Committees of the Greater Vancouver | and Lower Mainland Labor Council, on which the IWA | was represented, earned well-deserved praise from the Congress President in his keynote address. With the gen- eros support of all CCL trade unionists the committees | labored zealously during recent months to perfect conven- | tion arrangements and cater to the comfort and enjoy- | ment of the attending delegates and their wives. | The result has been that the atmosphere surrounding | the convertion inspired a happy inter-mingling of trade | unionists from all sections of the Dominion which has knit | them together in a closer fraternity. | Of mutual advantage to the Congress and the IWA| has been that IWA Local Unions have been enabled to | send their full quota of delégates to a convention held on | the Pacific Coast. - | The importance of IWA affiliation with the Congress at | national, provincial, and municipal levels has been more} clearly demonstrated to the membership. Their fresh ap- praisal of Congress policies and objectives reveals the manner in which the welfare of the workers on a national scale is served. It reveals that Congress achieves for its | affiliated unions the opportunity to protect economic gains secured at the bargaining table. : kkk ywa delegates attending this convention will have little trouble answering the question put to them by the men on the job: “What did this convention do for us?” The list of practical achievements is an impressive one. The well-organized deliberations of 700 trade union delegates is an important achievement in itself. It is im- portant that trade unionists from all sections of Canada | should annually exchange views and establish common policies. This creates the unity on a. national scale which is essential that trade unionists may, more effectively influ- ence national policies touching on their welfare. The Congress, as the convention reports revealed, has | spear-headed the drive for price control. Price increases | mean wage cuts, and are therefore as much a concern of | the workers as wage gains during the annual negotiations. | Only through a unified national organization can Canadian workers gain the ear of Government, on such questions. Congress has acted on this question with an aggres- siveness that has matched the urgency of the workers’ plight. It has focussed public opinion on the failure of the Federal Government to curb rising prices and profits. As | pointed out by the President in his opening address, only | one further step remains for organized labor. Labor must | elect its own representatives in the Provincial Legislatures | and the House of Confmons, and secure governments | which will place public welfare before the profits of privi- | leged interests. ; | kk * PROGRESS has been made by Congress in its campaign | to impress upon Provincial and Federal Governments the necessity for uniform labor legislation across Canada, with basic minima in such matters as wages, hours of work, compensation, etc. Time and again Congress has exposed the stupidity of maintaining ten separate and dif- ferent sets of labor laws. Certain industries which have now assumed national characteristics compelling the workers to bargain with head offices in Eastern Canada must observe ten varying sets of rules. While one or two provinces in Eastern Canada lag behind in standards of wages, working conditions and labor legislation, competing industries in British Columbia will find ready excuse to deny advances to workers in this province. kkk ATIONAL policies which lead to peace or war deeply concern the organized workers. In the event of war, it is the workers who endure the “blood, sweat and tears”. The voice of the organized workers should be heard more frequently as it was heard at this week’s convention, plead- ing for the abolition of poverty the world over as the only satisfactory basis for an enduring peace. The free trade unions have seen more clearly, perhaps, than other sections of the community, that world-wide economic planning is the responsibility of democracy, if democracy is to avoid catastrophe. When the’peoples of the backward nations realize that world cooperation is the possible alternative to dictatorship and war as a means to security, war can then be outlawed. : Any worker privileged to observe the proceedings of the Canadian Congress of Labour, and contrast them with gatherings of so-called business leaders, would find reason for pride. Labor has a shrewder grasp of realities, a pro- founder knowledge of the virtues of democracy than the economic overlords. Labor is proving its worth to assume greater responsibility in the management of the nation’s (Buc. LUMBER WORKE = ' Swedish Labor 96% Organized Judging from the following de- scription of the Swedish labor movement, taken from Trans- | Atlantic, Canadian organized labor still has a long way to go. What follows is an excerpt from a | speech by Elmer Beck, former editor of Kenosha Labor and now connected with ECA. The Swedish labor movement is big. It is big in a double sense. In the first place, it is big in terms of actual trade union membership.. The Swedes don’t and 97 percent. The actual number of workers belonging to unions affiliated with the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions is more than 1,250,000. ‘There is a separate confederation of white collar unions—the Central Organization of Salaried Employees — which includes some 265,000 super- visory, technical, professional and governmental employees — half of all the white collar field. Nurses, school teachers, police- RACE HATE COSTS USS. $30 BILLION OTTAWA (CPA)—Racial and religious discrimination in indus- try costs the United States close to $80 billion a year, according to Elmo Roper, noted American public opinion analyst, quoted by “Labor Reports”, New York. In addition to the loss of pur- chasing power brought about by low wages and limited job oppor- tunities, Mr. Roper cites the wasteful expense of maintaining segregated schools, housing, hos- pitals and other public facilities. He also points to the high cost of crime, delinquency, sickness and social maladjustment which can be traced to prejudice and discrimination. Other high costs of prejudice, Mr. Roper states, are borne by industry where increased operat- ing costs, quick turnover, wildcat strikes and stoppages are at times a result of open conflict be- tween workers of varying back- grounds, races and _ religions. “When the rank-and-file is divid- ed and wrangling constantly in a maze of personality clashes, the state of disagreeableness perme- ates almost every phase of work,” he noted. ‘‘Tensions affairs.~ mount. Morale sags. Productivity will probably fall off.” |men — even non-commissioned | ducts courses for a half million |officers in the Army—are or- ganized in the ‘Salaried Em- | ployees’ organization. So there |are more than one and a half | million union members in Sweden |—out of a total population of | seven million, Way of Life But when the Swedes talk about their labor movement they |mean a great deal more than trade unions. The unions are jclaim that all manual workers | only part of the labor movement jare organized. They are careful |—the economic part of it. |to say that the percentage or| is also a political part, and a cul- | organization is only between 96| ipl part. In fact, the Swedish There |labor movement is almost a way | of life in itself. The political part of the labor | movement is the Social Demo- cratic Labor Party—the party and the trade union movement were formed some 60 years ago |and grew up together. Today a | majority of the members of the | Riksdag are Social Democrats, | and the party forms the govern- | ment. | Education Fostered | The cultural arm of the labor movement includes the Workers’ Education Association which con- LECKIE LOGGER UNION MADE IN B.C. young workers. These courses are taught ‘in several peoples’ high schools, in local study circles and by correspondence. ~ There is the Consumers Co- operation movement, started about the same time as the trade union movement which today in- cludes one out of every three Swedes, which operates some 8,000 stores, and which owns and operates the biggest light bulb factory in Scandinavia, and fac- tories for rubber goods and pot tery and flour mills, SAN FRANCISCO — TAILORS — LOAN MONEY ON Suits, Overcoats, ete. 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