10

B.C. LUMBER WORKER ;

GEORGE MITCHELL

“THE HONEYMOON ©

IS OVER

NOW”

Warning the delegates to the Annual Convention of

the B.C. Federation of Labor that

“the honeymoon is

over”, Host-President George Mitchell, Vancouver Lab

Council, opened the two-day session, January 10-11, ith
a rousing appeal for vigorous and united action to resist
the employers’ concerted effort to depress wages and
increase profits under the pretext of a threatening reces-

sion. He said in part:

“I want to say that we find|
ourselves this year in, perhaps,
what we might term a political
deadlock where, for reasons best
known to those who supported
various political parties, we. find
ourselves with hardly a working
majority for any party in the
house so far as our provincial
legislation is concerned.

This left the federation’s Ex-
ecutive, who have the responsi-
bility of carrying forward our
Political aspirations and our de-
sires for changes to the various
acts and orders affecting us on a
provincial level — they found
themselves ‘betwixt and between’
mowing hardly what to do, who
to approach and who not to ap-
proach because the determination
of who has the balance of power
is not yet resolved.

This has made the Federation’s
job a terrifically hard one, plac-
ing a responsibility upon the of-
ficers—which no one ever thought
would exist.

That problem has faced us
almost since our last Convention
here.

Propaganda Barrage

Then we haye also been faced

again with a barrage of both
political and economic propa-
ganda emanating from Domin-
ion as well as Provincial
sources, impregnating the
minds of the workers and the
public generally, that another
dark cloud—darker than that
of the ’30s and the depression
which most of you are -old
enough to remember—is now
again to descend upon us.

Yet, while they are predicting
falling profits (yes, almost pre-
dicting disaster during.the com-
ing year), their financial state-
ments show that they have only
dropped a few million dollars.

And yet they have curtailed;
they have curtailed to an extent
on their production’ and other
things to assure a profit, so that
many of our brothers and sisters
are not enjoying the good things
of life that they should enjoy
unde? an economic system, which

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than greed.

Inform Membership
I say it is the responsibility of
the delegates in this convention
—not alone the delegates in this
convention — but it is especially
the responsibility of the delegates
in this convention to see that
those whom they represent be-
come fully aware during this
coming year oftheir responsi-
bility.

I am afraid that unless we face
the future with the determination
that we are not going to be driven
back; that we are not going to
permit large profits to be taken
while people stand in line for
public aid and assistance, that
we are not prepared to fight any
government regardless of what
government it may be to get
proper provisions for these peo-
ple so they can keep a decent
standard of living, then I am
afraid at the end of this year
that just as large a profit is go-
ing to be made by these corpora-
tions. We will be faced with the
yesponsibility of keeping our fel-
low workers while these exces-
sive profits remain with those
who own and control industry, I
think that we have failed to do
that in past years.

Follow Through

I want to say to you that too
many of us sit here during these
deliberations, and contribute
soundly to every aspect of this
convention only to walk out that
door with a closed mind and our
‘good intentions locked up within
ourselves to go no further.

There’s no set of officers in

this Federation; there’s no set
of officers in the Labor Council
or a local union who can do this
tremendous task which faces
the trade union movement to-
day, without the help of every
working man who is a member
of the organization and those
citizens who support organized
labor generally.

At this convention we have
even a more serious task ahead
of us because as they say: ‘the
honeymoon is over’, — we are
down to hard cold facts and
realities of life.

-The lush years are through ac-
cording to the employers, We are
going to have to fight for every-
thing we get. They are going to
fight us on the economic as well
as the political front. What we
may gain on the economic front,
if we don’t watch it, will be lost
on the political front in this com-
ing year.

Political Action Inevitable

It’s all very well to have people
Lsay in the trade union movement:
“We don’t need to enter into poli-
ties.’ Oh, yes, we do, Maybe we
don’t have to support any politi-
cal party in particular, but we do
have to watch the political deci-
sions of our government and see

that these political actions are re-
lated to the needs and desires of
the people generally, not the
wishes of a few.

I urge you when you go back
to your union and spread among
your membership and among
your friends the program of this
federation laid down in the best
interests of not only the working
people but of the citizens, regard-
less of who they may be.

I am not prepared to accept
that this is going to be a dark
year. It’s only going to be a
dark year if we let it be one.
We can make the sun shine if
we are prepared to give the
hours of labor, the hours of
toil, the hours of sweat—yes,
and in some cases even despair;
if we are prepared to accept
our responsibility in all those
things, I know that this year
we can bring happiness and
prosperity to those people that
we represent and those that we
love.

Health Services

Just another word on the world
political situation in which the
federation plays a great role be-
cause through the Canadian Con-
gress of Labor, we do have influ-
ence. In fact, I don’t know whe-
ther you read the papers the
other night or not, but Solicitor-
General Campney (and I don’t
think he talks without authority)
said, ‘Yes, we are preparing a
National Health Plan.’

I know how some of you fel-
lows’ hearts ached here during
the past few weeks when you
went out and tried to get signa-
tures on those petition lists. I
know how you feel—I tried it.

I know how you felt when the
average working Joe said to you,
‘What’s it all about?’ He wasn’t
opposed to signing the petition—
he didn’t know what it was about;
and yet the government knows
that organized labor knows what
it is about. Our signatures alone
are not enough,

We must not, during the com-
ing year, be discouraged by the
number of petition signatures
wanted.

The Costly Alternative

We must go on and continue to
try to get those signatures. After
our signature campaign is finish-
ed, we must go on and keep tell-
ing people, and keep telling them
what our responsibility to each
other as decent Christian people
should be—that it is our responsi-
bility to look after Joe Blaw
when his family can’t take care
of themselves by paying the doc-
tor bills. When they stay away
from doctors and beconie sick,
the first thing we know we have
a heavy responsibility, whereas,
if it were taken care of in the
first instance, it wouldn’t have
resulted in a useless individual
for the balance of his life with
rheumatic fever, axthritis, or all
those crippling diseases which,
in early treatment, the person has
more than a 50-50 chance of
complete recovery and who can
become a useful person to the
community and to his country.

So, we have to go out regard-
less of these setbacks that we
get, and though we think
sometimes that our labors have
failed, they have not ‘failed —
they have only been retarded
temporarily, and we should step
forward day by day determined
that these things which are
good, honest, and just, shall be
driven through despite opposi-
tion from any source which

may arise.”

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income tax deduction.

———————

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Labor’s

Face Neglect

By J. STEWART ALSBURY
District President, IWA.

CERTAIN points of significance with regard to the recent

January 15,

Needs

Annual Convention of the B.C. Federation of Labor
should not be overlooked by CCL unionists. Matters of
policy at the provincial Ievel were so formulated as to have

an important bearing on our

Those who attended as dele-
gates will agree with me that it
was a successful convention. The
assembly gave evidence of a
clarity. and unity of purpose
within the framework of demo-
eratic discussion which mapped
out important progress for the
future. The decisions of the con-
vention, when implemented, will
benefit the workers of the prov-
ince in a substantial degree.

Backward Step

I found myself in agreement
with the decision of the majority
to press for a reversal of govern-
ment policy with regard to the
Labor Relations Board. The plan
of appointing part-time repre-
sentatives to the Board is a step
backward and not forward.

Trade union officers who were
concerned with conciliation pro-
ceedings last year found that
even with a full-time Board the
delays caused by an accumulation
of work were intolerable. It is
impossible to believe that this
work can be accompanied with
greater rapidity by a part-time
Board. It’s like sending a boy to
do a man’s job, at a time when
the job is growing in volume and
importance.

Delays Intolerable
As under the Act, unions must

follow the procedures laid down:

in the Act, it is imperative that
the business of the Board should
be transacted without delay.
Needless delays always aggravate
the tense atmosphere, which
usually surrounds a dispute in
which strike action appears in-
evitable.

If mediation appears to be de-
sirable in a developing strike
situation, such mediation should
be conducted by an agency re-
garded by both parties as impar-
tial, and capable of dealing with
the situation as promptly, and as
thoroughly, as the occasion may
demand.

It is difficult to foresee how a
part-time Board can act in such
capacity with efficiency. When a
union is nearing a strike dead-
line, even a few hours’ delay in
summoning the Board, may easily
prove to be a lost opportunity for
mediation, not to mention the
time required to brief the mem-
bers.

The decision of the Government
carries with it the uncomfortable
implications that industrial rela-
tions are not considered import-
ant, or that a longer “cooling-
off” period is sought.

If such conclusions are correct,
I can only say that the Goyern-
ment has disregarded the grow-
ing importance of labor relations
in a province which is forging to

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absolute fair dealing.

High Level

The delegates attending the
convention should be compliment-
ed on the high level of debate.
When the verbatim record is
made available, it will prove a
mine of information on trade
union objectives.

A most helpful feature of the
convention were the speeches of
the visiting fratérnal delegates,
'Charlie Millard and Marty Levin-
son. The outline of the functions
assigned to the Federation by the
Congress, as stated by Charlie
Millard, gave us new targets in
our work.

The appeal made by Marty
Levinson on behalf of the ICFTU
| expanded our horizons, and drove
home the importance of our
duties on the international field.

The decisions made by the Con-
vention with regard to our legis-
lative program were clear-cut,
and revealed a fresh determina-
tion to obtain a better deal from
the Legislature than has been
made possible in former years.

The “rated capacity” of the
Convention (a term coined by
Charlie Millard) was high, and
marked a significant advance in
trade union prestige in this proy-
ince,

1-71 Delegates

Local 1-71, IWA, delegates
elected to attend the 16th Annual
District Convention, February 17-
20, in Vancouver are:

Frank Howard, Fred Fieber, J.
MacFarlan, 0. Mattila, Harry
Greene, H. Beamer, Chris Soady,
0. R. Olson, J. B. Ray, William
King, M. J. O'Gorman, William
Wilson.

The B.C.
LUMBER WORKER

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