10

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

2nd Issue, March

LABOR NEWS...

AROUND THE WORLD

VANCOUVER
INSTRUCTOR
SELECTED

IWA Associate Director of
Education and Research, Joe
Miyazawa was recently selected
as one of the leading instructors
at the 5th CCL Institute in Ed-
monton, Alberta. :

More than 150 students were
in attendance during the sessions
which were held in the MacTavish
College, Es +

Zdmonton, March 1
making the Institute the most suc-
cessful in the history of the Al-
berta Federation of Labour.

The subject assigned to the B.C.
official was that of “Trends in Col-
Jective Bargaining.”

FAMILY ~
DESERTIONS
INCREASE

TORONTO (CPA)—A study
of the increasing number of
men deserting their families
has been ordered by Ontario
Welfare Minister Goodfellow.
Desertions in the Toronto area
alone this year are approach-
ing the 700 mark.

One of the objects of the study
will be to determine the effects
of higher unemployment on the
number of desertions, There was
an increase of 66 in the number
of Toronto desertion cases for the

first 10 months of 1954 compared |-

with the same period in 1953.
Ontario CCF Leader Donald C.
MacDonald and labor spokesmen
have charged that employable un-
employed workers, whose unem-
ployment benefits have expired,
have been deserting their wives
and families in order to make

How Much?

WASHINGTON (CPA) —
How much is a trade union
membership worth? The U.S.
Court of Appeals couldn’t assess
the value to the last dollar but
decided it was worth more than
$3,000.

The deliberation on the value of
union membership arose in an Ap-
peals Court order that a District
Court handle the case of a mem-
ber being ousted from his union.
District Courts do not handle
cases involving less than $3,000.

Monetary Loss

A ruling by the Appeals Court
noted that “the monetary loss from
such (union) expulsion is readily
translated into an amount exceed-
ing $3,000". The case arose from
the expulsion, on the grounds of
communism, of toolmaker Al.
Friedman of St. Louis, Mo. from
the Tool and Die Makers Lodge
688, International Association of
Machinists (AFL).

Judge C. Fady of the Appeals
Court handed down the judgment
that should Friedman's wage scale
of about $137 a week be halved
“by his explusion from the union,
as from his testimony seems pro-
bable, his loss would soon exceed
$3,000".

$59 Annual Wage

NEW DELHI (CPA) —
The average income of In-
dians in the years 1953-54 was
$59.62, Finance Minister C.
D. Deshmukh told the lower
House of the Indian Parlia-
ment here recently.

At currént prices, the per
capita income for the years
1951-52, 1952-53 and 1953-54
was $57.65, $56.16 and $59.62
respectively, he announced.
In terms of 1948-49 prices the
per capita income was $52.09,

them eligible for relief payments. |

$54.02 and $55.97.

COURSES
ARRANGED

BRUSSELS (CPA)—The In-
national Confederation of Free
‘Trade Unions has jannounced
that two courses at the ICFTU
International Training Centre
near Brussels will be held be-
tween SeptembersDecember
1955 and January-March, 1956,
The courses are aimed at train-
ing people for service in the trade
union movement with some knowl-
edge of international affairs, The
programs will include the history,
structure and practice of trade
unionism, international relations
and economic and social questions.

Candidates for the courses will
b@considered by the ICFTU and
nominating organizations are ex-
pected to finance the students.
Costs for the three-month stay are
about $300. The ICFTU is con-
sidering the possibility of provid-
ing a limited number of scholar-
ships. Closing date for applica-
tions is May 1, 1955.

NOVEL PLACE
FOR CUPID

OTTAWA (CPA) — During
the discussion in the Commons
this week on a proposal to in-
clude the political affiliation of
candidates on the ballot papers
in federal elections a Liberal
member made a novel suggestion
for depicting the Social Credit
Party,

James Byrne (Liberal Kootenay
East) said that the President of
the Social Credit Association de-
clared that Socreds were not a
political party “but something that
came from the heart”. Mr. Byrne
asked: “What are they going to

do, draw a picture of cupid on the
ballot?” :

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BY L. A.

ese

FRANKIE WIELKIE, seven year old crippled boy from Port Alberni, under

going treatment at the Queen Alexandra Solarium, has been adopted by
the Chemainus Ladies Auxiliary Sub-Local of Local 1-80, IWA.

Sophy Wins High
Educational Post

In almost every country of the free world today, women play an im-
portant role in the trade union movement, not only in the ranks but also

in leading exec positions.
It is our intention to feature in

a series of articles, women selected

at random from the files of the ICFTU, whose militant spirit has won for

them a name in labour history.

Sophy Metaxa-Economou

Orphaned at the age of five, a
lonely child of ten when the last
war broke out, and frequently un-
employed in the economic turmoil
which afflicted Greece at the end
of the conflict, Sophy Metaxa-
Economou had known all the bit-
terness and difficulties which can
face a working woman, when her
search for employment, in June
1951, brought her to the doors of
the General Confederation of
Greek Labor (GSEE).

Her qualifications asa typist in
Greek and English won her a job,
and her job provided her with
more than just a weekly wage—it
gave her a new purpose in life.

Economic Emancipation

Women in Greece in the years

"And what, Madam, are your
views on progressive schooling?"

You'll always get a good deal ot
the HUB in Men’s Clothes and
Furnishings. Buy for cash or use
the HUB’S FREE CREDIT PLAN
at absolutely no extra charge of
any kind.

45 EAST HASTINGS

after the war combined the fight
for daily bread with that for social
and economic emancipation. Cast-
ing aside their position of inferior-
ity in the community, they began
in 1948 to take an active part in
the trade’ unions, their energy and
enthusiasm quickly winning the re-
spect and support of the whole
Greek trade union movement,

In November 1951, the GSEE
opened an extensive trade union
library, and they entrusted its
management to a woman, to the
young Sophy Metaxa-Economou,
who had begun to devote herself
to the twin causes of feminine
emancipation and the strengthen-
ing of the trade union movement.

In November 1953, a few months
after the GSEE had elected the
first women to its General Souncil,
it founded a School of Free Trade
Union Studies at which a number
of woman unionists participate.
Miss Metaxa-Economou, who has
been a student of the school, helps
its director on matters of especial
interest.to women. She is algo a
member of the GSEE’s Commis-
sion for Organization of the
Women’s Congress, which gives
particular attention to matters con-
cerning women workers.

BENEFITS
INCREASE

OTTAWA (CPA)—Regular
and supplementary unemploy-
ment insurance benefits cost
more than $26 million during
January, The Dominion Bureau
of Statistics reports, Payments
were made in respect of nearly
8% million benefit days during
the month.

Ordinary. and supplementary
benefit claimants on the live un-
employment register at the end of
January numbered 543,366, up from
431,770 in December and 494,831
a year ago. .

During January a total of $26,-
149,803 was paid in compensation
for 8,219,567 days in comparison
with $19,428,206 and 6,190,206 days
in December and $23,947,213 and

7,563,198 days in January last year,