B,C. LUMBER WORKER ge aad Ast Issue, June WS DIGEST Items of Interest To Labor In Capsule Form QFIU Officers Elected JOLIETTE, P.Q. — R. J. Lamoureux and Romeo Mathieu were president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the Quebee Federation of Industrial Unions (CIO-CCL) annual conyen- tion here. The 60,000-member QFIU recommended the formation of a single labor body in Quebec with an amalgamation of the CCL, ‘TLC and CCCL unions in the province forming a 300,000-member _ organization, : ; Increased UIC Asked OTTAWA — Labor representatives appearing before the Com- mons’ Industrial Relations Committee called for a retention of the present 51-week maximum benefit period for the payment of un- employment insurance. Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act being studied by the committee include a proposal to reduce the __ maximum benefit period to 30 weeks. The CCL, TLC and the CBRE also asked for an increase in the maximum benefit payable over the proposed $30 weekly. a AIFL Backs CCF i CALGARY — The 12,000-member Alberta Industrial Federation ___ of Labor (CCL) announced that it would throw its support behind the CCF in the June 29 provincial general election. Labour in Kenya oS By JIM BURY (Hast Africn representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) The next time you reach for that second lump of sugar for your coffee just pause for a moment to think of where it was produced. It may be from Kenya, East Africa. Recently I had an opportunity to visit the sugar plantation at Manyani, an hour’s drive fuom Kisumu on Lake Victoria. Take a look at your atlas and you will see Kisumu just about sitting on the line of the Equator. All-Asian Concern The Manyani plantation is an all-Asian concern, purchased from an Australian company Seven years ago. The Asians run the plantation with the help of only four Europeans —and, of course, some 2,000 Africans who keep the wheels turning. It produces 50 tons of sugar a day. Our party, consisting of Tom Mboya, General Secretary of the Kenya Federation of Re- gistered Trade Unions, Arthur Ochwada, Building Workers’ Union, and the writer were met by the company’s Labor Welfare Officer, an Indian. First we saw a housing project of the round type of dwelling common to Africa. New homes Special Rates for Loggers at the Tew Wilton Hotel 50 WEST CORDOVA STREET VANCOUVER, B,C. New! 150 ROOMS, ENTIRELY REDECORATED AND 2 ALL WITH HOT AND COLD WATER. New! Loggers’ Postal Redirection Service 24 Hour-o-day clerk will redirect your ¥ Make the New Hilton Hotel your regulor mailing address, and get ALL your mail PROMPTLY. New! owner-MANAGEMENT. New! sparkuin corree suor. BOYS! IT’S OPEN NOW! AND THERE’S A BIG WELCOME WAITING FOR YOU. Publication dete of the next issue of the B.C. LUMBER WORKER ‘| is June 18th. Deadline for ad copy is June 16th and for news copy BCLe pestiWornen Reprerenting the Organized Loggers aad Mill Workers of B.C. PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST AND THIRD TRURSDALS BE International Woodworkers of America (CIO-CCL! Ble District Coun Nort > <> WILLSON “Secfertocoh” HAT New, Comfortable Sweatband GIRL DECALS FREE! WITH EVERY “SUPERTOUGH” HAT | Your Commissary Can Get Them | Ppt mum it Ask For 5 TOT he Hat With The Girl On Top! : ’ SAFETY SUPPLY COMPANY A Vancouver, B.C. - were being built for the Mzee (village elders). The walls of the houses are made of murran, or red earth, blocks laid on top of one another and cemented with a jet black mud that dries hard in the sun, The circular walls are then plastered with more black mud and then cow dung and finally given two coats of whitewash. A pole is erected in the centre of the building to support a thatched roof that keeps out the rain and keeps the building cool in the equatorial heat. Company-Owned These one-roomed houses are allotted one to a family, or to four single men. Kitchens are separate huts which are divided into four with a common fire- place for cooking. Dotted among the houses are a school and a number of churches. All are company-owned. Work is allocated on a ‘con- tract? basis with contracts gen- erally lasting for six months. These contracts, in reality just a verbal agreement, require the employee to complete 30 days’ work within 42 days. There are also some daily-rated workers who work on a ‘task’ basis. i.e. cutting a truck-load of sugar UB HUMOR JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING WEAR. 2-PANT SUITS $55. Handsomely tailored of York-- shire gabardine. The extra pants double the wear. Sold with the HUB’S FREE CREDIT. cane or weeding a row of plants. Most of the task workers live on reserves close by the plantation and return to their homes at the end of the day. Pay Low Pay for the plantation workers is terribly low, Refinery workers, employed on eight-hour shifts day and night, receive between $8.50 and $4.20 a month, All ‘con- tract? workers receive, in addition to their pay, a daily ration of 1% Ibs. of posho (corn flour)— 1 Ib. only for juveniles—and four ounces of beans. They also get a weekly ration of six ounces of edible oil, % Ib. of sugar, %4 Ib. salt and enough money to buy about 2% Ibs. of meat each month. Noontime meals, served on the job to each employee, consist of two small tins of UGI — a thin gruel of sugar, water and posho. Task Workers ‘Task’ workers, who do not get any food ration, receive a little less than 50 cents for cutting a truck-load of cane—about a day’s work —and about 12 cents for weeding a 1,000 to 1,200 foot row of .sugar can—two rows a day is an average achievement. These workers often carry their toto (children) slung on their backs as they toil in the fields under the blazing sun. Next time you reach for that second lump of sugar, just think about some of these things! THE cab an BANK OF COMMERCE wi BANKING BY MAIL The safe way to save your money is to put it in a bank. You can do this best through any of the branches of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in “British Columbia. Get some Banking by Mail forms before you leave town, or write for a supply to your nearest branch of the Commerce. BANKING BY MAIL is convenient, easy to do. See for yourself — today.