4 Hl r B.C. LUMBER WORKER 13 District Ladies’ a Auxiliary Conference 1958 | From Page 11 “Morris “Obviously, organized labour is proposing the right way to adjust the situation, for all the people, while the employers are solely concerned with an adjustment in favor of the privileged few. What we must never forget is that their way will hurt us badly unless we succeed in reversing their present plans. That is one of the main reasons why we are here. “The widespread aud organized attack on the trade unions has one major purpose. When they declare that rising wag ve been the main cause of a rising price level they are attempting to shift public attention from their business pric- ing policies, Large corporations, exercising dominance in industry, have rigged and inflated prices to suit their will, New Type Inflation “Let us look at the so-called in- flationary trends, which they bring to our attention so frequently. We have always been told by our best economists that inflation results when the demand for goods and services exceeds the ability of the economy to satisfy’ those demands. “Now, quite obviously, we are in difficulty because the product- ive capacity of our industry is ex- panding so rapidly that it threat- ens to far exceed the ability of our people to satisfy their needs through effective purchasing pow- er. It is in this situation that big business is taking a dispropor- tionately large share of the re- wards derived from our expanding production. Economic Facts Examined “I suggest that when we go to the bargaining table this year, we must still further emphasize these facts of our economic life. Per- haps we should do so before we goto the bargaining table, for necessary adjustments to benefit the lumber industry must be ap- plied throughout the entire econ- omy. More than ever, we must continue to play our part in rais- ing the living standards of the people in this province as the best possible means of maintaining our employment and production ma: mum. This should be our basic task on the bargaining front this year. “Our District Policy Commit- tee, assisted by our Research Dir- ectors, spent considerable time during the past week in careful analysis of the economic situa- tion. An earnest and conscientious effort has been made to estimate the developments most likely to enter into our calculations during OFFICERS’ REPORT COMMITTEE R. Pickering, 1-71 Secretary; S. Abercrombie, 1-80; G. Ingram, 1-85; 1-217; J. Glazebrook, 1-252; A. Archibald, 1-357; Wm. Gurney, 1-405; R. Ellis, 1-417; F. Stich, 1-423; W. Chance, 1-424. 1-207 Chairman; A. Paul, Hoyes, 1-367; G. Townser T. Ainsley, 1-118; Wm. N. Gray, 1-363; W. the next few months. The dele- gates will hear the conclusions reached later. I must confine my remarks to some generalities based on my own observations. I must say, what many others are saying, that the bad news from business is getting far too big a play, and is responsible for grossly exag- gerated rumours of impending economic collapse. Panic Absurd “We may first establish the fact that the danger of a return to a depression such as overtook us in the thirties is simply not in the cards, Since that time we have provided built-in stabilizers, regu- lators or cushions, of which unem- ployment insurance and govern- ment control of currency and credit are the chief. “In the ranks of labour we must reject panic reasoning. The bud- getary provisions now being made by the Canadian and American governments indicate very clearly that for reasons of national secur- ity far-reaching measures are con- templated to avert any semblance of an economic collapse. These governments have been forced to return to palicies of stimulating business activity, and the effects of this will soon be felt across the whole economy. Do The Needful! “The whole point is that, if we now start doing that which needs to be done to satisfy the more urg- ent needs of our people, our whole industrial machine will again be operating at top speed. ‘Creeping inflation’ which some businessmen contend must accompany such de- velopment is much less to be feared than chronic mass unem- ployment. NOTICE Due to the lack of space in this convention issue, it is not possible to publish sick lists re- ported. Publication in full will be resumed in later editions. * Additional convention reports will appear in the First Issue in March. (Editor) id The General Bakeries Trademarks OR THE N EW Oy GENERAL BAKERIES SYMBOLS OF ‘GOOD BAKING