Wy we yl fi, AV F Mn cel Winsree He see ley pla! ST Te) : Wiad f CLEMATTEMM ETAL ua Vol, 8, No. 2] eakza 28 Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, May 27, 1949 Price Five Conte ‘Up to Grauer,’ say men -40-YEAR UNION GAINS THREATENED BY BCER’ Unless BCE president A. E. Dal Grauer submits to the reason- able demands of the Street Railwaymen’s Union, a three-city transit strike will be called within the next few days. SRU men voted 1999-435 in favor of strike .action this week, at the same time flatly rejecting a conciliation board’s recommendations 2147 to 239. “BCElectric is attempting to take away working conditions which have been established over a period of 40 years,” bluntly declared the union negotiating committee, charging that “Dal Grauer gave numerous guarantees that ‘no man would be laid off through the introduction of one-man equipment’ yet the majority recommendation of the conciliation board would mean loss of employment to many men, especially in the maintenance departments.” is. Ae 5 Soak ‘Biggest Year Grauer was conferring with the strike committee as the Pacific Tribune went to press. Unless the BCE president is prepared to British Columbia Electric Company Limited took in more money, spent more money and had the second largest brofits in its history during 1948. This was revealed by A. E. Grauer, president of the itish Columbia Power Corporation Limited, holding com- any for the B.C. Electric, who today presented the huge tility company’s largest annual report. The balance of income received by the company after paying bond interest and preference dividends amounted to $2,603,485. Company Faced With Higher Wages, Increased Operation Costs ‘Transportation fares in Vancotver, Victoria and New§ Westminster may go up again if the B.C. Electric has te meet higher wages and other costs. This hint came today from A. _ E. Grauer, BCE president, ata Press conference following 1e lease of his company’s annuul re, port. ‘Continued on Back Page—See BCER @ The BCElectric, in its attempts to turn public opinion against the demands of orgamized street railwaymen, has threatened : : to exact another fare increase. These headlines, taken from SS Re ce ne) Orta an the March 17 issue of the: Vancouver Sun, tell their own story = call 1 x e second largest profit. 3s and it doesn’t jibe with the power monopoly’s propaganda. US-made guns fire two ways @ Shanghai, the greatest } : city of Asia, fell to the Hee | oa People’s Liberation armies Coe ae this week after a three-week eat siege, and U.S.-made heavy artillery like that shown here lined hub to hub, cap- tured in the earlier North China campaign, was turned on’ the port of Woosung where demoralized Kuomin- tang troops were seeking to escape by sea. But Chiang Kai-shek, who had exhorted his disintegrat- ing armies to fight to the death, was not in Shanghai to lead them when the end came. Like other high of- ficials and wealthy support- ers of his corrupt regime, he had fled to Formosa, the is- land he hopes will be placed under U.S. “protection.” Sead Meanwhile, Liberation ar- mies in their renewed of- fensive southward are rang- ing far beyond Shanghai to the threshhold of Foochow.