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Labor lobby united in opposing
onerous restrictions in Bill 39

VICTORIA, B.C.—Nearly 250 trade unionists, veterans and senior citizens, converged
_ Victoria last Sunday night to commence the lobbying of MLAs and government lead-
of the ‘strait-jacket’ strike vote clause from the draft labor
of labor’s proposals as presented in the joint brief last

‘tS, Tequesting the removal

» and the implementation
Month. :
After intensive lobbying of the
On Monday and Tuesday,
ae Lobby's steering committee
wt With Labor Minister Pear-
a °n Tuesday afternoon in an
Ber tO gain assurance that the
Jectionable features of the draft

ill would b é
lobby e deleted. After the

committee members left
yercens Office, they declared
3 3 no such assurance was
_ torthcoming,

deretine part in the lobby were
ea from all CCL unions in
cae and 35 delegates from AFL
Seng with a combined member-
ag of 25,000. These delegates
Srarted to leave Victoria Wed-
pecey. morning to report to their
Scal unions and lay plans for
further action to prevent enact-
Say of the strike vote clause in
© draft pill.
co eanwhile, delegates to Van-
e per Trades and Labor Council
Me €d last Tuesday night to send
: er a large delegation to Vic-
iors, if the TLC committee which
terviews Pearson on. Wednes-
Tin Se ao gain deletion of ae
able sections from e
draft pit),
ene resolution, which was sub-
matt by William Rigby of the
“ishermen’s Union urged
‘those elected delegates who are
yanding by. should be called to
Ctoria . | if there is no guar-
antee of the recommendations be-
si Carried through.” The reso-
: ion won the overwhelming
Cenne of the packed TLC meet-
8. Indicative of the feelings of
Wany AFL unions to the draft bill,
4s the stand taken by the Street
‘Waymen’s Union, Division 101,
vain expressed bitter resentment
Pp the “capitulation of George S.
Sindy m to the forces of big busi-

Attitude of the B.C. Federation
of Labor (CCL) to the Hart-

iS SHANGHAI — The Manchurian
fost Democratic Army, which is
ei jBng against Kuomintang troops
g he area, reports the capture of
eo ‘Order No, 5891 of General-
fron ro Chiang Kai-shek’s northeast
Be headquarters, The order in-
ieee all units to remove U.S.
Snia and registration numbers
ce American weapons with which
cae are equipped “so that no one
Use the pretext that the U.S.
ware Hcipating in China’s civil

2 ae

that:

Anscomb government’s action in
presenting the labor bill, is ex-
pressed in the following state-
ment issued by the Federation’s
executive:

“We charge the evidence is
now clear that the government
callously broke its pledges to the
representatives of organized la-
bor, in the following manner:
That on Wednesday, March 12,
although no draft bill had been
Placed in the hands of any rep-
resentatives of the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor or other labor
groups, the News-Heralq carried
headlines that the new bill pro-
posed a strike curb law; that the
new bill was before the House;
and specifically mentioned other
articles of the bill, which state-
ments later turned out to be cor-
rect, and so far as we know, the
first official indication that the
draft bill had been printed.”

Union leaders have pointed out
that Labor Minister Pearson had
previously promised that labor's
representatives would have the
opportunity of studying the draft
bill before it was printed, in ord-
er to make recommendations for
any changes they deem necessary.
It is felt therefore, that the gov-
ernment, by not following that
procedure, commited a grave af-
front to the labor movement
in B.C.

The Federation’s statement went
on to note: “It can not be a coin-
cidence that many of the
worst features of the bill are
those proposed by the representa-
tives of 16 employers’ organiza-
tions who had made such
representations. on Thursday, Feb-
ruary 27.” ‘

In a stirring address to the
mass lobby delegates’ rally here
Sunday night, Harvey Murphy,
first vice-president of the B.C.
Federation of Labor, werned the
delegates of the serious dangers
to trade unions under the pro-
posed new labor bill. Murphy.
stated:

“{ have no hesitation in say-
ing ... that under the proposed
amendments to the * Industrial
Conciliation and Aribitration
Act, the government has the
authority to inflict such penal-
ties on workers, through trade
unions and officers, that they
can destroy the trade unions in
British Columbia and open wide

the door: to break down the

Strike action seen in
firing of union man

Possibility of 150 workers

at Hammond Furniture, Van-

ouver, taking strike action loomed this week. The workers,

ers
Shop

ch ; -
misseq airman,. who was. dis

last February 28. :
Pease P22y Officials claimed the
Satine for the dismissal was “un-
man actory work,” although the
Parti In’ question worked at the
a8 an job for more than six
decig S before the management
lot jo 2 f° fire him. A strike bal-
Unio. being held this week by the
wh nm members in the plant,
“Ste the IWA is certified.
Although the IWA holds an
Sora Ment in this plant “the
der Pany, by subterfuge and un-
pu hang methods, have delayed
fee the agreement into ef-
Dros Particularly |in paying
apie’ wage rates,” Neil Mc-
cha, > the local‘s business agent
pa 2ed, in a statement to the
ACific Tribune.

py etcAuley also informed the Tri-

aan that he had been refused
Plane sion to enter the Hammond

during the night shift, to
to union business, although
A holds a signed agree-
nN the plant, which gives

FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1947

atten
th d

‘Ment i

© are members of Local 1-217, International Woodwork-
of America, are demanding the reinstatement of the union

the union’s, business agent entry
rights.

PENTICTON, °B.C.—The three
week strike of workers at Pentic-
ton Sawmills Ltd. here, ended last
Friday in a victory for the union,
the International Woodworkers of
America (CIO). The 22 workers
at the mill had demanded that
the management implement the
awards for wage increases which
were authorized by Chief Justice
Gordon Sloan last July,

The men returned to work with
the definite assurance of the man-
agement that there would be no
discrimination in returning the
men to their original jobs. Ne-
gotiations. with the IWA and
management for implementation of
the wage scale previously agreed
upon will commence this Friday.

During the strike, the IWA
pickets were given strong support
from members of the CIO Pack-
inghouse Workers’ Union and
other CIO unions in the Okan-

standards of living that labor
has fought for through the
| years.”

Referring to the high-pressure
campaign of red-baiting being
conducted by the Canadian Manu-
facturers’ Association against the
trade unions, Murphy declared:

“These amendments which the
CMA wishes to bring into light
are aimed at every trade union-
ist, whether he is a liberal, con-
servative, CCFer or communist.
They are aimed at destroying the
effectiveness of the trade unions
in the face of the sharpest rises
in the cost of living, whereby the
wage increases that were won
- . . aS the result of militant
strikes are more than being tak-
ON AWAY Oat es

“These are the things that make
trade unionists fight. These are
the matters that are at the bot-
tom of. strikes, and the workers
will seek leaders who are not
afraid to carry out their duties.
They must have the right to
choose anyone by the democratic
purposes of our trade unions for
union office and leadership. The
trade unions will be destroyed
when we start to create divisions
according to a man’s political, re-
ligious or other views. No trade
union in Canada can exist when
it, discriminates.” ‘

Marshall in Moscow

Arriving for the Big Four
foreign ministers’ conference
to draft a peace treaty for Germany, Secretary of State
George G. Marshall (left) is greeted by Soviet Deputy
Minister Andrei Vishinsky. On the results of this con-
ference may well depend the peace of the world.

plant ends,

in the plant.

OTTAWA: In fighting
CCL’s picket lines of 1946,

The annual memorandum sub-
mitted after a three-day execu-
tive conference informed the gov-
ernment and the public of La-
bor’s 1947 objectives, just as last
year’s submission had ushered in
the big push of 1946.

Although the prime minister did
not attend because of illness, 14
members of the cabinet turned
out to listen to a Congress rep-
resenting “Canadian workers and
their families numbering over, a
million persons.” In 1946 the
Cabinet haq felt the power of
the 85,000 CCL strikers who ‘had
won every single battle for higher
wages and union security from
Sidney, N.S., to Victoria, B.C.

The executive of the Congress

Trail union will
‘ . ‘ .
seek wage boost

TRAIL—Shop stewards of
International Union of Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers,
Local 480, met on March 6
to draft the recommendations
which will be placed before the
entire membership for ratification.
These included (1) that Local 480
terminate its agreement with the
CMS on April 1, and (2) that the
union demand a wage increase of
25¢c across the board, giving full
support to its bargaining com-
mittee in this regard.

An intensive campaign of union
building is under way in the
Trail local and members are
signing checkoff cards to be pre-
sented to the company as soon
as the revocable checkoff becomes
law.

The shop stewards’ meetings
was attended by International
Board member Chase Powers,
western representative Harvey
Murphy, Jim Byrnes, president of
Local 651, Kimberley, and busi-

agan Valley.

ness agent Jim McFarland.

CCL executive presents
brief to federal government

By R. M, LAXER

«
language, reminiscent of the
Canadian Congress of Labor

warned the federal government of the possible “recurrence
of serious industrial disputes’* unless labor’s Wage increase
and price control demands are met. ‘ :

warned that ‘‘the government’s
Policy of removing controls on
prices, profits and taxes will has-
ten the onset of a major econ-
omic depression.” “The immedi-
ate need” it went on “is the re-
establishment of effective price
control” and the government
should take action in this regard

| without delay.” In view of the

“unprecedented high profit posi-
tion of Canadian corporations,
arising out of price increases —
Labor is left with no alternative
but to seek higher wages as well
as price control.”

With the proposed National La-
bor Code the Congress expressed
‘Gts very great dissappointment”
because it “contains many § fea-
tures which are highly objection-
able to labor.” Without listing all
the objections which were set out
in a lengthy critique by the Con-
gress two months ago, the mem-
orandum refers to recommenda-
tions Congress had made two
years ago as proposed amend-
ments to, PC 1003. The executive
asked for “an opportunity to dis-
cuss it further (the Draft Bill)
before it is submitted to the
Hotse of Commons.”

Covering a wide
statement urged:

@ A bigger voice for the World
Federation of Trade Unions in-
the United Nations.

@® Old age pensions of $50 per
month after age of 60.

@ 50 percent increase in unem-
ployment insurance.

-@ A 40 hour week.

@ Income tax exemption up to
$1500 for single and up to $2000
for married people.

.® Outlawing of injunctions,

@ Amendment of Criminal Code
to establish the legal right to
strike and mass picketing.

Representatives of the biggest
unions in the CCL were in the
delegation. Several of them had
appeared last summer before the
Committee on Industrial Rela-

range, the

tions.

Strike in power-saw

union gains

A significant victory was won last week by striking
workers at Industrial Engineering Ltd. here, when manage-
ment agreed to bargain with a shop committee of the CIO
United Steelworkers Union, to draw up a union agreement

Management also promised to
give first consideration to senior

.| Service employees in reinstating

the 31 dismissed men. However,
it does not appear likely ‘that the
majority of those dismissed will
be rehired until production orders
increase.

Industrial Engineers, which
manufactures chain power saws
for the lumbering industry, has
encouraged its employees to pur-
chase stock in the firm, giving
the workers the impression that
they would have a deciding voice
in the firm’s administration. The
firing of the 31 men, many of
whom held shares and were sup-
Posedly ‘owners’ of the firm,
changed this impression. The men
soon discovered that the manage-
ment was using the ‘stockholder’
issue to frustrate any effective
union organization being estab-
lished. The strike however taught
the men the need for a union to
represent them, and the majority

of them have signéd membership
in the CIO Steelworkers Union.

It is felt in labor circles ‘that
this victory will prevent other
firms from using this ‘stock-
holders’ tactic to prevent union-
ization.

IWA referendum

returns officers —

Re-election of the entire Dis-
trict Executive of the Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America
(CIO) was assured as the Tri-
bune went to press, with the tab-
ulation of ballots nearly com-
plete. Harold Pritchett, veteran
leader of the B.C. lumber work-
ers defeated Stuart Alsbury by
2,500 votes to win the District
presidency once again. Pritchett
received 5361 votes against Als-
bury’s 2849,

Bert Melsness was re-elected
secretary-treasurer, defeating
George Mitchell, 4590 votes to
3560. Re-election of vice-presi-
dents Hjalmer Bergren, Mark
Mosher and Mel Fulton was also

}assured. Robert Range of Prince

Rupert was elected Trustee by ac-
clamation.

A separate referendum provid-
ing for an increased per capita
payment seemed certain to be
approved by the IWA members.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3