about a radical change.

of fishermen, packer crews, and shoreworkers in all

T HERE is a growing realization among the thousands

sections of British Columbia’s fishing industry that
1947 will set the pattern of living standards for fishworkers

for a number of years to come.

This year will decide

whether a return is to be made to the substandard pre-war
conditions, or whether living standards and working con-
ditions will be progressively bettered.

The first group of B.C. fishermen to take action in de-
fence of their standards are the trawlers, handliners and
longliners, who have decided that until the fishing com-
panies are prepared to sign satisfactory minimum price
agreements for cod and soles, there will be no further fish-

ing. The men who made this
decision are not anxious to re-
main tied to the dock. None of
them can afford a_ prolonged
strike. Nevertheless, they real-
ize the present struggle is vital
to their whole future, and they
know that they cannot afford to
lose.

During the the past few
months, earnings of al] fisher-
men and shoreworkers, es of
other workers, have been slash-
ed by ‘the steadily rising cost of
living. Recently, with further
removal of price control, the cost
of fishing gear took a tremen-
dous jump. For. example,
_ price of cotton netting increased
117 ~percent,

Then suddenly, the large fish-
ing companies slashed prices for
cod and soles landed in Prince
Rupert as much as 380 percent
and announced their intention

toe introduce even greater reduc-
tions in Vancouver. The result
was the trawlers’ decision on
February 22 to tie up.
_ The cod handliners, who have
_ been waiting since last Decem-
_ ber for opening of the ling cod
_ season on March 1, voted to join
in the tieup when they heard of
an il percent price cut. And
_longiine fishermen,
_ that this fight was in their in-
_ terest, also voted to cease land-
es .

ROUGHOUT the  negotia-

tions which preceded the tie- —
up, the fishing companies re-

peatedly stated that they would
not sign a minimum price agree-
ment. The prices announced
they said, were only, starting
prices, and subject to further
revision at any time.

It has become clear to the
_ fishermen that a drive to lower
their prices has been organized,
headed by the two large mor
cpolies in the industry. Because
‘of their size, and economic
control, they ate able to dic-
tate the policies of the smaller
firms. Several small dealers
have expressed willingness to
settle with the fishermen, but
have not done so because of
their reliance on the large op-
erators for stocks of certain

_ The big companies maintain
that the present crisis is one
of overproduction. During the
war there was a very heavy
demand for fish to supplement
meat and other protein foods.
The Canadian, American and
_ Icelandic fleets, in the face of
exceptionally favorable market
conditions, multiplied in size
and capacity many times. New

_ processing plants were built and

existing facilities were modern-
_ ized and expanded.

_ Cessation of hostilities brought
Ice-

landic production, which had

been used to supply troopships,

army camps in Eastern Canada

and the U.S. and Britain, began

to pile up in cold storage. The
USSR agreed to purchase a
large portion, but American
power politics intervened. The
U.S. government made a deal
_ with Iceland which resulted in
the fish being flooded into al-
“ready overvrowded markets in
_ the eastern United States. ~
At the same time, with the
_ demobilization of American and
Canadian armed forces the large
processors lost their main cus-
tomers, Stockpiles of excess fro-

_ FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1947 on

the...

‘realizing —

&

zen cod and packaged fillets be-
gan to accumulate rapidly.

At the present time, approxi-
mately 158,000,000 pounds of fish
are in storage in the United

‘States and 33,000,000 pounds in

Canada.
‘ e@

: [panes are huge
4 markets for fish which have
not as yet been tapped. The
war-torn countries of Europe
would have undoubtedly appre-
ciated shipments of frozen fish
since the end of the war. How-
éver, lack of substantial credits
and lack of any real program
for processing in such a way

that these markets could be sup-

plied, has built up stockpiles of
food while people starve,

In Asia, millions of people’ in
China and India go hungry, and
in Canada fishermen are com-
pelleg to. tie up because their
products cannot—or will net<
be marketed. z

In this post-war period, as in
the period following the last

war, food has become an impor- |

tant factor in international

‘politics—and fish is an essential

food. What connection is there
between the tremendous quan-
tities of fish in storage and the
attempts of imperialist interests
in Canada and the U.S. to use
food as a means of influencing
policies? ;

The Eardly Fish and Fillet

Company, one of Seattle’s
largest processors, in a letter to
the Otter Trawlers’ Union of
Seattle, pointed out the rela-
tionship between American for-
eign policy and the price of
fish fillets, stating that “the
loans that Uncle Sam is mak-
ing these countries, Britain,
France, China and countries of
eastern Europe) are not worth
a tinker’s damn.”

Recognizing the result of U.S,

fcreign policy and endeavoring
to turn it to profitable account,
the company then proposed that
American fishermen accept
price reductions up to 40 per-
cent in order to keep produc-
tion going.

Canadian and American con-
sumers will not benefit from
any price reductions to the
fishermen, because thus. far
there is no indication of any

potential |

‘By HOMER STEVENS —

a’ t

drop in fish prices at the con-
Sumer level. In fact, there seems
to be a general agreement
among retailers throughout the

country that present prices shall.

be maintained, c ?
@

re present tie-up in B.C.
is causing all fishermen,
even those not directly affected;
to wonder what the future holds
in store for them. They wit-
hess the long-drawn out strug-
gle of the Maritime fishermen
for recognition of their union.
In that dispute the members
of the Canadian TFishermen’s
Union have been in strike since
December 28 for the right to bar-
gain collectively. National Sea

Products, the largest of the east.

coast dealers, has indulged in a
hysterical Red-baiting campaign
in a futile attempt to break the
spirit of the members. ©

The policy of the Canadian

government and the courts is

one of openly aiding the com-

pany in its union-busting tac-
tics, amply shown by the re-
fusal of the Nova Scotia Su-
preme Court to grant the fish-
ermen certification, and in the

apparent indifference of Hum-

phrey Mitchell to the union's

appeals. re = i‘
National Sea Products Com-

pany has stated repeatedly that

it will never bargain with the

against
organization, the United Fisher- —
‘™men and Allied Workers’ Union. —

'

union, and it appears that it
means what it says, unless the

unity of the fishermen succeeds

in changing its stand.

Down in San Pedro, there are
14 members of the local union,
together with Jeff Kibre, the in-
ternational secretary, on _ trial

under the Sherman Anti-Trust.

Act for establishing a minimum

-price for fish. To the union, it .

means a struggle for its contin-
ued existence. If the govern-
ment wins a conviction of these
men, it will mean that every
price agreement in the indus-
try established over a period of
years will be subjected to the
same attack. Here again the
policy of the U.S. government is
aimed at smashing the fisher-

men’s unions by attempting to
such price agreements

make
illegal. :
ee

Yue is every indication that
the present dispute in B.C. is
only the forerunner of a series

of attacks the powerful com-—

panies may be expected to launch
fishermen, and _ their

Despite differences arising out

of past disputes between the.
various categories of fishermen,
-there is a growing sense of un-

ity among all sections of the

union, seiners and gillnetters, :

ever

’

trollers and shoreworkers. This be fs

unity is reflected in the decision
of the shoreworkers to support
the fishermen by refusing to
handle unfair fish during the _
Present tie-up. :

The insistent demand that the
Canadian government stabilize
the fishing industry and pre-

vent any further crises has as

yet been unheeded by the elec-
ted representatives of the people.
This indifference is inexcusable

in view of the fact that there ee

is legislation already on the

books for the establishment of _

a Prices: Support Board, with
the sum of $25,000,000 allocated

to the fishing industry.
‘

P . f
The fishermen and shorework-_

ers remember the lean years be--

for the war—the years when
they had several organizations
and it was sometimes hard to
unite their forces in the com-
mon struggle for fair prices, —
They’ realize they must fight —
to protect the gains they have

made and while they do not _
relish the idea, they are grimly

determined not to allow the
companies to impose the bitter —
hardship of poverty prices ‘to

_ their hard life. This much they
have learned, that they have —

had to fight for every advance

they have made and that when- —
they were united, they —

have won, aa aa

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 1

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