oat Po ON ey PS mR gre en PATE Vol. 6 eee No. Vancouver, British Columbia Friday, January 3, 1947 Five Cents Gas tax earmarked | for road improvement VICTORIA, B.C. — Follow- ing public outery against the number of accidents caused by bad road conditions, most tra- gic of which was that on Van- couver Island recently when Six Sooke -high school students were killed, Finance “Minister Herbert Anscombe announced last... weekend...that,. the....three cents additional gas tax now levied by the federal govern- ment will be devoted entirely te roads when it is taken over by the province on March 31. Anscombe stated that the gov- ernment intended to introduce a special bill into the legisla- | ture earmarking the money for “development and maintenance of the road system of the province.” % INCREASED LIVING COSTS SPUR NEW WAGE DRIVE Opening shot in round two of the wage-price struggle in western Canada was sounded last Fri- day in the annual meeting of the powerful loggers’ local 1-71 of the International Woodworkers of | America, when a record attendance of loggers from camps on the mainland coast as far north as Prince Rupert and including the Queen Charlotte Islands, unanimously went on record demanding: @ Early opening of the wage contract in 1947 for sub- stantial wage increases e Provision in the 1947 contract for the 40-hour week throughout the industry and elimination of all exemptions e Establishment of a union-administered health and welfare fund to be provided by a four percent assessment on industry, similar to that recently established by the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union and United Mine Workers |° of America in the U.S. : _® Union shop provision, Another major question before the meeting was the year-old grievance of Queen Charlotte Islands loggers who are demanding payment of an 8-cent an hour differential above Coast rates, with fares paid one way after three months’, and both ways: after six months’ work. After a year’s negotiations with the operators and three applica- tions to the Regional and National War Labor Boards, QCI union members last week voted overwhelmingly to re- Robert R. Nathan (right), Price hoost unnecessary U.S. economist, declares that industry can afford a 25 percent general wage boost without increasing prices. Here Nathan consults with CIO ject Operators’ offer of five cents an hour, issuing a firm warning that unless the de- mand was met there would be no work after the year’s end, The meeting, after hearing reports from QCI camps -vot- ed unanimously to give full support. icone , The following officers were nominated for 1947: Nils Madsen; vice-president, Nigel Morgan; second vice-presi- dent, .Charlie Fraser; third President, first vice-president, Bob Staf- ford; financial secretary, John McCuish; recording secretary, Don Barbour. President Philip Murray and Interior Secretary Julius Krug. Unions, LPP, CCF oppose railroading of franchise The main committee room at Vancouver's city hall was jammed with members of labor, civic and community delegations on Monday this week as retiring mayor J. W. Cornett and aldermen, in a special committee meeting of the full city council, came under heavy fire for railroading through the last session of the old council an agreement giving exclusive transportation franchise. the BCElectric a 20-year Delegations presenting submissions to the council represented a solid front of CCL and AFL trade unions, civic and community. organizations, in- cluding the Civic Reform Committee and the Associate Council of Vancouver | Wage boost necessary Warning that wages must go higher if workers’ purchasing Power is to be maintained, President Albert J. Fitzgerald of United Electrical Workers, CIO President Philip Murray and President Walter Reuther of United Auto Workers, met in Pittsburgh recently to formulate demands. — Bushworkers to launch campaign TIMMINS—Plans for an extensive organiza- tional campaign to build the Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union (AFL) among bushworkers in all Ontario woods operations has been drafted by locals 2995 and 2786 of the union in meetings at Tim- mins and Port Arthur. Proposals for carrying out the organizational campaign include: @ Calling of a provincial conference in March from which a provincial council of timber and sawmill workers will be elected. e Issuance of a regular union paper by Local 2995 here. @ Launching of weekly broadcasts as a means of linking up scattered operations. e Enlargement of the union’s organizational staff. e@ Improvement of camp organization throughout the industry. A resolution adopted by Local 2995 at its semi-annual meeting here last weekend called upon the Ontario govern- ment to introduce a labor code “based upon and embodying the best features of all existing legislation in this field.” Another resolution approved by the union endorsed the aims of the Quebec Committee for the Defense of Trade Union Rights in its campaign to repeal discriminatory labor legislation, fight “against the abuse of technicalities in the law by the provincial government in order to break strikes and destroy unions,” and to collect funds for the legal de- fense of arrested trade union leaders. 3 \ . South, the CCF and the LPP. All were united in their de- mand that the proposed fran- chise agreement, copies of which were only made avail- able to them on Friday last week, be submitted to a pleb- iscite. Despite this strong expres- Sion of popular opposition, all aldermen, including Ald. K. Gervin, who voted against the decision of Vancouver Trades and Labor Council which sponsored him for of- fice, approved the agreement. When the Labor-Progres- sive Party’s young, able Bruce Mickleburgh had concluded his submission, urging a pleb- iscite on the BC Electric agreement and a simultaneous plebiscite on public owner- ship as proposed by the Gil- man report, to be preceded by full public hearings, Harold Winch, CCF Opposition lead- er, told aldermen: “I fully associate myself with the remarks of previous speakers, including the de- mand for two plebiscites, and I would consider myself dere- lict in my duty as a public representative if I did any- thing less.” ; “Forcing of even these hear- ings shows what the labor movement in the city can ac- complish,” Bill White, vice- Continued on page 8 See FRANCHISE