6 ‘socialist? to Hawaii. - obvious. ier al i Attest oe in VOL. 18, NO. 51 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, Phone MUtual 5-5288 Authorized as second class mail by the Post Ortice Department, Ottawa. VANCOUVER, B.C. 1959 Winch plays employers _ game, Morgan charges “Harold Winch has deserted the most elementary _ needs of the working people from a trade union no less than a socialist viewpoint,” Nigel Morgan, B.C. leader of the Communist Party, declared in answer to the CCF MP’s “Tmagine telling B.C. wood- workers who got no increase in 1958 and a measly 21% cents in 1959, while their em- ployers reported a net profit 314 times as high for the first quarter of this year compared with the year previous—wood- workers who were getting 30 cents per hour less than their American brothers in Washing- ~ ton and Oregon—that they had better drop their wage de- mands if they want to keep working,” said Morgon. “Workers and housewives alike, trying to balance the family budget with the cost of living at the highest point in Canadian history will certainly recognize Winch’s outburst for what it is. ’“Winch’s attack on labor is the payoff. for the Tory-spon- sored public appeal of Con- servative leader R.. D. Harvey, through which money was ask- ed to provide Harold with a Honolulu holiday at the time of his retirement from the pro- vincial leadership of the CCF. It was hard to understand why this hard-boiled old Tory wanted to appeal to the em- ployers for public subscrip- tions to send .the erstwhile Now it’s “drop wage demands” warning. “Winch’s traitorous state- ments, which the Tories and every anti-labor employer lost no time in hailing as their own, can only serve in helping place labor in an economic straight- jacket. “It is significant that Winch’s ‘world trip’ like that of Prime Minister Diefenbaker, included only the crisis-stricken capital- ist countries. He carefully by- passed the socialist nations who want to trade with us, and where there is no unem- ployment whatsoever. “Winch’s publicity stunt is a deliberate attempt to get the cold war warriors off the spot and bypass the pressing ques- tion of the day — world dis- armament and the diversion of wasted arms expenditures to people’s welfare. For a NATO- supporter like Winch it is hard to accept perhaps, but there'll be no problem in finding mar- kets, increasing wages and cut- ting taxes, if we move in the direction of diverting the thou- sand million dollars a year the world is wasting on war preparations to construction in the under-developed countries and feeding the third of the world that goes to bed hungry every night,” spies conclud- ed. ‘ LASTS WINCH'S © DOWN WAGES — By BERT WHYTE “’Poppycock!”’ was the expression used by ‘a union leader at Vancouver Labor Council this week in relation to Harold Winch’s statement that high wages were pricing B.C. products out of the world market. “Profits, not wages, are hurting our economy,’ said Orville Braaten (Pulp and Sulphite Union) as he directed a slashing attack against the CCF member of parliament for Vancouver East. © Braaten cited the exorbit- ant profits of three firms his union is now negotiating with on wages to prove his point. He asked VLC presi- dent Lloyd Whalen to allow him time to move a motion at the end of the meeting, condemning Winch for his anti-labor stand. Whalen indicated he would give consideration to Braaten’s request, but sharply at 10 p.m. 4iat the conclusion of reports 4 com unions, he banged his ga- vel and announced adjourn- ment of the meeting while Braaten was irying to reach a microphone. Later several union leaders expressed dissatisfaction that VLC had failed to voice its opposition to Winch’s stand on wages in the form of a formal resolution. “At the beginning of a cam- paign to get more work for our local shipyards to alleviate a very serious unemployment situation in the industry, Har- old Winch’s statement has giv- en aid and comfort to the Dief- enbaker gOvernment and its chief backers, Big Business in Canada,” said Sam Jenkins, president of Marine Workers Union. “With his’ statement about us pricing ourselves out of the market, Winch apparently doesn’t know that despite our higher wages, the man-hour cost on the recently commiss- ioned destroyer escort was the lowest in Canada,’ Jenkins continued. “And further, he shows less than a very ele- mentary conception of social- ism when he says that the rest of the world doesn’t owe us a living. We have never claimed such. To the contrary, we say that we should be extending a helping hand to the backward nations with a feeling that with our abundance of natur- al resources, we want to help feed the hungry people of the world and help them develop their countries and overcome their economic problems.” President Whalen came un- der fire during delivery of a report on the unemployment situation on behalf of council’s committee on unemployment. After stating that there are currently 27,000 jobless work- ers in Vancouver, the VLC president announced that the committee had turned thumbs down on a number of propos- als from local unions advocat- ing demonstrations -at city hall and UIC offices, and other forms of mass activity. “Inaction all the way seems to be the slogan of this com- mittee,” commented Lawrence Anderson _(Carpenters) who said _there_ were some 1,200 unemployed carpenters in the city. “T support demonstrations and I think we should serious- ly consider this type of action,” said John Hines (Painters).. “When the VLC officers meet with B.C. Federation of Labor to discuss the unemployment crisis, I hope the question of - protest demonstrations will be reviewed again.” “If the VLC doesn’t organize and lead jobless demonstra- tions, the unemployed will have to take matters into their own hands,” said Fred MeNeil (Longshoremen). Delegates also discussed am- endments to the Unemploy- ment Insurance Act, and after condemning instructed the VLC executive to make a thorough study of the amendments and bring in a comprehensive resolution at the next council meeting. Ask Bonner to investigate Ironworkers, I ioial and Rock unions seek to correct abuses Complaints filed with the attorney-general against the administrator of the Construction Industry Standard Welfare Trust Fund are the culmination of a two- year struggle by rank and file members of the Ironworkers and Tunnel and Rock | Workers unions to correct abuses. The complaint, voiced by Bruce Ballard, president of Tunnel and Rock local 168, is that, on the one hand, mem- bers find it extremely difficult to obtain benefits for which they have paid, and on the other, that the administrator and the consultant have col- lected fees with respect to thousands of workers who are not covered by the plan. The, plan was established in 1957 following contract nego- tiations between union inter- national representatives and construction uy employ- ers. Locals had no control over negotiations or settlement. Un- der the settlement, in lieu of a seven-cent wage increase, the employers agreed to pay seven cents per manhour into the welfare fund, and promised that the fund would provide MSA, weekly sick benefit and life insurance benefits to mem- bers who worked more than 300 hours in any three-month period. ‘The plan is controlled by a board of trustees, consisting of R. K. Gervin, Dave Layden and J. F. Sigurdson; represent- ing the employers; and C. Saves age, J. Gallow, and Bruce Ballard, representing the unions. The administrator, Vernon L. Hembling, and the consultant, M. A. Cornell, are appointed by the trustees to (Continued on Page 2) See TUNNEL several clauses, Ali toe