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Vol. 6. No.41.

Vancouver, B.C., Friday, October 10, 1947 <@3»2"

Five Cents

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Under heavy pressure
from trade unions thrceugh-
out the province which has
forced many Coalition Lib-
eral members of the legis-
lature to recognize the
growing unpopularity of the
government’s policies, the

eres

executive of the B.C. Lib-
eral Association, me+ting
here Thursday of last week,
recommended to the gov-
ernment that Bill 39 should

be overhauled and amended

“to make it more consistent -
with recognized liberal, de- -

Admit Bill 39 undemocratic

mocratic and equitable
principles.” :

The anti-labor clauses of
Bill 39 were inserted on the
insistence of the Canadian
Manufacturers Associatiuu
and pushed through the
House despite Labor Min-

Edftorial writers for
leading daily newspapers
in the province wasted tons
of newsprint in futile at-
tempts to convince the pub-
lic that Bill 39 was sound
labor legislation. The gov-

(Continued on Page 3)
See BILL 39

ister George Pearson’s per-
sonal cbjections and strong
labor representations that
they violated accepted de-
mocratic principles and in-
terfered with the right of
trade unions to conduct
their own affairs.

BAK
FRO

‘We are hungry’

® These Italian youngsters,
) carrying their placard sta-
_ fing, “We Children are Hun-
gry,” recently joined their fa-
thers and mothers in a Rome
food. demonstration. But the De
Gasperi government refuses to
Pursue a firm policy against
the black marketeers and other
racketeers who thrive on the
people’s misfortune. As a Brit-
ish correspondent reported:
“Even if U.S. Secretary of State
George Marshall got all the
money he wanted, Italy, under
am administration from which
the Left was excluded, would
become a bottomless financial
pit.” Such conditions help to
explain why one in every 20
Italians is a member of the
* Communist Party, which has
’ conducted a vigorous campaign
against them.

@ See also story on page 2.

KAMLOOPS, B.C- — A
armers’ union, the second to
be formed in this province, is
eing organized in the Kam-
loops district.

Following the example of
“atmers around Osoyoos in
the southern Okanagan who
Tecently organized them-
Selves into a union and af-
filiateg to the United Pack-
Mghouse Workers of Am-
®tica (C10), Kamloops far-
Mers are now signing appli-
Cation cards for a similar or-
Sanization which will also
Stek affiliation to the

Upwa. |

A recent meeting, at which
Plans for launching the new
Nion were discussed, was at-

tended by Channa Singh. and
Kar Singh, representing East
Indian farmers in the district,
Yip Him and Dan Tung,
representing Chinese grow-
ers, several Japanese grow-
ers, and John Morganthaler
and J. Lucas. ©

Factors influencing many
of the farmers in their de-
cision to organize the new
union are the poor returns
many of them have received
this year and the widespread
protest against the provin-
cial government’s new school
levies.

In Vancouver this week,
William Symington, interna-
tional representative for the
United Packinghouse Work-

Gee NERS

Farmers organize into unions

ers of America, told the Pa-
cific Tribune that his union
welcomed the action and was
prepared to assist the farm-
ers in organizing.

“Since the farmers at Os-
Oyoos organized their local
and affiliated to us we have
received several requests
from farmers who also want
to organize,” he stated. “Con-
sidering the attempts that are
being made. to turn farmers’
opinion against us because of
the strike and so direct at-
tention away from the jus-
tice of our demands, this
sentiment among the farmers
for organization and _ affilia-
tion to our union is an en-
couraging sign.”

ERIES GET MILLION
oC BREAD BOOST

The recent increase of three cents a loaf in
the price of bread-here, following the federal gov-
ernment’s removal: of the flour subsidy, is giving
bakery interests an additional profit of well over
$1,000,000 a year. Of the three cents more con-

sumers must now pay for a 16-ounce loaf, 1.7 cents
is required to cover the increased cost of flour and 1.3 cents
represents a clear profit added to the profit the bakery in-
terests were already making before the subsidy was removed.

This evidence of ‘how the public is being gouged by
monopoly interests whose profiteering is sending living costs
far beyond even increased wages was submitted this week
by Bert Marcuse, director of the Trade Union Research
Bureau, to a conciliation board set up under Bill 39 to hear
wage an other demands made by the Bakery and Confec-
tionery Workers Union, Local 468, covering employees of
seven bakeries,

An exhibit prepared by the

Trade Union Research Bur-
eau, which is representing the
union in the hearings, gave
figures to support the con-
clusion.
In 1945, 383,462 barrels of
flour used in this province
produced 92,543,466 pounds of
bread—241.3 pounds of bread
from each barrel of flour.
Since removal of the subsiay,
price of a barrel of flour has
increased from $4.80 to $9.
The increase of $4.20 a baz-
rel, spread over the 241-3
pounds of bread from each
barrel, is 1.7 cents a peund.

In 1945, bakery wage earn-
ers produced 36,738 loaves of
bread a year for each worker,
Assuming the same level of
production in 1947, the addi-
tional profit from each work-
er’s production at the in-
creased price amounts to
$477.59 a year or 23 cents an
hour, a total of $1,203,065.

The union is asking for a
wage increase of 25 cents an
hour, claiming that bakery
workers’ wages are abnor-
mally low compared to other

Street railway

strike favored

As the Pacific Tribune
went to press Wednesday
night, members of the
Street Railwaymen’s
Union in Vancouver,
New Westminster. and
Victoria were completing
the strike ballot ordered
by membership meetings
held last weekend at
which the union advisory
board’s recommended ac-
ceptance of a new B-C.
Electric wage offer was
decisively rejected.

Although the ballots
were not being counted
until Thursday, senti-
ment among union mem-,
bers and reports of the
voting indicated an over-
whelming majority for
strike action.

Another strike, that of
20 employees at the Stock
Exchange Building here,
members of the Building
Service Employees Union,
Local 224, loomed this
week as a vote taken by

trades, skilled journeymen the union gave unani-
eee only 82 cents | mous approval for strike,