4 WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Editorial : F Swedish Plan Assists Workers Moves Swedish ag market policies have a récerit years put great emphasis on mobility of labour as one he the answers to reat of unem In 1959-60 gbvekucniie assistance abled some 25,000 workers to move from depressed to perous areas. The amount of money this help cost would have paid about 50 days of unemployment yeh nt or Pe jobs for five days on public works. opportunities in a certain Union Functions Discussions on constitation and program in advance of the New Party founding convention point to the need for a full understanding of the background. The framework for unity of working class political action must, in the formative stage, make allowance for attitudes determined by experience. The two main organizations which meet in Ottawa to found the New Party have radical differences in structure. It is unwise for representatives of either to express critiscism of, or impatience with, customs and procedures which have been developed for different functions. ° Qualities of statesmanship are required. The temptation to score advantages on subordinate issues must yield to the vision of a national political party commanding electoral sup- port among the working class in a degree that makes a work- ing class government possible. This central purpose must remain uppermost above all attempts to carve out policy grooves at the outset or mould one into the shape of the other.- A new working-class party cannot become a potent political force unless it strikes its roots well down into the economic lives of the workers. History teaches that it cannot succeed if it is merély the brain-child of a small intelligentsia. Broad principles which make united action possible have now been outlined and found mutually satisfactory. Time and patience will be required to secure the application of these principles to particular situations. Many CCF representatives could properly express warmer appreciation of the motives which bring trade union repre- sentatives to the founding convention. Some trade unionists may lack political experience, but they are all imbued with the great desire to better the circumstances of their fellow-work- ers. If given opportunity and encouragement, they are ready to work for social change. They have expressed grateful ac- knowledgement of the pioneer work done by the CCF and have listened attentively to experienced CCF spokesmen. On the other hand, critics of CCF administrative inade- quacies should remember that the organization was built and maintained mainly by volunteer workers, struggling under the handicap of insufficient funds. In the very nature of its composition, the CCF has not mastered the techniques which distinguish between freedom of discussion and disloyal and disruptive attacks on declared majority decisions. CCF people feel intensely about points of social doctrine. Quite frequently, this laudable intensity causes them to for- get that their views will assume political reality, only in the degree to which they persuade the majority of the workers _to agree with them. Now is the time for them to exercise their powers of persuasion rather than brilliance of argument likely to create antagonism in quarters where support is required. The well-grounded Socialist has never been given a bigger or more receptive audience. All agree that the structure of the New Party must be fully democratic. It follows that all must display confidence in the outcome of democratic procedures resulting in policy de- cisions. More than this, the structure of the New Party must provide for effective and unified constituency organization, otherwise the New Party will exist on paper only It is at the constituency level that the party planners must give the greatest attention to adjustments affecting the unions. The objective in view should be a maximum of in- dividual members, for affiliated membership at this level creates serious problems in the achievement of unified action. A purely formal affiliation will not suffice. The structure of trade union organization has been deter- mined by job conditions. Riding boundaries have little signi- ficance in trade union affairs. The result is that trade unionists residing and voting in many ridings are now without the machinery. to make their national or provincial affiliation a democratic reality in the riding. The attempt to segregate affliated members from individual members.at the constitu- ency level in order to clarify the rights of affiliation presents unpleasant difficulties. The functions of trade unions must be understood and adjustments made accordingly even if on a temporary basis. It is important to remember that the trade union movement will continue to perform the functions which it has assumed in the past. The opportunity for political expression is in- tended to strengthen its ability to perform these functions. Participation in the New Party will increase the responsibili- ties of the trade unions. A brief examination of such functions will clarify this point. Trade unions exist to secure: Adequate living standards for the workers through collec- tive bargaining. Freedom of association, speech and conscience. The right to strike Adequate protection for bargaining rights, hours of work, safety, and health. (Continued next column) r of age a invited to undertake retraining at a government vocational industry seem headed for lower begin ae es workers regardless fe 00 Protection of the individual worker’s rights and dignity in industry. Participation i in community social progress. Extension of principles of brotherhood among workers internationally. Political action cannot supplant the activities of trade unions in fulfillment of these functions. If these functions were abandoned or obscured, disaster would follow. At pres- ent, the trade unions supply the only shield against capitalist rapacity. If in the formation of the New Party, the importance of trade union functions are recognized and supported, as well as given political expression, the objective of a working-class government becomes realizeable. Publication date of the next issue of the WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER is June 16th. Deadline for ad copy is June Ist, and for news copy June 9th. ® = < 1 } NK es ora canacian a Hy } pase be TWICE MONTHLY ON THE FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAYS BY International Woodworkers of America (AFL-CIO-CLC) Regional Council No. 1 REGIONAL OFFICERS: President Joe Morris Vier Presiden Jack Moors 24 Secretary-Treasurer International-Board Members 2.00 cc-ee--stonnnesnnm . Joe Madden Jack Holst Address all communications to FRED FIEBER, Secretary-Treasurer 2859 eames Drive, Vancouver, B.C. 4-5261 - Subscription Rate is 00 pee annum Advertising Reaentine.. G. Spencer Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post se Dept., Ottawa 27,500 COPIES PRINTED IN THIS ISSUE Workers Strike for Union Conditions TORONTO (CPA) — For the second time in less than a year thousands of construction work- ers have gone on strike in an effort to gain union conditions in Metro Toronto’s house and apart- ment building fields. Their campaign may prod the On- tario government. into imposing new minimum standards governing hun- dreds of contractors in the industry. 10,000 Workers Last summer, about 10,000 house and apartment workers — the ma- jority of them immigrants—were or- ganized in new building trades locals after a three-week work stoppage. But although union contracts were signed, dozens of subcontractors ig- nored many of their provisions. They defaulted on wages or paid less than contract rates, they refused vacation pay and sidestepped hours-of-work clauses. File of Grievances Union spokesmen said they had a file of 1,100 grievances and more were pouring in. They said it would take 15 years to process them through normal arbitration channels. quads of strikers visited big hous- ing and apartment projects within a 30-mile radius of Toronto and tried to persuade other workers to join them. Twenty-six strikers and four contractor representatives were charged in connection with picket line incidents. Instead of urging its member contractors to comply with the of ti agree- ments, the Toronto Metropolitan Home Builders Association called on the federal government to de- port immigrants convicted of in- timidation in the union campaign. Union leaders promptly branded the demand an attempt to terrorize the workers into submission. Mean- time Conservative Labour Minister Charles Daley contributed his own kind of threat. Builders Backed Daley called the work stoppage “obviously illegal” and said he was prepared to “put an end to the if piiders would approach his department. Premier Leslie Frost bypassed his labour minister to summon a meetin of labour leaders and government U.A.W. Back New Party The 65,000-member Canadian Council of the United Automobile Workers of America has endorsed the foreign policy statement re- cently adopted by the National Committee for the New Party. The council’s stand, taken at its quarterly session at the UAW’s $250,- 000 education centre here, stemmed from an effort to prevent any neu- tralist interpretation being placed on earlier foreign policy pronouncements by the union. The delegates thus fav- ored continued membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization so long as it did not become the repository of nuclear weapons. Trade union experience in ORIT, the Western Hemisphere wing of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, had indicated the desirability of a Canadian link to OAS, George Burt, UAW Canadian directors, explained, Burt has rep- resented the Canadian Labour Con- gress at ORIT sessions. officials in an effort to find a new formula for policing the construction industry. o Laws William Jenoves, president of the 120,000-member Toronto and District Labour Council and secretary-treas- urer of the commercial local of the Bricklayers and*Masons International nion, said construction workers would not violate any laws if there were laws to protect them against exploitation. “As long as the contractors were able to exploit these poor unfortunate workers they were considered to be suitable immigrants,” Jenoves de- clared. “But the minute the workers picked up enough courage to fight against exploitation, then this gentle- man (H. P. Hyatt, Home Builders president) thinks they should be de- ported.” : One Solution A long-term solution may be ap- plication of the Industrial Standards Act to the industry, setting minimum rates and working conditions under agreement between responsible em- ployer and employee organizations in the field The new drive for enforcement of union conditions in the house and apartment field has been spearheaded by an alliance of construction unions. The alliance includes the Brandon Hall group which led last year’s walkout and the Toronto Building Trades Council made up of 19 locals covering every trade in the industry. \ bp bb bn bo bo bo bn on These items were gleaned from the files of the B.C. Lumber Worker’s June Ist issue, 1951. Vern Carlyle and Gladys Hill- and, former President and Finan- cial Secretary of Local 1-217, IWA, were scheduled to appear in court charged with stealing $7,000 from the Local's funds dur- ing the 1948 IWA October revo- lution. * * * A public meeting sponsored by the joint labour committee was cancelled because six members of the B.C.’s Coalition party refused to meet with labour in public and discuss the B.C. Hospital Insur- ance Scheme. * * * Local 1-71, IWA, was success- ful in gaining through a Concilia- tion Board award, the Coast wage scale and contract terms for all logging operations of the Colum- bia Cellulose Company, in the Terrace area, * a, * Flagrant disregard of safety measures in the Interior lumber operations is so serious that dras- tic steps on the part of the IWA will be necessary it was reported by District Secretary-Treasurer George Mitchell to the District Executive Board. * * * Moves to wipe out the 20 per- cent surtax on married men with incomes between $2,000 and $3,000 and single incomes between $1,000 and $1,500 were ruled out by the Liberals in the Federal Parliament. Ask a Canadian to name his country’s most important single export and he will likely say wheat. Not so. One of the world’s leading granaries we still may be, but our leading export is newsprint. CARLING'S PILSENER B.C.’s Favorite . because of the taste! 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