Kootenay labor elects delegates-.. CRANBROOK, B.C.—Dele- Fates to East Kootenay Labor Coumcil at a recent meeting here elected Sam _ English, Michel-Natal, United Mine Work- ery delegate, as president for the forthcoming year. Ted Johanson, Kimberley, Mine, Mill and Smelt- & Workers, was elected as vice- president; Mark Kennedy, Cran- rook, International Woodworkers, as secretary-treasurer, and Ray Krellaw, Cranbrook, International Woodworkers as recording secre- tary. A committee, members of which are Charles Saunders, Doug Gold and Mark Kennedy, was instruct- ed to draw up a letter in reply: to Finance Minister Herbert Ans- comb’s statements ruling out amendment of ‘Bill 39, informing him of labor’s attitude towards that Bill. ; Each affiliated local was asked to appoint a member to. work}: with CCL organizer Percy Law- son to organize all unorganized sroups in the Kootenays. The council also went on rec- ord in support of the United Mine Workers’ “no contract, no work” policy and pledged its sup- port “in every way possible.” CCL wage body to meet in Toronto OTTAWA—First session of the 1948 National Wage Co-ordinating Committee has been called for February 18 in Toronto. The meeting will precede the annual convention of the Ontario Federa- tion of Labor which is slated for February 20 and 21. Main purpose of the meeting is to eanvas the general wage out- look for 1948 with a view to co- ordinating activities of the Con- gress unions. Already a number of GCL unions have held dis- trict conventions at which pre- liminary wage plans have been . framed. In some instances ‘unions are avoiding specific demands until it can be determined whether price increases are to continue. It is thus apparent that prices as well as wages will form an important topic at the Toronto meeting. Ichi Drippe Mes tn ¥RIDAY, FEBRUARY 7%, how Pritchett scores bosses’ smear - Campaign in radio broadcast The concerted attacks of big business against organized labor, which they clumsily seek to cover up behind a smokescreen of red-baiting is primarily aimed at the destruction During recent weeks this attack has been stepped-up in the propagandists of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, of the trade union movement. daily press and by the hired and aimed primarily against the International Woodworkers of America and the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (CIO). In a radio broadcast over station OKWX on February 11, Harold Pritchett, District President of the the IWA and Secretary of the B.C. Federation of Labor replied to the instigators of these at- tacks. While his broadcast was ‘beamed’ to TWA members, it is of prime interest to all trade unionists in B.C. Space does not permit publication of the full text, put the main excerpts are given. -“Ordinarily, in a broadcast of this kind I would not have the occasion to speak on an inner- union problem or anything other than those things relating to ques- tions which the public might be interested in. However, 1 find it necessary tonight to deal just briefly with one or two questions affecting our union’s current elec- | tions for District Officers. I am compelled to do this because dur- ing the past few weeks a number of mis-leading charges, some of them outright slander, have been directed against myself and other leading officers of the IWA in BC. Certainly the present elev- tions for IWA District Officers should not be the occasion for a personal campaign by any of the candidates, and the issue should be decided by the rank-and-file members on the basis of whose program will best advance the Union. That is good trade union practice, and has been adhered to in all past elections. But when the boss-lumber men begin offering IWA members a lot of free advice on how to run : the union, and accomany it with red-baiting attacks on the dis- trict leadership, and when these same bosses openly mame the people they would like to see elected to lead the Union, then 1t ig time to sound a warning to the entire membership. For this 1s no ordinary election. The bosses are using it as a screen for an attack upon the entire IWA. ‘And, unfortunately, a smali group of IWA, members have allowed themselves to become a part OL the whole bosses’ line in carrying by Yeomen Ca al ‘arbousectstatede iele Mectbase * Soko Se ; HAROLD PRITCHETT Secretary, B.C. Federation of Labor through their fight for election to the District Office. Any mem- ber is, of course, entitled to cam- paign for office, but these people, our so-called opponents, have re- sorted to use of the radio—not to put forward a policy and a pro- gram—but to drag in the cheap tactic of the red bogey, and to attack the personal integrity of myself and other leading IWA members. They have made false charges of “political control of unions.” They have even gone so far as to insinuate—with the entire public listening in via tne radio—that union funds have been mis-handled,. Such actions have to be chal- lenged. These things are danger- ous enough to the Union, if omy because these members have violat- ed their oath of office wherein they swear not to divulge inner- union affairs to the employer. But what is even more danger- ous, these so-called candidates for the District Office, whether they realize it or not, are fitting themselves very neatly into the larger scheme of the bosses which aims at smashing the Union. That’s a strong statement, so let’s look for a moment at the evid- ence. Ever since the TWA Conven- tion in January, every agency and spokesman for the lumber bosses have been voicing threats against the Union. The Van- couver Sun started it with an editorial attack on our Comnven- tion program, not forgetting to inject a little red-baiting. Then Thomas Braidwood, past Presi-_ dent of the Vancouver Board of Trade, took to the radio to ad- vise IWA members to get rid of their present leadership, as aia Bob Morrison, radio spokesman for Stuart Research Service Limited. Walter Owen, K.C.; a lawyer for many big corporations then made a speech attacking a number of trade umion leaders whose “crime,” in the eyes of Owen and his friends, lies in the fact that they have led their unions to victories for higher wages and shorter hours. Finally, the: Vancouver Daily Province ran a series of six front page articles attacking the IWA lead- ership and strongly hinting they should be replaced, presumably with “leaders” approved by the Provinces publisher. Now every woodworker knows that these big business spokesmen hate unions of any description. And very few woodworkers will be fooled by these attacks on the Union, because experience has shown that when a_ boss dis- -|gpproves the policies of a union Yeadership, it is an absolutely cer- tain bet those policies are good for the workers. Apparently this simple fact is not understood by those few IWA members now campaigning for office on the air. Otherwise they would not have repeated the cheap red-baiting accusations which have become the stock-in-trade of the big business everywhere, or made insinuations about finances which is an anti-union trick. Bob Morrison, who speaks every week for the lumber operators, discussed the IWA District Con- vention Program a few weeks ago and openly mentioned the names of my so-called opponents’ favor- ably in connection with the Dis- trict elections. So did Braidwood of the Board of Trade. Last week ‘the Daily Province made it quite plain that these candidates I have been mentioning were running on the so-called “anti-red” ticket and: would make good IWA District leaders! The fact is that the organized woodworkers in B.C. face a criti- cal twelve months. We-have to win substantial wage increases, roll back prices, obtain a greater union security, and defeat the bosses’ attacks. And it stands to reason that these things can only be done if the IWA membership faces the job united, as we were in past years. The statements that have been made over the radio and in the press, both by spokesmen of the operators ana by this handful of IWA members I have mentioned are aimed at sow- ing suspicion and dis-unity among our members, and pose a real danger to our union in the months ahead. I can only urge that any member who has been tempted to give support to this kind of dis- ruption should re-consider his or her position before further damage is done to our great Union. Well, now comes the Abbott- Austerity Plan. In éssence, this Plan aims at speeding up the pro- cess of diverting ‘more and more of our national wealth into hands of fewer and fewer owners of in- dustry. That’s why. our IWA Dis- trict Convention sounded a warn- ing against it and expressed op- position to its ifnplementation. We said then that the Abbott Plan meant a policy of uncontrolled profits and prices, restricted con- sumption, and lowered living stan- dards at home, and complete re- liance on hoped-for-crumbs from the American-controlled Marshal! Plan te furnish markets abroau. We said that the price of this policy will inevitably be not only a drastic decline of Canadian in- dustry and increase in unemploy- ment, but also Canada’s economic subservance to the United States and a turning back the clock of industrial development in Canada. I regret very much to report tonight that this is actually taking place in many parts of Canada. Today. I have just received a re- jport from the CIO United Elec- trical Radio and Machine Workers Union ‘in Ontario. Their records show that as a direct result of the Abbott Austerity Plan, hundreds of workers in electrical plants in Canada have already been laid off, and thousands are due to get the axe. Just the: other night at the Vancouver Labor Council meet- ing, Pen Baskin, organizer of the United Steel Workers Union, told delegates that as a result of Finance Minister Abbott’s new economic program, workers In the Vancouyer plant of American Can have. been laid off indefinitely be- cause Canadian fish is no longer being canned in B.C., but is being sent across to-the United States Unions hit new peak TORONTO — Canada’s union membership is nearing the million . mark, with one out of every four workers holding a union card. When the war ended in 1945, combined strength of Canadian labor groups was 711,117 members. By the end of 1946 it had reached 831,697. Though official figures for 1947 have not yet been published, estimates place present member- ship at approximately 900,000, Of the total, 370,000 are affiliated to the Trades and Labor Congress, parent body of AFL unions. The Canadian Congress of Labor, CIO parent body, is close behind with 360,000 members, followed by the Catholic Syndicates with about 70,000 and the independent rail- way brotherhoods with 37,000. Un- affiliated unions make up the bal- ance, Canada film taboo OTTAWA—A highly placed US. movie czar has turned ‘thumbs- down on the most recent Canada Carries On film entitled “Eyes on Canada.” . Now showing in Canada on commercial screens the film was scheduled for. release to American movie-houses through Paramount. A rush screening by a No. 1 movie mogul south of the border gives the film the order of the boot in the U.S. It is reported the film will not be shown to our neighbors because it deals to some extent with the effects US. capital has on Canadian inde- pendence. Theme of the picture deals with the need for Canada developing a one-world concept of trade and relations on UN lines. Canadian subservience to the U.S. is frown- ed upon and the casting of the US. in the role of a giant over- shadowing Canada as a nation do not make for a good film release in the U.S. according to the com- manding staffs of the movieland. Officials of the National Film Board deny the film has been sup- pressed in the U.S. : ‘Curb®the profiteers’ OTTAWA—Labor leaders here are charging that the government’s | Price Committee, set up to quiet the mounting cry for price con- trols, shows no signs of bringing relief _to the people. The committee’s power is limited to calling and questioning witness- rich-quick combines that need to be chgskea” in a raw state to be processed. In addition, three hundred labellers employed the year round have been laid off. In our own industry the inevitable result of the Abbott Plan will be the exporting of logs to the United States in a. greater volume than ever before, which means the B.C. sawmill workers © will have, less work: E ‘Here then in everyday terms of jobs for Canadian workers are some of the reasons why our IWA opposed and will con- — tinue to oppose any federal gov- ernment program which tends to send living costs away out of con- trol, and rob the great mass of the people of the biggest part of their purchasing power. It doesn’t — take many months of that kind of economic tinkering before yon ~ have restricted production, wh unemployment and lower incomes for the workers, as well as re- duced living standards all around — follow.” JOHNSON HIGH QUALITY LOGGERS AND WORK BOOTS HAND- ‘§$ BOOTS 63 WestCordovaStreet - - - - - - - - Phone MArine 2612 _ ‘ : Pay oo MADE PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3 ¥ 2AM SNE NS IANS EI TINE RA NIN PEPER SUSI TES Ss mea aaa a