Yd al contract talks ach stalemate CALGARY Negotiations for a new wage contract between United ge Workers of America (Independent) unions in British i@mbia and Alberta and the coal mine operators have jhed a temporary statemate. mi Che offer of the coal operators which included a three- i) Per hour wage increase, "7an additional three cents ton payment to the wel- i} and retirement fund, to- Tr with two additional sta- nty holidays with pay, was feted by the coal miners in Bisa vn vote. Mtalled up the coal opera- i offer would approximate “cent per day wage in- Se which the miners voted 7 by a narrow margin. In #rn B.C. and The Crow’s 4 where the largest UMW i exist, the offer was turn- Own by large majorities, wee the: «smaller locals mghout Alberta voted ac- fance, €!mmick in the additional : holidays offered by the Operators was a stipula- F that in order to qualify, €ts must work the two S previous and two days Wing such a_ holiday, h, in the opinion of many q* would disqualify half ( ™embership. al miners in District 18 are UMWA which covers if Sh Columbia and Alberta . had no wage increases Ze 1952, this despite the ‘that cost-of-living indexes climbed rapidly during bast four years, and in , mining towns, excessive- ‘ . tn 1953-54 the UMWA Dis- ft officers signed the exist- y Wage agreement with the ators without any refer- © to the wishes of their g'He alwa te + cake’ her ee me ALUES GALORE at the b’s AN f NUAL SUMMER GS RANCE SALE, Example: Be ane, Flannel, or Wor- 4 Slacks, Reg. value $12.95. bee $9.50 pr., 2 prs. for © our FREE CREDIT plan) “ATO ct 4S EAST HASTINGS ... membership. This fact, coupl- ed with the unsatisfactory of- fer made by the coal operators for this year’s contract has re- sulted in a great deal of rank- and-file dissatisfaction. The coal miners are becoming keen- ly aware that in the metal mining field and in other trades, the wage schedules are considerably higher, in some areas like Kimberley, as much as $3 per day above coal min- ing wage rates. The result is that many experienced coal miners are leaving the indus- try while others are talking about the need of a “new union” to serve their interests. Meantime as a result of the union’s rejection of the coal operators latest offer, it is ex- pected that the UMW district officers will seek for a con- ciliation board to settle the dispute. Co-ops organize B.C. workshops B.C.’s first work shops for Co-op directors will be held next month. The first will be held at Grand Forks on Sep- tember 8 and 9. The second will be held at Smithers on September 11 and 12. The leuder at these educational schools will Be Harold Chap- man, director of the Co-op in- stitute at Saskatoon, Sask. * xi: * Sales made by the B.C. Co- operative Wholesale Society to its members during the first six months of this year show- ed an increase of 41 percent over the corresponding period last year.,. The sales amounted to $1,052,000 as compared with $746,000 last year. x * * Almost $200,000 of fertilizer was sold by the Cooperative Wholesale Society this year to its members. The CWS now has its own Indian Brand fer- tilizer made to its own speci- cations. x * K Thirty-four Canadian Credit Unions took out new loan pro- tection insurance policies with Cuna Mutual during the month of June. Thirty-three of these also took out life savings poli- cies with the same company. Five of these credit unions were new ones organized in B.C., two in Alberta, one in Saskatchewan, and two in Manitoba. P NIZE oO RNEL‘“S OFFEE SHOP 410 Main St. Operated By GEORGE & WINNIFRED GIBBONS TR A CA c ‘LABOR NEWS IN BRIEF *x Three-month layoff at least faces these men at Canada’s biggest farm imple- ment plant — Massey-Harris- Ferguson in Toronto. Of 2,300 employees only 300 will re- main, Interior lumber workers sign two-year contract Northern Interior Lumber- men and International Wood- werkers of America settled contract negotiations this week when both parties accepted a two-year conciliation board wage award of eight cents hourly boost across the board effective September 1 and an- other five cents in September, 1957. IWA president Joe Morris claimed the award, including fringe benefits, totals about 19 cents an hour and reduces the gap between interior and coast wages and conditions. The settlement covers about 4,000 Northern Interior work- crs but negotiations are still continuing for another 4,000 IWA members in the Southern Interior. * * * A wildcat strike of 125 plumbers working on construc- tion of a $78,000,000 pulp mill at Port Alberni, which idled 1,900 men, has ended. The big job came to a dead halt when other construction workers refused to cross the plumbers’ picket line. The plumbers quickly agreed to return to work when wage increase awards were announc- ed Saturday which made Brit- ish Columbia plumbers and pipefitters the highest ‘paid building trades workers, in Canada. The Plumbers and Pipefit- ters Union won a 39-cent pay hike spread over two years. The new wage scale is $2.55 an hour. It will become $2.70 an hour on January 1, 1957, and $2.74 on April 1. * * * International Ladies Garm- ent Workers Union, currently conducting an organizing drive ir Vancouver, announced sign- ing of an interim contract for 100 employees of Aljean Sportswear Ltd. 460 East Hastings, granting statutory holidays, sick benefits and other fringe benefits. Talks ob Wages are proceeding. ILGWU has also signed a four-year pact covering em- ployees of Jantzen of Canada Ltd. * * a B.C. Telephone Company employees, members of B.C. Telephone Workers’ Federa- tion, have won a 13-cent-an- hour wage boost under terms of a new 22-month contract. Seven cents is retroactive to June 1 and another six cents becomes effective June 1, 1957. These increases apply to op- erators. Clerical workers get one percent less. * * * Union label drive-of Amal- gamated Clothing Workers has resulted in an order for 140,000 labels from unionized British Columbia clothing manufac- turers. k + * Signing of a three-year con- tract by U.S. Steelworkers isn’t too popular a move with B.C. August 10, 1956 — union leaders, who think two- year contracts are long enough. “Long-term contracts are not satisfactory for workers in this province, except perhaps in lumbering and pulp and paper industries,” said George Home, B.C. Federation of Labor secretary. “Any union here would be foolish to go for a three-year contract without wage reopen- ing clauses,” said Tom Good- erham, Canadian Labor Con- gress regional director. “T doubt if construction trades would accept longer agreement than they have at present,’ commented Ed Ken: nedy, Building Trades Council secretary. * * * Merger of B.C. Trade Union Congress and B.C. Federation ~ of Labor on October 11 will be. the first provincial amalg- amation m Canada. UT RECTOR RECTOR CIGAR Only Union Made Cigar in Vancouver Hand Rolled Finest in Dutch and Havana Tobacco SOLD AT HOTELS or 214 Union St., Van. SPECIAL REDUCED PRICES For Pacific Tribune Readers CTT Tn tn Pin PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5: