bhipyard Unions To F ederate

Returns To Staff

i\Conferenee Acts

Keep Them=
On The Job!

| Do labor unions and labor leaders ‘foment strikes’?
ell that to Ed Simpson, Boilermakers’ Union business
gent, or to any of his union members on the North Shore,
id you'll probably hear the following story—which hap-
wns to be true.

qall cafes which are suffering from a severe shortage of
bor.

One night recently when the shift broke off for lunch
orth Shore men roun the cafes closed because of lack of
aitresses and kitchen help.

In the early hours of the morning, therefore, Ed Simp-
n, Boilermakers’ business agent, was called out of bed
the phone.

“We have no place to eat,” said a perplexed voice at
ec other end of the wire, “and a lot of the boys don’t
tend to go back to work unless they get a meal.”
Simpson said to “hold everything” until he got there.
Shortly afterwards he was going the rounds of the
jes, trying to rout out enough help to prepare a meal
"> the hungry war workers. Finally he found a restaur-

4{t owner who offered to keep his place open, but pro-
ated that both he and his wife had been working since
€ aim. the morning before.
% Ed thought for a moment, and shrugged his shoulders.
®e@ work of a business agent, he figured, was to keep
Ԥ> men happy and on the job!
So when Burrard North workers came in for their
ich, they were surprised to see their union business
Ҥ:nt wiping down tables, taking orders, and dealing them
“}ithe arm” like a professional. And if they had stayed
Bittle later they would have seen him out in the kit-
4, arrayed in a white apron, industriously washing
hes. He finally finished, the story goes, long after
WD.
Actually, Simpson points out, that there is a definite
® blem that must be solved on the North Shore concern-
} canteens for men in the yard. Several nights during
@ past week a similar situation has arisen, many of the
a not returning to work after the lunch period.
“Men of all unions feel that this situation affects pro-
sition, and that Wartime Merchant Shipping should step
@and take action in providing canteens,” is his opinion.

peace comes the shipyard workers
will have their say as to what kind
of a world they will live in, capping
the conference by initiating a move
to set up a B.C. federation of ship-
yard unions.

There was no factionalism, no
petty bickering for position, no
rivalries between differing affilia-
tions. The conference was con-
vened by Boilermakers’ Union
Local No. i, now suspended from
the CCL. Yet it was attended by all
CCL shipyard unions itunctioning
on the Pacifie coast. In addition,
there were delegates present from
the Shipwrights’ local and the Elec-
tricians’ local of the Amalgamated
“Building Workers of Canada in
Vancouver, both of-which are in-
dependent unaffiliated organiza-
tions. he delegates proved equal
to their urgent task, the task of
drawing up an action program to
meet a serious situation.

In his opening address, chairman
William Stewart warned against a
different attitude now being adopt-
ed by the employers towards la-
bor.

“The yital Angus shops, produc-
ing tanks for the offensive, were
closed for a week down in Mont-
real simply because some of the
workers asked a basic scale of 50
eents an hour,’ he said. “At the
Same time, Vancouver shipyard op-
erators, when faced with sitdowns,
are taking the attitude ‘et the men
go on strike if they think it will
do them any good’.

“A few short months ago it was
‘everything for production’. Now
we see deliberate provocation.

“Fvidently the Canadian Man-
ufacturers’ Association believes
the war is already won and ship-
building will be curtailed. But
the main reason is that they want
to smash the Canadian trade
union movement, not by open at-
tack, but by discrediting it
through provocation”.

Delegates were unanimous that

pnhus. Index Don’t
gree. Says Council

(jabor intends to take immediate action unless the federal
mment moves at once to adjust the “present inequitable
fons regarding the cost-of-living and the cost-of-living
§. This decision was made at the regular meeting of Van-
© Trades Council Tuesday|bers of his union are receiving
, only 72 cents an hour for highly
Qvery meeting held by the| skilled work, and asked the Coun-
Bil during the past months|cil to support their struggle to
ites haye emphasized the high | bring their wages up to those re-
fliving, contradictions in the| ceived by skilled men in other
ure of the cost of living index, industries.
fe government's apparent in-| ton George M. Weir received
( to do anything to improve| the endorsement of delegates for
tuation. Once more the ques-|the position of president of the
lared into the limelight, when | (University of British Columbia.
S. T. Wyburn, Street Railway-
men’s Union, said: “Several nomin-
ations for the position have been
made which in my opinion would
not be good for the youth of the
province or the workers. It is time
labor had some say in the appoint-
Council also supported the ment of the university president.

erhood of Railway Carmen in Other delegates agreed that Dr.
demand for an increase of 23| Weir “apparently had the best in-

an hour. Delegate Sam| terests of labor at heart, and would
ff of the Carmen said mem-| be the best man for the job.”

‘WdS Unanimously passed.

#1 AFL and CIO unions in the
81 States were taking united
{to balance wages and living
_ Carlisle pointed out in
bing to the question.

the “main «source of discontent
making such provocation possible
is the cut in real wages suffered
by shipyard workers since the out-
break of the war. This cut is due
to faulty methods of calculating
the cost of living bonus, to increas-
ingly heavy taxation, to the levying
of taxes to the bonus and on over-
time pay. An estimated 30 percent
cut in real wages hits all cate-
gories of men employed.

The conference therefore plan-
ned to enlist the support of labor
and consumer organizations
throughout Canada in a vigorous
campaign to roll back prices, to
have the government reduce the
cost of living by enforcing price
reductions. In this way all groups
of workers are benefitted. Failing
such action, the government will
be pressed for a general wage
increase all along the line.
Production problems came in for
heavy discussion, The institution
of genuine labor-management pro-
duction committees in all yards,
and the eventual setting up of an
industry council to deal with prob-
lems common to Vancouver, Vic-
toria, and Prince Rupert was de-
manded.

The delegates went a step fur-
ther. They felt many of the diffi-
eulties blocking labor-management
cooperation in production would
be overcome by the introduction of

For Labor Unity

By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH

British Columbia’s shipyard unions have grown up. Thirty
delegates from eleven shipyard unions in Vancouver, Victoria,
and Prince Rupert met in a three-day conference in Vancouver
this week. Together they smoothly and efficiently worked out
a detailed program to safeguard the day to day interests of
the worker on the job, to win the war, and to assure that when

is not to be confused with piece-
work. Delegate;Charles Sounders,
of the Dock and Shipyard Workers’
Union pointed out tnat it now
takes only sixty days, instead of
180, to launch a ship.

“There has been no acknowledge-
ment in pay of the increase in
productivity of the worker. In-
centive pay means that if you cut
five days off launching time each
worker would be rewarded. No in-
dividual speed-up is implied what-
soever. For example, think of the
different attitude that would pre-
vail on the question of supply.
With this system we can cut ten
days off launching time”.

And the conference unanimously
demanded that incentive pay be
instituted.

Post-war problems were well and
thoroughly covered. Malcolm Mac-
Leod of the Boilermakers’ Union
Local No. i pointed out “we have
20,000 shipyard workers who may
be tumbled into an entirely new
phase of life within perhaps five
or ten months. We must have a
program ready”.

The delegates feit the most
sure way of dealing with the
post-war period was to be sol-
idly organized and united. They
had already decided to set up a
bureau for the purpose of col-
lecting and making available to
all unions information on wage-
rates and eonditions in each
yard. They now considered the
question of setting up a perman-
ent federation of shipyard unions.
This idea met with solid ap-
proval, from Vancouver, from
Victoria, and from Prince Rupert.
“Why shouldn’t we have our Fed-
eration? The operators haye one,”
queried one delegate.

“Events are moving very rapid-
ly—time is not on our side”, said
delegate Lawrence Anderson of the
Amalgamated Building Workers.
“This conference has been good
for all our unions. We must con-
tinue the work we have here be-
gun. We are always meeting ques-
tions affecting all the unions. If
only one union speaks, out of the
thirteen existing, then that union
will easily be slighted by the man-
agement. The workers realize to-
day that they must speak with one
voice if they are to be heard in
the post-war period”.

“Why should the shipbuilding in-
dustry vanish after the war?” quer-
ied another delegate. “We can take
action to see that it does not van-
ish.” All delegates agreed on the
principle of a Federation of ship-
yard unions on the Pacific Coast
and are referring the question to
the membership of their unions.

A continuation committee was
set up to act as a bureau of in-
formation regarding conditions
in various yards, with a view
to stimulating uniform action, to
Prepare immediately a post-war
program, to deal with other ques-
tions assigned to it by the con-
ference, and to convene another
conference of shipyard unions
within a period of two months.
William Stewart and Tom Mac-
kenzie who acted as chairman and
secretary respectively of the con-
ference, will continue as chairman
and secretary of the continuations
committee. Other members of the
committee are Wm. Creak, J. E.
MeEachrem, Chas. Saunders, Mal-
colm MacLeod, G Edwards and

After a six months leave of
absence from the staff of The
People, part of which time he
toured Alaska gathering ma-
terial for a book on the
Alaska Highway and the €a-
nadian north, Hal Griffin will
return next week to his posi-
tion as editor of the paper.
The book, now completed,
will be published some time
this fall by W. W. Norton.

During Griffin’s absence,
the post of acting editor was
filled by Al Parkin, who will
remain on The People statf
as managing editor.

Unionists
To Meet

With MP’
Members of all TWA locals in the
proyince will interview their rep-
resentatives in the federal and
provincial houses on specific ques-
tions relating to labor during an
IWA Political Action Week, it was
decided at this week’s meeting of.
the BC District Council executive
board.

Throughout the week to be chos-
en union members will hold “get-
together” meetings with their par-
liamentary representatives to seek
their opinion on enactment of fed-
eral compulsory bargaining legisla-
tion and their attitude toward the
lumber operators’ refusal to deal
with the TWA in the Queen Char-
lottte Islands dispute.

The executive board endorsed
the apointment of their district
president, H. J. Prichett, as one
of the vice-presidents of the Van-
couver Welfare Federation along
with Birt Showler, president of
the Trades and Labor Council, E.
E. Leary of the Vancouver Labor
Council, and William Stewart of
the Boilermakers Union.

Also endorsed was [WA Local
1-7i’s demand for an immediate
conducting of a strike vote among
loggers in the Queen Charlotte Is-
lands. E. Dalskog, local secretary,
has wired the minister of labor at
Ottawa requesting action on the
matter.

a system of incentive pay, which

A. E. Jamieson.

me 0%,