ie Teachers turn down labor tie By a vote of .341 to 256, dele- gates to the B.C. Teachers Federation convention here this week defeated a proposal to restore their ties with organ- ized labor by affiliating’to the Canadian Labor Congress. Following the majority vote for affiliation cast by Vancou- ver elementary teachers last Week, it had been expected that the proposal would win a majority in the convention. Vancouver ‘elementary teach- ers, who last year attended the convention, instructed to vote against affiliation, voted individually this year because their own earlier vote failed to obtain the required two- thirds majority for instruction. Last year Vancouver ,ele- Mentary teachers’ votes were decisive in defeating the motion. This year the decisive votes were cast by Victoria - teachers who attended the con- vention instructed to vote against affiliation because they disapproved of a “grass- hopper” policy of defeating a Motion one year and bringing It up again the next. Delegates from small BCTF locals, who frequently have to battle for salary increases with parish-pump minded _ school boards under the most dis- advantageous conditions, were Openly disappointed «at the outcome of the vote. McEwen to speak Tom McEwen, editor of the Pacific Tribune, will be the S8uest speaker at a Winnipeg May Day banquet to be held in the Ukrainian Labor Temple this Saturday, April 27.) SERS ae Three years ago members of the United Auto Workers’ Ford Local 200 picketed the Ford plant at Windsor with these signs. Now, as lines of laid-off workers lengthen and stockpiles grow, another struggle for the shorter working week is shaping up. : : Windsor has 10,000. jobless auto workers: By WILLIAM ALLAN WINDSOR Things are grim in this town, the one time “auto capital” of Canada. Some 10,000 workers are out of jobs, Windsor City Council has taken action to help the unemployed and organized labor has set up a permanent committee to aid jobless workers. Herb Kelly, Ford UAW Local 200 vice-president, called the situation “rough.” He said Ford has enough blocks, finished and stockpil- ed to last it for the rest of its 1957 production schedule. Ford also has the same stockpile of finished crank shafts and a large stock of completed cylin- der heads. And the only “bright spot” in the future is the start of production for six cylinder engines for the 1958 line. - : Everyone yeu talk to here Maurice Rush, Secretary “MAY DAY GREETINGS To the People of Greater Vancouver UNITE Peace - Security - Canadian Independence GREATER VANCOUVER COMMITTEE LABOR-PROGRESSIVE PARTY Charles Caron, Organizer 503 Ford Building MAY DAY GREETINGS Build LPP-CCF, Farmer-Labor unity for a prosperous B.C., a great and independent Canada, and a peaceful world. B.C.-Yukon Committee, Labor-Progressive Party Vancouver, B.C. in a position to' know says’ the same thing those laid off will not be taken back until late summer, meaning after September 1. The industry-dominated com- mercial papers here like the Windsor Star and Financial Post recently attacked labor spokesmen claiming they were “Blue Gloom Boys.” Now the local papers have nothing to say about the desperate plight of the unemployed. Windsorites hailed the pro- posal of the recent United Auto Workers’ international conven- tion in Atlantic City. setting a four-day week as the per- spective. “This is one of the most important things and biggest things that can be done to relieve the present situation,” Kelly said. “It will help pro- vide more employment at a plant where an assembler now has to have 15 years seniority before he can work.” What is more frightening to Canadian auto workers in Windsor, and in Oshawa, St. Catharines, Oakville and To- ronto, is that these “indefinite” layoffs now being suffered through the auto towns, may become permanent because of automation. The big question here is, can Canandian auto workers wait until next year for the shorter work week? The delegates who took the floor at the At- lantic City convention and said a 1957 program was needed echoed the thoughts of Cana- dian auto workers, | CLC AGENDA Organizing in top spot MONTREAL Organizing the unorganized will occupy a top spot on the agenda of the Canadian Labor Congress’ off-year ‘litle convention.”’ It takes place May 1-3 in Montreal's Mount Royal Hotel, the first meeting of the CLC gen- eral board since the merger convention last year. The board is made up of all top executive council officers and a principal Canadian offi- cer or representative of each affiliated organization. In between regular conven- tions every two years, the board functions in a consulta- tive and advisory capacity. How effective it will be in mapping out the next phase of labor’s job, now the ground- work of merger has been firm- ly established, remains to be seen. An estimated one in four of the work force is organized in Canada. Between 1911 and 1957 membership in unions has jumped over ten times to the 1,500,000 mark today. Over 60 percent of all org- anized workers are concentrat- ed in Ontario and Quebec. If B.C. is included, three out of every four unionists in Can- ada are covered in these three provinces alone. Some industries are more highly organized than others. The transport group has more than 70 percent of its paid workers in unions; so has log- ging. Mining is 55 percent organized. Construction 40 percent; manufacturing 37 percent; public utilities 20 percent and service industries 17 percent. This rundown gives a picture of what may be the most like- ly targets selected for organ- izing drives. Office workers, department store employees, barbers, hotel and restaurant workers, bank and insurance company employees are clearly indicated. Automation with its stress on new skills and the indus- trial demands that come with specialization and speed of economic development have suddenly enlarged what are known broadly as the “ter- tiary” industries. They are the non-goods-producing en- terprises like transport, stor- age, communication, public utility, finance, wholesale and ’ retail trade. In 1946 less than 41 percent of the labor force with jobs were employed in these indus- tries. In 1955 nearly 48 per- cent were so employed. New capital investment, min- ing ventures, are attracting workers demanding organiza- tion in fields where unions have a strong base. Immigrants flowing into in- dustries where there are well- established. unions face em- ployers taking advantage - of their unorganized state and paying low wages. Another field for organizing. Many already - established unions are out in the field and are extremely active, not wait- ing for a green light from the CLC high command. , There are plenty of problems still— raiding, jurisdictional fights, the lack of one union for one industry, but progress is steady and sure. WHITE-COLLAR: The so- called “white-collar” field is occupying the attention of some -120 organizers directed by AFL-CIO director of org- anization John Livingstone. They are bank clerks, sales clerks, secretaries, nurses, engineers, factory administra- tion workers. Only 3 million in a potential 14 million field are organized in the U.S. and the ratio is probably much less in Canada. CLC organizer Russell Har- vey has opened a drive to or- ganize this country’s 6,000 bank workers, with Toronto a con- centration point. Retail, Wholesale and De- partment Stores Union organ- izers are seeking to win 1,000 workers in chains like National Grocers, Dominion Stores, Lob- law’s, Thrifts, in eastern Can- ada. MINERS: Booming uranium fields and iron ore operations have unions in these fields mapping organizating strategy too. Mine-Mill Union has just opened a Winnipeg office as a base for organizing of a new giant nickel industry at Moat Lake in Northern Manitoba, owned by International Nickel. The campaign to organize the uranium workers of the Blind River, Ontario, area is also in full swing as produc- tion advances. PACKING: The country’s largest tobacco companies are facing organization of their packing workers in southwest- ern Ontario. United Packing- house Workers’ Union hopes to sign up 4,000 new members from six major tobacco plants. Some 40,000 others outside the industry are watching the out- come, ready to join other unions as a result of the UPWA drive. The union came in when 400 workers, mostly women, spon- taneously walked out of the Imperial Leaf Tobacco plant in Aylmer. Certification was won by the union. Six UPWA organizers are in the field led by Lloyd Fell. APRIL 26, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 8