Immigrants get

sub-union wage

By MAR

K FRANK ©
TORONTO

A. Canadian company, R. F. Welch’ Ltd., is bringing boatloads ot
Italian immigrants to Canada to work for the Canadian National. Rail-
ways on track-laying or maintenance of way work at 38 cents an hour

below the going contract between

the CNR and the unions.

The arrival of new workers is taking place while the rail lines
are laying off workers owing to decreased traffic on the roads.

Talks with immigrants who have
worked for the company and a
‘Hamilton trade union organizer
who went on one of the jobs to or-
ganize the immigrants, showed
they were receiving 90 cents ,an
hour, instead of the $1.28 an hour
provided in CNR-union contracts.

CNR foremen boss the jobs which |

are contracted for by the R. F.
Welch Company. The company
maintains offices in Italy, Halifax,
and Union Station, Toronto, to
process the wave of immigrants.

Head offices of the Welch com-
pany are in Port Arthur, Trade
Minister C. D. Howe’s home con-
stituency. It operates its branch
office in Toronto Union Station at
Room B-17, the Department of Citi-
zenship and Immigration office, Im-
migration Branch. The company
was incorporated in 1949 and set
up its Union Station office in 1952.

(Ottawa announced May 19 that
immigration was up 23 percent for
the first quarter of 1954 compared
to the year earlier. Of the total
28,223 arriving, the biggest portion
from countries other than Britain,
U.S. or North Europe were Italian
immigrants—6,156 compared to 2,.-
- 972 in 1953. Both CCL and TLC
leaders have demanded a halt in
immigration owing to the serious
unemployment situation in Can-
ada.) ; .

An official at Welch’s Toronto
office confirmed that the company
employed immigrants ‘as track lab-
orers’ “exclusively for the CNR”
lines. Asked what type of immi-
grants were being brought in the
answer was, “Mainly Italian, Greek
and this year Portuguese.”

The office manager would not

reveal how many had been brought
' to Canada. Full information and
all records were in the hands of A.
A. Moffatt, general manager and
director of the company: at Port
Arthur, he said.

“What are the conditions under
which they were brought in?” he
was asked.

“J can’t answer that—you’ll have
to talk to the head office,” he re-
plied. : :

A visit to the Union Station of-|-

fice revealed a line-up of some}of beach, plus a swimming pool,

dozen newly-arrived immigrants
seeking jobs. On the door was a
sign “No Help Wanted.”

One of them told how in Italy

| they had. been informed there
were “lots of jobs in Canada.”
We came to Canada, but “‘no’
job,” the immigrant said, point-
ing out he had been without
| work now for five months.. They
| were embittered about it all say-
ing that wherever they went
looking for a job “rich men tell
us no job.” They wanted to
know why this was so.

Some of the men shrugged their
shoulders and said “Male, Male”—
very bad. They came from points
in Italy like Candenzar in Calabria
province and Prosenone in Abruzzi.

Notorious among Canadian-born
and newly-arrived immigrant work-
ers as a “cheap outfit,” the Welch
Company not only trafficks in im-
migrant labor below union contract
levels. It overcharges its workers
for board or transportation.

Discussions with the immigrants
revealed that the Welch Company
paid their passage out from over-
seas and then-docked the amount
regularly off their wages,

By the time the Passage is paid,
the immigrants are so fed up with
the conditions of work, inadequate
food, and sleeping conditions that
they quit and a new gang is
brought in to replace them.

The view jheld by those who
work on the. projects’ is that the
company pockets the difference
between the 90 cents an hour paid
the men and the $1.28 the CNR
allows to work under union con-
tract.

It’s Boundary Bay
this Canada Day

A Canada Day “family picnic”
will be held July 1 at Beach Grove,
near Boundary Bay, under auspices
of the Labor-Progressive party.

Bus transportation will be avail-
able from Vancouver, and all Low-
er Mainland points are expected to
participate in the gala affair. A
concert and sports program is be-
ing arranged. s
Beach Grove has a long stretch

tennis courts and other facilities,
including a refreshment booth. The

grounds are also next door to a golf
course.

7

A vast slum clearance

Drive and Burrard Inlet. .

areas to substandard housing in
the Burrard district.

The report points to the tre-
mendous fire hazard. “The great

are old buildings of frame con-
struction with electric wiring
which would not conform to pre-
sent-day bylaw standards. With so
many rooms heated individually
by stoves and with gas cooking in
livingrooms, the risk of fire must

be gutted very quickly. |

“The danger “appears to be
Particularly great in the older
two and three storey tenements
to the south of False Creek
which unfortunately contain a
high proportion of children.”
The .report says that 60 percent
of the suites surveyed were heated
by individual wood and coal or
sawdust stoves. Only 27 percent
had central heating. A few were
heated by gas plate only.
Lack of playgrounds was also
condemned in the report: —
“One of the worst features of the
area is the almost total lack of

private or public play space for

Fishermen prepare for strike
as operators block negotiations

Immediate eleetion of strike

proposals “before further progress

“This attitude brings ‘to our
minds the policy of negotiation by
ultimatum which led to so much

trouble in 1952,” said the letter. |

“Furthermore, it is indirect con-
tradiction to the stated intention
‘of your association for speedy
negotiations. : ‘

“Our joint committee has re-
viewed the current negotiations
and we wish to review them briefly
here in order that there can be no
misunderstanding as to our inten-
tions. :

“1—Our committee asked for a
meeting in April and it was held
April 30. We presented our pro-
posals for the 1954 salmon price
agreement and the various mem-
orandums and supplements.

committees and

.

could be made’ on prices.”
i

: Preparations for stri
to all locals of United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union

B.C. this week by the joint salmon price negotiating committee
_ The UFAWU, Native Brotherhood and Fishing Vessel Owners’
the Fisheries Association denouncing a company demand that fisher

ke action is urged in a letter sent

and branches of the Native Brotherhood of

Association jointly signed a letter to
men must abandon several of their

“2—Your bargaining committee
replied to our proposals on May 12
j;and presented a counter-proposal.
_ “3-——On May 14 we informed your
lcommittee that your counter-pro-
posals were unacceptable and were
lfar from forming a basis for a
' settlement.

“4—-On May 21 your committee
presented a new proposal in which
you increased your offer on sock-
eye by one-half cent per pound, on
cohoe by one-half cent, on summer
chums by one-quarter cent, and you
made an offer on fall chum prices.
After an adjournment, our com-
mittee presented a new proposal
which provided a reduction of one-
half cent per pound on cohoe, one-

quarter cent on pinks, one-quarter
cent on summer and fall chums
(except fall chums in the John-
stone Straits and Fraser River
area.)

“S—At this point, after our joint
committee had presented a reduc-

ed that there could be no further
progress unless we drop some of
our proposals.

“Progress halted right then and
there because we are not inclined
to accept dictation in negotiations.
We are ready and willing at any
time to resume negotiations
(where) we will continue with such

proposals as we consider neces-
Sary.” \

j

children living in shared accommodation i

Majority of the rooming houses:

be very real, and once a fire start-:
ed most of these buildings would

ed price proposal, we were inform-|

Housing conditions like this are common near False Creek.

Cc F i fy
reeping siums snow
ity’ housing need >

SS ae

program and construction of low rental housing is the only solution *
Vancouver’s growing slum Menace, Vancouver Housing Association says in a survey of families w!

n the area bounded by Burrard Street, Broadway, Commerci@

In the past two years there has been an exodus of families from the city’s “traditional” slum

smaller children. Less than a quar-
ter of the families had- the use
either of a back yard or a public

j with about 19 other rooms.

small children occupy one room,
Sharing one bath and two toilets
Rent

playground within a quarter mile|$44 a month.

of their home.

“This means that the mother has
the alternative of either keeping
her children cooped up in one or
two rooms during most of the day
or of taking the chance of allow-
ing them to play on the heavy traf-

fie streets which characterize this
area.”

Some 45,000 persons live in the
congested area. Many families
have moved from downtown slums
“to substandard housing in the out-
er distriets, where cheap accom-
modation in the shape of basement
suites and housekeeping rooms has
become available through the
spread of multiple occupancy uses
and the illegal conversion of single
family. homes.” :

The average size of family was
3.6 persons, and they occupied an
average of 2.5 rooms, or not far
short .of one and one-half persons
per room, although “the Census
Standard of crowding is one per-
son per room,”

Adding that 11 percent of fam-
ilies occupied only one room for
all, living purposes, - the report
says that “when it is remembered
that the majority of these rooms
are small and serve as_ kitchen,
living and_ utility room, and in
many cases as a bedroom as well,
the degree of crowding will be ap-
preciated.” ie

Here are some typical examples
contained in the report:

@ Husband and wife and two
young children occupy one room,
Paying, $32 a month.

® Woman with three teen-age
daughters and a boy of 10 occupy
three Tooms. There is no sink on
their floor. The bath and toilet

|are shared by 16 people. Rent $65

a month.

“@® Woman and. son, aged 14,
Occupy: One room, under 100 square
feet in area. Rent $39 a month.

® Three families with three,
three and four children, respec-
tively, each live in two rooms in
a tenament, sharing one sink on
a dark landing and one bath with
eight other suites. Building re-
ported as damp and verminous.

@ Husband and wife and two

@ Husband and wife and tw?
daughters, aged 15 and 17, occupy
two rooms divided by a pa
They have no private sink a
share one bath and two toilets with
about 15 other roomers. :

“The effect on family life of li
ing at such close quarters, Pa
ticularly where thete are no f&
creational facilities outside the
home, needs no emphasis,” says the
report . “The friction involved 1#
the common use of essential plumb.
ing facilities by large numbers
persons are varying pena
habits, particularly where childre
are involved, is another obviou®
source of stress.and strain for
housewife.”

Of tenants interviewed, 16 pet
cent had incomes under $1,

a year and 25 percent had ifr
comes between $1,000 and $1,500.
Some 16 percent were receiving
Social Allowances and a furthe,
small percentage were depende”
on a small pension of one S$?

or another. Rents paid “were
often out of all proportion f?
their income.”

A woman and child of 10 rere

ing $69.50 in Social and Family
lowances paid $34 rent for ms
room, A woman and child recé i.
ing $67.50 paid $30 rent, exclue
ing heat. bade 4
“There is little encourageme?”
for women living in such circur
stances to keep to the straight 3%
narrow path,” notes the repor fe

Conclusion drawn from the SY

vey is that many of the buildi
should come down, and that ab
community has an obligation to © ri
that these families are enabled i
rent decent accommodation wi
in their means.”

Little Mountain housing nee
ject is called “a start in f ;
direction” but the report stress®
that “more moderate and !oW
rental housing will have 1°
provided, whether
authorities or by private limit
dividend corporations, before be
families with children cam ¥"
moved from the slums in be
too many are living today.’

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 4, 1954 — PAGE 1!

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