THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER #4 U.S. COURT REJECTS IWA VETERANS' CLAIMS PORTLAND, Ore.—Claims by eight veterans that holiday and vacation pay provisions in IWA contracts covered their time in military service have been rejected in U.S. District Court. District Judge Gus J. Solo- mon ruled against the mem- bers of IWA Local 3-140, in a suit brought on their behalf by the Department of Justice against U.S. Plywood-Cham- pion Papers and International Paper Company. The Department of Labor said no decision has been made on whether the District Court decision will be ap- pealed to a higher court. How- ever, the department’s region- al director said a notice of appeal may be filed pending outcome of the appeal in a similar case against Missouri Pacific Railroad. President Charles D. Letts of Local 3-140, Reedsport, Ore., reported the court deci- sion in the re-employment rights case, which was taken to court by the local union and has been watched with great interest by the IWA and other unions. : The eight IWA members re- turned to their jobs after military service under terms of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, ‘which provides that a return- ing serviceman must be re- stored to his former position “or to a position of like senior- ity, status and pay.” Judge Solomon’s decision states in part: FEDERATION DEMANDS B.C.H.I. TAKE OVER SERVICE Integration of ambulance services with the B.C. Hos- pital Insurance scheme was recommended at the annual convention of the British Columbia Federation of Labour. The proposal was made in a report of the Federation’s municipal affairs committee. “The present method of municipalities subsidizing am- bulances does nothing to establish standards of service or equipment,” the report said. shirking its responsibility to the people in this province. The Federation must, therefore, continue to demand of the B.C. government that ambulance services become a part of the provincial hospital insurance scheme.” “The plaintiff's claim that they are entitled to vacation pay for the year they return- ed from the Armed Forces. They also claim holiday pay for the paid holidays occur- ring during the first six months of their absences in military service. “The collective bargaining agreements provided that to receive any vacation pay an employee must have worked at least 640 hours during the preceding vacation base year. “The agreements - granted holiday pay for six months to an employee who was absent because of an industrial acci- dent and who met certain work requirements, which the plaintiffs agree they did not meet. They also agree that they did not meet the work re- quirements for vacation pay.” Judge Solomon said he agreed with the decision in another similar case in which “returning veterans did not meet work requirements for vacation benefits under the collective bargaining agree- ment. The Court held that since the right to vacation pay did not arise unless the em- ployee actually worked, it was not a perquisite of seniority.” “Since both vacation and holiday pay are conditioned on work performed, and since there is no claim that this con- dition is a sham, J find that the plaintiffs are not entitled to the benefits,” the judge ruled. —International Woodworker “This government is BRITISH NURSES CHARTER LONDON (CPA) — A 12- point charter to provide bet- ter working conditions for nurses has been launched by the National Union of Public Employees. The 12 points are: a 38-hour working week; adequate no- tice of off-duty time; end of petty discipline and _ restric- tions; payment for all over- time; free meals on duty; a right to live outside the hospi- tal; abolition of split shifts; improved training arrange- of these -points. As pay in- creases ranging from nine to 14 percent were recently won the union believes that the main effort should now be to improve working conditions, CGE Ee EE IT’S A FACT The main trouble with teen- agers these days is not so much keeping them apart as telling them apart. IWA BOOK REVIEW CANADIAN LABOUR IN POLITICS By GAD HOROWITZ University of Toronto Press, 273 pages, $7.50 For anyone interested in third party politics and espe- cially those in the labour movement, the old CCF or the New Democratic Party, this story should be both fas- cinating and revealing. Gad Horowitz is a Winni- pegger, now an associate pro- fessor at Erindale College and in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Toronto. He has done a pain- staking job of going through a mass of trade union and party minutes and records and conversing with leaders of both groups. He has writ- ten a lively,. objective, but not flawless, account. ROLLER COASTER Trade union involvement in politics has had some of the elements of a roller coaster ride in slow motion. The author goes back to the policy statement of the Trades and Labor: Congress of 1883 which stated that workers should be represent- ed in parliament by “men of their class,” and the first elec- tion of independent labor members of parliament—both presidents of the TLC, Ralph Smith in 1900 and Alphonse Verville in 1906. But the political action of the TLC was not very effec- tive and the author uses only half a dozen pages to take ‘care of it. The TLC’s political position was split up among those like Tom Moore and Paddy Dra- per who leaned to an AFL- Gompers policy, those who were influenced by (but not committed to) the TUC rela- tionship with the British La- bor Party, and a small Com- munist faction which bedevil- led intra-union, inter-union and labor political action for a period of years. CHIPS DOWN When the chips were down in 1943-45, both the right wing leadership and the Com- munist faction backed the Liberals, which again proves that politics makes strange bedfellows. The political pot for labor didn’t really begin to boil un- til the CIO was brought into Canada, and became a train- ing ground for trade union leaders, many of whom were already activists identified with the new political party in Canada — the CCF. Starting with the late thir- ties a lot of new names come HANEY BUSINESS GUIDE ESQUIRE MEN‘S WEAR (Graham Mowatt) Complete Stock of Work and Dress Clothing “THE STORE WITH THE POPULAR BRANDS” HANEY BRITISH COLUMBIA into the picture, most notable of them being Charles Millard who was the first president of UAW Local 222 in Oshawa. Millard was soon replaced by George Burt, but he went on to become Canadian Director of the Steelworkers Union in Canada while Burt took over the leadership of the UAW in this country. Millard’s leader- ship of the Steelworkers’ un- ion and the role of those sur- rounding him in providing militant union and _ political action is worth a book by it- self. UNION RECORDS Professor Horowitz obvious- ly had access to political party and trade union records which had not before been made public. He delves into story after story showing the interplay of forces in pre-CCF days, with- in the CCF and then the NDP, in the TLC, the CCL, then the CLC, OFL and other Federations as they affected political action. Some of his accounts will be new to all except a few who were on the inside of the infighting, others will bring back memories to many who were on the out- side looking in, and everyone will likely find that the build- ing of a party backed by labor involves more human interest aspects and conflicts than most people imagine. TACIT SUPPORT Unions by and large do not pour men and money into the party. Some people in, includ- ing leaders of, unions strong- ly favour and actively support political action, some give only tacit support because it is official CLC policy, many do neither. But Horowitz writes about the activists, the minority who “carry the ball.” They are the ones who have been making history and it was never easy. A few of the many accounts deserve special mention—the fight to rid the labor move- ment of communist influence EASE SLANT BSE | BROADWAY PRINTERS LIMITED printers and lithographers since 1911 115 EAST 8th AVENUE VANCOUVER 10, B.C. Telephone 876-210! and its effect on party sup- port, the Millard-Conroy feud, the role of George Burt and the UAW, the strategies of the CCF and NDP leadership, particularly David Lewis, now NDP leader in the House of ‘Commons, Jodoin’s rise to the CLC presidency and “CCF strategy in the merger,” the decline of the CCF and the rise of the NDP, the CCF — trade union dialogue in the New Party launching. The author documents his account very. well but some of his emvhases can be fault- ed. The M.A. thesis by Myrtle Armstrong on union influence in the CCF up to 1959 is ques- tionable as a reliable source, but then the professor uses excerpts here. and there from - a variety of sources which lend interest to his total story. -The book contains many re- ferences to the Communists but none to the Trotskyists. He has a dozen references to George Burt ‘but there is no evidence that he ever spoke to the man. But he spoke to others and read other com- ments about Burt who, for all his ups and downs, ended right side up but still to the left of centre. STARTED 1962 Evidently Horowitz started his work in 1962 and ended it about 1966. The beginning and ending of the book are Professor Horowitz’s own thinking and commentaries on the histori- cal account itself. You may be intrigued by the Hartzian theory. You may or may not agree with Profes- sor Horowitz’s conclusions. But you will find this account of unions and politics in Can- ada for the most part a rather absorbing story. (M.L.) SEE AEE EASY MARK The Interior lumberman never doubted his wife until they moved to Arizona — and he found they still had the same milkman. COMING TO VANCOUVER? stay at the AUSTIN ~ MOTOR HOTEL Wonderful comfort at low prices. Right in the heart of downtown Vancouver, Granville at Davie Completely refurnished, with TV, dining and lounge facili- ties. Delicious buffet luncheans. All public rooms air-condition- ed. Lighted parking for 150 cars. Single without bath $4.00 - $5.00 With bath or shower $5.00 - $7.00 Write or phone for our lower weekly and monthly rates. Telephone MU. 5-7235 Vancouver Member: CAA and AAA