10

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

2nd Issue, March

LABOR NEWS...

AROUND THE WORLD

VANCOUVER INSTRUCTOR SELECTED

IWA Associate Director of Education and Research, Joe Miyazawa was recently selected as one of the leading instructors at the 5th CCL Institute in Ed- monton, Alberta. :

More than 150 students were in attendance during the sessions which were held in the MacTavish College, Es +

Zdmonton, March 1 making the Institute the most suc- cessful in the history of the Al- berta Federation of Labour.

The subject assigned to the B.C. official was that of “Trends in Col- Jective Bargaining.”

FAMILY ~ DESERTIONS INCREASE

TORONTO (CPA)—A study of the increasing number of men deserting their families has been ordered by Ontario Welfare Minister Goodfellow. Desertions in the Toronto area alone this year are approach- ing the 700 mark.

One of the objects of the study will be to determine the effects of higher unemployment on the number of desertions, There was an increase of 66 in the number of Toronto desertion cases for the

first 10 months of 1954 compared |-

with the same period in 1953. Ontario CCF Leader Donald C. MacDonald and labor spokesmen have charged that employable un- employed workers, whose unem- ployment benefits have expired, have been deserting their wives and families in order to make

How Much?

WASHINGTON (CPA) — How much is a trade union membership worth? The U.S. Court of Appeals couldn’t assess the value to the last dollar but decided it was worth more than $3,000.

The deliberation on the value of union membership arose in an Ap- peals Court order that a District Court handle the case of a mem- ber being ousted from his union. District Courts do not handle cases involving less than $3,000.

Monetary Loss

A ruling by the Appeals Court noted that “the monetary loss from such (union) expulsion is readily translated into an amount exceed- ing $3,000". The case arose from the expulsion, on the grounds of communism, of toolmaker Al. Friedman of St. Louis, Mo. from the Tool and Die Makers Lodge 688, International Association of Machinists (AFL).

Judge C. Fady of the Appeals Court handed down the judgment that should Friedman's wage scale of about $137 a week be halved “by his explusion from the union, as from his testimony seems pro- bable, his loss would soon exceed $3,000".

$59 Annual Wage

NEW DELHI (CPA) — The average income of In- dians in the years 1953-54 was $59.62, Finance Minister C. D. Deshmukh told the lower House of the Indian Parlia- ment here recently.

At currént prices, the per capita income for the years 1951-52, 1952-53 and 1953-54 was $57.65, $56.16 and $59.62 respectively, he announced. In terms of 1948-49 prices the per capita income was $52.09,

them eligible for relief payments. |

$54.02 and $55.97.

COURSES ARRANGED

BRUSSELS (CPA)—The In- national Confederation of Free ‘Trade Unions has jannounced that two courses at the ICFTU International Training Centre near Brussels will be held be- tween SeptembersDecember 1955 and January-March, 1956, The courses are aimed at train- ing people for service in the trade union movement with some knowl- edge of international affairs, The programs will include the history, structure and practice of trade unionism, international relations and economic and social questions.

Candidates for the courses will b@considered by the ICFTU and nominating organizations are ex- pected to finance the students. Costs for the three-month stay are about $300. The ICFTU is con- sidering the possibility of provid- ing a limited number of scholar- ships. Closing date for applica- tions is May 1, 1955.

NOVEL PLACE FOR CUPID

OTTAWA (CPA) — During the discussion in the Commons this week on a proposal to in- clude the political affiliation of candidates on the ballot papers in federal elections a Liberal member made a novel suggestion for depicting the Social Credit Party,

James Byrne (Liberal Kootenay East) said that the President of the Social Credit Association de- clared that Socreds were not a political party “but something that came from the heart”. Mr. Byrne asked: “What are they going to

do, draw a picture of cupid on the ballot?” :

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BY L. A.

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FRANKIE WIELKIE, seven year old crippled boy from Port Alberni, under

going treatment at the Queen Alexandra Solarium, has been adopted by the Chemainus Ladies Auxiliary Sub-Local of Local 1-80, IWA.

Sophy Wins High Educational Post

In almost every country of the free world today, women play an im- portant role in the trade union movement, not only in the ranks but also

in leading exec positions. It is our intention to feature in

a series of articles, women selected

at random from the files of the ICFTU, whose militant spirit has won for

them a name in labour history.

Sophy Metaxa-Economou

Orphaned at the age of five, a lonely child of ten when the last war broke out, and frequently un- employed in the economic turmoil which afflicted Greece at the end of the conflict, Sophy Metaxa- Economou had known all the bit- terness and difficulties which can face a working woman, when her search for employment, in June 1951, brought her to the doors of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE).

Her qualifications asa typist in Greek and English won her a job, and her job provided her with more than just a weekly wage—it gave her a new purpose in life.

Economic Emancipation

Women in Greece in the years

"And what, Madam, are your views on progressive schooling?"

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45 EAST HASTINGS

after the war combined the fight for daily bread with that for social and economic emancipation. Cast- ing aside their position of inferior- ity in the community, they began in 1948 to take an active part in the trade’ unions, their energy and enthusiasm quickly winning the re- spect and support of the whole Greek trade union movement,

In November 1951, the GSEE opened an extensive trade union library, and they entrusted its management to a woman, to the young Sophy Metaxa-Economou, who had begun to devote herself to the twin causes of feminine emancipation and the strengthen- ing of the trade union movement.

In November 1953, a few months after the GSEE had elected the first women to its General Souncil, it founded a School of Free Trade Union Studies at which a number of woman unionists participate. Miss Metaxa-Economou, who has been a student of the school, helps its director on matters of especial interest.to women. She is algo a member of the GSEE’s Commis- sion for Organization of the Women’s Congress, which gives particular attention to matters con- cerning women workers.

BENEFITS INCREASE

OTTAWA (CPA)—Regular and supplementary unemploy- ment insurance benefits cost more than $26 million during January, The Dominion Bureau of Statistics reports, Payments were made in respect of nearly 8% million benefit days during the month.

Ordinary. and supplementary benefit claimants on the live un- employment register at the end of January numbered 543,366, up from 431,770 in December and 494,831 a year ago. .

During January a total of $26,- 149,803 was paid in compensation for 8,219,567 days in comparison with $19,428,206 and 6,190,206 days in December and $23,947,213 and

7,563,198 days in January last year,