Ais

Teele!

A SALUTES B.C

Four hundred delegates, representatives of the entire trade union movement in British Colum-

. MERGER»

bia, with remarkable co-operation and resolute determination, forged for their purposes, a new and powerful legislative instrument in the unified 100,000-member B.C. Federation of Labour during a 4- day history-making convention in the Mt. Pleasant Legion Building, Vancouver, October 15-16-17- 18. The former B.C. Trade Union Congress (TLC) and the B.C. Federation of Labour (CCL) merged their separate identities in one organization. A eonstitution was approved, officers and Council members were elected and installed, an interim charter was granted, and a far-reaching legislative ptogram was shaped. A hope deferred for twenty years was clothed in reality. é

The IWA salutes the Federation, as a conctete expression of unity among the workers of Brit- ish Columbia, which carties for them the promise of improved standards of security and well-being.

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Vol. XXIII, No, 21

>> * 1st ISSUE, NOV. 1956 - VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

S

UNITY COMMITTEE, the joint TUC-CCL committee entrusted with arrangements for the provin- cial merger and whose efforts were crowned with Phenomenal success. (Back row, from left) Bob Smeal; Pat O’Neal; Bob Beddome. (Front row, from left) Joe Morris; George Home; Dan Radford;

Vic Midgley, and J. Hayward.

°

Delegates

Accuse

Soviet of “Murder"

Profoundly stirred by a recital of the facts, the dele- gates in attendance at the merger convention of the B. C.

. Federation of Labour, by a

standing vote, unanimously

condemned the massacre of unarmed and freedom-loving Hungarian workers by invading Soviet armored forces. i

Immediate action was taken to enable contributions to the soli- darity fund of the ICFTU, through their respective unions.

Stirring appeals were made by President Lloyd Whalen, Vancou- ver and District Labour Council,

_ and Dan Radford, retiring presi- dent of the CCL Federation. Both speakers denounced the crimes of the Soviet troops against work- ers so desperate under Soviet op- pression that they preferred to

WHAT'S INSIDE

Page Political Action.. 2 Editorial .. A

fight tanks with bare hands, rather than remain in slavery.

Standing Vote

When a standing vote was pro- ‘posed, onlookers noted a hurried exodus from the hall of some well-known Communist sympa- thizers. Not any of the pro-Com- munist trade unionists entered any defense for the present-day tactics of the Soviet Union.

The resolution which received unanimous endorsation was as follows:

WHEREAS the Canadian La- bour Congress, together with the free trade unions affiliated with the International Confederations of Free Trade Unions supports the United Nations and co-oper- ates with the UN agencies he-

See “MURDER” Page 2

JOINT SLATE ELECTED

Elected and installed as officers and council members of the B.C.

Federation .of Labour were the |

following:

President, Wm. Black, Hospital Employees Union;

1st Vice-President, Joe Morris, IWA.

2nd Vice-President, Vic Midgley, Carpenters and Joiners.

8rd_ Vice-President, Robt. Smeal, CBRE,

4th Vice-President, Pat O’Neal, Pulp & Sulphite Workers.

Secretary - Treasurer, George Home, UPWA. Council members elected were:

Robert Beddome, Beverage Dis- pensers.

Ed O'Connor, Provincial Employ- ees.

Hector Wright, Firefighters.

S. M. Hodgson, IWA.

Wm. Symington, UPWA.

Mel Kemmis, Bakery Workers.

Don Dunphy, Steelworkers.

Chas. Stewart, Street Railway- men,

Ray Haines, RWDSU.

Geo. Smythe, IWA.

LISTEN TO

reel bold-(0

Black Elected President

Elected as president of the newly-merged organization was William Black, Business Manager of the Hospital Em- ployees Union. IWA District President Joe Morris was awarded the post of first vice-president by acclamation; Vic Midgley, International representative of the Carpen- ters in Victoria, won the post of second vice-president; Bob Smeal, coast representative of the CBRE, became third vice-president without a contest, and Pat O’Neal, president of the Prince Rupert Labour Council and the Pulp and Sulphite Local Union, at that point, was elected by a narrow margin to the office of the fourth vice-presi-

dent.

George Home, secretary-treasurer of the old CCL Fed- eration was acclaimed for the same post in the re-consti-

tuted body.

President Lloyd Whalen, Van- couver and District Labour Coun- cil, who officially opened the coi vention and welcomed the dele- gates, keynoted the proceedings by stressing the imperative need for unity in the face of threat- ening circumstances. He pointed

to the fact that billions could be | *

found for destruction, while only pitifully meagre sums could be appropriated for social security.

The international outlook was dark, he declared, and would r quire firm action by the workers, otherwise there would be no job opportunities to worry about in any convention, or perhaps that conventions would pass into the limbo of forgotten things.

His Worship, Mayor Fred Hume, extended a cordial civic welcome, and Rev, H. T. Allen, secretary of the Lord’s Day Alli- ance, pronounced the invocation.

Dan Radford, former president of the CCL, B.C. Federation of Labour, and Vie Midgley, vice- president of the B.C, Trade Union Congress, TLC, swung the

Elected

WM. BLACK

convention gavel jointly as~co- chairmen to declare the gather- ing ready to do business.

The chairmen were flanked on

See “MERGER” Page 3

HISTORIC OCCASION was marked in this way by co-chairmen of the merger convention as they signalled the opening of the proceed-

ings. (From left) Vie Midgley, Dan Radford.

7.00 p.m. * CJ AV - 6:30 pm. Thursday Thursday ¢ CKPG - Ist and 3rd Thursday- 6 p.m.