Civic Employees state plans for wage conference Vancouver Civic Employees’ Union, Local 28, will hold a - wage conference December 9 to work out wage demands for 1951, business agent Don Guise told unionists in Pender Auditorium last Sunday night. tions with city hall for a new “City hall has stated it will con- tinue to deal with Local 28 until asked to act differently by Labor Relations Board,” said Guise. “The LRB cannot change our certifica- tion and bargaining rights as long as we hold the majority of outside civic workers. Despite the splitting activities of TLC vice-president Carl Berg, the oyer- whelming majority of outside workers are sticking to our union, This means we are going in there Civic Reform rings doorbells on BCER issue “Seven out of every ten electors we have interviewed in polls 11 and 29 have signed our petition de- manding a plebiscite on public ownership of the BCER transit system,” said iCivic Reform Asso- ciation officials this week. CRA canvassers are continuing to knock on doors this weekend, and after completing their survey ef the two representative polls a delegation will go back to city council again next week to demand a plebiscite before December. 30, 1950. One canvasser secured 32 signa- tures from 33 voters interviewed. Another canvasser reported get ting 21 signatures after visiting 23° voters, and a score of CRA election workers had equally good results, though many found that they could only cover eight or nine homes at night, because citizens wanted to discuss the question in detail, “Whether they are for or against public ownership, nearly all voters feel that they have a right to ex- press their opinion on the ques- tion, as provided by the city char ter,” canvassers reported. “Many of them are quite hot about the whole thing, and nearly all were willing to sign the. petition demand- ing a plebiscite.” ~ evnrunwonnmncmtiagancom cURL JO-ANNE’S ELECTRO CAFE Open 6.30 to 6.00 p.m. Weekday: Union House 11 Dunsmuir Pm Pi a meeting of 500 trade Negotia- contract will begin in January. pitching for more Wages, which our members and their. families desperately need.” Guise said that a “small minori- ty” of the union’s members had been confused by Berg’s propagan- da and had cancelled their check- off. “But,” he added, “already there is a move back into Local 28 on the part of those few who were tricked by Berg. This is inevitable because honest workers will not support a negative pro- gram of splitting and disruption.” Speakers at the Sunday rally were Don Guise, job steward Thomas Thomsic, and chairman of the job stewards’ council), Marshall Arbuckle. The meeting passed a resolution which read: “We believe that trade unions must have the right to elect their own officers and run in- ternal business free of outside interference. We condemn the actions of vice-president Berg in violating the constitution of Trades and Labor Congress by attempting to set up a union dual to Vancouver Civic Employees’ Union, Local 28.’ A letter from International Jewelry Workers’ Union to Civic Workers declared that “the Trades Council had no right to suspend delegates from the Civic Employ- ees.’ Strong support for Local 28 was given by the general execu” tive board of the United Fish" ermen and Allied Workers, which went on record as “con” demning the actions of vice- president Berg of the TLC for ordering the suspension with- out charge or trial- of 17 mem- bers of the Civic Employees’ Union, and for atempting to. or ganize a dual union of civic em- ployees against the wishes and the interests of the majority of Vancouver’s Civic workers.” The IUFAWU executive further declared in the resolution adopted that “we consider that Vancouver Civic Workers have, during the 40 years existence of their organ- ization, given abundant proof that they are staunch trade unionists and responsible citizens, well cap- able of administering their own organization. We believe © that they should be permitted, without interference from any source, to manage their own afairs and de- cide aff matters, before them on the basis of the majority desires {of their own membership.” PRINCETON SSS > SSSSOSOSSOVOO SS IOI IGS: . BURR?S TAXE PRINCETON, B.C. /, > % ‘ Sends Greetings to All Our Readers GREETINGS TO ALL OUR 55555555550 S SISOS RASA s ARRAS oe FRIENDS — ’ ca PRINCETON Princeton, B.C. HOTEL Burnaby candidates Ken Richards (left) and Elie Lachance are running as labor candidates for school board in Bumnaby’s municipal elections next month. A third progressive candidate on the labor slate is Mrs. Catherine Marsh, who polled a high vote last year. 3 West Coast company ion hoped to destroy. The agreement signed between the WCSU and the three large operators (Johpson, Walton Steamships, Ltd.; Western Canada Steamship Co., Ltd.; and Canadian Union Line Ltd.) covers fourteen 10,000-ton ships. Contracts were signed with the first two compan- ies the same week that the union was certified as bargaining agent by the Canadian Labor Relations Board. The contracts renewed ex- isting agreements, with clarifica- tion of some points. An agreement signed with - Westward Shipying {J mparny,i covering two small coastal stand- atd oil tankers, provides for a $7.50 monthly wage increase, plus! an additional five cents an hour added to the basic 385 cents per -hour overtime rate,’and a union security clause. Signing of the agreements rep- resents a blow at the strike-break- ing SIU, which earlier in the year had approached shipowners with the hope of taking over WCSs contracts. The WCSU is now defi- nitely established at the only legit- imate seamen’s union on the West Coast. f SIU lost whatever claims it ever thad to represent honest union sea- men when it signed the Wilson conciliation board award in 1950, which is the award which forced the Canadian Seamen’s Union to take strike action on the East Coast. It calls for poorer working conditions and eliminates the hir- ing hall clause. ‘ Peace calendar “Blessed are the Peacemakers” is the theme‘of a beautiful new 1951 calendar, to which several noted artists have contributed, pro- duced by the Canadian Peace Con- eress, 49° Walker Avenue, Toronto. Price is 50 cents. Seamen’s Union signs agreements with companies Seamen’s Union has renewed its agreements with three deepsea ship operators and one coastal shipping this month, maintaining wages and working con- ditions which the strike-breaking Seafarers International Un- Leckie strike ends as union wins contract An agreement between the J. Leckie shoe company and Interna- tional Fur and Leather Workers Union was signed this week, ending the 18 day strike of 100 union wor- kers. The agreement, retroaetive to July 2, 1950, gives a wage increase of 6 to 9 cents per hour for work- ers on hourly rates, and a four percent cost of living bonus on top of total earnings for piece workers who exceed standard production. Piece workers will also get an ad- ditional one percent for each one- point rise in the cost of living. All workers get four paid statutory holidays a year, two of which will be included in the back pay. \ Youth plan concert. | Committee for a Democratic Youth Paper, which is raising $1,000 towards launching of a fort- nightly progressive youth paper to be published in Toronto, will stage a variety concert at Ukrainian Labor Temple, 805 East Pender, this coming Sunday, November 26, at 8 p.m. Guest speaker will be Tom McEwen, editor of the Pacific Tribune. ~ : : mr ee Taaisnalv0/ ATTN OU/VmTn 9118190180 008\90.8,00(n (7081071810 0.810.NtaUcevaripiciuatravenrrar arevreT BUREN PAUL BUNYAN OGGERS’ BALL Will be a Highlight of the Holiday Season ee ‘ { Pry vit vi Wi) tii ft etl ipuaual | VSR fi i \ WATCH FOR FURTHER DETAILS | Pt Le ee (eC Civic workers fell story on radio program Civic Employees’ Union job stewards are going on the air three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 p.m. over CJOR) and teling the “story behind the headlines’ about TLC vice-president .Carl Berg’s raiding activities against their union. Reginald Bailey scored a telling point against Berg and Thomas Gooderham, in his broadcast last Friday night, when he stated: “J see that Thomas Gooder ham TLO organizer for Van- couver Island, is helping Carl Berg. Well now, the basic wage for: outside workers in Victori@ ig $1.03 an hour, compared with our rate of $1.14, I would sug™ gest that it might be better if Gooderham would offer his ser- vices to the Victoria group of TLC workers. “Back in Edmonton, where Carl Berg comes from, the basic rate for an outside civic employee is $1.01% per hour, including a cost of living bonus — compared with our rate of $114 an hour, without a cost of living bonus... i would suggest that Congress organizers should be sent to places where workers are crying for or- ganization. Remember, less than one-third of Canada’s wage and salary earners are organized. I would much rather our union was” spending money to help Berg or- ganize the unorganized, instead of - having to spend money to fight Carl Berg.” Another job steward, Thomas Thomsic, nailed Berg for his state- ments slandering the loyalty of civic workers to their country. “Berg’s statement is an» insult to me and an insult to our un- ion,” said Thomsic. “I served with the Canadian Army Overseas, in italy, and was wounded in action. I have proven my loyalty to Cana- da, the hard way. ‘Judging by the newspapers, you would think the union was in dis- pute with Carl Berg because Berg wanted to get rid of a number of ‘reds’. I am not a member of any political party, but Berg sus- pended me, because I refused to ‘cooperate’ with him. “J refused to cooperate with him, because he demanded that our executive board resign, just — after they had been elected by the membership. I voted for the officers we have now, because I believe they are the best men we have for the outside civic workers. Judging from the big meetings we have held lately, that’s the way the vast majority of our members feel. “Article 16 of our constitution says that any member who refuses to work with, or discriminates against any member for his race, creed, color, or national origin shall be subject to trial and di- cipline. : “When a man joins our union we don’t ask him what religion he believes in, or what political ask him to be a good. union man, to abide by the constitution, and to acept the democratic decisions of the membership. “The very fact that 15 of our oficers and job stewards have been suspended should prove one thing. This mass purge is not designed for the purpose of cleaning out the reds, whites, — pinks or greens. It is designed to make it impossible for our union to carry on, in order to give the union over to the same group, men .who could not. win enough votes to be elected. -— “t have worked for years to build this union. I am appealing my suspension to the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada. I) want my union to stay in the Con-— gress, but come what may, I am sticking with the union.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 24, 1950 — PAGE 10 party he belongs to. We merely