No Bill 39 mattresses

Pickets on duty at the plants of the Hammond Furniture

0, and the Restmore Furniture Co.,
@re also solid at the Pacific Furniture

in Vancouver. Picket lines
Co. plant in Victoria and

t the Harvey Furniture in New Westminster.
With the ircantion of the Allan-Segal Furniture Co., ty errs
the CMA-dictated deadlock in negotiations and signed the

Master agreement with the

IWA, all other furniture operators

Ye made no offer to the union, and are relying on Bill 39 to

break the picket lines.

Ol’ Bill celebration to
be memorable event

With only a week to go, the fund to mark Bill Bennett’s
fifty years of service in the labor movement stands at less

than 3900.
on Wednesday this week by

committee which is sponsoring a
banquet in honor of the veteran
labor columnist at Hastings Audi-
torium this coming Tuesday, Sep-
tember 30.

“Support for our campaign has
been all we expected,” Miss Ash-
ton said this week. “Our proposal
to modernize and refurnish Ol’
Bill’s little house is meeting with
favor everywhere. Every one in
the labor movement can appreci-
ate what Ol Bill has contributed
in fifty years of hard and. devoted
work. ‘

“Our difficulty is not lack of
support but lack of time. The cam-
paign was only started a few
weeks ago and we fixed on Sep-
tember 380 as the closing date be-
cause it was in September 1897
that Ol’ Bill joined the Scottish
Labor Party.

“If all those who want to share
in the celebration, and there are
hundreds we have yet to hear

| those

This was the report given to the Pacific Tribune

Fel Ashton, secretary of the

from, will send in their donations
te the fund, get. their banquet
tickets and let us have their ticket
returns for the dance to follow
the banquet without further delay,
I feel sure that our campaign
will be a great success.”

Tickets for.the banquet may be
purchased at the Pacific Tribune
office, 650 Howe Street, at $1.50
each, and books of dance tickets
at $2.50 and $5 are still available.

The sponsoring committee has
announced that the names of all
buying books of dance
tickets will be included in’ the
special presentation book to be
presented to Bill Bennett at the
banquet and that each purchaser
will -receive a reproduction of a
sketch specially drawn for the
celebration by Fraser Wilson, Van-
couver artist, who is himself an
active trade unionist and whose
father was a pioneer in the so-

cialist movement in this city.

Union Co-ops to beat

a ; a et im \
prices FOOKING - VL
Following the lead‘ of a number of CIO unions in other

areas Vancouver unionists may soon be shopping at their
own cooperative stores: The Vancouver Labor Council (CCL)

discussed this possibility in
Tuesday, and struck} off a com-
mittee. to consult with existing
cooperatives and other unions on
the proposal.

In Detroit, Chicago. and other
American cities a number of un-
ions are already buying food-

stuffs in bulk from farmers, fish-

Catholic unions to seek AFL - CIO

Cooperation, end ‘anti-communism

organ of the Catholic Syndicates, in a
: : : F Pies
hange in union policy by advocating an end
fight for the “needs and welfare” of French-Canadian
de union movement.

MONTREAL—Le Front Ouvrier, official
da radical c

reading editorial today signalle

sure!

iy

ts va editorial, which is
ehti ave far-reaching effects on the
Te Quebec labor field and on
era peoble_ of French-Canada gen-
ally, is the: first open expression
-& shift of opinion in highly-
panced Catholic ‘circles that has
men ogveloping here since the
oT We
a The evolution of the working
"ss is an undeniable fact,” Le

— nt Ouvrier says. “Nothing is

i-communism” and a “positive”
“bor in cooperation with the rest of the tra

r

stop it any more. It is
OS ears cooperate in it, but
not in a sour-faced way, not any
more trying to deceive the work-
ers in order to hook a few ae
for the old profiteering regime. To-
day if one wants to or not, va
operation must be accepted in a
integrity and in all sincerity.

> ti ‘ » is. pass-
BY time of the ‘antis :
en the past the syndicates

Should ,

Crenent’s Social Credit Board

Ody,
oe disposal for spreading in-
ang ton_on Social Credit aims
thi, Principles.) The abolition of
of Board is long overdue. Some
has “® Propaganda for which it
opinige’@, Tesponsible is, in the
ite of Of manv Albertans, noth-
8 short of fascist.
tig its annual report to the leg-
Posed | last spring the Board pro-
Stan hat under certain circum-
aboli: “ political parties should be
isheq, ed; the secret ballot abol-
bankers 2? singled out Jewish
terg “S88 so-called ‘world plot-
insyjt 4, (8 Bothing short of an
Bressj. to the democratic and pro-

“Ve aspirations of the Alberta

bay
ane Gs that this Board should .be
Tmitted to use public funds to |

AY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1947

edit caucus this fall. (The Board is a gov
Tesponsible only to the Legislature,

SC propaganda board
be abolished

By B. R. SWANKEY
Political rumor has it that the f

ate of the Alberta gov-
be decided by a Social
ernment appointed
with publéc funds

of the poli-

will

opagate the views
Heal PES in power, and eae
seminate dangerous anti-de
cratic propaganda. This Board
: om :
eine en in the Social Credit
t and has been correctly
Soran of as. “the spiritual father
af the fascist wing of. the Social
Credit movement.” .
1g report last spring caused a
wave of protest so great that cba
some back-benchers were saree
4¢ demand its abolition. A eas
deluge of resolutions and Diotee s
et this time from labor and a
groups would go a long habe ee
wards convincing the- govern ot
that it should be done away W

once and for all.

e of the most re-.

have been regarded by the AFL
and CIO as reactionary. For their
part the syndicates, which claim
about 70,000 workers, have viewed
the international unions as a
threat to their own security and
to French-Canadian labor. The in-
ternational unions believed that
the syndicates were “selling-out”
labor, while the Catholic unions
cried “Red menace” and were par-
ticularly virulent in their attacks
on militant trade unionists and

-|on Communists in labor bodies.

The ‘new: “open hand of co-oper-
ation” ‘policy is, therfore, a mark-
ed change in attitude. The road
to unity with the international
unions and with militants and
left-wingers appears now to be
the aim of the syndicates, speci-
ally for :the winning of gains on
day-to-day, bread-and-butter issues
confronting Quebec workers.

“The Communists work to over-
throw the capitalist system,” Le
Front Ouvrier states. At the same
time it takes sharp issue with
“the politicians, the capitalists
and the economists of the liberal
school,” who refuse “to transform
this society that it will Fespond
to the needs and welfare of men.”

Motive force for the change,
labor circles feel, is the fear that
the syndicates are “losing out” to
the international unions and to
left-wing forces in the developing
dynamic situation in Quebee.

French-Canadian workers,
caught in the tight squeeze be
tween the highest prices in Can-
ada and the lowest wages in the
country, have been moving forward
and looking for a strong lead.

detail at its regular meeting

ermen, dairy and other cooperat-
ives and turning it over to their
members at cost. The latest price
boost on basic foods, clothing and
other essentials render it impos-
sible for workingclass families to
manage on the present wage
level. As one VLC delegate put
it, “the wage increases the work-
ers are demanding in spite of
Bill 39, are already absorbed, in
price increases before ‘they get
them.” 2

The VLC also decided to in-
vestigate the case of union men
refusing to go through picket
lines, and by so doing being
deprived of unemployment in-
surance benefits. :

Delegates voiced the opinion
that_ the local unemployed insur-
ance authorities are contravening
the Act in depriving any trade
unionist of unemployment insur-
ance because of strike activity.
It was pointed .out that. some
unions who have been on strike
for months, such as the ITU are
still drawing unemployment insur-
ance payments, while other un-
ionists are declared to be ‘not
eligible for benefits.’

The VLC reiterated its position
on boycotting the loading of cargo
on Dutch ships or ships carrying
cargo for Dutch ports. A confer-
ence of all, CCL unions to be
held in the near future is planned,
at which effective action on the
Dutch issue will be determined.

The annual convention of the
syndicates, which ended in Drum-
mondville recently, saw an upsurge
of demands from “below” that ac-
tion be instituted on the wages,
housing and social security ques-
tion. Rank-and file pressure, ex-
pressed at the convention, is
viewed as supplying the extra push
required to change the syndicate
line... 7%.

The recent campaign of leading
Catholic bodies for a low rental
housing program is given a prom-
inent two-page spread in the same
issue of Le Front Ouvrier. “The
government must act” the bold
streamer says. “Not ‘tomorrow, but
today.” ;

Honest unionists and progres-
sives have already indicated that
they will welcome and cooperate
with the syndicates in fighting for
equality for French Canada with
the rest of the country. Unity of
action of the syndicates and the
internationals, already somewhat
developed, will probably be given
a big boost by the new Syndicate

line.

eo eT 4 Li

News of
the nation

* * *

Ottawa to act on prices

OTTAWA — Canada’s rash of
price. increases on the essentials
of life following lifting of federal
controls, has government officials
jittery over the whirlwind of pro-
tests developing across the coun--
try.

Ottawa sources report that
Wartime ‘Prices and Trade Board
(what remains of it) and members
of the Combines Investigation
Commission are combining to
throw a ‘scare’ into those seek-
ing to profiteer with the relaxa-
tion of controls. :

Threat of investigation - into
cases where a combine or trust is
operating in restraint of trade and

information to the public regard-

ing what price boosts are justified,
are said to be the two methods
being employed.

A letter from F. A. McGregor to
bakery firms warning against the
lifting of bread prices higher than
justified by the removal of, flour
subsidies, is said to have influ-
enced Montreal and Toronto bak-
ers to keep the increase down to
three. cents a loaf.

McGregor says. -he will investi- -
gate a Winnipeg story that. bread
has gone up four cents a loaf.
Scope of the work is expected to
embrace other industries.

Farmer-labor unity

WINNIPEG — An important
meeting was held here when the
Winnipeg Labor Council (CCL)
and the Manitoba Federation of
Agriculture and Cooperation made
Plans for a joint organization to
promote better understanding be-
tween farmers and industrial
workers, and act together for their
mutual benefit. C. E. Wood, presi-
dent of the MFAC, was chairman
to the provisional committee.

Members of the committee ex-
pressed the belief that such an
organization would do much to
create unity betwen the two
groups, bringing great benefit to
both. It was unanimously agreed
that the cooperative movement
was the most effective means of
achieving this.

Polio still increasing

Toronto’s polio cases are up 21
above the number reported for the
same day last year, according to
a report yesterday by Dr. L. H.
Pequegnat.
Total for Toronto this year is
now 95, compared to 74 for the
same period last year. Seven new
cases were reported yesterday for
Toronto alone. ‘
The increase represents a 30
percent rise in cases as of yester-
day’s report compared to the pre-
vious year. -
Polio cases in a number of B.C.
centers show a sharp increase dur-
ing the past week. In Prince
George it is reported that the dis-
ease is reaching epidmic propor-
tions.

They come- and they go

Figures released by the Depart-

ment of Immigration show that

in the fiscal year ending last June,

23,467 Canadians emigrated to the

United States. Of this number 2,-—
479 were registered as ‘profes-

sional workers’. The majority of

emigrants came under the age

groups of fifteen to twenty-five

years of age.

Since 1816 Canada has received
over seven million . immigrants
from various countries of Europe
and Asia. During the same period
over six million Canadians, native
and immigrant, have emigrated
elsewhere. =

These figures should be borne
in mind when present mass im-
migration policies are being ad-
vanced, To secure new immigrants
is one thing; to make conditions
such that people will remain in
Canada is quite another. Succes-
sive governments have neglected

| the latter problem of immigration.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3