4 WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

EDITORIALS

Zeal The Key

i educational Institutes held under the auspices of the Canadian
Labour Congress and Labour Councils, groups of trade union-
ists have been examining present-day problems in the light of past
experience. There has been an obvious determination to avoid past

The depression of the “hungry thirties” taught the trade unions
a lesson never to be forgotten. Prior to the depression, established
unions largely ignored the needs of the unskilled and the semi-
skilled workers. When unemployment struck, union conditions were
all but wrecked by an army of hungry and unorganized workers.
The indifference of many unions led to the independent organiza-
tion of the unemployed to demand work at any standard of wages.

Action taken from 1935 onward in legislative recognition of col-
lective bargaining rights, saved the situation for the unions. Re-
armament was another factor in restoring labour’s rights. The war
solved the unemployment problem.

This time labour has shown a quite different attitude. The Cana-
dian Labour Congress is spearheading the fight for economic adjust-
ments that will bring full employment. The trade unions are aware
of the menace of unemployment.

Canada has not plunged into the depths of a depression similar

to that experienced in the thirties. Nevertheless Canada’s economic
growth has slowed down to the point where it is almost static. This
is an ominous sign. When contrasted with the economic growth of
other countries, it reveals faulty economic planning or lack of
planning.

In British Columbia the B.C. Federation of Labour has sponsored
the B.C. Federation of the Unemployed. Steps have been taken to
prevent the outright victimization of the unemployed. The extent of
the problem has been repeatedly aired in public. All necessary rep-
resentations have been made to the authorities.

In 1935 and 1936, when the CIO was founded, its rapid growth
was the result of the crusading spirit of its members. This zeal
revived a flagging labour movement. It was not alone the zeal of
the paid officials; it was the zeal of the rank and file. Every member
became a missionary for the CIO or one of the new CIO industrial
unions. It was such zeal that built the IWA.

Is it too much to expect that the same zeal may now be shown
by rank and file members in a campaign to end unemployment? It
is this zeal that will build an irresistible public opinion that will
blast the authorities out of their smug complacency about the
situation.

No Free Speech

ABOUR Minister Peterson can no longer claim that his labour
legislation is “protective”. It has exposed striking unions to
the most ruthless attacks known in many years.

The underlying concept of his labour laws is that workers are
second class citizens who must be denied the full rights of citizen-
ship.

The hypocrisy practiced by Social Credit spokesmen in the Legis-
lature is clearly exposed in the strike now directed by the United
Steelworkers against a Vancouver firm.

The employees are on strike because they are denied a contract.
The contract was terminated by the employer who fired all em-
ployees who went on strike. At the same time he terminated their
pension and MSA benefits. That he may do so lawfully in a legal
strike is in question, but he has never been brought to book.

The employer advertised for strikebreakers. He claims to have
received over three hundred applications. Not any of the applicants
agreed to work behind a picket line. By such advertising the em-
ployer communicated to the general public information regarding
his strikebreaking activities.

The Union on strike has a good case. It is denied the right to
state its case before the bar of public opinion by Bill 43. It may do
no more publicly than station a few pickets at the employer’s
premises in an out-of-the-way spot.

This instance is another demonstration of the gross violation of
the right to free speech — freedom for the employer, no freedom
for the employee.

If the people of Vancouver could learn the truth about the tactics
employed by this single employer, under protection of the law, this
strike would have been settled three months ago.

Publication date of the next issue of the WESTERN CANADIAN
LUMBER WORKER is December 7. Deadline for ad copy is November
30, and for news copy December 1.

sae HE) ‘
BEN ERE

PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY ON THE FIRST
AND THIRD THURSDAYS BY
International Woodworkers of America 424
(AFL-CIO-CLC) Regional Council No. 1 -_

REGIONAL OFFICERS:

President Joe Morris
st Vice-President Jack Moor
nd Vice-President Bob_Ro:
rd Vice-President Jack MacKenzie
Secretary-Treasurer Fred Fieb
International Board Members Joe Madden
Jack Holst

Address all communications to

. 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C.
R 4-5261 -2
Subscription Rates.ccccxermmennn$2.00 per annum
Advertising Representative...............- G. A. Spencer

Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa,
and for Payment of Postage in Cash,
27.500 COPIES PRINTED IN THIS ISSUE

THE NEW GIANT

$ biltons
6
SHS%

Cuts To ;
Boost
Profits

Some 13,000 white collar em-
ployees of the Allis-Chalmers

earn less than $833.33 monthly —
group. Others will take cuts up
to 25 percent, depending upon

of this year. But last year,
company made nearly $8 million
and it wants to rebuild profit

white collarites that after salary
cuts and other “expense reduc-
ing” activities have had their

Meanwhile, it will mean less
for white collar families in 11
cities where the firm has plants
until the company is satisfied
with its “profit margins.”

The company employs thous-
ands of production workers in
the 11 plants but, because of their
union contracts, they won't take
pay cu

Co.
will take a salary cut. The cut | —
will be five percent for all who | —

the bulk of the non-management |

IWA’s Ron Tweedie Selected For

Commonwealth Study Conference

R. M. Tweedie, Recording Secretary, Local 1-424 IWA, Prince
George, has been selected as one of sixty-seven persons selected to
represent Canada at H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh’s second Com-
monwealth study conference to be held in Canada May 13 - June 6,
1962. The names have been made public by Vincent Massey, former

governor-general of Canada.

As the conference is to study the
human consequences of the changing
industrial environment of the Com-
monwealth and Empire, a majority
of the Canadian members are drawn
from the heavily industrialized areas
of Ontario and Quebec, but every
province is represented. Ontario will
provide 24, Quebec 23, Alberta and
British Columbia four each, Mani-
toba and Saskatchewan three each,
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
two each, and Prince Edward Island
and Newfoundland one each.

The conference is jointly spon-
sored by Canadian industry and
labour. Forty of the Canadian mem-
bers come from the management
group, and 27 from the ranks of
labour. Two women, Miss M. J. Gil-

more of Montreal and Mrs. P.

Minnes of Peterborough, Ont., are
included. The members range from
28 to 46 years, the average being 39.
Fifty-one Canadian companies and
21 labour organizations are repre-
sented.

More than 400 applications were
screened by regional and national
committees, the latter under the
chairmanship of W. J. Bennett, vice-
president of Iron Ore Co. of Canada,
Ltd. The task was made difficult not
only by the large number of highly
qualified persons to be considered,
but by the need to maintain a bal-
anced representation in respect to
geographic areas, age, sex, language,
occupations, levels of responsibility,
and management and labour.

At the opening session of the Con-
ference in Montreal, May 14, the 300
members from more than 30 coun-
tries will be divided into study
groups of 15, each headed by a Can-
adian member as chairman. During
the week of May 17 to 24, these
groups will fan out to 20 or more
communities in Eastern Canada for
first-hand study of the effects of in-
creasing industrialization upon indi-
viduals and the towns and cities in
which they live.

Plenary sessiong will be held in
Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and
Vancouver, with major conference
events in Ottawa, Saskatoon, Ed-
monton, Calgary, and other centres.
Members will journey from Toronto
to the west coast aboard two special
trains. Prince Philip, who is presi-
dent of the Conference, will speak
at the opening and closing sessions
and probably participate in other
programs.

IWA_ Regional President Joe
Morris is a member of H.R.H. The
Duke of Edinburgh’s Committee.

“Whe

BY THE SKILLED
PRODUCED WITH PRIDE ; EMPLOYEES OF A UNION COMPANY

9

Snes

«..¢ Grown, fermented, aged and bottled on
~~. British Columbia’s beautiful Vancouver
%# Island, and sold from coast to coast.
_ A quality product of
Victoria Wineries (British Columbia) Ltd.

Wine and fiends

wy the board,
Ising (he joy
(at Dott alford.”

BC.

This advertisement is not published or displayed by the Liquor Control Board or by the Government of British Columbia,