ie Wage Parity For Prince Rupe \W/e Are Tired © Being Pushed Around’ HE following article appeared in Bulletin No. 5, official organ of the Boilermakers’ and Iron Shipbuilders’ Union, Local No. 1, as an answer by the membership to recent attempts at provocation by the management. * * Me AM a worker. I work in your plant, in your shipyard. I am a member of the Boilermakers’ and Iron Shipbuild- ers’ Union of Canada, Local No. 1. [am proud of my union. You have heard our song. The song of the Boilermak- ers. It is a medley of sounds all blended to make music —for those who understand. Listen, and you will hear it. Listen, and you can recognize the notes. The staccato chatter of a thousand rivetting guns... the rising scream of the reaming machines and the fluctu- ating hum of the drills, intermingled with the dull thuds of hammers wielded by the bolters-up. The muted crackle of the welder’s arc, and the softer hiss of the torch as the burner cuts the steel. You hear the deep hum of the crane as the plate hangers send aloft the plates, and the screech of the chippers’ guns as they trim the weld. A rising crescendo of sound, from a hundred and one sources. The sharp crack of the punching machine, the groans of the shears. The hum of the rolls and the clang of hammers from the slabs. A medley of sounds. The Song of the Boilermakers! I am a member of the Boilermakers’ Union. As I have said, I am proud of my union. We had a democratic election in December. The CCL did not like it. They put in an Administration Board. We did not like that. So they went to court, and we fought them. Stephen was granted an injunction and our demo- cratically-elected officers were restrained from acting. We were granted an injunction and the Administration Board was declared null and void. I do not like to be pushed around. I went to work with the thousands of other members and held the union together. So we had another democratic election. Again Stephen Was granted an injunction. Of course, Mr. Employer, you say that is not your business. You are right; it is none of your business. However, you will recall we elected a business agent. You have noticed, significantly, that we still have a union, a solid union. So, Mr. Employer, we have a business agent for the Boilermakers’ and Iron Shipbuilders’ Union of Canada, Local No. 1. You are trying to evade the issue, and not recognize our business agent. I, with my fellow members, have been pushed around by McAuslane. We have been pushed around by Rollo Stephen. So we want to tell you, Mr. Employer, WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE PUSHED AROUND ANY LONGER! OUR PATIENCE IS EXHAUSTED! I have asked, through my shop stewards, that you deal with the Boilermakers Union Local No. 1 through the business agent, Mr. Malcolm MelLeod. I, and all other members of the union, are no longer asking you. We are telling you. To be plain and blunt, we are fed up with this horsing around. A word to the wise should be sufficient. Malcolm Mcleod is the business agent for the Boiler- makers’ and Iron Shipbuilders’ Union of Canada, Local No. 1. JT will back my union and the business agent to the limit ! jhe charged. Dual Union Charge Debated Motion to set up a commit- tee to investigate the creden- tials of Tom Bradley, seated at last meeting representing Boilermakers’ Local No. 9, was lost by one vote in Vancouver Labor Council this week after a hot discussion concerning Brad- ley’s lawsuit as a member of Boil- ermakers’ Local Noe i: “We have instructions not to give aid or comfort to members of Local No. i,” President Leary said. “If Brother Bradley is a member of Local 1 and is seated here as a delegate* from Local 9, then I take it William Stewart, or any other member of Local 1, could be seated on this council from the In- landboatmen’s Union, for in- stance.” Vice-President Corey Campbell said dual membership was a thing not countenanced in the trade union movement by tradition. “Tom Bradley has been long enough in the labor movement to know this,’ “His conscience should tell him that his actions in this matter are not ethical.’ Recognizing Campbell's objection, Bradley nevertheless considered it quite in order for a member to belong to two unions within the CCL, he said, Challenged as to his membership in Local 1, Bradley insisted he was not obliged to answer. “He appeared in public as a member of Local i, through his suit against the elected officers of Local 1,” Fred McNeill, Dock and Shipyard Workers’ delegate point- ed out. Questioned directly by the chair as to whether he was a member of Bollermakers’ Local 1, Bradley refused to answer. Promising te take up the matter with the Congress executive, Leary commented: “If the Congress says we can seat members of Local 1 of the Boilermakers as long as they are not delegates from Local i, then everything will be fine in Van- couver, I suppose. We can seat them as visitors or as delegates of any other union. I want you to re- member this.” Moulders and Foundry Workers Union through Delegate George Edwards protested reference in the minutes of last meeting to Boliler- makers’ Local 1 disassociating from the Council. ‘Our members are still under the impression that the shoe is on the other foot,” said Ed- wards. Objection of some delegates to the Moulders’ protest being raised in the Council brought a spirited rebuke from President Leary. “Many people here are interested in the Boilermakers’ Union affairs. The next largest union, Dock and Shipyard Workers, are interested, the Moulders, the Engineers, Blacksmiths, Steelworkers — the men who work with the Boilermak- ers, want to see things righted. We want a united trade union move- ment in Canada. If we can’t pro- test against higher officers, what is the use of our Council? “Go down to the yards and talk to the moulders and the engineers. Then see if the moulders’ officers dare refuse to bring up this pro- test. They have a right to bring it up here. Where else can they take it up? What’s this council for? ‘Labor. Employer To Seek Change PRINCE RUPERT, B.C.—Joint employer-employee ay cation to the National War Labor Board for reclassification, rates to bring Prince Rupert shipyard wages into conforr with those of other shipyards on the coast will be made, sub to union membership approval, as|relieved by prospects of estab! a result of agreements reached by | ing vegetable gardens... Hi the Justice S. E. Richards Com-jis impossible to do so as mission and Allied Labor Council | only muskeg and rock underti here last week. “Taking our figures from The scale of wages recommended |Tabor Gazette, we find that, € by members of BC Shipbuilders’| paring prices in Prince Ru Federation, which give same rates|from December, 1941, to Decem to shipyard employees in Prince |1942, there is an increase or Rupert and Vancouver, makes no Comparing December, i allowance for differences in living | prices in Vancouver with prevai conditions, working conditions, and | prices in Prince Rupert then, cost of living between the twoO|see that Prince Rupert was towns, emphasizes the Allied Labor | hirher which bears out Council memorandum. argument that our dollar buys “Prince Rupert is 580 miles north |jn Prjnce Rupert.” of Vancouver, ae has a eet Another source of dissatisfac wetter climate. Its distance from says the memo dum, are agricultural and industrial enter- charged here which are much h prises causes prices to be appre-| 2. than those in Vancouver ciably higher,” stated the memor- na (offset the inequalities andum. “No large industries @ar€|:iueen the two districts a hij established here and nearly all the} <.aje of pay should be paid newcomers will have to go else- Prince Rupert. That a higher s where for employment . . - wheN| of pay is essential to hold mer Prince Rupert returns to its pre-| -ocount of the additional war status ... They feel they are|jiving can be confirmed by sacrificing more than those WhH9/}jo¢5) eontractors in Prince Ru go to Vancouver and more favored | ~4, pay higher wages than f parts of the coast where there 15/1 2i] in the shipyard here. a better chance to establish them- “The turnover of workmen in selves later. , dry dock here is enormous © Coming here, they find the|pesides having a bad effect higher cost of commodities—food,|j,6n still employed, it leave rent, lights, water, etc., are UD-| worse impression among pros tive employees. This’ undoubt $4,000 Quota is one of the biggest factors For Press Drive peding the building of ships Prince Rupert and conditions With an objective of $4,000, the second. financial drive for a sus- they now exist will not offe remedy.” Main reasons for this turns eel ... believes the Allied Labor Cow taining fund for The People will are high cost of living, lack be launched-on Monday, March |recreational facilities, poor 15. On Sunday, March 14, at 8 pm.,|and service in dining halls, a meeting of the drive committee, |iliness developing because of with all interested persons, will be | matic conditions. held at the Fishermen's Hall, 138 E. Cordova, Final plans for mak- ing this second drive as successful as the first will be discussed at the meeting. Bill Bennett, known more famili- arly to the readers of the progres- Sive press as “Ole Bill” heads the committee, which is composed of many of the same people who brought the first drive to such a successful conclusion last Fall. The drive committee feels that, from the support which The People has already received from the la- bor movement and from progres- sive individuals throughout the province, the role of the paper in pressing for unity of all sec- tions of the working people of BC behind the war effort has been appreciated. The circulation depart- ment of the paper is continually reciving encouraging letters from outlying districts, telling of the welcome with which The People is greeted, and of the support which can be obtained for it. Equal Pay Asked YOUBOU, BC—More than 100 East Indian and Chinese workers at the Youbou sawmill appealed last week to IWA sub-local 1-80 for help in obtaining equal pay for equal work. At a meeting held by IWA offi- cials in which the government's war time wage regulations were ex- plained by Nigel Morgan, interna- tional board member, it was de- cided that application should be made to the Regional War Labor Board to have the principle of equal pay for equal work established. Questionnaire Being Circulatec A questionnaire, to be fille: by laborers employed at the ft wage rate of 50 cents per EF is being circulated among ship workers here by the Pacific € Labor Bureau, under instruct from the Dock & Shipyard W ers’ Union. “Although some adjustm have been made as a result of recommendations of the Rich Commission, we feel that the cent rate for laborers is not § factory,” President Charles Sa ers told The People. “We are of the opinion that it is not a living wage. The inform: received through this question! will show just how far 50 « an hour will go towards prov: decent living standards.” It is expected that all ques naires will be returned by the of the month. “T fully anticipate that condi revealed by the questionnaires more than justify the men’s mands for a decent standar living,” stated Bert Marcuse rector of Pacific Coast Labor eau. “It is difficult enough | single man to support himse 50 cents an hour; to ask a ms man to do this is to penaliz whole family. “The lowered morale whic sults from this most cer harms our war effort. H wages for underpaid men greater production not 1 feared inflation.”