tinued from Page @ne past Federation Iso Proposed r from representatives of the Boilermakers Union in- is that at least three courses of action are under advise- These include: : mmation of a Pacific Coast federation of shipyard unions, the unions retaining their direct affiliation with the Con- gand with the federation serving to give greater autonomy Beifing up of a national set into motion. > of shipyard workers in~ Qn the other hand, there has all unions across Canada | been considerable sentiment ex- merge their identity into pressed for some months past be- B2w organization and affili- hind the formation of a national > the CCL. union of shipyard unions. Such Biaking room fer the mem- a move would bring two results: sof the shipyaraG unions in First, it would overcome the suited Steel Workers of Am- present . inadmissible situation a CIO-CCL affiliate. where the largest shipyard union jhe three courses open, the in Canada, with 15,000 members, »wo Seem likeliest to be con- has no affiliation with any cen- ed. A Pacifie Coast federa- tral body while-a number of smal- s€ shipyard unions was pro- jer locals, with a combined mem- | and tentatively approved bership less than the Boilermak- ;onference of unionists from ers Union, are affiliated with eith- "wer Mainland, Victoria and er the CCL or the AFL, n Rupert held in Vancouver Second, it would open up the faonth, and the machinery UeStion of equalizing working 5 conditi i shi sch a move could be quickly east sor wect Soe ers from : : : = st. > Labor Scene MA In vending arbitration | hearings°on disputes ten the International tworkers of America and imber of logsing and all concerns on the ' coast threaten to create tleneck in the concilia- union has apparently been aban- doned for one of rushing the hearings through with as little publicity as possible. During the QCI hearings C. H. Locke, K.C., managed to create so much un- fayorable press publicity through his rabid attacks on the union leadership that it is quite likely z the lumber bosses decided to machinery of the B.C. soft-pedal that particular line in tment of labor. future arbitration proceedings. ' Situation has developed PS * refusal by the operators There is a strong sentiment ain collectively with the among Vancouver unionists on % set forth in their declar- the need for labor political ac- of policy some weeks ago. ion In fact, labor men here are then the union has met more than ordinarily proud that whe managements of seven in Vancouver the need was an- companies — four on Van- ticipated even before the recom- island and three on the ‘ mendation of the recent Trades Maimland. In each case and Labor Congress convention smpantes have agreed to through setting up of the Trade With committees of the Union Representation Committee "on grievances and even re- ic participate in the forthcoming of wage scales, but have ecivie elections. -Tefused to sign an agree- Already ihe committee has And in each case their made the newspaper headlines m” has been the Same— by uncovering evidence of the €adership of the TWA does actual disfranchisement of thous- qerit our confidence.” ands of Vancouver citizens. And arbitration hearing is now it is quite evident that the whole ocess between IWA Local matfer has stirred considerable nd the Lake Logging Com- anxiety at the City Hall. Three others have been This much is shown by the very ished covering the disputes weak “defense” of their position en the TWA and the Vic- by city officials, their failure to Lumber and Manufacturing react to charges with their ac- any, Industrial Timber customed vehemence and indig- and the Ladysmith opera- nation. ‘There was even an un- of the Comox Logging and dertone of hurt surprise to be de- ay Company. = tected in the statements of some addition, negotiations have ‘4dividuals at the City Hall, as m down between the union though they had Imown right fraser Mills, Mohawk Lum- along what was happening to nq Hammond Cedar, and in TeOse enousauds of polenna vee. = but had not considered it im- ase it is understood ite portant enough to to draw to our intends to make immediate ai+ention! ation for an arbitration That's why it looks, from this corner, as though the Trade Union Representation Committee missed a good bet by failing tec follow up the issue as vigorously as would seem to be justified. There were good grounds for de- Inanding that the closing date for vote registration be set ahead So as to have the matter clarified. Aud it’s still not too late. Ac- interesting feature of the ation hearings this week ang the Lake Logging Com- in which Senator J. W. arris appeared for the com- and Wigel Morgan for the is the fact that the oper- policy of red-baiting and oning the war record of the McEwen To Tour Island Tom McEwen, newly-ap- pointed provincial organizer for the Labor - Progressive Party, left Vancouver this week for an extended tour of Vancouver Island, it was an- nounced by the party's pub- licity -department. He will address meetings at the following points: Saanich, Friday, Sept. 17; Victoria, Sunday, Sept. 19; Extension, Wednesday, Sept. 22; Ladysmith, Friday, Sept. 24; Dunean, Sunday ~ (afternoon), Sept. 26; Nanaimo, Sunday (eve- ning), Sept. 26; Chemainus, Mon- Gay, Sept. 27; Courtenay, Friday, Ort. 2) Newton Forms LPP Braneh NEWTON, BC—A branch of the Labor-Progressive Party was organized at a meeting held here last week. Chairman of the branch will be ©. W. Mossman. Other offi- cers elected are: S. Delaney, sec- retary; B. Hoffman, financial sec- retary. Meetings will be held on the first and third Monday of each By Al Parkin Seven. Disputes eording to my information, many residents of the city occupying furnished apartments have been refused the right to apply for entry on the voters’ list. Here’s a good opportunity for a test ease that can be fought out before the Court of Revision. Success in such a case can go a long way te electing labor representatives on the next Cty Council. * * Up in the Okanagan the work of organizing fruit pickers and packingheuse workers into the CCL has been makins steady pro- gress. Only recently an agree- rent was signed petween the CCL Fruit and Vegetable Work- ers’ Union covering some forty packing plants and the Federated Growers, providing: for a general five cents an hour wage increase over last year, 10 percent increase in piece rates, equal pay for women workers, seniority and holidays with pay. Union organization throughout the valley has become so exten- Sive that preparatons are being made to establish an Okanagan Labor Council, with headquarters at Kelowna, and many locals in the area are going ahead with election of delegates to the cen- tral council. Charter for the council will be applied for fol- lowing the CCL convention in Montreal. Ee pee 2 The chum salmon are running in northern B.C. waters, and last week organized fishermen won higher prices for chums for freezing purposes following nego- iations with cannery operators in Vancouver. The negotiations were authorized by two meetings of seiners at Quathiaski Cove and Namu, addressed by officers of the United Fishermen’s Union. Prices established were: 20 cents for chums in area north of Cape Caution, and 17 cents for the Queen Charlotte Islands area. The opening date in the John- stone Strait area for the addi- tional freezing price on chums will be advanced from Octcber 1 to September 13. Labor Personalities —3 J. M. ‘Digger’ Smith By CYNTHIA CARTER dé VE worked on a lot of jobs, I've been to a lot of places, I and I guess I’ve seen a lot of things. But pretty well every- thing I've learned could be summed up by saying that ’m con- vineced that the only way working people will get the kind of world they want to live in is by organizing on the job and back- ing up that organization by strong political action.” The speaker was J. M. “Digger” Smith, secretary of the In- landboatmen’s Union of the Pacific. We sat in the union's offices in the Holden Building — home of many trade union headquarters. “Digger” leaned back in his chair, and folded his arms. “Well, ask me anything you like,” he said, “but there’s not much about me that’s interesting.” And during the next hour he told me casually about life on a British cattle boat, about work in the Australian wheat fields, about action in a general strike in Australia, about shipping for four years along the African coast, about organizing for the ClO on Canadian Pacific Steam- ships on Canada’s west coast. ... “Digger” Smith was born in New South Wales, Aus- tralia. His father was a sailor before him and Digger him- self went to sea when he was nineteen. After shipping to England, he changed jobs and sailed out of Antwerp on what was really a cattle boat. But on his first trip —to Montreal—the living space normally housing 2,000 head of cattle was used to ship 2,000 human passengers. On the return journey the bunks were torn down and 2,000 cattle placed in quickly erected stalls. Digger’s next job was on an Afriean coast line, running from London to Capetown and Zanzibar. He hired on as a steward, and while conditions were bad for stewards, they were even worse for the rest of the crew. The food, he explains, would keep you alive—‘If your constitution were strong enough to stand it.” “If a sailor had his eyes open, he could learn a lot in those days,” relates Smith, “and I began to realize the meaning of the word ‘imperialism.’ While some of our Passengers were rich tourists, the majority were agents of British companies with branches in Africa. “It was about 1906 then. Africa was still generally considered jungle country, although many ways had already been found to exploit the native population,” he added. Ses also discovered at this time, the practice of employers of playing one group of workers against others. “One day when we were unloading at a\ port, the boss in charge of workers in the hold kept cursing his men on, telling them the boys on shore were way ahead of them. Ashore an- other strawboss told the same thing to a line of sweating native workers, who were paid a shilling for a day's work which began at dawn and lasted till evening. To make his meaning clearer, he casually snapped a rhinoceros hide whip across their backs,” he said. : Presently Digger was back in Australia. He married a pretty Scottish girl and decided: to settle down to a job on the rail- road. But it wasn’t long before he was playing an active part in the workers’ struggles. When the Australian Railroad Union (of which he was branch secretary) went on strike over the in- troduction of a speedup system, he took a leading part in the dispute. It broadened into a general strike and Smith was un- employed for a full year. When the sirike was over he went to the Australian wheat fields and worked loading grain bags. At the end of the First World War, Digger came with his family to Canada. They landed at Victoria and Smith hired on with Canadian Pacific Steamships. He immediately joined the Industrial Seafarers Union, and later helped to organize the Inlandboatmen’s Union. During the fourteen years he spent on coastwise boats, Digger worked consistently to organize the men. His efforts were rec- ognized. In 1939 the CIO appointed him as district organizer, a position he held until 1941, when he became secretary of the IBU and was transferred to Vancouver. “We'll never get a better world after the war unless we plan and work for it_now,” he told me. “I have always been sympa- thetic to the progressive labor political movement. I've attended meetings of the old Socialist Party, and meetings held by the Communist Party. And now I’m a member of the Labor-Pro- gressive Party.” At that moment the telephone rang- After he had listened to the voice on the other end of the wire for several moments, a smile broke over his face. “Well, that makes the full three generations to take to the sea,’ he said, putting down the receiver. The phone eall had brought him news that the second of his two sons to enter the navy had left to report for his medical examination, and expected to be called for training in a few days. “You know,” he said in parting, “I’ve seen the day when stewards on our boats worked from 5 a.m. till midnight, and I’ve seen union action bring about the nine-hour day. I’ve seen living conditions that weren’t fit for animals replaced by civilized comforts when men got together and fought for them. “I've watched the labor moyement grow. And I’m proud to have a part in it.” — cee wt er ys