AN EDITORIAL

King's Labor Policy Endangering War Effort

ie any proof were needed that the King
' government’s labor policy is not a
policy designed to enable the workers to
contribute their utmost to the national war
effort, that proof is today evident in the
unrest and dissatisfaction now expressed
in the country’s major and vital industries.

In face of open provocation by anti-
labor employers and ill-concealed hostility
from those charged with execution of the
government's policies, the workers have,
as Percy R. Bengough, president of the
Trades and Labor Congress, has pointed
out, conducted themselves with admirable
restraint. They have conducted them-
selves with a greater sense of responsibility
to Canada’s national interests in this war
than the government itself by refusing to
permit narrow considerations to deflect
them from accomplishment of the com-
mon task of winning the war-.

The government, however, has per-
mitted its policies towards labor to be
dictated by the representatives of the
banks and the monopolies whom it Jas
placed in positions where they have used

evasion of labor’s demands and studied
ignoring of labor’s needs been more pat-
ently followed than in the dispute between
the spruce logging operators and the log-
gers, represented by the IWA, in the
Queen Charlotte Islands. The operators
have employed every known subterfuge
and availed themselves of every pretext
to avoid signing an agreement with the
union. They would, it is apparent, sooner
close down their camps, regardless of the
consequences to war production, than sign
an agreement. The loggers, for two years,
have patiently presented their demand for
an agreement through every legal chan-
nel rather than resort to strike action.
And they deserve the gratitude of the
Canadian people for their patriotic re-
straint and patience. But the government
has chosen to ignore the findings of an
arbitration board and permit the situa-
tion to reach the point where the loggers
must now reluctantly strike to safeguard
the very union interests the government
is supposed to have guaranteed.
Through their organizations, the peo-

war effort.

the extraordinary powers Vv
to deny labor its rightful place in the

Nowhere has this policy of calculated

ested in them

ple should themselves
tolerable situation by
King government that it compel the op-
erators to meet the men’s just demands.

act to end this in-
demanding of the

Miners Critical Of
Emerald Mine Closing

TRAIL, B.C.—When

a government department orde

By AL PARKIN

ing 125 men and producing a vital war material, after hav

velopment, the move is certain to provoke many a question.
biggest and cheapest source of tungsten in

the questions raised are-sure to take a critical turn.

That’s exactly what has

ation. Hardrock men are critical,
and the people of the interior
generally suspect the cause to be
something a little more than the
official reason given— overpro-
duction.” ~

Development work on the Em-

Listen to

WILLIAM
STEWART

President, Boilermakers
and Iron Shipbuilders’,
Local No. 1

LABOR-
PROGRESSIVE
PARTY

BROADCAST

Tell Your Friends.

happened throug
the recent closing at Salmo of the Emerald Tungste

erald Mine was done last winter.
Owned by a group of American
investors, the property was oper-
ated by Wartime Metals, a gov-
ernment agency, which backed
development to the tune of $1,
300,000, the cost of putting the
mine into shape. It had been pro-
ducing for about one month be-
fore the closedown, and that pros
duction was something to marvel
about. j

One old hardrock miner who
worked at Emerald told me that
the ore was of such high grade
that some of it was being lost
over the tables in the Gotation
process until a scheme of diluting
it with low-grade ore was devised.
The mine was so rich that the
original cost of development work
could have been paid back out of
profits within one year after it
opened.

Yet only a month after Emerald
began turning out by the ton this
marvellous metal that hardens
steel to almost unbelievable
toughness, a metal indispensable
in the manufacture of tool steel,
gun barrels and armor piercing
shells, the government ordered
it closed. The human element was
not considered. The fact that
there were 125 men employed,
many of them with families who
had settled in Salmo in expecta-
{ion of steady employment, was
ignored. So was the International
Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers, which held a contract
with the company.

‘What zets me wondering about
the setup,” a miner told me, “is
the fact that right up to the time
of the shutdown the provincial
and federal governments were
subsidizing prospectors and com-
panies to hunt for tungsten show-
ings all over the province and the
mining department in Victoria was
offering a $300 grubstake to any

the British Empire,

hout the interior mining country
n Project of Wartime Metals Corpor-

rs the shutdown of a mine employ-
ing spent $1,300,000 on its de-

And when that mine is the
if not in the entire world,

as a result of

prospector who wanted to take a
crack at the job.

“Then they suddenly discover
they've been over-producing. It
just doesn’t make sense!”

What does make sense are the
yeasons given here for the shut-
dovn by men who have studied
the situation.

Qne version or the story is to
the effect that the U.S. owners
objected to Wartime Metal Cor-
poration’s offer to buy them out
for $400,000, half of this sum to
be paid in royalties which would
be subject to taxation. The own-
ers then sought and obtained an
injunction closing the mine.

What seems more likely is that
the government took cold feet at
the idea of taking the mine over,
since officials of Wartime Metals
are reported to have stated their
objections to “interfering with
private enterprise.”

Undoubtedly this attitude was
determined to a great extent by
Consolidated Mining and Smelt-
ing Company, which is known to
have an eye on the property. If
this is true, then we can expect
to see the property reopened at
a time that suits S. G. Blaylock.
Consolidated can well afford to
pay the probable price of a mil-
lion and a half dollars for the
mine. H would be just that much
less paid in to the Canadian gov-
ernment for taxes.

Whatever the reason for the
shutdown, there is strong resent-
ment throughout the interior over
the move. The government's war-
{ime policy has suffered another
“black eye” and the eight-thous-
and-odd members of the Interna-
tional Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers are going to re-
member the Emerald Mine inci-
dent when the next election comes
along.

; a
Bengough Hits _
: r a
Labor Policies
labor policies, as adminisi
by Labor Minister Humphrey Mitchell and Minister of
tions and Supply D. C. Howe,
“destroyed the spirit of enthusiasm needed for a 100 peree
war effort” by Percy Bengough,

Labor Congress of Canada when he spoke at a banquellee
in his honor at Hotel Vancouver last Friday. * aS

The King government's

Terming the lockout of aircraft
workers in Montreal and Van-
couver this year by the depart-
ment of munitions and supply and
the department of labor “the big-
gest act of sabotage since the war
started,’ Bengough charged that
ihe two departments had acted in
opposition to the government's
own orders-in-council on labor re-
lations.

He further charged Labor
Minister Humphrey Mitchell with
promoting company unionism and
read from a pamphlet issued by a
e government-owned, crown - oper-
ated company” attacking “out-
side” unions and promoting “the

Protest Sent
On Expulsions

At its meeting this week, Aero-
nautical Mechanics Lodge 756 en-
dorsed a motion to send an im-
mediate wire of protest to the in-
ternational union president be-
cause of the expulsion of three
members from Lodge 756 on in-
structions from the grand lodge.

The three members, Pat Ryan,
chairman of the shop stewards
committee at Bocing Aircraft,
Ruth Breger, secretary of the
committee, and William Turner,
a shop steward, were expelled
for a technical violation of the
union constitution and following
their expulsion they, were fired
by the company.

The motion passed by Lodge
756 pointed out that the interna-
tional president had constitution-
al authority to suspend but not
to expel menibers. :

were denounced as hayj

president of the Trades a | B

Atlas Workers Indepe
Union,” for which it clain
backing and support of the
department.” é
“| asked the minister of |
he would deny that state
he did not do it. He
guilty to do it.
-“How can this be rec
with the order-in-coun
the workers the right
jze?” Bengough asked. “Do
wouder labor has lost cont
has become hostile? .
“Tt seems impossible
_quick dispatch on any order
council to benefit the people 7
Canada, but any order again :
bor can be passed overnight
“That there have bee
strikes or labor troubles”
ada since the war began —
to the loyalty of the Cana 7
workers under great provoi
But the many pinpricks of ir
tation have destroyed the d
ers’ enthusiasm and confider
The labor department, {
gough declared, had callec =
academic advisers and the de §
ment of munitions Had sum
ered its powers to financiers >
industrialists, but labor had —&
left without representation |
boards or crown companies.

“Workers have equal repr
tation with industrialists ont
British boards of similar nat
he said, “but there is none 3
ever in Canada. If there had1
jobs would have been ca
through with an enthusiasm
lacking. oes

“In many cases thesmost m §
and labor-hating employers:
been picked for these jobs.
problem is whether we ere:
to have a government for.
business or for the people”

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NOTICES

Canadian Aid to Russia Fund,
Auxiliary No. 1. Used clothing of
all kinds always urgently needed.
835 West Pender Street. Phone
MArine 2744.

Regular meetings of the Hast-
ings East Branch of the Labor-
Progressive Party are held on
the first and third Friday of
each month, 31 a.m., at 2962 Ven-
ables for swing shift workers,
8 p.m. at 2443 East Hastings for
other members.

Casting ana rehearsals for the
Shipyard Revue are now under
way. If you can dance, sing, act
or play a musical instrument, get
in touch with the Labor Theater
at 119 Shelly Building, 119 West
Pender or phone MAr. 7642. All
those interested are invited to
attend rehearsals. Drama: Mon-
day, Wednesday, Friday, 8 p.m.,
at 119 Shelly Building. Dancing:

Tuesday, Friday, 7 p.m., at 875
East Hastings. Singing: Friday,
7 p.m., at 875 East Hastings.

Groups rehearse together Sun-
days, 2 p.m., at 875 East Hastings.

A dance in‘aid of The People
Press Drive will be held by the
Federation of Russian-Canadians,
Saturday, October 16, 8 p.m., at
533 Georgia East.

- South Vancouver Branch,
bor-Progressive Party, is he
a whist drive and dance, §
day, October 9, at Norquay
munity Hall, Slocan and K
way. Refreshments. Adm.
50 cents. ay

The Labor Theater wan
girls and four men to learn?
routines for its Shipyard B
Experience not necessary. #
cations received at LYF Hal
East Hastings, Sunday after
or at Labor Theater office
Shelly Building, any afternot
evening. Phone MAr. 7642. —

There is still a place
in one of the skits in th
yard Revue. Apply now att
Theater office, 119 Shelly —
ing. Phone MAr. 7642.

Beginning October 16, 2 —
drive and modern and old
dance will be held every £
day, 8 p.m., at Cambrian Hal
East 17th Avenue, by 4
Pleasant Branch, lLabor-Pre
sive Party. Admission whisi
dance, 40 cents. Admission
only, 15 cents. Dance only, ©
9 p.m., 25 cents; after 3 P#
cents. Refreshments.

If you are a member Of
city branch of the Labor-Pre
sive Party and working ©
off shift you are invited to ©
a meeting to be held Friday
tober 15, 11 a.m., at 612 H
Building. See