Continued from Page I ICTORY }SCURITY -ers, this organization fulminates through against the closed shop and in- : : ' ternational unions and states: = pope : _ “After five years of steady eae IN I f V : ground work we have associated — ‘keymen’ members seattered = 5 : throughout the lumber, milling : e and industrial operations of B.C. ss : These members are trustworthy and they will shortly receive in- structions to contact ‘minorities’ wherever they are located.” By minorities is meant “old and satisfied employers,” while “keymen” is another title for stoolpigeons whose job it is to 3 me pei all labor leaders as grafters and all trade unionists as racketeers. It lists as its aims: = @ Freedom of Canadian work- ers from internationally con- trolled unions. - : ae © Compulsory auditing of all union books by certified public accountants and the publication of said ‘audits in local news- papers. @ Compulsory registration of yj. all labor unions under the Trade i — IUMMSW — CCL ‘Local 480 "298 Bay Avenue TRAIL, B.C. * = >) WAND STUDIOS a 83 East Hastings Street : e iweets Canada’s Warriors and - Workers on MAY DAY ) < iY DAY GREETINGS : TO ALL WORKERS LACEY SIGNS > ‘Homer Sireet PAcitic 9615 = y) IIVERSAL NEWS STAND lixtends May Day Greetings Commending Canada’s Workers and . Warriors on Their Unity for Victory! J) 8 East Hastings Vancouver, B.C. May Day Greetings Ee . = = 40 | CANADA’S WORKERS AND WARRIORS IN SALUTE TO THEIR UNITED a WAR EFFORT ! New Method Cleaners = Robson Street Vancouver, B.C. Company Stir Up Strife is tee f wes ; W : report all activities in the union ~ y forke rs- and advocate provocative actions U = : among trade unionists. nHion - In a preamble the brief smears Union Act of Canada. @ Anti-trust laws with heavy penalties to apply to any union practicing restraint of trade. @ Any union violating a con- tract with an employer sSroup to be fined and its charter suspend- ed. ® The government order pro- hibiting strikes in war industries - during the war to become a per- manent statute in all industries after the war. @ No more money paid by Canadian workers into interna- tional unions to be permitted to leave Canada after the war. Describing the closed shop as “just another form of labor tyran- ny with “strike drunk’ leaders whose “sudden gift of power re- sults in the breaking down of all forms of employer resistance to eollective bargaining .. .” the brief goes on to state: “Canada’s new labor code came into effect on March 21, 1944. It makes col- lective bargaining compulsory for workers in all war industries and in national occupations which have been previously un- der the Industrial Disputes In- quiry Act. “The ‘Big Labor Shots’ are not Satisfied with this measure be- cause it does not go as far as they desire . . . It does not provide for the compulsory signing of contracts with trade unions. . - Canadian Association Union Members will fight to keep it so.” Asking confidential support from those circularized with the brief, this organization of stool- pigeons advocate registration un- der the Societies Act of B.C. for all company organized unions coming under their influence. last week, Dick Osman, busi- ness agent, International Associ- ation of Machinists, told the Van- ecouver Trades and Labor Council that 51 company unions were in operation in British Columbia. This -week, labor department officials. explained that it was not necessary to be organized under the Societies Act, for am “employees’ association” to be eertified as bargaining agents in a plant. The facts are, however, that union-smashing organizations are taking advantage of the Sociecies Act to oppose legitimate trade unionism. : In a review of company unton— ism Vancouver Labor Council this week instructed its executive to meet with the executive of the AFL and make a strong pro- test against the certification of company unions. f LOTUS CAFE Extends SE May Day Greetings to Canada’s — Warriors and Workers. 10 EAST HASTINGS ST. CORNETT BROS. 33 East Hastings e Agents for FLORSHEE and _ z ASTORIA Shoes —/) | Unions Labor Personalities —34 _ Margaret Black — By CYNTHIA CARTER HE subject of this weeks column has one of the finest “organizing minds” in the city. And the fact that it is placed beneath a crop of golden curls doesn’t curb its efficiency one bit. So beware, my friend, when you see that twinkle in Margaret Biack’s big blue eyes. It probably means she’s got a job cooked up for you! E : The entire progressive movement in Vancouver had good reason to thank Margaret's talents last August, when the huge United Nations Picnic, of which she was in charge, was such a success. For weeks before “The Day” Margaret and her energetic committee were deep in details. There were a hundred and one things to do, and they were well done. The picnic com- mittee worked like a well- — greased machine. And the 6,- greased machine. And the 6,000 guests who gathered at the § grounds agreed it was the best picnic eyer held in Vancouver. Financially, as well as in every other way, the picnic was a success. And you can say that about almost every venture in Which Margaret Black has a hand. = @ ARGARET was born in ' Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1913. She arrived, as her par- ents used to say, “just after the war and just before the eyclone,” the second youngest of a family of seven. She went to school in Regina and had finished her third year at high when her mother’s il health forced her to say home. to look after the housekeeping. : ee ‘Within a few years she started work. This was at the beginning of the depression and jobs were hard to find, but she managed to make a-living at domestic work and other odd jobs. s - But Margaret had always been interested in politics, even when she was in grade school. For one thing, M. J. Coldwell, “then an alderman in Regina, was a school teacher at the time, and Margaret and fellow students used to go to hear his public speeches. By the time she was in her “teens she was convinced - _she was a learned socialist. When she was finally given a job in the CGF book shop in Regina She felt it was her duty to educate the customers, so, whenever she would see someone looking over the few really fine books on hand, she would brightly suggest “Why don’t you try Bellamy’s Looking Back- ward?” A little working with the CCF soon put Margaret straight. At the time of the On-To-Ottawa Trek she was active in the citizens committee organized in Support of the marchers. On the committee were C@CFers, Communists, and others, and, she declares. “It didn’t take long to see where attempts at unity came from.’ Before long she left the CCF to become a member of the Communist Party of Canada. While the marchers were in Regina, and in her capacity as secretary of the legal committee and later of the defence com- mittee, Margaret met many wellknown Communist leaders and rank and file party members from British Columbia. And when they returned to B.C., Margaret came with them, as wife of George Black, an unemployed trekker. That was in 1936. ‘Life in Vancouver wasn’t easy. The Blacks were on relief for two years. As the depression lifted her husband got a little work now and again, on a bread wagon, as a Seaman. The couple moved to Burnaby where their son Peter was born and. several years later returned to Vancouver. e@ k For a time she engaged in various organizational jobs. One of her most important tasks was a chairman of the committee organized to win a “yes” vote on the mobilization plebiscite. This was her first attempt at a big job demanding organizing ab-- ility, and Margaret amazed her fellow workers by the skill’ and efficiency with which she carried out the campaign. Soon she was doing little but organizational- work, particularly among progressive women. : In September, 1943. she felt that, while not discontinuing her other activities, she must do more to back up her strong anti-fascist sympathies. At that time the call for women in industry was very strong. Hundreds were already employed in the shipyards and Boeings, and more were needed daily. So Margaret enrolled her young son in a day nursery, bought her- self overalls and lunehbox, and signed on as engine fitter’s helper at a Vancouver shipyard, joining the Machinists Union. In the yards she was active in union work, and she feels that for any woman a period spent working in heavy industry is a great experience. She found the opinions of her fellow women workers intensely interesting, particularly their views on the place of women in the postwar world, and their awareness of the role women are playing in the war effort. For a time she engaged in various organizational jobs and then, in September 1943, she started work in the shipyards as engine fitter’s helper, a member of the Machinists’ Union. At the present time Margaret is chairman of Grandview LPP Branch, member of Vancouver LPP City Council, chairman of Vancouver Centre Constituency Committee, and chairman of the Vancouver City Press Drive Committee. “In what spare time I have,” says Margaret, “I’m studying. I want to learn a lot more about politics, philosophy and eco- nomics. And then I want to do more political work.’ Those who know her are confident that her plans will be carried out—in tote. For Margaret Black, they will tell you, is a woman who geis things done!