i. ee ; : q ] : t ( 7 ‘ : ; i ] : WwW a ane Tt fo) Aes era ~yanco™ peuek ne, oe ase) Ulek=s xion- ore a ye S ts) Feder C ses i Ce) Gene With Tony Beck, chief shop steward of the North Van- ceuver Ship Repair, I have just completed a tour of Can- ada’s shipbuilding industry. the Maritime Institute at Dalhousie. University, We attended the sessions of | and the first annual convention of the Maritime Marine Workers’ Pederation in Halifax. In Hallifax, N-S:, Lauzon and Montreal, Que., in Loronte and at the head of the Lakes, we had the opportunity of address- ing, thousands of Shipyard work- ers of both AFI. and ClO affili- ates; of discussing mutual over- all problems of wages, hours and working conditions, as well as the vitally important issue of the future of Canada’s’ ship- Euilding industry. The impressions we gathered on this nationwide tour are not enly. important to shipyard workers, but to all Canadians concerned with the maintenance ef an industry, which proved Guring the war years that Cana- dians are. second to none in skill, efficiency and moderate costs in ship production. im each area, we found work- €rs confronted with precisely the Same problems. For instance, the yery day we arrived in Hali- fax, the Halifax Herald carried on its front page a story of the utterly appaling housing condi- tions in that city. Some 35 fam- ilies, the paper reported, were tc be evicted that day from a iat and vermin infested tene- ment because the building had been condemned some years ago as unfit for human habita- tion. The city fathers, if was reported, had no idea what would lappen to the 35 families. No- Eody knew where they would or could go. One city alderman ex- pressed the pious hope that they weuld find their own solution te the problem but admitted that there was no other housing accommodation avdilable for them in the city of Halifax. At the present time, ship- yard operators on the west coast have been spreading pub- city to the effect that if we are to get contracts in our west coast shipyards, workers must be prepared te accept low wages in order to enable the operators to compete against foreign builders. In the maritimes, the ship- yard eperators tell the work- ers that if they are to get contracts to Keep their yards busy they must be prepared to work for less wages than the west coast shipyard worker. Im Quebec and Montreal, the shipyard operators tell the workers that if they want Steady employment, they must be prepared to work for low- er wages than either the west coast or maritimes, thereby enabling their local yard to Make lower bids on contracts and take the business away from their competitors. If you take into account that these shipyard operators have a national organization which lays down a policy for them from coast to coast, you will understand what a shameless example of profiteering greed double-dealing duplicity is in- volved in this deliberate and calculated deceit of the workers. At the present time, the mar- itimes and Quebec are both low- wage zones. Shipyard workers in those areas get wage rates which range from 5c to as much as 20c and hour less than ship- AOTEAROA UOT e@ Feature Seciion SEE... @ CRUSADE FOR PEACE yard wages on the west coast, and west coast shipyard wages are now 11 percent below even the Government’s absurd cost of living index. N OW what do these low wages mean in terms of hu- man values? in Halifax, during; casual walks through some of the downtown areas, in bitterly coid weather, we found that bare- footed, rickets-ridden children were a common sight. The vital statistics for Nova Scotia show a dangerously high infantile mortality rate, maternal death rate and tuberculosts rate. Vital statistics for the prov- ince of Quebec show an infan- tile mortality rate and mater- mal death rate that can only be equalled in the British Em- pire by cities like Calcutta and Bombay. Low wage standards for the workers, standards which re- duce the workers’ purchasing power to the provision of bare necessities, leaves no section of the community unaffected. Such workers’ families have to get along without many vital farm and dairy products. Their wom- en and children have to” get along as best they can without desperately needed medical and dental care because they cannot afford these essential services. Medical and dental care, re- garded aS a hasic necessity in cur modern world, becomes an impossible luxury for workers in low-wage areas. Se [NX carrying out their shoddy and contemptible campaign for the preservation of low wages, Canadian shipyard oper- ators are guilty of attempting to perpetrate a crime not only against their own workers but also against the entire Canadian nation. They are, in fact, seeking to perpetuate the annual and ab- lutely needless slaughter of thousands of Canadian mothers and infants. I say needless be- cause the infantile mortality rate and materal death rate in the maritime provinces and Quebec are completely the pro- duct of poverty. These same shipyard operators who seek to maintain these in- tolerable conditions are in every case individuals who themselves have made huge new fortunes eut of this natiGn’s war effort. It is interesting to note that no public information is available on the exact rate of profit per time profit levels by raidin of the shipyard workers. ship in Canada’s wartime ship- building industry. Ne information is available to the public as to the amount of public money invest ed in the expansion of our ship- yards from coast to coast. Nor is anything known as to just how crown assets were disposed of at the end of the war. We do know from the evidence of our eyes that millions of public dol- lars were invested in every yard in plant expansion and the pro- vision of new equipment. We do Know that huge enterprises have been built out of public funds where practically nothing pre- viously existed. We do know that Mr. Wallace, the owner of Burrard Dry Dock Limited, whose yard was worth about $500,000 in 1939 finds him- self at the end of the war in & position where he is able to buy up Yarrows yard on Van- couver Island at a cost of 3% million dellars. We do know that Mr. Yarrow, who sold his yard fo Mr. Wallace, in 1939 that was worth perhaps $100,000. At present that’s all we know. But we intend that the whole story of huge profits in Canadian shipbuilding is go- ing to be made known to the Canadian public. It has recently been revealed in the United States that there exists in the shipbuilding and shipping industry in that coun= try a 20 billion dollar swindle which the American operators Put over on the American peo- ple during the course of- the war. The evidence in Canada would seem to indicate that a public investigation would reveal a very Similar setup in this coun= try. That huge profits and new fortunes were created out of war industry during the course of the war is indicated by the following facts: -First, accord- ing to statistics issued by the Bank .of Canada, it is “Shown that during the course of the war there was a 53 percent in- -crease in the goods and services produced by the Canadian work- ing class. In other words, a 53 percent increase in our nation- al wealth. However, in the same period, there was a 54 percent increase in the rate of profit. That is one fact. Other facts emerge from advertisements in the newspapers such as_ the Henry Morgan & Co. ad that we saw in the Montreal Gaz- ette there this company offered a few modest little tablecloths at $375 to $1,100 per cloth. And another store in the same paper ‘Beaton Park’ ene of the 10,000 ton ships built in Vancouver, B.C. had an outfit. Big Profits For Ship Operators Or Jobs For The Workers? During the war years the ship builders amassed huge profits by raiding the public treasury through their “eost-plus deals with the government; now they want to sustain their war- g the wage and living standards effered fur coats from $1,000 to $45,000. In each city we visited, we also saw palatial new lux— ury homes that had recently been built. And its boatyards across the country, workers are busy producing luxury yachts for the new elite. e. Yes, there is plenty of evi- dence as. to wartime profit- eering and fortune-making. Some individuals got away with a lot while the main attention of our people was to the winning of the war. The Canadian Manufacturers’ Association has recently come Gut with some strident demands for legislation against Canadian trade unions and the Canadian working class as a whole. Legis- lation proposals which in Can- adian nostrils, stinks of fas- cism, the concentration camp and the torture chamber, They talk of strikes! Yet while Ca- nadian labor gave and upheld a no-strike pledge to the nation for the duration of the war, the Canadian Manufacturers’ Asso- ciation pulled a savage strike against the nation in its very hour of peril. That was when Canadian big business refused ta accept war contracts until the government removed the 5 percent limitation on war prof its, That strike is only equalled in its grasping selfishness by the present deliberate hold out on civilian production. This is the picture of Cana- dian shipyards and other basic industries in 1946, and the fight— ing spirit of the Canadian peo— ple has been aroused. All sections of our people are determined that there will be no return to pre-war conditions and are determined to beat back every attempt to force fascist standards on Canadian workers. Whereever you go right across the country, Canadian workers are gearing up to-lead the strug— gle for decent living standards. in Nova Scotia—coal, steel, and Shipbuilding. In Quebec—lumber, textile, steel and Shipbuilding. In Ontario—steel, auto, electri cal and lumber. All are moving into action in the national wage drive. All are equally determined that Canadian children will be properly fed, properly elothed, properly housed, and have every opportunity to receive to beat back profit-hungry monopolists and to break the stranglehold of monopoly capital on our na- tural resources. A cold and cal— eulating anger has gripped the people. We will not be robbed of the fruits of victory. We meant business in the war. We mean business now.