Your Dorattinat - White “hat Yoru Peete Short Jabs 0

Most ecompetely organized,

Free enterprise Editor, Pacific Tribune:

Well, Brother Truman, that great exponent of “free enter- prise” has done it again.

- When the railroad workers went on strike for their just demands that became a “Na- tional crisis” ang workers were forced back to their jobs by Truman's threat of army action.

Now the U:S. has another “Na- -Wonal erisis’—the meat Short- age. But does Brother Truman call out the army and force the eattie owning and packing house profiteers to slaughter and mar- Ket their cattle, of which there has never been such an abund- ance in U-S. history? Wothing of the Kind! Instead, he removes all meat ceilings, playing right into the hands of the Profiteers, who have been on strike against the public and against the sovernment decreed OPA.

Tf the common working man strikes, that is anarchy and agaist the governmeni.

If the profit crazy monopo- lists hold out against the pub- lic and against government orders, that’s “free enterprise” wonderous workings, these so- ealleg democracies,

THOMAS P. Vancouver, E.G.

The UPWA again Editor, Pacifie Tribune:

This is in reply to an article appearing in the October i8th issue of your paper, written by

FEDERICT.

tz Clark, and headed “UPWA Wegotiations.”’ £ agree with Mr. Clark, that

the UPWA is one of the most Successful unions in this coun- try and has the industry al- this in_itself is a major accomplish- ment. The organization of the packine industry has not been accomplished by do-nothing tac- tics, and the UPWA has made more gains in the past years than many organizations.

Mr. Clark seems quite put out because the UPWA did not strike to gain its demands for @ master agreement, a wage in- crease, and other improvements. What he fails to consider is the fact that our union stretches from the Pacific Coast to the far Eastern Coast, at Moncton, NB., with one local or more in almost every province and city in Canada. The workers in these cities have different con-

cepts of what is best for the backing house workers, and it is.the duty of the leadership to See that the maximum amount of unity is obtained. The work €rs on the Prairies, in Quebec,

or the Maritimes, cannot be ignored any more than the workers on the Pacific Coast. The Negotiating Committee 1s elected by the local unions, and they are the only ones who can vote on the acceptance or re- j€ction of any point, staff repre- sentatives vote. The delegates decide the policy to be followed during negotiations, and are respons- ible not only to their own local but to the national hook-up.

The agreement concluded be- tween the UPWA and the “Big Three’ packing companies “Master Agreement” in the true Sense of the word, in that it is one 2greement covering all of each of the company’s plants in Canada. If 3 dispute arises im future negotiations, and astrike is necessary, all Plants will be involved. ‘While there is a sep- arate agreement with each company, all agreements expire On the same date and negotis- tions take place at the same time. Whether it is advisable for the union to force the com- Panies to unite under one head for the purpose of negotiations, is a matter of opinion, if the convention should decide at some future date to demand in- dustry wide negotiations, then it will be our policy.

Mr. Clark is in error when he says their delegate had to Sign twenty (20) local agree- ments, the fact is, he may have hag to sign twenty (20) copies,

but they were all the same agreement, extra signed copies are needed for local. unions,

plant Managements, national of- fices, ete, and as he was a member of the National Nego- tiations Committee it is only proper that he should sign as well as the National Director of the Union.

Votes for the acceptance or rejection of a Master Agree ment must be conducted on a national basis and a large ma-

jority of the packinghouse workers voted te accept the agreement, the result of the

vote showed 3,206 in favor of accepting and only 218 against, on the basis of actual votes. Many locals voted unanimously to accept and in fact Mr.

TIM BUCK

National Leader. Labor-Progressive Party : ..-. Speaking At...

PENDER AUDITORIUM

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Provincial Leader, Labor-Progressive Party Reporting On The LPP Provincial Convention ;

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IM BUCK |:

National Leader of Labor-Progressive Party FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 38th—7 p.m. to 1 am. $

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5

are not allowed to

is a

Clark’s own local voted 34 to 14 for acceptance.

Last, but not least, what has the UPWA accomplished during its four years of organization.

@ it has organized all of the “Big Three” plants, ang almost all of the independents.

@ it has established Wnion Security on an industry wide basis.

e It has reduced daily hours of work from 10 to 8, and the weekly hours from 54 to 45.

@ It ,increased remuneration |

from 19 to 34 cents per hour in general increases; night pre- miums of 5 cents per hour in all plants; 8 paid statutory holi- days; improved vacation plans - better systems of applying wage rates; Guaranteed weekly and daily hours in all but one chain Gwhich had it before), minimum rates have inereaseq from 40 to 79 cents per hour, in some

plants, and to 7314 in others for

males, and from 30 to 62 for females, in fact some plants were as low as 26 cents in 1940.

@ fhe UPWA contracts have the best general provisions of any agreements we have seen.

The packing industry is no longer the lowest paid; in some districts where we have locals, females are still working for 26 to 36 cents per hour, and males are hired at 45 to 55 cents per hour, many of these are in the food industry which must be organized by the UPWA. :

We, too, hope the workers will take a greater interest in their union, se we can ¢0 on to greater victories and more com- plete unity. The recent settle- ment of the UPWA has built our union in many places, and has added another 2,000 mem- bers to our list, and we speak of Swift in Edmonton, Alberta, Burns in Calgary, Alberta, and Kitchener, Ontario, and Canada Packers in Montreal, besides a number of independents in the Province of Quebec.

I hope that the Pacific _Tri- bune will publish this article as I believe it to express the feel- ing of a large majority of the UPWA members in Canada.

JOHN LENGLET, Publicity Director: 1207 Bay St., Toronto.

Business men, or — ?

Editor, Pacific Tribune: The News Vendors Section of

the Building Service Employees

Union, which was just begin- ning to organize when the Daily Province was struck, has been given the run around by the Sun very nicely.

The news boys went into an organizational drive while refus- ing to handle or sell the “hot Province.’ Recruiting new mem- bers was made much more diffi- cult by the fact that when a news boy joined up his income was cut greatly by refusing to sell the scab sheet.

The Sun was very happy that

‘the news vendors were standing

on union principles, but kept on passing the buck when it came to signing the dotted line on the contract. The Sun has held out for clarification on the point whether news vendors were em- ployees or business men. When Labor Minister Pearson ruled that they could be classified as employees, there was a sudden cooling in the platonic love af- fair between the Sun and the News Vendors Union.

It certainly looks as if the Sun Publishers have been try- ing to use the splendid stand taken by the Vancouver news boys to further their own ends. Possibly the Sun will have to learn the. hard way.

i. P. SCHWARTZ.

“RB e est Forei Z s eign A GOOD tabor-fakir is never at a loss to find .

=. : a >ecretary an alibi to\explain his policies and the poli- cies of his government, when he speaks for a government, when : they are contrary to the interests of the workers who elect them.

One of the tribe visited Vancouver last week and spoke under the auspices of the GCF, a member of the National Executive of the British Labor Party, Watson by name. Speaking of Communism and the Soviet Union, his words were a sycophantic echo of those of Churchill, a copy of Ghurchill’s oratory on the subject even to the commas.

If the House of Commons Laborites are all of the same type as this one, it is easy to understand the Associate@ Press report that “the house roared with laughter? when Churchill Save them his own definition of “reactionary”? —“An armed Communist advances upon you and yeu react against him, therefore you are a reactionary.”

But it was in his fulsome eulogy of Bevin. “the best foreign min- ister Britain ever had,” and his foreign policy that Watson used the

alibt.. His reason for the similar ity, the single-mindedness of pur pose, of the foreign policy of the Labor Party and the Tory Party, is that the financial intérests are right behind Bevin “not because.. they support his policies but be- cause they want to drive a wedge in the support given him by the labor movement.”

He called this an alibi, but it is not really that; it is an evasion, - of the truth .and here are a few Tories themselves to give the lie to Mr. Watson.

Churchill, speaking at a Scot- tish Conservative rally in Eidin-

burgh, reported in the News. Chronicle 30, 4/1946. “Unionists {the Tories’ name for thémselves) Save full support io the broad continuity of British foreign pol- ley, and they were at Gne with the Government in its open and Manly antagonism to international’ Communisnt at home and abroad.” Mr. Watson did not say it quite; so well since he is “not an orator as Churchill is.”

The (Yorkshire Post, acknowledged mouthpiece of the Tories since the Times became a “three-penny edition of the Daily Worker,” owned by Anthony Eden’s family, in one issue shortty after the last Labor Party Conference, reproached the leaders for advising Com- munists to join the Labor Party as “loyal” members, in the follow- ing news item. It might have been thought that Labor would be a trifle more particular and would have refused to believe that people holding such views could have been of assistance to the Socialist cause.” Not quite as polished as Churchill but meaningful’ - as Mr. Watson! :

A fine old “friend? of the British workers, Lord Balfour of Inchyre reported in Reynolds’ 4/471946, vented himself of the follow-— ing: “The Government does well in one direction onhy. Mr. Bevin has ; followed the main line of the Coalition Government’s foreign policy. He has gained the admiration of British citizens but the anger of a large section of his own supporters.” Fine old British citizens, what!

Another fine old British gentleman. pardon. citizen, Sir David Robertson, Tory M.P. for Streatham, was quoted in the South London Press of May 3, 1946, extending the good wishes of his Party. “We wish Mr. Bevin ‘God speed’ and our best wishes for the future. The stumbling block is Russia. Mr. Bevin is a great Woreign Secretary. -.- We admire the stand he is making and it is a great pity his own party does not back him up as we do. The Same gang wished Cham- - berlain ‘God speed’ too, when he left to sell his country at Minich.

And the women Tories, we must not forzset their support of the policies of the Labor government. The headline in a IGancashire paper read: “Lady Rochdale Fears Union With The Communists.” “Speaking to an audience comprised of the Rochdale Women’s Con-— servative Association, she said “Our way of life is worth preserving,”

THINGS Look BAD — WHat WITH THE HOUSING CRISIS,

“but it was in danger and she “felt considerable anxiety as to whether

or not the Labor Party was sufficientiv strone to resist affiliation with the Communists.” How dreadfully touching, don’tcher know!

Fate of on Gomme more about the Tories, local ones this time. Anarchist y At a Tory confab. in Vancouver last week, one of the speakers was-the foundry owner. McDonnell. MILA. He made one assertion we wiSh were true. According to this member for Van-_ couver Center, Vancouver has “more Communists per capita than any other city in Canada”

Statisticians who work without figures can get much better results than those who limit themselyes to established facts. Mc- Donnell’s estimated figures in this case are at least as bad as those he used in trying to prevent the exploited foundry workers from getting a raise in their miserably poor wages or in telling the court how many ribs he had cracked.

MeDonnell’s presence at that Tory muster, however, was not the only one that interested us. Another. familiar -name appeared in the press report—that of Leon Lotzkar. He is a delegate to the Tory provincial convention.

i remember when Lotzkar blew into town (that is the right Wobbly phrase). He was 4 wild-eyed, boisterous, rip-snorting revo- lutionary. The reds were not red enough for him. He wanted to fight the cops as he had been doing where he came from (at least he claimed to). He wanted free speech fights organized when there Was no issue at stake,

He belonged te the anarchist wing of the ITIWW. He was muddle- headed and confused, and like all anarchists his role was that of disrupter. Politics was out and the state was a shadow. Now, having amassed a fortune in the junk business, his anarchist pro- gram us tossed overboard and he is a delegate to the Tory convention.

we Must Te propaganda of the economists is getting re- xXpPOort sults in queer ways. We must export, we are told. I have just learned that B.C. is breaking new ground in this field, exporting missionaries. A freighter left Vancouver this week for South Africa with the first cargo. Let's hope they make some im- pression on Smuts: s

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, i, 1946