Continued from Page 1
BILL RIGBY MOURNED
"Many years of bitter experience have served to convince all thoughtful trade unionists that the limitations, voluntarily imposed upon themselves by the trade unions, should now be abandoned. Try as we might we cannot fence off the industrial field from the political field. Both together are part of the democratic heritage of the Canadian people. If grasshoppers are allowed to cover the political field we will never harvest wheat from the industrial field, no matter how high the fence we seek to erect," he wrote. When he became managing editor and office manager in 1944, the titles hardly began to indicate the wide area of responsibility he was assuming.
This was reflected in the fact that when the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union was formed in March of 1945, Bill Rigby was unanimously elected its first secretary treasurer.
This period undoubtedly marked the peak of his activities in the Union. He was the acknowledged leader of the Union at that time, and he devoted virtually every waking hour to the organisation, imbuing his fellow staff members with the same spirit.
He led Union negotiations, establishing himself as a well grounded authority on everything to do with it — a skillful bargainer who was often able to extract additional concessions, and he became a prominent figure in the Trades and Labor Congress in conventions and at other levels.
DECISIVE POSITION IN NETMEN'S STRIKE
Alex Gordon, former business agent of the UFAWU, tells of an incident during the 1946 networkers' strike when Gordon was still new in such matters.
"The strike had been on only a day or so and all of those involved in it were about as inexperienced as I was," he said.
"The problem of work permits' came up as a result of requests from several plants.
"A real crisis developed in the strike committee because of my uncertainty and resultant failure to present a firm, clearcut policy.
"Bill moved in like a steamroller," he recalled, "making a series of decisive proposals. The turmoil and disunity evaporated and the networkers went on to win their strike."
Gordon never forgot the lesson of that experience.
"I was angry at being pushed aside and the apparently brutal way Bill did the job, but I gradually realised that my anger should have been replaced by admiration and of course it was."
The harshness, he admitted, was necessary to clearly show the importance of firmness in the crisis and it was not lost on the committee.
Those associated with salmon price and other negotiations during that period will recall his ability to compromise as well as his will to fight. In his later years, Rigby was a modifying influence who often urged caution but who never failed to give everything in his power to win a struggle once the die was cast by the membership. He was a powerful figure in a crisis.
"I was always of the opinion that titled officers of the Union should be people coming from the ranks, from within the industry," he told The Fisherman a few weeks before he died.
"But when I was elected in 1945, no one else could be persuaded to take the job."
He saw such a person in Homer Stevens, patiently convincing him he should assume full time work with the Union, first as an organiser, and in 1948, as secretary treasurer.
Rigby was elected to the newly created post of research director at the 1948 convention, serving as unofficial consultant and adviser to the new secretary treasurer, in addition to his numerous , other duties.
LEADERSHIP IN COMPENSATION CAMPAIGN
One of the high points in this new position was the leadership he gave to the Union's campaign to win compensation coverage for all commercial fishermen.
He appeared before Chief Justice Gordon Sloan, a one man commissioner appointed to hold hearings into the Workmen's Compensation Act, armed with a powerful brief and a determination to win justice for fishermen.
Part of the proceedings which took place in 1951 appears in the pages of The Fisherman—hours and hours of gruelling examination and cross examination of company witnesses and of himself by his opponents in turn.
After one particularly involved exchange between Rigby, the commission counsel, and a representative of the companies, Sloan commented: "The legal profession lost a good mind in Mr. Rigby," a remark in which he took keen delight.
This aspect of the fight was turned into a campaign by the Union to establish compensation, highlighted by a flotilla to Victoria the following spring, one of the Union's most colorful undertakings.
The chief slogan he coined for the printed brief to the government was "Fishermen are workmen in fact, why not under the Compensation Act?"
This was followed by enactment of the present voluntary coverage plan now in effect for fishermen in sections not previously covered. The original campaign has been waged on a number of occasions since, the last time before the present Royal Commission at which Rigby appeared last year to make the main presentation, literally rising from his sick bed to do his usual effective job.
In 1957, the post of research director was abolished to be replaced by that of welfare director to take care of the welfare funds which were being established, as well as the numerous individual compensation and sick mariners' cases being handled by the Union. That year unemployment insurance for fishermen was brought into effect, with the main plans for such a scheme contained in a brief prepared by Rigby. The original proposal, in spite of the government's failure to carry out the recommendations as presented, remains the basic policy advanced by the Union.
Much can be said about the work carried on by Rigby during all his years with the Union — the scores and hundreds of individual cases he fought for members and the great numbers he won.
• u vf-alu acknowledgment from all departments of government with which he dealt as an expert in his field, a man whose every case was documented, who fought each one through — one compensation case for over three years before it was successfully completed. J
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4 THE FISHERMAN - April 9, 1965
There will be many in the industry who can recall the pleasant little cherubic faced man who battled on their behalf.
BORN 59 YEARS AGO IN MONTREAL
Bill Rigby was born on January 1, 1906, in Montreal, but information on his- early life is sketchy.
At 14, he joined the leftwing youth movement, and although he never had advanced schooling, was obviously highly intelligent and a brilliant student,'reading assiduously.
He worked mainly in journalism during the early part of his life, at one time on the old Clarion and the Worker.
During the thirties, he served as editor of Unity, published by the Workers Unity League, a potent force during much of the depression.
He was national educational director of the Communist Party during the 1930s to the time he was interned in 1940.
Most of his early life was spent in Eastern Canada, mainly Ontario and Quebec, marrying his wife Julia in 1933 in Montreal.
As a result of self study, he acquired a working knowledge of French, German, and Russian, often reading publications in these languages.
He undertook a study of mathematics, one of his many intellectual preoccupations.
Reading and study were in fact Rigby's greatest delights, and he was a keen student of international affairs, an expert on the subject, digesting books and magazines at an enormous rate. In later years, this became almost an obsession, and in contrast to his earlier career as an educator, he kept his immense store of knowledge largely to himself except for relatively rare occasions.
He preferred reading above all other pursuits, and it caused the late Gus Cogswell, a UFAWU organiser in the formative years of the Union, to almost break down and cry following an organising trip upcoast with Rigby as a companion.
"With all the beauties of nature to see, sunrises and sunsets to make men gasp, I couldn't get Bill out of the galley and his book to see and enjoy them with me," he groaned in exasperation. "The man isn't human."
Reg Payne recalls the time Rigby was on an interurban involved in a crackup with a street car and an auto which held up traffic nearly an hour. Rigby read through the whole episode, unaware of the excitement or even the accident.
LEAVES LARGE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
But Bill was human — he had a great sense of humor and a large circle of friends, many of them on the other side of the bargaining table who respected his integrity and principle while admiring his unassuming determination and keen intellect.
"The fishing industry has lost a real friend," one of the operators commented to a representative of The Fisherman when he heard of Rigby's death this week.
Alex Gordon had this to say in recalling his association with Rigby:
"For many years, among those of us at Union headquarters, Rigby was often called the brain and this was certainly no insult.
"He had the ability far beyond that of most of us to think in depth and breadth. At times the impact of his thinking was hard to take but by listening and considering, his usually correct position eventually became clear. He did much to teach those who were closely connected with him to think. Those he influenced and taught in the forties were able to utilise his teachings in the hard fought battles which occurred later.
"Because of Bill's emphasis on thought and planning, and his predilection for mental work, many people gained the impression he was not a fighter in the sense that the term is usually applied to trade unionists.
"He was able to take, and did take, when it was required, a hard and fast position and fought with courage and unrelenting tenacity, and in my opinion, this kind of stubbornness was needed whenever anything either external or internal threatened the unity and strength of the UFAWU."
One thing is certain, Bill Rigby has carved a deep niche for himself and his work in the history of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union and the fishing industry.
He leaves in addition to his wife Julia, a son Richard (Ricky), 14, at home, and a daughter Mrs. Dale (Maxine) Schnee, and three grandchildren, Vancouver.
Funeral service, which will be conducted in the Fishermen's Hall April 10 with UFAWU secretary Homer Stevens officiating, will be reported in The Fisherman next week.
—Fisherman photo by G. Legebokoff
IN THE NAME OF GOD, STOP IT Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska and delegate Jim Boles of Vancouver hold full page ad from the New York Times at ILWU convention in Vancouver. Gruening read text of the appeal to end Vietnam war to applauding delegates. Signed by 2,500 US clergymen of various denominations, the ad is an open letter to US President Johnson, calling on him to "In the Name of God, Stop It."
BOWLING NOTES
By MARY HARDER
There isn't much time left to I topple   those  season's records but we are all in there trying with eight bowlers scoring over | 600, and the gals really outbowl-ing the men this week.
Mary Harder (Seals) bowled 295, 163, 240 for 698. Helen Seines (Chums) rolled three really nice games of 193, 256, 207 for 656. Mary Blythe (Moby Dicks) made a tre-mendous effort and came up with three good games of 230, 215, 209 for a dandy 654. Frances Kawagoye (Dolphins) had another good week of bowling with 209, 192, 247 for 648 total. Martha Anderson (Dolphins) bowled 177, 178 and a beautiful 264, for a total of 619.
For the men, Rich Eckman (Starfish) bowled a 629 total and games of 231, 230, 168. Erik Eriksen (Seals) started with a dandy 265 then bowling 183, 168, for 616 total. W i I f Baker (Chums) bowled 210, 233,166 for 609.
Amy Smith (Sharks,) who has shown great improvement in her bowling and throws a really nice ball, came through with a 236 game; Enid Eriksen (Seals) 235; Marg Wilson (Tyees) 225; Lil Hrycenko (Sharks) 214; Sue Ki-hara (Starfish) 212; Dick Arter (Tyees) and Len Tioli (Sharks) 210; Bill Smith (Moby Dicks) 208; Pat Spiedel (Tyees) and Marie Cook (Chums) 206; Al Eriksen (Moby Dicks) 204; and three bowlers on the Kingfish team rolled a 201, Dick Irving, Mable Tioli, and Dal Watkins; Harry Hancock (Dolphins) had an even 200 game.
APRIL 7 HIGH SCORES
Ladies' high single, Mary Harder, 295; ladies' high three, Mary Harder, 698; men's high single, Erik Eriksen, 265; men's high three, Rich Eckman, 629.
SEASON'S HIGH SCORES
Ladies' high single, Myrtle Arter, 336; ladies' high three, Helen Seines, 754; men's high single, Wilf Baker, 361; men's high three, Harold Cox, 846; ladies' high average, Sue Kihara, 195, and Frances Kawagoye, 193; men's high average, Wilf Baker, 207, and Rich Eckman, 199.
TEAM STANDINGS
Dolphins _______ 23 13 33
Chums____ 20 16 28
Starfish____ 18 18 25
Moby Dicks 17 19 23
Tyees _____________ 18 18 22
Sharks___ 17 19 21
Seals________________ 16 20 20
Kingfish   ■■ 15 21 20
New officers for the 1965-66 season were elected as follows: Erik Eriksen, president; Dal Watkins, vice president; Enid Eriksen, treasurer; Rich Eckman, recording secretary; Mary Harder, bowling notes reporter.
It was also decided to have each team captain on the executive, thus having representation from each team.
Longline Pact Set
Longline agreement between the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union and Fishing Vessel Owners Association is expected to be signed shortly following settlement of all issues.
It appeared for a time that the fleet would be tied up over payment of engineers' bonus but at a special meeting Wednesday morning, engineers dropped their demands for a basic 2V2 percent bonus, despite strong differences of opinion.
A big meeting of the halibut fleet the same afternoon endorsed terms previously agreed upon and all that remains before signature is some rearrangement of clauses to include changes reported in The Fishermen last week.