May 8, 1941
THE    FISHE RM AN
Page F'lv-
Meetings
PACIFIC COAST FISHERMEN'S UNION
Fraser River District Council meets the second Saturday of every month in Room 22, Hart Block, New Westminster, at 1 p.m.
Vancouver Local No. 1, meets the first and third. Fridays of each month at 7:30 in the Union Headquarters, 164 East Hastings St.
New Westminster Local No. 2, holds their regular meetings on the first and third Saturdays of every month at 2 p.m. in Room 22, Hart Block, New Westminster.
Local 19, Whonnock, meets every second and fourth Sunday of the month, at 2 p.m.
The Executive Board meets the second and fourth Saturday of each month at the union headquarters. G.O.C. men are invited to attend.
Local 23, Rivers Inlet, meets at Hendrick's Landing every third Wednesday officially, and every boat day at the store.
North Arm Local No. 5 and Women's Auxnliary, meets at Brother Foster's residence, 1060 East 64th Avenue, the second and fourth Friday of each month, at 8 p.m.
United Fishermen's Federal Union, Local 44.
Every Friday at 7:30 p.m. Local 44 hold their regular meetings at 138 E. Cordova Street.
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LABOR
And the Law
By
ATTORNEY JOHN STANTON
As we saw in the last column, in order to understand P.C. 7440, the order-in-council which pegs wages, we must first understand an ear.-lier order passed on June 20, 1940, namely, P.C. 2685, which contains a ten-point statement of government policy "for the avoidance of labor unrest during the war."
P.C. 2685 starts out with a preamble stressing the importance of maintaining good relations between employers and employees during the war time and stating that although there had not been much industrial unrest up to the date of the order-in-council, the war might well accentuate such unrest. Not only wages and hours but the right to organize and to bargain collectively are declared by the preamble to be likely sources of dispute between employers and employees.
It is in order to remove misunderstandings and to extend "common interests and national purpose" that the government then proceeds to lay down its ten-point labor policy.
These ten points can be more conveniently considered under five headings:
P.C. 2685 states that every effort should be made to speed war industry production but that since experience in the last war has shown that an "undue" lengthening of working hours results in excessive fatigue and so in smaller output, the hours of work "should not be unduly extended." P.C. 2685 further provides that when established labor conditions are suspended as a result of the need of speeding up war time production, such suspension "should be brought about by mutual agreement."
P.C. 2685 provides that fair wage standards and working conditions "should be recognized" but it also states that when, due to war time conditions, adjustments in pay have to be made "they might well be in the form of bonus payments."
This provision contains within it the seed of P.C. 7440 which was passed six months later and which, as we will see in due course, pegs wages at a certain level.
Toil Have The Floor7
This page is open to all readers, organized and unorganized. The Editorial Board requests all letters be signed. Signatures will be published unless otherwise stated. Letters should not be more than 2U0 words in length.  Letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the policy of
The Fisherman.
Defense of Labor's Rights!
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Asks How 1 Key To Unity' Can Be Used
Editor, The Fisherman:
In reply to A. Eyton re the first key to unity among gillnetters. Why in the name of all he holds holy doesn't he come out and tell us how his key is to be used. I will grant all his claims even to the farsightedness of the U.F.U.; but how to bring about a merger with the B.C.F.P.A still remains a mystery to me.
Brother Eyton surely knows of the various attempts that have been made by the P.C.F.U. to bring about either a merger or a working agreement. And if he has taken an interest in his Union, he should be aware of the result up to date.
Now, as to the happy results he predicts from such a Union, I am no prophet but those simple souls that want a Union which will blue-stone their nets and dump their boats out for the sum of 25 cents a month paid in I.O.U.'s, are bound to become disillusioned and disgusted when they find that their high hopes cannot be fulfilled.
In my opinion unity among the gillnetters is not enough; we want unity among all fishermen irrespective of how they try to kill their fish and what fish they try to catch.
Would Brother Eyton also tell us why he left the B.C.F.P.A. in the first place and does he think they changed so much for the better since he left them that they would be desirable bedfellows for the rest of the gillnetters on the coast?
Until at least half of those questions are answered, I am advocating that the P.C.F.U. remain as it is. There is still hope that some of those disgusted ones will see the need of an aggressive organization and when they do, I will trust them to choose which one to join. Our union exists to serve any man engaged in the fishing industry. Naturally it costs a very small amount of money and some effort in attending meetings. Those who are willing to expend those things can reap a benefit far outweighing the expenditure. Yours for unity in the fishing industry, —Ole Martin.
Urge Closing Of Area 3
Editor, The Fisherman:
From the 10th of April to the 18th, schools of herring have come into Cannish Bay and Granite Bay to spawn. This has been going on to my knowledge for the last 20 years. We cod fishermen, and there are upwards of 90 boats, depend on these two bays for our bait. This year no herring have come into these bays to spawn. Why? Because of the amount of seining last winter in Discovery Passage and Okisallo. As a consequence there are 80 boats laying idle and some of us have little to eat.
I would like to see the cod fishermen demand that the government close this area, district No. 3, to all seining for herring. If they do not, the sporting fishermen around Campbell River will have poor fishing also. We get a small enough price for the cod without having the means of catching them cut off.
I would like to hear the views of other fishermen on this matter.
■ —G. Parsons.
Disagrees That Seiners Are Discriminated Against
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■
Charity Should Begin At Home
Editor, The Fisherman:
According to our daily press, a Norwegian ketch belonging to the Novik family has arrived at the Vancouver fish dock, and she expects to sail for the fishing grounds as soon as she has taken supplies on board. I have not yet been told what particular branch of the fishing industry the Noviks intend to muscle in on and it doesn't matter particularly as all branches are overcrowded.
I don't doubt the sturdiness of the Noviks but would like to remind your readers that we have already thousands of sturdy men engaged in fishing and the most of them braved the menace of mines and U-boats over 20 years ago in the North Sea, Atlantic and wherever their services were needed. Let me name you just a few like the McKays, the Simpsons, Robertsons, Camerons, Murrays, and Martins. These men are also raising families and it is up to us to see that they have a chance to become sturdy and worthy of the traditions of their fathers.
Letting foreigners come into an already much depressed industry doesn't make sense to me. I can't see any great achievement in crossing or navigating any, ocean in a 70-foot ketch, especially one built for fishing. For every new boat coming in from the outside, a local boat and about four or five local families will be forced onto the bread line. There is no more room in the fishing industry of B.C. as our markets are restricted and the supply of fish is very much on the downgrade. The law of self-preservation is still valid among us.
In conclusion let me add that charity should begin at home; and this is my home.
—Old Salt.
Wharf Authorized By Council
Editor, The Fisherman:
The wharf committee of Local No. 1, PCFU, take great pleasure in being able to inform your readers that at long last and in spite of both expected and unexpected opposition, a fishermen's dock at the head of False Creek in Vancouver has been authorized by the City Council.
We would like the fishermen of the province to know that we have had the fullest cooperation from the Hon. Ian Mackenzie and Alderman Halford Wilson.
Our opposition has been numerous and often hidden and we have many times had occasion to exclaim, "God save us from our friends."
Let them say what they like about Ted Burnett, Josh Gorry and Dan Martin, they will still have to admit that the wharf committee as now constituted has at least shown persistence and devotion to the work they were set to do.
The fishermen of Vancouver will now have something unique in Canada—a fishermen's wharf built for and operated by fishermen. Though this happy state of affairs doesn't seem to meet with the approval of other local organizations in the industry, the wharf committee of the PCFU intend to carry on until the first unit of the dock is completed and can be handed over to Local No. 1.
Wharf Committee.
Editor, The Fisherman:
After drying away the tears of sorrow at the terrible way the poor purse seiners have suffered at the hands of the wealthy gillnetters (at least that's what the purse seiners say), and with your permission I would like to make a few remarks.
I will overhaul the weekly closed time first.
The seiners protest the four-day fishing week while the gillnetters fish five days. They say they would be satisfied with a four-day week if the gillnetters were compelled to do the same—the implication being that they would be satisfied with half a loaf if they were sure the gillnetters got only a quarter of a loaf.
Let's check on the actual hours which the seiners fish during the summer months. Take Johnstone Straits, which is the most Intensely fished district on the coast by seines. In a four-day week the seiners fish 16 hours a day for a weekly total of 64 fishing hours. The gillnetters fish an average of seven hours a night for five nights for a weekly total of 35 fishing hours; and our purse seine brothers call that discrimination against them. Furthermore, they are allowed to use nets four times as deep as the gillnetter is allowed to use and still the poor seiners think they are being badly abused.
I think there is some more tears coming so let's leave Johnstone Straits and head for Shoal Bay and while we are waiting for the tide, I want to tell you a little more about discrimination. Two years ago the seiners and canners made an agreement on fall fish prices for both seiners and gillnetters. The wealthy gillnetters sure got the worst of that.
A bright dog caught by gill-net anywhere on the lower Gulf of Georgia on the mainland side of the gulf was worth 5c to 10c less than a black dog caught by purse seine around Nanaimo or Chemainus, and still they say they are being abused.
While on the subject of abuse I think the poor fish have been badly abused. The seines came to the mouth of the Fraser River in
Organize the Unorganized!
Urges Women To Become Lenders
Editor, The Fisherman:
I noticed in your paper some time go that someone has prophesied that the emancipation of the working class will be brought about through the efforts of our women. The letter in the paper was by Agnes Hill. She didn't state who the woman that made the prediction was, but this, to me at least, is of no consequence, as I fully subscribe to those views myself.
I would like to add that those of our wives, sweethearts and sisters who can possibly spare a few hours a week should take up some of those studies that will prepare them for the task.
Few if any of us are born with the ability to think while standing and fewer still are able to transmit the result of our thoughts to others. Those things are essential to successful leadership and must be studied and practiced.
Once again let me ask you to start your good work by registering your names on the Provincial Voters' list. Politics are dirty and so is spring cleaning, and I am asking our women to step in and do something about it. Remember who was elected to the local house last summer in a fishermen's constituency. —Hook Reef.
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1933 and they abused the poor humpbacks so much that there hasn't been even a fair run of humps since. Still the seiners ask for permission to go back and drag the mouth of the River again this fall.
Probably that is their idea of conservation. I fished the Fraser that year and there wasn't one-sixth of the normal amount of fish got past the seines. I can't tell you how many hundred thousand they caught but they plugged every cannery that could be reached, also a bunch of boats packing to the American side. The gillnetters caught practically nothing and what did we get? We got 4c apiece while the seiners got 8c and the American-bound buyers had orders not to buy from gillnetters. I know because I was there and was turned down by three different buyers.
My closing comment is that I congratulate the U.F.F.U. on the brilliant and disunited manner in which they handled the merger issue. I am sure the canners were delighted with the result.
I expect any day to hear of the approaching marriage of Elsie (Seiner) and Arthur John (Can-ner). —Jack Troup.
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