P»g« Four
THE FISHERMAN
January 14, 1941
THE
FISHERMAN
Published Every Other Tuesday by Th« Fisherman Publishing Society at 164 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.   Telephone MArine 1829. EDITOR    -    -    V. McCRAE Subscription Rates: One Year, $1.00; Six Months, 60c. Advertising Rates on Application. Make All Payments to: THE FISHERMAN PUBLISHING SOCIETY
Amalgamation
An earmark of a progressive union is its desire and ability to unify all the workers of the industry in which it operates.
With this in mind the PCFU convention, recently ended, made amalgamation with the UFFU its principal topic. This is completely in line with their past policy which, at the 1939 convention, brought about the amalgamation with, the Barclay Sound Trollers' and Gillnetters' Association, and in 1938 the combining with the B.C. Trollers.
It has been found that the three chief barriers to unity in the fishing industry have been, first, the conflict of gear interests; second, the difference of race; and thirdly, the lack of desire on the part of the leaders.
In the previous amalgamations none of these barriers were raised to any great extent. The amalgamation now under way, however, will bring about lots of discussion on the gear question. When it is concluded, it will be especially significant because it will show that at last, fishermen are realizing that in order to obtain their proper livelihood it is the operator and not their fellow fishermen that they must fight.
Only one attempt at amalgamation has failed up to now and that was with the B.C.F.P.A. Neither the barrier of gear nor of race could be raised to prevent it, and only lack of desire on the part of the leadership could explain its non-success.
The action of PCFU convention toward amalgamation in the past make it amply evident that there is no lack of desire on their part.
Many other problems were discussed and solved by the gathering, but we feel that if the unity program is carried out the convention will have been a success.
Another Mis-Leader
The editor of the Commercial Fishermen's Weekly in the last issue of that paper, has again exposed himself in his true colors as the agent of reaction and an enemy of organized labor in the fishing industry of British Columbia.
Following his usual policy of veiled insinuations he leads (or tries to lead) his readers to believe that during the past year, to use his own words, "The commerial fisheries of B.C. had a year of considerable friction."
Using the figures of the Dominion Department of Labor he states that 10,000 working days were lost to the seine fishermen in the dispute on salmon prices; again, to use his own words, "The disputes may be laid to inexperienced leadership or to a re-adjustment of economic conditions within the in-dutry. It is," he says, "significant, however, that all these strikes are traceable to a single source which during the past years has caused no small disturbance to the labor peace."
The organized fishermen at whom his attacks are levelled, know fully well that there was no strike in either the salmon seining, pilchard seining or herring seining this year, the position of the organizations being that the fleet did not leave for the grounds until an agreement had ben signed.
If the editor of the Commercial Fishermen's Weekly knows the difference between negotiating an agreement and a strike, he certainly does not show it in his writing and his charges against the leadership of the unions will fall on rocky ground as far as the fishermen are concerned. Being believers in de-moracy, the question of who shall lead the fishermen will be decided by themselves and taking the amount of success enjoyed by this same editor in his attempts to organize the vessel-owners of B.C., we think that he should be the last man in the world to speak of inexperienced leadership.
The relationship between the companies and the unions this year has been better than ever before, and if the good editor of the Commercial Fishermen's Weekly doubts if we refer him to the companies themselves.
In instances where our rank and file have been working under agreements these agreements have been strictly lived up to and have resulted in harmony on the fishing grounds and better conditions for the men.
While we recognize that the editor has a right to his own opinion, if he would leave his office long enough to mingle with the fishermen and find out how his opinions are greeted by the rank and file this local Wizard of Oz would certainly not think that he had been in any popularity contest.
Just as there are signs that the source of our labor troubles in the fishing industry are on the decline, there are also signs that the circulation of the Commercial Fishermen's Weekly is on the decline, and we sincerely hope it will soon belong to an era of the past. -
Food For Thought
An article appeared in the Province of January 11 in which it was stated that the Japanese have $9,000,000 worth of canned salmon which they had hoped to market in Great Britain but which the British government refused to let come into the country, thereby throwing this market open to British Columbia.
Then the Japanese tried to sell the fish in the U.S., but so far they have not found any takers. No doubt the U.S. government will see that the Japanese fish do not come into the country, as we are informed that a protest has been made to Secretary of State Cordell Hull by the Joint Committee for Protection of Pacific Coast Fisheries in an effort to have the government stop the importation of the fish in question.
The part about this article (which appears elsewhere in this issue) that most fishermen would naturally suppose was of interest to them as fishermen, is the fact that there will be a market in Britain for B.C. salmon.
However, there is another angle which should furnish food for thought, not only to fishermen but to every other working man or business man in Great Britain, and that is, that while the committee protested permission to let the Japanese fish come into the country to interfere with the markets of their own capitalists on the grounds of economic and military welfare. They did nothing to prevent sale of 20,000,000 gallons of gasoline to Japan which is, by the way, the largest shipment of gasoline to Japan to date.
Sale of gasoline didn't hurt the market of American capitalism; on the contrary, it helped them.
A Co-operative Sets An Example
"In the last annual report, your directors indicated that, due to the co-operative ownership of the refinery and co-operative distributing facilities, there would be no war profiteering in petroleum products. The events of the year have proved this to be more than correct because there have been actual decreases in petroleum prices in large areas of the province of Saskatchewan.
"Your refinery did not directly participate in any contracts supplying war materials in pursuance of Canada's war effort, but did, however, participate, in an indirect manner, by supplying to another refinery crude residuum for the manufacture of asphalt for airports. The price received for this material was slightly more than if it had been marketed through normal channels. The difference between the two amounted to $204.22, and your directors, feeling that as an organization, it was not desirable to profit by material supplied for Canada's war effort, recommend a special donation of a like amount to the Canadian Red Cross."
The above quotation is taken from the report of the board of directors of the annual meeting of delegates of Consumers' Cooperative Refineries Limited, held in Regina on December 19 and 20 last; and we venture to predict that such sentiments and action against war profitereing will find
little sincere echo outside of the co-operative movement. One cannot help wondering whether the other refinery referred to felt any similar compulsion to disgorge its undoubtedly larger profits.
No doubt there will be some who will smile cynically at this somewhat Quixotic gesture, feeling that it can hardly be more efficacious than the proverbial snowball in hell! There may even be some who, but for fear of the Defense of Canada Regulations, would question the propriety of a co-operative organization even indirectly supporting in its war effort a government which they consider is but the embodiment of those interests that have always made war inevitable.
No one, however, could possibly overlook the sincerity behind the gesture, and the pregnant hope for the future which it evidences. That there is an increasingly large section of society today which not only preaches nonprofit production and distribution but actually puts it into practice as much as possible, is perhaps the most significant fact protruding from the present welter of senseless antagonism and misguided self-interest. Without this background of economic sanity there could not possibly be a tomorrow for democracy.
—L.H.C.P.
Pegging Wages
(Continued from Page One)
At no time in the history of labor in this country has such a policy been adopted toward the working people. It belongs, not in Canada, but in fascist Germany— for only there can anything approaching it be found. The measure reflects the tremendous influence of reactionary big business in the affairs of the country.
What groups of woikers are to be covered by the Order? According to the authorities it will include all groups whose work is definitely linked with war activity. This can be given a very wide interpretation. Since the policy of the Government toward industry is to transform it from a peace time to war time basis, there will be very few workers who will escape the ruling. And even the small number in the lesser industries who do, are bound to be affected with wages of the great majority of the workers in the basic industries, set at a certain level, those in the minor industries will find it extremely difficult to raise wages above that level. This is admitted by the "Vancouver Province," of December 18, when it stated: "The policy finally arrived at .'. . sets a standard for the others (i.e., other than groups linked with war activities), which will logically be considered in any future wage adjustment." And so, it must be admitted that the Order really affects all groups of workers.
The basis for passing judgement on any measure is whether it will bring advantages to the working masses. The announcement of the Order-in-Council was hailed in some daily newspapers as a step to protect the worker. This is nonsense. The opposite is true. Let us review the salient features of the new wage policy and actually see how it works:
1. The central theme is that hence forth IT WILL BE ILLEGAL FOB WORKERS TO HAVE THEIR WAGES UN-CREASED. (That is, above the level of 1926-29.)
2. The workers are told they must be satisfied with the wage levels of 1926-29 since they are not to be allowed to rise above that point. The authorities conclude that maximum gains of the workers from the improved industrial activities in the country shall not be more than the inadequate wages of that time.
Is the establishment of such a basic wage fair?   Decidedly not! Already  industrial  production, as well as profit and dividend pay-
ments, have far exceeded the level of those years. B.C. serves as a fine example of industrial expansion. Taking 1926 as 100 percent production' by June of 1940 had risen 132.5 percent. A rise of almost one-third. And the future promises even greater expansion. Yet wages are to remain as they were in 1926-29.
While wages are to be pegged profits are not. As an example of how profits are soaring the following facts recently made public are interesting:
The CPR in the first seven months of 1940 increased its profits 15 percent over the same period of 1939. U.S. Steel in the first six months of 1940 increased its profits 17.43 percent over the same period of 1939.
This is the story all down the line.   In  view of   these circumstances  to enforce  a  ceiling on wages based upon the 1926-29 level can only be interpreted as a move , to safeguard profits in industry for (the industrialists and bankers at I the expense of the economic con-i ditions of labor.
3. The basic formulae that there will be no wage increases but that bonuses will be given based on the cost of living is decidely unfair.
The present increase in the cost of living is given as 6.2 percent. (The basis of arriving at this figure is declared as unfair by many authorities.) Wages are to be reviewed every three months and alterations made on the basis of 5 percent fluctuation. Unless the fluctuation reaches 5 percent there is to be no change.
The bonus plan is sheer deception Actually workers will never receive the full bonus since the cost of living in war time does not go down but up. As an example: a worker receives his 6.2 percent bonus—but in the following period prices continue to rise as they inevitably will. Say this increase averages 4 percent—the worker will then only actually be getting a bonus equal to 2.2 percent. This is true because no provision is made to cover such increase between periods of adjustment.
In addition there is still another point. Since no change will be made in the bonus until prices rise 5 percent there can and probably will be a considerable period during which workers will be receiving slightly over 1 percent
4. Actually the Order-in-Council gives big business the opportunity to carry through one of the most far-reaching wage-cuts that have ever been imposed upon so large a
The next time you hear some bombastic stiff raving about the friendly relations between the U.S.A. and Canada and the magnificence of the international boundary just remember that Harold Pritchett was refused re-admission into the U.S.A. because he was considered dangerous to the public safety, or some such hooey. Well at that, that's real cooperation between Canada and the U.S.A. When Pritchett showed evidence of being a good organizer of labor the U.S.A and Canada got together on a program to kill his usefulness as an organizer.
Canada and the U.S.A. are both countries which have governments by the people, of the people and for the people, etc.—But who ARE the people in the U.S.A. and Canada?
» • » ♦
It is impossible to hold union meetings at the canneries on weekends during the sockeye season because everyone has chores to do and about one-third of them are busy when it's time for the meeting^
But if we all knew there was to be a meeting at 10 a.m. on Saturday
or 3 p.m. on Sunday we could all plan our work so that we could
be there. But hell there are always more important things than our
own welfare to think about.
. » • «
In reading H. G. Wells' "Outline of History," I noticed that he ridiculed some old gink in Rome or Greece because he built race courses and causeways and coliseums for cities when he had accumulated his great pittance by using slave labor, and he gave these great structures to cities where the vast majority of the people were either slaves or the social equals or inferiors of slaves.
Well, how about our modern philanthropists . . . our Carnegies, Rockefellers, Mellons, etc., etc.? I just wonder if there was any more contrast between the lot of the slaves and the rich guys in ancient Rome than there was, for instance, between the lot of the bohunks who worked twelve or more nours a day in the steel mills of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the lot of our Great Andrew. Ho! Hum!
But still I bet old Andy thought he was a hell of a swell guy because he gave away three or four hundred million dollars that he had chiselled out of the aforementioned bohunks.
bady of workers at any one time. How is that?
Since the outbreak of war the average wage increase in the basic industries has been 10 percent. The government admits that in many cases wages have already risen above the 1929 rates. As a result of the Order-in-Council workers in the basic industries will have to give up these gains. They will have to ,return to the wage levels prevailing in their industry in the 1926-29 period.
But this is not all. According to the News-Herald of December 18, "any wage increases since the beginning of the war would be deducted from the 6.2 percent cost of living bonus. In other words, workers engaged in industries that have enjoyed wage increases shall actually receive no bonus for many months, at least until the amount gained by them since the war started is repaid to the bosses. Actually therefore, thousands of workers for months to come will be receiving even less than before the war. This is achieved by (1) the fact that at no time will the whole 6.2 percent be received as pointed out above, also (2) by deducting from the bonus sufficient to compensate the bosses for the increased wages paid by them, (3) real wages are lowered by additional taxation, etc.
And so, the bonus stunt turns out to be nothing but a trick to fool the worker into believing they are getting something while actually it leaves them poorer than before. Working men in industries where wages have dropped considerably below the 1926-39 level are liable to think that the Order will be of advantage to them since it will bring their wages up. But a close survey of the Order shows that the employers are adequately protected from any such situation. Wages will not automatically rise to the 1926-29 level. Clause 4 of the Order specifically states that in cases where wage levels of 1926-29 are higher than the present prevailing rate—increase in wages in any calendar year setting 5 percent as the maximum increase in any calendar year. Instead of passing measures protecting the worker we find Orders such as this betraying labor into the profit-seeking hand of big business.
For working men not to protest
So Labor Leaders Are Fifth Columnists!
And so faithful, aggressive labor leaders are "fifth columnists," that is, according to some of our contemporaries In the newspaper world and big bus-ness interests!
Well, one thing can De said of the laboring classes and their leaders: they never made statements like these: LORD ROTHERMERE: "Great numbers of people in England regard Herr Hitler as an ogre, but I would like to tell them how I have found him. He is simple, unaffected, and obviously sincere. He exudes good fellowship. He is supremely intelligent. . . . Herr Hitler has a great liking for the English people. . . ."—Daily Mail, May, 1938.
SIR HENRY PAGE CfROFT, M.P.: "I recognize General Franco to be a gallant Christian gentleman, and I believe his word."— March 23, 1938.
WINSTON CHURCHILL: "I have always said that if Great Britain were defeated in war I hoped we should find a Hitler to lead us back to . our rightful position, among the nations."—Nov. 11, 1938.
Under the authority of Section 2 of the Special Fishery Regulations for the Province of British Columbia the closed season for the digging of clams on Sea Island, in the vicinity of Comox, is extended from January 1, 1941, until further notice.
McLarty's Order-in-Council is to accept lower living standards and a crippling blow against their organizations.
The method of passing such important mesures without proper democratic discussions in the country and in Parliament but through Order-in-Council under the War Measures Act is also to be condemned. It is a complete negation of democracy.
Working men: Raise the matter in your organization for discussion and forward your resolutions to Ottawa.
Organization and unity of Labor's ranks alone can guarantee that labor's rights will remain as a pillar upon which Canadian democracy must be based.
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