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— Official Organ — Pacific Coast Fishermen's Union Salmon Purse Seiners' Union
The Only Fishermen's Trade Union Paper in British Columbia
VOL. II. No. 3
VANCOUVER, B.C., JULY 4, 1938
(36)
©
PRICE: 5 Cents
PRICES GO TO ARBITRATION
SEINERS HEAD FOR GROUNDS WITH RANKS STILL FIRM
S.P.S.U. Follows Lead Set By Gillnetters; Vote To Accept Arbitration
SETTING a record of fighting solidarity unexampled in the recent history of British Columbia's fishing industry, members of the Salmon Purse SeSners Union were making their "sets" or were on the way to fishing areas at Rivers and Smiths Inlets today after voting last Wednesday to follow the lead of the gillnetters in placing price demands before an arbitration board.
Last of the unions to officially terminate the lengthy struggle on prices, the membership voted 453 to 2 in acceptance of arbitration, ordered immediate withdrawal of their picket line which had been holding down the waterfront on 24-hour shifts for over six weeks, and released all boats for the fishing areas. In making this decision, members (Continued on Page 4)
Fake Agreement Handed Seiners
B.C. Packers Force Crews To Sign Statement
Seine boat skippers and crews reporting to offices of the "Big Five" to get clearance for their boats were forced to sign their names to a phoney agreement, officials of the Salmon Purse Seiners Union told The Fisherman.
The agreement presented by the B.C. Packers, which is illegal under the conditions imposed by the setting up of an arbitration board, reads in part as follows:
"In consideration of your supplying us,
the vessel ................ and crew members,
with provisions, we, together and severally, do hereby undertake not to sell any person or persons any fish which we catch without first offering them to you during the season 1938, at the following prices, subject to division on the usual share basis: sockeye, until July 24, 35c each minimum; July 24 to end of season, 45c each minimum; prices subject to arbitration.
"Pinks and other varieties at prices to be set by the arbitration board.
"We will commence fishing not later than Sunday, July 3, and will fish uninterruptedly, without let or hindrance, closed seasons excepted, until the end of the season. ..."
PROTESTS INCLUSION OF VESSEL OWNERS
Pearson Asked to Exclude Group From Arbitration
PROTESTING the inclusion of the Vessel Owners' Association in the setting up of an arbitration board, George Miller of the S.P.S.U. and John Gavin of the the P.C.P.U. wired George S. Pearson last night urging that the association be excluded from joint participation.
'.'Since they are direct employers of labor, we ask they be excluded from joint participation with other fishermen's unions in the setting up of the board," the wire states.
The stand taken by the two unions is based on the fact that members of the Vessel Owners' Association receive the same returns from operation of their boats as any one of the operating companies, with the share basis giving the boat and net owner five-twelfths of the total earnings.
"No amount of interpretation by the labor department can alter this relationship," stated George Miller in commenting on the situation.
Strengthen UFU By Recruiting
40 New Members Signed From Pilchard Boats
200 More To Victoria
After raising $977 in a tag day Saturday, 200 additional single jobless, including a number of unemployed loggers, left Vancouver Sunday night for Nanaimo, en route to join other trekkers already at Victoria.
With the organization already strengthened by some 40 new members recruited at recent meetings? the United Fishermen's Union, Local 44, moved forward this week in its attempt to force operators to boost pilchard prices, already increased 40 cents a ton over the $1.75 opening bid.
Recent activity in the union apparently stems from the Joint Price Conference on June 19, when representatives of the U.F.U.. met with the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Union and the Salmon Purse Seiners Union to discuss problems facing each organization. • Since that date, the membership has appointed an organization committee of three—the first committee of its kind in the history of the local—which has already enrolled over 35 members from the pilchard boats.
Rank and file members have also repudiated their signature to the telegram sent out by the Canners' Operating Committee to Rivers and Smiths Inlets regarding acceptance of arbitration, it is understood, and a special committee has been struck off to interview the local press to protest the report which stated that U.F.U. president Matt Guest had agreed to the canners' offer.
Main problem facing the union is the settlement on pilchard prices. Operators' (Continued on Page 4)
An Editorial
Charting the Course
IN SUMMING UP the results of the recent dispute on prices, now in the hands of an arbitration board, gillnetters and seiners over the entire coast have some very definite reasons for expressing satisfaction.
This is particularly the case with members and supporters of the Salmon Purse Seiners Union and the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Union. Both these unions, largest and strongest in the industry, were mainly responsible in forcing the dispute to its present position. Facing the well-organized and powerful cannery operators, who were aided at every turn by the department of labor, and weakened by lack of co-operation from other fishermen's groups, these two unions conducted a stubborn, hard-fought battle, forced operators to boost prices from a 7-cent original bid to the present minimum level and finally brought the dispute to arbitration.
Through it all, both unions held their ranks intact, not a man deserting, and today stand out as the leading unions on the coast, with their prestige and influence greater than at any other period.
This strength and unity will be short-lived, however, if our membership fails to take certain actions during the coming period.
First of all, we must have the support of all fishermen in seeing that the arbitration award meets our needs. As it is constituted at present, with the possibility that the canners will literally appoint all three members to the board, there is danger that its identity will be lost and a fake award be handed down.
This can be defeated if all fishermen back the efforts of the S.P.S.U. and P.C.F.U. to force a price discussion on all categories of fish and fishermen. Even if left out of the negotiations, the two unions intend (Continued on Page 6)
DISPUTE ENDS AS MINIMUM SCALE GUARANTEE GIVEN
Lack of Cooperation By Fishermen's Unions Is Reason for Final Move
BRINGING to a close a two-month struggle for agreements on fish prices, some 1,900 gillnetters threw their nets in the water for the first time Sunday night, July 3, after voting last week to accept guaranteed prices of 40 and 45 cents as a minimum basis pending establishment of an arbitration board.
First break in the lengthy deadlock on negotiations came Saturday, June 25, when the Canners' Operating Committee, closely aided by J. Thompson of the labor department, summoned fishermen's representatives to a meeting and after making a final atfempt to force through their price offer, proposed setting up an arbitration board with fishing to proceed pending an award.
Over the objection of delegates from the Salmon Purse Seiners Union and the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Union, who maintained that the majority of fishermen wanted last year's prices and a signed agreement as a basis of arbitra-(Continued on Page 4)
Tugboat Rescues Men On Island
Fishermen Beach Craft On Texada After Collision
Mystery of the smashed gillnet boat discovered several days previously by provincial police on the shore of Texada Island was cleared up last week when Captain James McCulloch of the tug Dinamac brought two Indian fishermen into Vancouver after picking them up at the scene of the wreck.
The two men, Francis Thomas of Langley, and Thomas Morris of Deroche, had been forced to beach their craft when, struck by the Powell River Paper Company's tug Progressive near Trail Island at 5 a.m. the previous Friday.
After standing by for a brief period until it was apparent that the fishing craft was able to proceed without aid, the Progressive departed.
A short time later the engine of the gill-netter stopped when rising water from several leaks flooded the cabin, and it was necessary to beach the craft in the brisk southwest sea which had blown up.
Thomas and Morris were picked up shortly after by the Dinamac, both uninjured.