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AROUND THEDISTRICT UNIONAPRIL_ED.ttLK:It's nearly April, 1951. We had jt in April ,1950. We had it in April, 1949. Just when we are about to commence bargaining; and under , the agreements our bargaining with the C;M; S. op^us upJh . Trail, we have All this distraction, headlines in the press, hearings., before the Labor Relations Board, court actions, blether and bunk from the Steelworkers. Ever since Herbert Gargrave was .^kicked out of his - seat, by the workers in the;, pulp and paper plants in the MacKenzie provincial constituency, he has been in the district. Now he has settled in Trail on Green Avenue.—If anyone thinks- we will drop off bargaining and concentrate on this- stuff, they don't know the miners, the dmeltermen, or Min e-Mill. In our long history we have always had to fight! We have onepffetty (r clear understanding as nard rock miners and smeltermen, and that is if the bosses’ press e^ej* lets up on us, we know dathn well we are not doing our duty to the _ men we represent!But, if you don!t mind, we will, consider for a bit_ the new hoax perpetrated by the author of an old one;- the Headless. Valley joker.atomic boss until this modern St.' George camedragon-killing from Saskatchewan., Those of us whohave known that-character* ClaireBillingsley, will find this, description. that he ’ has given of himself to MacLean's Pierre Bretton, another-Headless Valley sensation. We quote from the MacLean’s: ,JUST A THORN?. 'Few men have been able to block Murphy, even temporarily. But a notable exception is a learn gangling. Saskatchewan - born smelterman, Claire Billingsley. A man with little formal education, but. a good deal of native; tenacity, he has^ been the principal thorn in Murphy’s flesh for five years at Trail.” • •„ This description of ..Billingsley fits the rest of the story with pictures, etc., and how plots wereWhile Brother A1 King, Doug Gold and myself were attending the™ Sudbury conference, MacLean's Magazine sent a reporter by the name Of Bretton to Trail. In the April Fool’s editorial of MacLean’s Magazine there is a story headed “How a Red Union Bosses Atom Workers, at Taril”.There has been a , lot of this stuff put into the press-by Gar-graves and Billingsley, but this story takes the cake for plain, unadulterated bunk, so we were hot surprised to see the Steelworkers put out a leaflet in Trillasking the workers to read the magazine.AN dtD UNE-UPMaclean Hunter Publishing Company also publishes the Financial Post and, other, employers’ magazines. You would think that any - self-respecting . labor man would hate like hell to have Mac-Leans come out and boost him or any organization he i? connected with. This is. the same magazine which toured John Hladune, whd was -used by._ the Conservative Party in the last Federal election. The connection between Hladune -and MacLean's-Magazine and“the Trestrall outfit, which issued the same scurrilous ‘stuff during the last Federal election, is all too clear. But this writer, Brettod, distinguished himself by that great B.C. hoax, if you will think back, the Headless Valley, which made / the Vancouver Sun the laughing stock of the count!?. Remember the Nahami Valley? ,in 1949, which will be tremendous news to all the workers in Trail. Blit note this as described in this second Headless Valley article by Mr. Bretton.“The Steelworkers stayed at the Crown Point Hotel, the Mine-Mill men at the^Douglas. Several tall young men in sports jackets and flannels arrived and were instantly identified as members of the RCMP. The Steelworkers stayed close to their-room, for fear of provoking a clash, making only one foray a day — to the liquor store for provisions. ’ One brawny Steelworker invaded Murphy’s headquarters, grabbed him by the coat lapels and promised to toss him out the window if any Steelworkers got mauled, as they had in Sudbury where a similar dispute is in progress.- Bui there was little trouble,’ORGANIZING KENNEDY_1 don’t know about these forays to the liquor store once a day, but if that brawny Steelworker ever came into the union headquarters, everyone who was in the office then, and We had delegates there from all over the District who were attending the national wage policy conference, should have heard .about it. If such a thing happened, then I and everyone else in Trail must have been cockeyed with the ?ye that Cotterill says he-had there. I am not going to deny -here or any other pl3.ce that I would want a witness along if I was ever asked to have a drink of whiskey with Cotterill, but as to carrying around an L.P.P. “whiskey taster, now, that’s an Idea:I can go on and quote many sections from this second JHeadlessAfter all these years the smelt-ermen are now to be described as“atom workers.’’ Yours truly isValley sensation. But there is one thing that, really. explains the You have often won-Whole story, dered why the, Stdelworkers have gone into Trail and everywhere else to raid Mine Mill. It never made .sense-.tbjvorking men, and the explanation that they gave, that they are out t.o clean out theor); Ste “O1 Belt; Sta tha uni blei are at' UP ers up. Sta cer thii up nev the anj org Ste/•:wlariissifroidovtiorsmlt;kiclchu“ailt;M.E war Sun the sine in j WH E the trat beei of 1 the and just trat bidlt; AF wag Nas and F Nas the was
Newspaper Details
Vancouver BC District Union News
Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Fri, Mar 30, 1951
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Doug N.
CA 06 Feb 2025
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