THE BEACON
This paper published by I&iriel
Spears at Dillingham, Alaska has
been purchased by father Endnl
for this exclusive publication.
the absence of a oase being before us, we
have no authority to attempt to mediate
or conciliate. We >am\ot initiate act ion.fi
The fr. ct is the AS?! should have male a
tesi oas* of thie to see vho was stronged
•the 1 .o;. Government'or-the .rLWUo It should
have - the -NLRB -or to ’the 'd«$y °'
Cj0us*ts; foirv^ei-stanfc inasmuch as cHe* '
pressure-bfroug>it';tc: bear upoh rt?-by'thd^1’’
was- illegal ort'twb jocuTits. *1 wi'Dr 'not'
attempt to say why. the A31 failed to' do so,
I5ut» to me it. seeded; .a very cowardly 'land' ■’ ■
unpatriotic; act ..it. conf irme my former11 ;t •"
. statement-tha^ ,the A31 fi^ed with the Co$P~‘
munist foresb against Jim Downey and the
.patriotic.forces. To date it does not seer
to,havo changed its attitude, or willing
tc do so unless the.local group agrees tn
an unduly low price for fish. But it h&b
been forced to oh&nge its taotios, due tc
the NLRB finding it guilty of an unfair
laser praotloe now rer the second time*
and declaring the exclusive contract which
it signed with the AFU under pressure from
Harry Bridges, illegal* re-affirming its
ruling that the Industry would have to
deal equally with both unions pending ths
election, and that it would hard to post
in several conspicuous places in the vaiv
ious canneries concerned during the fifeh
ing season an acknowledgement that the In*
dustry had dealt unfairly with the BSBtJ
in last summer* s dispute* These notices
are to be signed by a member of the ASI,
and are not to be covered or obscured for
a period of 60 days*
I think then, that the following points
^ are clearly established! 1* The Communist
issue is at the very bottom of this labor
dispute; 2* Jim Downey is the leader of
the anti-Communist forces r 3. The. ASI • has
sided with the Communist forces against • '
Jim Downey, and the' patriotic forces*
.. 4® To ward- off successfully the cdnw
munist party line attempt to take over in
Bristol Bay, the resident fishermen and
Cannery worK.an nuekj ewm hud
was brought rut yery clearly last year*
rrher with t'ishermenrB aid the reMid^nt
cannery worker?- ms*.-a: 15# luoreasu In wagei
plur a welfare fund which came to ICd per
case, and was later augmented, to 20<& a
case by further fishermen* % pressure* Y/lth
eut this they would here had but 12^# ixw
arease and nothing more* On the ether hand,
the fishermen* o position was Immensely
strengthened by support of the R*C*W*
We are all familiar with the adage i
TTnlted we stand* divided we fall* Let us
take a glance at the situation as it aot*
ually is* The operators are united to form
the Alaska Salmon Industry, Inc* Thus we
find about fifty salmon canning companies
banded together to form a unit for bar
gaining with the various unions and repre
seating them before the public# To repre
cent them they hire the best brains money
can buy# whe in turn make uso of thei..* a.1*
most unlimited resouroas and prestige te
terra their ins.st-m3 effectj.rely3
This is all right ay long c.« ^he mere
representing them are oonsc'iovts of fhfifcir
social responsibility ana report t<*
unfair labor or business pra reives.? but
such is not always the case* Thebe men are
often, if net always, governed by exped
iency and u*e the resources of their eo
oncmio po-wer to ride rough shod over the
little man handed togethe r in his .little
‘.union* as wo w4.tnea.sod last y?ar in the
Alaska Salmon- -Jnd'*.st.-:y? »< successful effort
1 to if ocrim dawn the threats cf the;. Bering
See Pibhermefc a. 4vh cent fish prlc.c without
*^4ly .attempt tejbarg>ir.: with. them in, good
bV shewing eny willingness to pay
a fail*, pripe. for their fish#
Lined up. with the ASX were the nerv-re
sident, cannery workers (commUnist-deminated)
and eren Machinists and, Carpenters# Se
that ,while the Industry was solid and ao1u
•d as a unit, and had the active collabor
ation it sdme ef the unions# labor itself
was divided, nen-resident fishermen egaJnsh
resident fishermen, nea-reuidont tannery
workers against resident cannery workers#
If finally the residents could 'he divided
against one another7 tRov. Indeed the pat
riotic forces are reluojd to splint me
and Will not he able long to withstand the
onslaughts of Cbmmunisml
5-8# The injection of Roy Atkinson la
te thd controversy is calculated to effeot
& split in the resident rafaks, solid up
till now, and to dlstr&dt from the issue
of communism# and give the ASI something
comparable 'to a company union# The fact
that Atkinson represents CIU in this dis
pute does not remove the communist threat
for two masons» 1# He is an insignificant
oeg in Pacific Coast labor circles; and,
2. It may, legitimately be believed that
ho is. dominated by the ASI and the ASI
acknowledges domination hy Harry Bridges1
IDftflJ# Lot us hoar Mr# Arnold on the sub
jeats Yfhen the CIO expelled ILWU it cre
ated a lab^r vaooum on the Pacific Coast*
The whole Pacific Coast lies under the
shadow of Communist domination.
Thus, in Arnold’s mind, Aikinson with
( his CIO is a very minor cog In the Paoiflo
Coast Labor mao'nintf? and ?na that Mr*
Arnold feels confident fch6 A£>I can easily
control, r example, laBt summer Mr®
" Atkinson would haTo signed an agreement
for the Cannery workers giving ih®o;. but
12^# increase in wages® Downey secured lEjl
plus a welfare fund, as previously stated.®
The 15# raise was justified even though
it was above the national pattern f*r
wage/ increases-, because the Cannery Work
ers were long exploited by the Salmon Iiw
dustry and underpaid by Arnold’s own adc
mission*
The A&I is fighting Atkinson’s battle
to force Local 46 baok into CIO® After
the mere expression of his desire te ne-*