WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

1st Issue,
i July, 1961

7 Rigged Ballot

| Court Judgment Ousts
' British Union Leader

.
Five years of bitter struggling within the Communist-led Elec-
i trical Trades Union have ended in a High Court judgment which
has removed the General Secretary, Frank Haxell, and replaced
3 him with an anti-Communist, John Thomas Byrne.
Mr. Justice Winn ruled that Byrne
' 4 had been elected General Secretary in
; the election in December, 1959, and
not Haxell. If the ballot had not been F | A
rigged Byrne would have won by at ame S
| } least 1,150 votes ‘
; Communist Controlled Fleeting
t The Judge also ruled: y
i That the Communists had held hi o oni ZN
i) } power in this union by fraudulent T Ing 5 go. P
i\ methods arid ballot rigging; is 5 i *
y j That the Communist Party had a Sa ae a ae a rae oo
A powerful national advisory commit- a aie Bene Sy a anal <N Sey y
4 tee of E.T.U. leaders which was sub- aaa 2 SAL RNS an 3 Gs
“4 servient to Party aims. “Not only je ritain’s greatest sale CLO:
s the union managed and con- mong the answers were:

RGA: ok Ss
computer says you don't qualify!”

trolled by the Communist Party but
so managed as to serve the ideals of
the Party

That F oat Foulkes, the President,
Frank Haxell, General Secretary,
Robert Maclennan, Assistant General
Secretary, James Humphrey, Office
Manager, and Jack Frazer, a member
of the executive council, were guilty
of fraud and conspiracy against the
union’s rules and of election rigging.

have been elected to the union execu-
tive instead of Jack Frazer in 1957.

Election Void

In the action John Byrne, a full
time area official of the E.T.U. in
Scotland, and Frank Chapple, an anti-
Communist member of the executive
council, sought a declaration that the
election of Haxell as General Sec-
retary was void and alleged that it
was rigged. They also claimed dam-
ages for conspiracy to secure the
election of Communists and_ their
sympathizers to union posts

he defendants admitted that Hax-
ell’s election was invalid, but denied
all allegations of conspiracy and
fraudulent practices. They are to ap-
peal against the judgment, but the
Judge refused to grant a stay of ex-
ecution.

Mr. Byrne has been awarded a sum
making up his salary to what he
would have received had he taken
over as General Secretary immedi-
ately after the 1959 election.

With about 240,000 members the
E.T.U. is Britain’s seventh largest
union.

“Charlie, I want to give you that promo-

ut that stupid million dollar

Rates Up
Service
Down

The U.S. public is paying more
for health insurance through pri-
vate agencies and getting less in
the postwar period, according to
an article in Business Week.

The article contraverts a statement
by the commercial health insurance
companies that over 70 per cent of the
population is covered by some form
of sickness insurance,

1959 Figures

According to 1959 figures from the
U.S. department of Health, Education
and Welfare, the public pays out over
$51% billion in premiums and get back
$4°% billion in services.

U.S. sickness expenditures run
around $20 billion so that private in-
surance plans cover somewhat less
than 25% of the total.

“For the average family with health
insurance protection, benefits cover
about one-third of their medical ex-
penses.

20

“A model in Picker Dilly.”

The hero who “fought in Tra-
falgar Square.’

“The man who won the battle
of Waterloo and at the moment of
victory died in Trafalgar Square.”

A man who “was last seen at
Waterloo station.”

The Judge believed that Leslie
it Cannon, the “original rebel” against N J b F
the Communist leadership, should O O Or

New Party
Supporter

A part-time summer employee
of the government liquor store in
Whitby has been refused em-
ployment for being a known New
Party supporter, according to
Tom Edwards, PAC chairman
for the Oshawa and District
Labour Council.

The charge has been verified by
O. R. Weatherall, of Whitby, an un-
employed father of three who worked
for the Liquor Board last summer and
at Christmas time.

When he applied for summer em-
ployment this year, he was informed
that he was being replaced by the
“son of a prominent Conservative.”
Mr. Weatherall was told by the per-
sonnel manager in Oshawa that while
there was no complaint about his
work, the order “had come from
higher up.”

Mr. Edwards said that his informa-
tion is that the dismissal order had
come from a provincial cabinet mini-
ster.

Norwegians
To Hold

Election

The Norwegian Labour Party,
holding 78 seats out of 150 in thé
current parliament, will seek to
maintain the reins of government
in the general election called for
September 11th.

Its opposition will come from four
parties and a labour splinter group
called the Socialist Folk Party which
disagrees with the Labour Party on
defense and foreign policy.

The Conservative Party holds 29
seats, the Liberals 15, Center 15,
Christian People’s 12 and Commun-
ists 1. The four major pppeeition
parties have attempted to form
national election coalition Set
success so far.

As a member of NATO, the Nor-
Wegian government recently turned
down an arms order from Portugal
stating that the preservation of col-
onialism through armed force is
against the interests of the western
alliance. “The time for colonialism is
definitely past,” said the Norwegian
Foreign Minister Halvard Lange.

The munitions industry which re-
fused the order is state owned.

only about 20 per cent of the nation’s
population — less than 35 million
people — has any broad insurance
coverage against the costs of illness
More than 40 million have no
protection at all. More than 100 mil-
lion have insurance only against the
costs of hospitalization and carry
none against the costs of doctors’
services,”

The U.S. labour movement is back-
ing President Kennedy's move for a
government sickness insurance plan
for elderly people under Social ney:
ity. The plan also calls for a survey
of hospital costs which have been

% Covered
“More important is the fact that

going up rapidly in recent years,

—MacPherson, Toronto Daily Star.

Mixed salad

SHOE MANUFACTURING
CO. (B.C.) LTD.

2248-50 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, B.C.

Logger Boots + Safety Boots

UNION MADE