VSS Si. NRRRRRRacaad SIA NA | COMM LM UNISTS CALL FOR ACTION —Sean Griffin photo His skull opened up by a baseball bat, Dennis Leubmann talks to Native court worker Rodger Spence following brutal beating by rooming house manager last week. He had returned to his room in downtown hotel when he was allegedly assaulted b y the manager. To add insult to serious injury, he has been frustrated so far in all attempts to get back his rent — paid up to December 9. The Canadian Labor Congress is being asked to send a represen- tative to the next meeting of the Vancouver and District Labor Council to explain exactly what is happening with international of- ficers of various building trades unions who are apparently withholding per capita payments to the CLC. Delegates to the council meeting Tuesday night voted unanimously to callon CLC president Joe Morris to senda representative to the next regular meeting “to explain allegations that some unions are withholding per capita tax from the Congress.” Several building trades in-~ ternationals initiated a boycott of payments in an attempt to use the per capita tax as an economic club against the autonomy resolutions passed at the May convention of the CLC. Of .particular concern to unionists is the fact that the boycott has remained secret and Canadian members of construction unions have only heard of it through press reports and rumors. Speaking to his motion in the council meeting, Laborers delegate Charles Shane noted the criticism of the boycott by building trades conventions in Ontario and B.C. and emphasized, ‘‘It’s not just a question of the building trades unions. any more — it’s a question of whether or not the trade union movement in Canada is going to survive.” “Working people in this province have a right to know what is going on,” Shane told the delegates, “we’re paying per capita tax to the international office and it’s in- cumbent on the officers to let us know where it’s going.” He echoed the question voiced by several other trade unionists elsewhere in the country in asking, “what precisely did happen in Washington?” and added: ‘‘Are we to hear it from press reports or are we to hear it directly?” The boycott was of miajor con- cern in the automomy debate at the B.C. Federation of Labor con- vention earlier this month and was primarily responsible for delegate’s insistence that sanc-. tions against non-complying unions be included in the Federation’s position. Building trades international have been the most recalcitrant in meeting Congress standards on autonomy and one international representative announced to delegates to the building trades convention in Ontario two weeks ago, “per capita tax to the CLC will not be paid until: this poppycock. about autonomy is stopped.” Elsewhere in the meeting, president Syd Thompson told delegates that while layoffs in the lumber industry had now climbed to 15,000, “logs are still going out of this port at a mile a minute.” Thompson pointed out that if logs are not allocated to some plant for processing, they can be exported and companies can bid on them for that purpose. “That may not seem all that illogical,” he said but added that the IWA “strongly Suspects that the log market is being manipulated by the big forest companies. Small companies tell us they are being told not to bid on logs.”’ The IWA has for some time advocated a total ban on log ex- ports and has voiced that demand to provincial resources minister Bob Williams. “The real jobs lie in processing logs,’ Thompson declared, “not in shipping them out.” He noted that there have been. two arguments advanced in op- position to a total ban. Many state that “Japan: only takes the logs that nobody else wants” while others claim that if Canada doesn’t export logs, the U.S. will. “Those are hollow arguments,” Thompson said. PACIFIC TRIBUNE-—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1974—Page 12 A ban on log exports also has several advocates in the U.S. and one recent Congressional battle in Washington state was fought largely on the issue; F i “It’s high time that working people began to make it ni going to accept layoffs and mass ey say§ a leaflet being distributed in more be vad copies to workers in the forest industry by the B.C. Wo Pulp Bureau of the Communist Party. that they are ‘not ployment,” Addressing itself to the very serious unemployment problem in the forest industry, the leaflet points out that 28,000 Canadian woodworkers are jobless — 14,879 in B.C. and over 12,000 in Quebec. “Predictions are that the situation will worsen this winter with no indication of any significant upturn, before late 1975, or perhaps even 1976,” warns the leaflet. Lashing out at the forest monopolies and the failure of all levels of government to take ac- tion, the Communist Party statement points out that the unheard of prices for lumber charged by the industry have _ pushed profits to an all-time high and priced houses out of the range _ of most people. This, coupled with the high cost of building lots and impossible mortgage rates along with federal and provincial government sales tax on building materials, have contributed to the layoffs and the Serious housing crisis. Singled out for special mention is the loss of foreign markets, which is particularly _ accentuated for B.C. because of the concentration of our lumber market in the U.S. — 68 per cent of our forest products exports go the U.S. This heavy _ reliance on the U.S. market places B.C.’s forest industry at the mercy of the U.S. “Marketing difficulties do not mean that the people don’t need houses.. Millions of Canadians cannot afford a decent place to council ENCLOSED: ( ( ) Renewal ORDER NOW—LIMITED OFFER ) $6.00 - 1 Year Sub. ( ) $9.00 - 1 Yr. Sub. Plus Book Mail to: PACIFIC TRIBUNE No. 3 Mez., 193 E. Hastings, Vancouver 4 GET ONE YEAR’S SUB—NEW OR RENEWAL —VALUE $6 AND TOM McEWEN'S NEW BOOK —VALUE $3.95 BOTH FOR $9.00 ( ) New Sub. live. Housing is the number "a problem of every city act 4 Canada. ‘Health and living standards a declining because of the lack if, housing and slum conditions 1 every town and city. And, all this! closing its mills and plants 17 produce the best of b materials,’ says the Comm Party leaflet. a It charges that, “this gro a crisis is the end result of om ¢ subservience to the big ‘i monopolies, to cold war i, policies, and ruth profiteering.” “Waiting for U.S. housing § i to increase again will not a these basic problems. The di nd right’ of employers to profit we lay off working people at will hi _ be challenged. The trade me have a real responsibility to 3 up this fight. With half the Ws workers in B.C. jobless, it is i was recognized that the prob cannot be swept under the ca Broad, mass public pressure be mobilized,” says the leafle’ The B.C. Wood and Pulp B of the Communist Party, wt speaks for Communists i fe woodworking industry, puts ’ ward a five point program — action to fight layoffs in the f industry. These are: (1) That woodworkers make clear that they are not going accept layoffs and mass va ployment. Clydeside shipbuilt two years ago, and the 650 sea” of the S.S. France a few mom ago, showed the way by refusil leave their jobs and a¢ dismissal. If private ente can’t keep the wheels of ind rolling, than public ente through government action have to. (2) Bold new initiatives required to cut Canada int0 | vast-new markets in the soc! sector and newly-develoPyy countries. Lumber is needed. oof ; over the world. Trade misslis fe should be organized to diverse Canada’s trade, arrange é deals and extend long term m interest loans to facilitate mut¥@ beneficial trade. (3) Housing must be recom and treated as a vital public util | Federal, provincial and muni@ governments must be compel recognize decent, reasonal ( priced housing as a basic rl ti every Canadian. ii toy (4) A crash program to a 300,000 new, low-cost, low tet hg housing units annually for the aff 10 years must be launched. Mo ee was found in wartime, it ca? | | tls found now to build decent ho™ . 3 The present acute housing hy tage is a national emergency: : ‘inci (5) The federal and provil® th sales tax must be repealed ve ty building materials. That one ost : . would cut building costs by alt one-fifth and put thousands boa work. The provision of land Bi at | & and government housing loans oft | th per cent interest would sharply att | costs further and elimi, & unemployment and provide oy stead jobs while meeting uré' +i! 1 needed housing accommoda