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WOODWORKERS DEMAND:

PROBE FOREST COs

Where your money goes

ROASTING .
CHICKEN
UP 65%

ROAST
OF
BEEF
UP 53%
WONDER WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES?
e
THEN TAKE A LOOK!
Price Price
ae 1967 1969

Standing Rib Roast 75¢ $1.15
Pork Loin Chops, centre cut 7% $1.09
Side Bacon No. 1 75¢ $1.09
Fresh Ground Beef 53¢ 89%
Roasting Chicken 39 6%
Whole Ham 65¢ $1.45
Apples 5/$1.00 3/89%
Coffee 65¢ $1.09
Eggs, Grade A Large 2/85¢ 58¢
Bread 23¢ 26¢
Canned Milk 6/89 2/3%
Cheddar Cheese 84¢ 93¢
Ice Cream, 6 pt. carton 98¢ $1.38
Tomato Juice, 48's 3/$1.00 4l¢
Margerine ' 3/88¢ 2/6%
Apple Juice 3/89 1/45¢
Fresh Milk, ¥% gal. 52¢ 63¢
HAM Beans with Pork 14’s 2/39 1/28¢
UP 122% Lettuce 2/29. — 2/33¢
Potatoes, new 10/69 5/4%

APPLES
Percent UP 45%

Increase

NOTE: The above 1967 prices are
taken from advertisements in the
Vancouver Sun for May-June-July
1967. 1969 prices were taken from the
shelf of a large department store on
June 20, 1969. We have avoided
‘specials’ in order to reflect the true
price. All prices quoted, both 1967 and
1969, are from the same department

store.

LETTUCE
UP 33.1%

Condemning the lack of action
ai the Federal Government,
Co in particular Ron Basford,

nsumer Affairs Minister, Mrs.
Cee Podovinnikoff,

lairman of the Women Against
igh Prices Committee,

demanded immediate steps be
aken to curb profiteering and
aed prices down, particularly
Fe H€ price of beef.

Rey ie oe Ahh

Mrs. Podovinnikoff said her
committee is drawing up a list of
basic foods required for a
balanced diet, and will request
Ottawa to freeze prices on them
at a reasonable level, after
which no increase in the cost of
the items will be allowed, unless
approved by a Prices Review

Board.
She also invites all interested

ae ie

! Women hit Ottawa inaction

consumers to join with her ina
protest demonstration against
high prices each week —
Thursday in New Westminster,
and Friday in Vancouver,
between 7 and 8 p.m.

Further information may be
obtained by calling YU 7-4585, or
872-2150 and in the New
Westminster-Coquitlam area,
939-0245.

Monopoly

practises

charged by IWA

By MAURICE RUSH

British Columbia’s woodworkers union last week
called on Consumer Affairs Minister Ron Basford to
conduct an immediate inquiry into monopoly practises
by the province’s giant forest companies.

Jack Moore, regional
president of the International
Woodworkers of America, sent
the following telegram to
Basford:

‘“‘Almost every major lumber
company in the coastal area of
B.C. has curtailed production in
almost exactly the same manner
and to the same extent, using as
an excuse shortage of logs and a
distressed market. It is odd that
all companies find themselves
short of logs or the market
distressed to the extent that they
are curtailing in the same
manner.

“The IWA believes that the
curtailment of production is a
deliberate attempt on the part of
the lumber industry to force the
price of lumber back up to the all-
time high of a few months ago.

“We request you, as minister
of consumer affairs, whose
responsibility it is to watch
prices, to investigate this
market situation and ascertain
whether orders are being
deliberately left unfilled until
prices have risen to the lumber
industry’s satisfaction.”

The woodworker’s action
came as all major forest
companies announced — sharp
cutbacks in production for the
next two months. All of them are
taking action simultaneously to
cut out entire shifts and curtail

production during July and
August.
MacMillan-Bloedel has

already announced that about 450
men will be affected when the
graveyard shift is eliminated at
some of its operations. Crown
Zellerbach has also announced a
cutback, and officials have
indicated that a third shift at
Fraser Mills will be cutback this
week. Last week Canadian
Forest Products and Rayonier

announced curtailments in their
operations.

Excuse given by spokesmen
for the big monopolies is that the
demand for lumber has dropped
sharply in the U.S. market as
well as prices. They also claim
that there is a continuing
shortage of logs to supply mills
and the blame is put on
“frequent wildcat strikes at
logging operations.”

COMPANIES LIE

A major argument used by
spokesmen for the forest
monopolies to justify the cutoack
is that housing starts in the U.S.
have dropped 17 percent since
January of this year, knocking
the botton out of the lumber
market. The Pacific Tribune has
checked into this argument and
have found that the forest
companies are lying to the B.C.
pyle about housing starts in the

In actual fact, housing starts in
the U.S. in April, 1969, were 53.1
percent higher than they were in
January!

_ Although there was a slight dip
in February housing starts shot
up again in March and April, the
latest month for which figures
are available. Here is the table
of housing starts provided the PT
by the Vancouver Public
Library:
January - 105,800
February - 94,800
March - 135,000
April - 157,000

The PT has also received
reports that many millions of
board feet of lumber-are being

sidetracked in the U.S. and kept —

off the market in order to create
a scarcity and push prices up
again. So far we have not been
able to confirm these reports,

See FOREST PROBE, pg. 12

Pees