soc lea amnoneene enema aoe Time lost by injuries higher than strikes Bosses, government officials and editorialists who so often lament the days and dollars lost through strikes very seldom bring to the fore the number of man-days lost through industrial injuries. Man-days lost from the latter cause far outnumber those lost through strikes. These figures were revealed at the Workmen’s Compensation Board - B.C. Federation of Labor Seminar held in Penticton last week. Industrial accidents accounted for 1.3 million lost man-days of work. Strikes last year accounted for only 406,645. Highest rate of work injuries in B.C. occur in the forest industries, making up 23.3 percent of the total in 1968. The most hazardous is logging, where in the past 20 years over 1200 men have been killed on the job, for an average of 63 per year. Safety men in the woodworking unions ° say seminars such as held in Penticton -have a value but too much stress is put by WCB spokesmen on the responsibility of management to provide safe working conditions. Bruce Elphinstone, Safety Director of the IWA’s Local 217, says the seminar featured many | lectures but too little oppor- tunity for the workers who WELFARE. Cont'd. from pg. 1 called ‘‘defence’’ expenditures on obsolete aircraft carriers and abandoned jet-fighter planes to defence of our people’s. health, living standards and homes. 3) Restore public ownership of all natural resources to facilitate establishment of new industries in B.C. to process our rich storehouse of natural resources presently exported in raw form, provide jobs and a better return to the Provincial treasury to provide for people’s needs. Expansion of the economy, not Trudeau austerity; increased municipal grants from senior governments, not pennypinch- ing and abuse of the sick, the poor and the aged; jobs to eliminate welfare instead of tax increases are what’s needed. attended to ask questions, discuss, and put forward their own conclusions as to what might be done to prevent injuries on the job. The IWA and the B.C. Fed. puts forward the demand for a job safety training program. New employees must be given a thorough grounding before being placed in hazardous jobs, and they recommend that employees changing jobs within the plant be given the same training by foremen and union safety representatives. Strict supervision of, and instruction in handling the new - chemicals must also be part of safety programs. Noise, one of the more serious. hazards of work in this industrial era, should be given more serious consideration. Elphinstone says almost all woodworking plants have a noise factor far above that considered safe for mental and physical wellbeing. Ear injury with consequent deafness, nervous tension, even mental disorders are some results of uncontrolled noise in plants, foundries, etc. Through the establishment of joint management - union com- mittees, workers should have the right to be in on the planning stage for new equipment, to recommend proper sound - proofing, see that layouts are safe and that a minimum of ‘bullwork’ is needed through the installation of hydraulic lifts and other equipment. WCB regulations stress that an accident prevention committee shall be established by manage- ment where twenty or more workmen are employed on jobs classified as hazardous, but in many B.C. plants, such com- mittees have not yet been established according to some reports. Another feature of WCB activities which has long frustrated injured workmen fighting for compensation is dealt with in the brief from the B.C. Federation of Labor. It strongly urges changes in the Workmen’s Compensation Act to. provide the establish- ment of an independent three - man board for the purpose of dealing with appeal claims for compensation. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1270—PAGE 12 LABOR SCENE boned Ll City council endorses IBEW employment brief City council has endorsed the brief prepared by the IBEW demanding a crash program for jobs, reported Chris Locke of the electrical union to delegates at the regular meeting of Van- couver Labor Council Tuesday night. Locke said council agreed to form a committee of two or three aldermen who would assist in presenting the case for em- ployment to Ottawa and Victoria. Low ‘cost housing and a program to put electrical wiring underground were among other projects put forward by the union as measures to relieve unem- ployment. The VLC called upon the federal and provincial governments, and the city, to meet as quickly as possible to make arrangements to house and feed the unem- ployed. Secretary-treasurer Paddy Neale said a large influx of unemployed could be expected this fall if conditions follow the usual pattern. Local 217 of the IWA has set up an unemployed committee. Delegates endorsed a resolution from the local which asked the B.C. Federation of Labor to call on all labor councils to also set up such committees in various parts_ of the province. Jack Phillips, of CUPE, told delegates the federal government was directly responsible for unemployment, and labor must press for action along the lines initiated by the IBEW to demand jobs. The young péople who are holed up in Jericho, he said, were more to be pitied than scorned, for if it is true, as alleged by certain columnists, that drugs are a problem amongst them, they are the end products of a rotten and vicious system and have to be given help. An executive recommendation, COAL Cont'd. from pg. 1 U.S. and Japanese monopolies to get BC. coal profitably. Ships have already been built to haul ores in ‘‘slurry”’ form. In fact they are already in operation on the B.C. coast. A few weeks ago a ship called Marcanaflo Merchants hauled 42,000 long tons of iron ore reduced to slurry form from Wesfrom Mine at Tasu in the Queen Charlotte Islands to Portland, Ore. Built in Japan, the ship can carry, 51,406 tons and is owned by Cyprus Mines Corp. and the Utah Construction and Mining Co. Foreign monopolies are constantly seeking ways of taking out B.C.’s natural resources with the least labor and in the cheapest form possible. The latest trend is to pipelines, which are also being considered for pulp. The fewer the jobs in B.C. taking out our resources — the more profits for the monopolies. Hence the rush to build pipelines. Who says the only:‘way to create jobs in B.C. is by giving away our resources to foreign monopolies? “sentences, much more | heartily endorsed by’ delegates, demanded the immediate resignation of Welfare Minister Phil Gaglardi. In sharp and pithy secretary Paddy Neale produced a picture of Gaglardi as a man who has a “callous disregard for people.” The ministers continued reference to the unemployed as “deadbeats”’ and ‘“‘bums” was an - attempt to blacken the un- fortunate people without work. ‘He is of absolutely no use,” Neale said, ‘“‘We have to get someone in that job with social conscience, rather than social credit!” A letter from the CLC demanding of the Federal government a program to build a Canadian merchant fleet was read to delegates. The CLC blamed the oil pollution from tankers on the east coast on “rusty old hulks” manned by inferior crews and paid stal- -vation wages by foreign shipping — magnates who reap large profits from oil transport to Canada. Delegates endorsed 4 resolution calling for 24-hour bus passes for senior citizens. They asked the B.C. Federation of Labor to take action along the same line. Gas sellout hit Cont'd from pg. 1 independence and full em- ployment without inflation. “That course lies in govern- ment investment in building up industry in Canada based on our rich natural resources, on cutting the wasteful arms budget and investing in urgently needed low- cost housing, in standing up to U.S. monopoly interests which aim to completely control our economy, in pursuing policies of trade with the whole world in- cluding the rapidly expanding socialist markets and to keep the farmers on the land by selling wheat. All of this is possible. “Canada must chart an in- dependent course, break with U.S. imperialism’s war aims in Indo-China and the Middle East, end arms sales to the U.S. and put Canada squarely and unequivocally on the side of peace. ; “Now is the time for Parliament to speak up for Canada. Now is the time for every member to speak up for independence and _ genuine economic development to provide permanent job opportunities for our people.” ; JOBS HOAX The lion share of the sellout goes to the U:S.-owned Westcoast Transmission Company of Vancouver. It will be allowed to export an additional 3.3 trillion cubic feet of gas over the next 18 years. Additional pipeline facilities will be built to feed the gas into the U.S. at Huntington on the border. The claim is made ‘that 45 percent of the work will be done in B.C. and that many new jobs will be created. This is a gigantic hoax. It’s true that additional jobs will be created while the pipeline is built, although these are exaggerated with the new equipment now available. After the old pipeline was built by Westcoast Transmission hardly any jobs were created outside of a handful manning pumping stations. i The real jobs are inside the pipeline, pouring down. into the U.S. because the industries - which could spring up around cheap natural gas are denied us. During the last few years each - giveaway, such as the Columbia, the previous Westcoast Tran- smission pipeline, etc., was accompanied by promises of many new jobs. Yet none of these giant giveaways have prevented B.C. from having the worst unemployment in Canada today. Obviously what is wrong is that these giveaways do not create permanent jobs in B.C. Z The new giveaway will inevitably mean higher prices for gas because the most accessible and cheapest sources now at hand are being given away. Future new gas fields will be further from the large populated centres and will be more costly. Although the § Canadian government set a minimum price at which the gas is to be exported — 105 percent of the domestic price — this too is _ highly questionable. Up to now West- coast gas has been sold to the U.S. far below what B:C. con- sumers pay. This has been due to two factors: First the fire sale price at which the U.S. was of- fered the gas. Second: that Westcoast sells its gas to B.C. Hydro who in turn make large profits. from overcharging - consumers. ~ B.C. Hydro profits from sale of natural gas to consumers has run around 35 percent. Last year, when the PT warned of the coming gas sellout, it pointed out in a front page story that although B.C. Hydro paid 38.4 ‘cents a thousand cubic feet the average Vancouver homeowner paid about $1.10 for a thousand cubic feet. The high rate paid by consumers is used to subsidize cheap gas to the U.S., and in- dustries in B.C. who pay very low rates. : Under the present system of distribution there is absolutely no grounds for believing that the huge sale to the U.S. will in any way lower rates for Canadian — users. On the contrary, it will likely in the years to come boost the rates. What emerges from this latest betrayal of the national interest is this: Pipelines will be built by mostly U.S. owned companies to carry Canadian gas to the US., pocketing huge profits for U.S. investors. The pipelines will likely be built with steel pipe manufactured in Japan or the U.S. from B.C. iron ore and coal. In return what we get are a few jobs building the pipeline, higher rates in the future, while our resource pours across the border into the U.S. to provide cheap power for industries to create jobs badly needed by Canadian workers.