RESPECT
PICKET LINES AT
STAGEY'S FURNITURE

The regional council is requesting that
IWA members refrain from crossing the
picket lines set up by the Teamsters’ Union
at Stacey’s Furniture store on the lower
mainland.

The employer has fought a vicious fight to
prevent his employees from winning a first
collective agreement. Scabs have been hired
to keep the store open and the employer has
had the strikers harassed and assaulted on
the picket line.

The employees in the warehouse earned
between $4.32 and $5.25 an hour prior to
striking. The employer has shown no inter-
est in negotiating and refuses to meet with
the union.

There are three stores involved in the
dispute. The store on Marine Drive in
Vancouver; one on King George Highway in
Surrey; and the main store in Richmond.

The employer operates under several
names — Collingwood Services, Better
Value Furniture and Valley Industries.

The Stacey employees need the support of
all trade unionists regardless if they are
affiliated to the B.C. Federation of Labour or
not.

Give them your support by boycotting all
Stacey Furniture outlets.

PENSION FIGHTER
STANLEY KNOWLES

For two generations, Stanley Knowles
has been pressing Parliament for a better
deal for pensioners — a generation he now
belongs to himself.

The NDP Veterans Affairs and Pensions
critic started his long battle to improve the
status of older people in 1942. At that time,
the government was paying outa maximum
of $20 per month to those 70 years and older
who were considered to be in need — and
then only under pressure from the NDP
(then CCF).

Knowles says he recently checked old
issues of Hansard and discovered that the
first question he raised in the House con-
cerning older people — it had to do with the
widows of veterans of World War I — was
back in 1943. “I was in character all right,”
he says.

The Winnipeg North Centre MP has been
“in character” ever since.

Knowles constantly defends his and his
party’s policy that pensions should be paid
universally to the elderly, without a
demeaning means test.

“We feel very strongly that the case is on
the side of universality,” he says. “Some of
the best legislation we’ve ever produced in
the Parliament of Canada has been old age
security and family allowance legislation
that pays benefits to everyone by virtue of
their being part of our society and part of our
economy.”

Knowles says a means test is unnecessary
because less than 10 per cent of the elderly
have sufficient income not to need the
pension. For those who receive too much by
getting benefits, the solution is to make
appropriate adjustments in the income tax
structure.

“We think it is far better to pay those
pensions and tax them back when neces-
sary, than to impose a means or income test
before you get it.”

Knowles remembers how it was for the

12/Lumber Worker/October, 1980

2

IWA convention delegates visit picket line set up at the custom house in Vancouver by the members of the Public Service
Alliance of Canada who went on strike September 29, to gain a COLA-protected wage increase and shorter work. Shown in

picture from left are IWA members of Local 1-405, Lonnie Stuart, Don Sharpe, Lyle Kristiansen, NDP-MP, and Klass
Offerman, Local 1st vice-president.

tics, when monthly pensions were worth
less than one week’s wages.

“I was a minister then and I can remem-

_ ber going into homes and finding old people

there of whose existence I wasn’t aware.
They didn’t even come to church,” he says.
“They didn’t have the clothes.”

To those who argue that the country can’t
afford to raise pensions in the current bad
economic times, Knowles has heard it all
before. He says it is the same argument used
on his predecessor, J. S. Woodsworth, when
the latter advocated the $20 per month
pension back in 1926.

“What determines the capacity to pay
pensions is not funds that have been put
away,” he says. “It is the state of the
economy at the time and I think we can
afford to do better for our old people now and
that we can do better still down the road.”

The NDP advocates a minimum old age
pension of $400 per month and the elimina-
tion of the guaranteed income supplement.

“It is proper that when people have served
their 30 or 40 years as part of the economy,
they should expect a decent living standard
in old age,” he says.

“We think universal pensions at a high
level are a good idea and we’re going to stick
with it until we get it.”

ECONOMY
REQUIRES EQUAL
CONSIDERATION

By ED BROADBENT
NDP Federal Leader

The NDP caucus has just completed two
days of discussion on our MPs’ experience in
their ridings during the summer and the
agenda as we see it for the coming session of
Parliament.

It is evident that the Constitution is going
to receive priority attention by the govern-
ment. We as a party have already made our
views known on a number of constitutional
matters and we will be participating fullyin
the debate in coming months.

We also want, however, the government to

elderly 40 years ago before he entered polli-.

give the same kind of priority to a budget as
to the Constitution. We recognize the need
for constitutional change, but the economy
requires equal consideration at this time.
The common experience of virtually all
our Members of Parliament during the
summer was the growing sense of insecurity
felt by Canadians about their economic
future. They are insecure about lay-offs and
plant shut-downs. They know the job they
have today may be gone tomorrow. They are
insecure about rising prices. They know

they simply aren’t eating as well today as
they were yesterday. They are insecure

about themselves and their children. They
feel for the first time that their backs are
against the wall.

In short, Canadians are deeply apprehen-
sive and fearful about their present eco-
nomic circumstance. They are doubtful
about their ability to maintain their present
standards, let alone get ahead.

We believe that Parliament must recog
nize these very human concerns and deal
with them promptly to re-establish basic
hope and confidence about the future. We
need a People’s Package to deal with these
very real economic insecurities.

A People’s Package would have a fai:
prices commission with the authority tc
investigate price increases and order roll-
backs where prices are found to be unjusti
fied. Our tax credit proposal would see a
regular annual tax adjustment related to the
cost of living.

This, unlike the Conservatives’ mainte:
nance of the status quo indexation system,
would give regular benefits to middle and
low income Canadians. A permanent con
mission would monitor and regulate pricir _
in the energy sector. ae

We need economic growth policies in the
economy now, when it is operating at its

lowest capacity in some 15 years. Addin; .

stimulus to the economy is not inflationary:
It would produce jobs, cut welfare payments
and increase tax revenues both from ind
viduals and from corporations coming in
the government.

The state of the Canadian economy ‘:
extremely serious. We need a stimulati>
budget. My colleague, Bob Rae, our Finan —
critic, has laid out in considerable detail! »
number of measures that we favour fo
inclusion in the budget. .

If it is good enough for General Motors t
have increases in expenditures in a give
year in excess of revenues coming .
because it has calculated that there’s goir °
to be a pay-off down the road, it makes equ.
economic sense for countries at certain

stages in the economic cycle to do precise’
the same thing.

— =

EE ee