FOREST INDUSTRY CAN AFFORD IT IWA wage demands At a press conference in} Vancouver this week International i Woodworkers of America (IWA): B.C. District President Jack Moore| outlined the major points of a new! 1968 wage contract covering some! 28,000 lumber workers in the Coast! industry. : These demands had been earlier formulated in a Wages and Contract Conference held in Vancouver, February 23-24 by a delegate body representing all Coast local unions. Moore pointed out that the 40-cent: wage gains made in the present contract, which expires in June were eaten up by steadily rising living costs, and by all indications that spiralling will continue. Key points on the IWA proposals for a new contract include: @A 50-cent an hour across-the- board increase for all lumberworkers. e@ Double-time for all overtime work in place of the present time-and- half rate. This demand is designed to, spread available employment by penalizing excessive over-time work. e@ All employees to receive one week’s severance pay for each year of service, when services are terminated through retirement, plant closure, etc. e Additional statutory holidays for mill and camp lumberworkers. e Demand that companies assume all costs of protective clothing and safety equipment. Under present conditions workers in the industry are compelled to furnish a wide range of safety equipment at their own expense. @ An increase in loggers travelling allowance to and from the point of hiring. Under present contract arrangements this is determined by days. worked, resulting in travel penalties upon the employee. e A union-administered Health and CP hits distortions of report on Ukraine Recently the Communist Party of Canada published a report of a delegation it sent to the Ukraine to study the situation there. This report has been widely misrepresented by the capitalist publicity media. This week the Central Executive Committee of the Party issued the following press release dealing with this question: “Ever since the Communist Party: delegation visited the Soviet Ukraine, and published its conclusions, the capitalist press has attempted to distort it to suit its cold war anti- Soviet purposes. This distortion is particularly evident in the false claim that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has deviated from a‘ principled Leninist position on the national question and is pursuing a policy of Russification. “These claims are completely, false. ‘‘The triumph of socialism has also, brought with it a flowering of culture} of all the nations inhabiting the: Soviet Union. This is not to suggest that mistakes are not made in the course of building a system of society free of exploitation of man by LOTT : CK WX 10:10/P.M. 1130k.c, SUNDAYS COMMUNIST PARTY’S WEEKLY RADIO COMMENTARY by NIGEL MORGAN man. But neither is it to deny that where and when mistakes are made, they are corrected and socialist: democracy ever extended. “This is a continuing democratic process inherent in a system of society which has the means of self correction, growth and development. ‘Those who now try to build up an anti-Soviet campaign will not succeed in face’of the great advances’ . made. by the Ukrainian people, materially, in art, culture and science; and the Soviet Union’s indefatigable struggle for world: peace and friendship amongst all peoples.” Women’s Day functions to aid Vietnam International Women’s Day will be observed in Vancouver by a film showing and tea on Sunday, March 10, 1 p.m. at the Fishermen’s Hall, 138 E. Cordova St. Called under the theme of ‘‘Women of the World for Peace’’ special emphasis will be on the heroic women of Vietnam. A film, ‘“‘Women on the March’, depicting the struggle for women’s rights, will be shown. Feature speaker will be Vancouver’s outstanding woman lawyer, Elspeth Munro Gardner. In Delta, Mrs. Sheila Young, executive member of the Canadian Aid for Vietnam Civilians, will speak on ‘“‘Women’s Role in the Coming Century”’ at an afternoon tea at the Nordic Centre, 7820 - 6th, Burnaby, Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m. In Nanaimo the film ‘“‘Women on the March’’ will also highlight an afternoon function at the Tickson’s home in Wellington, Sunday, March! 17 at 1:30 p.m. Invitations have been mailed out. Feature speaker will be Mona Morgan of Vancouver. Proceeds from all International’ Women’s Day gatherings will go to medical aid for Vietnam. MARCH 1, 1968—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 12 Welfare Plan totally paid for by the, industry, with the weekly indemnity raised to $75 per week (Present Plan: is jointly administered by union- management, with a weekly indemnity of $50 for 39 weeks). e A Monday-to-Friday 5-day work’ week for all cookhouse and bunkhouse staffs, with overtime rates to apply on all time worked Saturday and Sunday. e Anincrease in vacation time, with a corresponding increase of 2% over present vacation pay-schedule. These and other important demands were presented by CT fully justified Moore indicated that the consumer . ‘President Moore as the prime demands which the IWA will project in this year’s negotiations for a new wage contract, and which it is expected will get under way soon. IWA proposals are based upon a one year agreement. Moore laid strong emphasis on the steadily rising cost-of-living and spiralling prices which affects every workingclass family budget, and which makes the demand for wage increases inescapable. The IWA leader stressed the fact that wage increases of 15-months or two years ago, which looked big at the time, are ‘‘now totally inadequate’. Since the last wage increase in the IWA, WONDERING WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES 1 TURN THE PAGE AND TAKE A GOOD LOOK! Reproduced above is the front page of a four-page leaflet being distributed by High Prices, High Profits and High Taxes Are the Real Culprits Digging Into Your Pay Cheque IWA local 1-217. It is packed with facts and figures showing the need and justification for a 50¢ an hour increase. price index had risen by 8.1 percent or more, and there is nothing to indicate that it will not continue on an upward spiral. Moore told the press conference that the B.C. lumber industry is “in very good shape’’ because of the heavy demand for lumber products at home and abroad. The profits of the lumber companies were never higher, and quite adequate to meet any increased wage demands put forward by the IWA without cutting too deeply into record profits. President Moore made it clear at the IWA press conference that the IWA did seek to jointly participate in such a fact-finding body, providing one point in its terms of reference was accepted; viz, that the lumber companies open their books for union scrutiny of their profit balance sheets. This the lumber companies flatly refused to do, but now seek to put the onus of scuttling the government’s fact-finding proposals upon the IWA instead of themselves. Some Press representatives at the IWA conference sought to establish- the IWA’s wage demands of ‘18 percent’’ as being exorbitant, President Moore stated that their percent figure was in error, but even if near correct, “the IWA is entitled to a much greater share of the vast wealth it produces, and something better than the generation before us got’. Other members of the IWA Negotiating Committee challenged the ‘18-percent’’ press argument, but less than two hours later the ‘‘18- percent” theory was being peddled on local radio stations, with all the stock arguements of ‘‘high wages’ as the root cause of inflation thrown in; indicating that already the moulders of public opinion are getting set to line up behind government-managementattacks upon all unions involved in negotiations for increased wages and improved standards of living. “Despite the outcome of the vote of confidencein parliament, all signs point to an early federal election,”’ William Kashtan, leader of the Communist Party, said in an interview in Toronto. “Each of the old line parties are desperately jockeying for position so as to place the blame for an election on the other,’’ he added. ‘‘While the immediate cause of the defeat of the Liberal government was the ‘mini budget’, the underlying factors go much deeper. They have to do with Canada’s future as an independent, united and sovereign country, the ability to work out a relationship of equals between English speaking and French Canada to formulate policies of full employment, stable prices and rising living standards, and make Canada a vital and independent voice for peace,’’ he said. “In this regard,’’ Kashtan remarked, ‘‘Liberal policy is at a dead end. Its ‘stop and go’ economic policies find their reflection today in | rising interest rates, a slowdown in | economic growth and as a’ consequence, rising unemployment. . This is compounded by attacks on the Canadian dollar emanating from the : ‘Need left coalition’—Kashtan U.S.A. arising from the currency crisis.” “The Conservatives make a lot of noise about the inadequacies of Liberal government economic policy,” he went on. ‘‘But the Tories have not spelled out what policies they would pursue. Where they have spelled it out as in medicare which they oppose, it more than suggests a calculated effort to shift to the right under false slogans such as defense of ‘free enterprise’ and the ‘right of individuals’. There is no reason to doubt though that their economic and social policies will be directed to strengthening monopoly control at the people’s expense.” “Tn: any case monopoly interests « are working overtime to shift Parliament to the right. They would like nothing better than to change the © composition of Parliament in the sense of bringing about the election © of a majority Government which would be less responsive to the pressures of the Canadian people,” — Kashtan asserted. ‘‘In either case they would get what they want, a strong Government to ‘save the. dollar’ by curtailing social security measures and lowering living: standards. “The U.S. has a finger in this operation also. It too wants a ‘strong government’ which would be more amenable in support of its foreign policies and overall economic policies. The U.S. Government is far from happy with the timid opposition expressed by Parliament to its war in Vietnam and with the proposals of the Watkin’s task force which would impose some restraints on U.S. subsidiaries in Canada. The pressure on the Canadian dollar is in fact part of an effort to shift Canadian policy to the right and make it more compliant to U.S. imperialist aims. ‘Democratic opinion should be mindful of the various forces at work directed to bring about a coalition on the right. What the people of Canada need,” he added, ‘‘is the forging of a coalition of the left including all democratic forces to defeat this threat.” “The Communist Party,” Kashtan stated, ‘“‘will be convening a meeting of its Central Committee before too long to analyze these developments and work out its electoral program and policy in light of the developing situation.”’