WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER OVER 800 RUBBERWORKERS at Goodrich Rubber, Kitchener, got a new one-year contract with increases around the six-cents-an-hour mark. Average pay will now be $86.40 a week, plus shift bonuses. Also in the contract is four weeks’ holiday after 22 years’ service, down from 25 years. About 30 employees will get four weeks this year. * * s STEELWORKERS District 6 office, Toronto, has sent out a memo that the Steel union has won.a vote over Mine-Mill at American Brass, Ansonia, Connecticut. The vote was 443 to 405. This chalked uP another victory for Steel in their longs standing ae against MMSW * THE COST- OF-LIVING INDEX in May stood at 129, a very slight decrease of 0.1% over AI of this ee IN THE IMMIGRATION WAVE of on 1950’s, about half of all immigrants to Canada settled in Ontario. The trend seems to be con- tinuing. Of 104,111 immigrants in 1960, more than half—54,941—came to Ontario. About 23% settled in Quebec. * * * WHEN ONTARIO LABOUR MINISTER DALEY urged the struck Toronto contractors to apply for government intervention, Brew- ery Workers’ rep. Harry Marley wanted to know what’s happening with cases where the government has already intervened. The Brewery Workers’ official protested a seven-month delay in processing an applica- tion for conciliation which ene ave No venIvErs 1960. CCF M.P. FOR VANCOUVER EAST, Harold Winch, is the man who asked the questions and got the answers about the state of the Unemployment Insurance Fund. His queries elicited the fact that UI Fund contributions would have to be boosted by at least 50% just to break even under present unemployment conditions in Canada. The Fund which held over $900 million at the end of 1956 is now well below the $200 million mark. * * THE COYNE vs. FLEMING DISPUTE shouldn’t take the heat off the big problem — unemployment — but it sure made the headlines. Finance Minister Donald Fleming said Bank of Canada Governor Coyne had to go because he wouldn’t like the contents of the budget. That was before the budget was brought down. But Coyne testified before the Senate banking committee that “he could live with the budget”, he had no strong objections to it. * x that is, x For Proper Re-Seeding Forests Need Fires States U.S. Report Fire in our forests may be a neces- sary process in preserving them. We are so indoctrinated with the role of forest fires as a destructive scourge it may be difficult to picture them as an essential tool in the establishment and maintenance of merchantable timber. But such is the reasoned contention of Charles S. Cooper, Ph.D., of the U.S. Agricul- tural Service, writing in Scientific American. Dr. Cooper points out that before Europeans came to North America, fires swept periodically over every acre that had anything to burn. Growth-ring scars in ancient trees bear witness to this, and on our Paci- fic coast it is confirmed by early ex- plorers, who remarked on the preva- lence of smoke banks hundreds of miles out to sea in ae summer months, from forest fire The basic process is Seo lifed in some of the valuable grasslands of the United States. Protected from fire, they are being invaded by worth- less shrubs. Previously, annual or biennial fires killed off the slower- maturing scrub but left the grass- roots unharmed, to flourish the fol- lowing spring. Fire favours some types of vegeta- tion, hinders others. The long-leaf pine of southern U.S. is a striking example. Ashes of a forest fire provide it with an ideal seed-bed. As a seedling, it is more resistant to fire than competing vege- tation, and as a growing tree, more resistant than competing scrub oak. Forest fires also destroy the dead vegetation which harbours brown-rot, the pine’s worst enemy. As a result, foresters in the south- ern states now deliberately burn over the long-leaf pine forests once every three years. A similar process, says Dr. Cooper, is beneficial to the ponderosa pine, a tree of the interior of British Col- umbia. In some areas, fire protection has encouraged the formation of dense undergrowth which is a positive dan- ger to the ponderosa, for fires which formerly would be beneficial to the pines now become so fierce they de- stroy them. The supremely valuable Douglas fir forests are a special case. They required burned-over land if they are to re-seed themselves natur- ally. Mature, standing Douglas fir forests are succeeded by cedars and hemlocks, for the fir seedlings cannot establish themselves in the shade o their seniors. However, the firs cannot stand re- peated early burnings. But Cooper observes, old stands show evi- dence they have survived unharmed from fires every eight or ten years. “The time has come,” he tells his fellow foresters, “to relax the in- grained prejudices against fire and to utilize it, judiciously, in the manage- ment of forests.” An interesting view, study in B.C oN well worth Vancouver Sun Young Liberals Find Elders Still Liberals A group of Young Liberals tried a solo flight but got their wings clipped by party big-wigs. Meeting in the Eastern Ontario re- sort of Milford Bay, the Ontario Young Liberal Association adopted a resolution favoring an attempt to work out an alliance with the New Party. The resolution was adopted in the dying hours of the convention with only a minority of delegates present. Angry Flapping It provoked angry flapping among elder statesmen in the party, how- ever. Ontario Liberal leader John Wintermeyer, who had told the con- vention earlier about the reputed gulf between the Liberals and the New Party, condemned the move. Royce Frith, of Toronto, president of senior Ontario Liberal Association, said the resolution : would be implemented only over his political dead body. Paying perhaps unwitting tribute to the stature of the New Party, Frith lectured the Young Liberals: “You might find yourself in the posi- tion of the mouse that thought it would devour a tiger.” The resolution was introduced by Harry Malcolmson, president of the Toronto and Yorks Young Liberal Association. Declared Malcolmson: “We can’t sit blithely by without making an effort to come to terms with the New Party. Won't Go Away “The New Party is making great appeal. Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking it will go away . Commenting on the Yonie Lib- erals’ resolution, Donald MacDonald, Ontario CCF leader, said the door of the New Party was open to all genuine liberals. “T invite the Young Liberals to join forces with us,” MacDonald said. “T can understand why the Young Liberals are seeking new strength to cope with the old guard that dom- inates the Liberal Party. The broadly- based New Party is being formed because of the conviction that the old guard Liberals belong to the Tories and that it is time for a fresh start.” | Unemployment High In Canada Unemployment remained high in June, according to the latest release of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Out of work were 370,000 Canadians—5.6 per cent of the working force. Jobless totals dropped less than usual or the month which is generally regarded as the low point in the seasonal swing. The gap between 1960 and 1961 widened and 55,000 more were un- employed in June of this year than June, 1960. For the first time this year the gap did not narrow and the pace of recovery may be stopped, economists fear. Again the labour force showed a sharp increase of 50,000. More than 100,000 new jobs opened up so that unemployment was reduced 87,000. Unfortunately this is less than usual at this time of year. Farm Jobs Down Employment increases were gen- eral between May and June in non- agricultural industries. Gains in manu- facturing and service industries were above average, but in most other in- dustries increases were less than us- ual for June. The prairie drought hurt farm jobs, DBS reported On the average 483,000 were out of work in the first six months of 1961. Half of the jobless were labourers, manufacturing and construction work- rs. Between May and June, 102,000 additional persons became unem- ployed, while 189,000 of those who had been unemployed in May moved into employment or out of the labour force. Nearly 50 per cent of the June unemployed had been jobless for more than three months. Ontario Case Interests Labour Test case is now being fought in the Ontario courts to deter- mine whether arbitration boards or arbitrators have the powers to add damages to other measures for enforcing collective agree- ments. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled recently that arbitrators can awar damages for illegal strikes. This up- held an order of Mr. Justice McRuer of the Supreme Court who supported an arbitration board award for dam- ages against the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers’ International Union for an illegal strike in the plant of Polymer Ltd., Sarnia, Ont. The walk-out occurred in the face of a clause in the agreement barring strikes and lock-outs during the life of the agreement. The Arbitration Board Chairman held that Polymer was entitled to damages against the Union for a breach of a collective agreement. David Lewis, counsel for the union, said that neither Polymer nor the union had agreed to refer to a board of arbitration anything except alleged misinterpretation or violation of the collective agreement, Ree Affairs Branch Keen On Sanitation 4 A Member of Parliament gets virtually inundated with litera- ture, reports, briefs, etc. So much so that it is pretty difficult to read it all. The best that can be hoped for, in many cases, is to get a scanty understanding of the main points. I was recently reading through a document prepared by the Indian Affairs Branch dealing with homes for Indians. It was a fairly complete document covering such things as house design, site, sanitation and sewage disposal. I was amazed at the detail in this book and at some of the explicit instructions. Sewage Disposal For instance, this paragraph ap- peared in the section headed SEW- AGE DISPOSAL; sub-headed TOI- ETS: “Strictly speaking few pit privies have been constructed that are entirely fly-proof. It is therefore really a waste of time trying to make a pit privy fly-proof. The point to remember is that flies are attracted to light and if the structure of the privy above the ground is therefore provided with large windows and placed in dir- ect sunlight its builders are simp- ly askng for fly trouble. The in- terior of the privy should there- fore be dim but not so dim as to prevent a user from attending to his business.” lave no complaints about the intense interest that must have gone into the writing of the above para- graph, nor of its contents either, for it is good, sound advice. But, it does seem to me that the activities of an individual in such a building would be pretty well common knowledge. The point is that the book contains a wealth of valuable information, but a series, or even a few passages like the one quoted above tend to draw attention away from the other sec- tions. Air Unions Plan Council Three unions active in the air line industry have announced that consideration has been given to the formation of a Canadian Air Transport Council. Senior officials of the Canadian Air Line Pilots’ Association, the Inter- national Association of Machinists and the Canadian Air Line Flight Attendants’ Association decided on the recommendation at a recent meet- ing in Montreal. The Council would be composed of all the employees’ organizations active in the Canadian air line trans- port industry. The declared objectives of the Council would be to promote the mutual benefit and co-operation of the member organizations. Initial steps in the formation of this Council were taken two years ago, at which time they received the general approval of the parties concerned. It New Health Plan For Industry A call for health services for industry has been made in a re- port by the British Medical As- sociation, the governing body of Britain’s medical profession. It states that every worker ought to be able to get medical treatment at or near his place of work, and urges the Government to set up in- dustrial health services in Ba large factories as soon as possi Injury Preventi ion The aim of the services would be the prevention of industrial injury or illness, but they would also be con- treatment. Omission of a full occupational health service from welfare state pro- vision means, states the report, that the National Health Service is operat- ing “with one cylinder missing.” In the case of small firms, which could not support their own service, there should be a shared group ar- rangement. General Taxation It is suggested that the scheme would cost about 14 cents a week per worker. It would be financed by gen- eral taxation and by employers and workers from insurance contributions. About 275 million working days a year are lost in Britain through in- dustrial injury and sickness at a cost of between two or three million dol- ars. Eleven doctors served on the com- mittee which produced the report. Some large factories already have private schemes. The Trades Union Congress has been advocating an in- dustrial health service for some time. Quote To say that the African eco- nomic problems are but political problems, to say that political problems lead into the social prob- lem, is to say basically that the fundamental drama of our planet is the contrast between a small number of endowed nations and an innumerable majority of men who are hungry and who are naked. —President Youlou of the Congo. cerned with first-aid and emergency ~ was agreed at the meeting that the need for such a Council has been highlighted by the action of Trans- Canada Airlines in recruiting strike breakers from among the unorganized employees of the company as well as from outside. Why not call in and arrange for one . . Store your valuables in a... 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