f 4 "HDI, -} ” y “Z Marra pant aa - A Roe, Canadians ex (The above cartoon with caption is reproduced from the recent issue of “The Barker", organ of Local 1-217, |WA. Peace fight stressed at Int'l Women’s Day fete International Women’s Day will be marked in Vancouver on Sunday, March 9 starting at 1 p.m. at the Grandview Com- munity Centre, 3350 Victoria Dr. Guest speaker will be Eunice Parker who will speak on, “Canada’s Women and NATO.” By EUNICE PARKER The annual tea held in the Dreamland Hall, New Westminster last Sunday featured an interesting talk on “The Status of Women’’ nresented he Mionath Gardner. re ~ ratings. wows wu VY Gasper Gaull ' well known Vancouver lawyer. Mrs. Gardner, a mother as well as professional woman, with many years experience in the practice of law has had a close association with the problems faced by many women in their struggle for equality. Mrs, Gardner said, ‘‘Women entering the working force have increased by 93% in recent years — they are there largely from necessity, although there still is an attempt to make true the old adage, that a woman’s place is in the home!"’ Tennyson said ‘‘The womens cause is mans, we stand or fall together.’ Equality of men and women live under the equal responsibility as well as equal rights. The need to provide facilities for care of children on a vast scale to release the many women Gershman to speak Joseph Gershman, editor Vochenblatt, will speak on “Peace in the Middle East’’ at the paper’s annual banquet in Vancouver, Sunday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m., at the Peretz School Lounge, 6184 Ash St. A full course dinner is being served and admission is $2.00. of who must work from the worry of proper care for their children, equal wages for equal work, the. plight of deserted wives and the plight of our native peoples, men and women. We live in the shadow of a killer science and all men and women live unde the threat of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Said Mrs. Gardner, ‘Let us at this Inter- national Womens Day pledge our energy to establishing a lasting world peace.”’ Chairman, Mrs. Velda Doran : presented corsages to Mrs. Gard- ner and Mrs. Siieua Young, from the Children’s Committee for Vietnam, who made an eloquent appeal for the people of Viet- nam. Mrs. Young read greet- ings from Vietnamese women expressing their thanks for the solidarity of Canadian women. Greetings were ~also brought from Pat Anderson from the Women’s Auxiliary of the Uni- ted Fishermen and Allied Work- ers Union, Mrs. Anne Stapley from the Women’s Auxiliary of the International Longshore- men’s Union, Mrs. W. Choma for the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Mrs. Klegg from the Fraser Valley Peace Committee, Mrs. Anita Anderson from the Canadian Yugoslav Association and one of four seamen present from the Soviet ship Eraki brought greetings from the Soviet people. The musical program followed featuring some talented young- sters; Judy Oran — piano selections, Michael Kwaznica — mandolin, Boyd Williams — tap dance, Linda Chobotuck and Sharon Anderson — accordion and guitar duet. Gifts were presented to each of the young entertainers. L ORCHESTRAL CONCERT Featuring THE VANCOUVER FOLK ORCHESTRA — Classical & Folk Selections UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE 805 East Pender St. SUNDAY — MARCH 16th at 8 P.M. Adults — $1.50 Students & Children — $1.00 Everyone Welcome PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 7, 1969—Page 12 U E: BOR SCEN Bill 33 “costly & stupid, labor to hold new parley Bill 33 Mediation Commission annual payroll, all of which comes out of the taxpayer’s pocket with no visable returns or benefits, is now estimated at $475,000 according to govern- ment sources, In some trade unions the question is being cynically asked because of the wide differential in salaries— was the government’s_ selection or appointments based upon the abilities or qualification of these people to serve as_ strike- breakers, since that is the ultimate goal of Bill 33 via the imposition of compulsory arbitration? For instance, ‘labor leader’’ Ed Sims gets $20,000 per annum while ‘‘labor leader’’ Chuck Stewart is only rated at $13,000 a year. Then there is “‘labor leader’’ Pen Baskin who tops the lot in the “labor’’ pen with $40,000 per, and so on down the line. As one trade unionist put it to the PT, that mediation setup on wage differentials is highly “unfair’’ and since the leaders of the BCFL are somewhat timid about leading a real fight against Bill 33, the least they could do would be ‘‘to move in and organize these mediators around a strong campaign for an equalization of wages.’’ Having sold themselves to Bennett to do a dirty job on B.C. labor, the ‘‘sale price’’ should be uniform. Under strong fire in the legislature this week on its costly Bill 33 mediation ma- chinery, attorney-general and labor minister Leslie Peterson replied that the only problems now facing the mediation com- mission were minor ones, “growing pains’ the minister said. The taxpayer can only hope that its already excessive cost doesn’t continue to grow with its ‘‘pains’’. In his broadside against Bill 33 NDP-MLA Alex McDonald centered his fire mainly on the government’s ‘‘bungling from the start’’ and choice of mediation personnel, rather than upon Bill 33 itself which the NDP has pledged to ‘repeal’, if as and when it becomes the govern- ment of B.C. NDP-MLA Leo Nimsick said that the government ‘‘must have had a fantastically hard time in getting commissioners when you have to pay them $40,000. . . to decide whether the working man or a group of working men should get 10 or 15 cents an hour more’’. The NDP-MLA described Bill 33 as “‘a stupid, stupid law’. Meantime, this week’s session of the Vancouver and District Labor Council (VLC) gave unanimous approval to a letter from B.C. Federation of Labor (BCFL) calling for a one-day conference of all affiliate trade unions under VLC-BCFL sponsorship on Friday, March 14 in the IWA Hall, Commercial Street, to discuss numerous sections of Bill 33, which labor up until now have not been fully aware of the dangers implicit in these sections. , Hitherto, BCFL policies gov- erning labor’s attitude have largely centered on Sections 18- 19 of the Bill providing for compulsory arbitration in wage disputes or strike struggles. Now other sections of the act in their application are being seen as equally menacing to organized labor. Delegate Allan Clark Stevens not member says B.C. Communist Party _ The B.C. provincial executive of the Comm* nist Party said this week that ‘‘recent statements and actions by Homer Stevens compels the executive to clarify his relationship to the party, and to advise the public that he is not and has not been a member of the Communist Party for over two and a half months. The executive statement said: ‘‘At the B.C. convention of the Communist Party in mid- December, Stevens, in the closing minutes of the convention and without any prior notice to members of leading committees of which he was an elected member, announced his resignation from the Party. He said at that time that he had ‘differences’ with the Party and that he would provide a letter outlining these ‘differences’. To this day the Communist Party in B.C. is unaware of what those ‘differences’ are since Stevens has not made them available to us in letter, or any other form. “On the other hand he has made repeated public statements on the radio and other mass media on his so- called ‘differences!’ also aware that he has We are- participated in some activities organized by members of the disruptive group expelled from the party at our last convention. ““Stevens had every opportunity to disclose and discuss his ‘differences’ in leading bodies of the Party of which he was a member before the convention, which he failed to do. Certainly, the honest course would have been for Stevens to have raised his ‘differ- ences’ for consideration inside the Party before springing a resignation. However, he decided to resign first and then announce his ‘differences,’ a course which cannot be condoned, “Because of these circum- stances, the Provincial Execu- tive finds it necessary to make it clear that he is not and has not been a member of the Com- munist Party .since the B.C. convention in mid-December.”’ HEAR WM. KASHTAN RADIO C.K.W.X. SUN., MAR. 9 10:25 P.M. (Plumbers) commented _ that “previously we used to talk about fighting Bill 33. Now we talk about how to live with it’’. Another delegate put it more strongly until ruled out of order by the chair: ‘‘What the Christ . . . when are we going to start fighting instead of talking?” This VLC-BCFL conference will deal primarily with those sections of Bill 33 hitherto disre- garded by labor. Matter of policy in relation to Bill 33 may only be changed by BCFL conven. tion decision. A letter by IWA Local 1-217 president Syd Thompson to Prime Minister Trudeau urging a ban on the export of logs to Japan and calling the federal government’s attention to spir- alling lumber prices now in ex- cess of a general 100 percent in- crease over the past year, and the need of an “investigation” into the lumber industry opera- tions in prices manipulation, was endorsed by VLC dele- gates. On the basis of the spiralling prices and profits now demanded by the B.C. forest monopoly, IWA Local 1-217 has announced its intention or urging the reopening of the Coast IWA contract to negotiate an interim wage increase. TENANTS Cont'd from pg. 1 gia} government to wait any longer, said Rankin, before amending the antiquated and feudal Landlords and Tenants Act of B.C. It has as a guide the report of the Ontario Law Reform Commission, the dozens of briefs presented to Council by landlords, tenants and other inter- ested groups, particularly the 18 specific recommendations of the Vancouver Tenants Association. Premier Bennett, should be bombarded with demands for action right now while the legis- lature is in session, he concluded. TENANTS ACT This. week the Vancouver Tenants Council said in a press release it welcomed the initiative of six Vancouver aldermen who said they will forward the Ontario recommendations along - with the VTC’s 18-point Charter _of Tenants Rights to the B.C.government. However, while welcoming the action, the Tenant’s Council have announced plans for a major campaign to press City Council to pass legislation protecting Vancouver tenants. Regardless of what Victoria does, Vancouver has the legal right to pass such legislation, and has had since 1956 when the provincial government passed on to municipalities the right to enact rental regulations. The Tenants Council has launched a massive petition drive urging the city to enact the 18-point Charter of Tenants Rights. Copies of the petition are available at Rm. 203-535 W. Georgia St., phone 688-1727. Plans are also underway for a giant public rally of tenants and citizens for 12 noon on Saturday, March 29 at City Hall steps.