NERVE GAS “‘DIE-IN’’. Some 150 people held a “‘die-in’”’ ata busy Seattle intersection last week to protest the. : 'Pment ofnerve gasfrom Okinawa to Hermston, Oregon. They were dramatizing what would happen if an {cident occurred during shipment. The shipment, which would have come through the Juan de Fuca Strait, was Strongly opposed in Washington, Oregon and B. C. Public protests forced President Nixon last Thursday ©announce that shipment would not be brought to Hermiston. Instad, the Pentagon is considering storing it St Kodiak Island in Alaska. SAFETY BIG STRIKE ISSUE IWA camp bulletin exposes M- B profits The Menzie Bay Camp Committee of the IWA has circulated a bulletin among its members which carries one of the most effective replies to MacMillan Bloedel and the forest companies yet published. Referring to a letter sent out by MacMillan Bloedel to all employees in April, the Menzies Bay Camp Committee’ replies: “In discussing MB profits in 1969 Mr. Chisholm states: ‘Its profits came to $42.6 million dollars and that is a lot of money until you consider that it had to be distributed to our 22,282 shareholders.’ “This implies that these profits were distributed equally. It seems to us that had he made a proper breakdown of the disbursement of these profits among the shareholders the evidence would have shown that large blocks of these shares are held by a very few people who in turn are reaping, profits from investments in other ventures. 50 towboat men killed or injured ki Fifty men have been liled or injured in the past ‘eN years while on the job the towboat industry. Bogs Their union, The Merchants _ “ftvice Guild, says they will not Mee another vessel until the My Sboat companies agree to ™prove safety and manning €asures. A cursory , ‘amination of their brief to the °Neciliation Board appointed “St year, and the report of the Joint Department of Transport- partment of Labor Fact- thats Committee justifies €lr stand. hay The wonder of it is that they th /€ put up with conditions of &lr work as long as they have. he union brief goes into wiany phases of their operations, but ei is those sections dealing ani Safety, manning, and Pee tion which are most ~Mightening to the layman. Cc The federal Fact-Finding om aatges of the union in major : €as, ie., conditions for crews i, tugboats are dangerous, ar “equate. y, and generally inad th Guild members point out at the towboat industry has song ntted to an amount over ae Million from federal coffers « ‘he past 8 years to nop acrnize”” their fleets. While Wubappy at the fact that the vee industry as such took oS antage of the ‘subsidy ae they say that the a is becoming peso so far as 01 Uctivity is concerned but is Ing backward insofar as. the ats of safety, manning, cone odation and hygiene are Cerned. Ree towing industry has pe eod during the last few built The type of vessels being ois; are faster (more power), the ler, and-doing more work in Same period of time. LIVING CONDITIONS The Guild brief declares that heed cases the conditions for ng Crews have deteriorated, with th eroper meal times, excessive iene of work ‘and a_ very Reaqnental noise factor. ae have been taken as ove as 115 decibles. (Anything T 80 decibles is injurious to earing and to the physical Mittee agrees with the - and psychological well-being of man.) They itemize other factors which make for a lack of -hygeinic conditions on the vessels: Insufficient insulation, leading to heating problems in winter and cooling problems in summer; insufficient fresh air and air circulating systems, if any; leaking decks, leading to wet bedding and clothing. There is.the entry of exhaust fumes into their accomodations; insufficient water storage facilities; toilets with no running water; proximity of: toilets to their living quarters, and no facilities for washing clothes other than a bucket and plunger as well as improper eating space. The Fact Finding Committee in its general summary agrees with the union. Their investigation found preparation of food under difficult and hazardous conditions; -inadequate or -otherwise undesirable heating, ventilation and _ sanitiation facilities, and,, among other things, noise at hearing damage and other ‘“‘undesirable”’ levels. MANNING Section 407 of the Canada Shipping Act states that the Owner and Master are responsible in assuring that the vessel is ‘‘manned with a crew sufficient and efficient, from the point of view of safety of life and shall be kept somanned...” The Canadian Merchant Service Guild has, for many years, attempted to negotiate standards or rules to govern the manning of tugboats with the B. C. Towboat Owners. These efforts have failed, the Guild says, because the owner refuses to recognize the Master’s rights and responsibilities and because the owner insists on using the lowest common denominator as a basis. The union maintains that for safe efficient operation on a continuous basis, six men, including the Master, is the minimum number possible. That is, a Master, mate, engineer, cook, and _ two deckhands: Any towboat operating with less than six of a crew cannot be operating safely or efficiently and must there be restricted in hours of operation. The demands are that -tugboats with a crew of two or three men be restricted to shift type operations whereby the crew is relieved, free from the vessel, at regular 8 or 12 hour intervals in each day. The union demands also that no crew member be required to work ‘more than 12 hours in each day except for . abnormal circumstances. There shall be a minimum of two men on each deck watch, one officer and one deckhand at all times the vessel in underway, this deckhand to be available to the wheelhouse at the direction of the officer. The federal committee which investigated the situation has this to say on the question of manning: “‘There are hours of work in excess of standard which are frequent for captains and to a much less extent for mates. There are unsafe work practises particularly in relation to the amount of yarding. “Unsafe and other undesirable condition and practises are of serious concern . most significant on the smaller vessels (two to five men vessels) and there is a high incidence of lost time through injuries to crew members particularly on the two man Communist Party. were such implication in the s P.T. GETS ‘APOLOGY’ The Kelowna Daily Courier of May 22 published the following item; ‘In a story published in the Courier April 30. which reported police were searching for the seller of the n was meant that it was illegal to ific Tribune, no implicatio Sacet 2 bune or to be a member of- the. publish or sell the Pacific Tri The Courier wishes to apologise to any one who felt there I tory.” The apology followed quickly on the heels of a letter to the" Daily Courier from the Pacific Tribune’s lawyers. ‘ \ vessels where 22 percent of the ‘crew members sustain at least one lost time injury per vear.”’ SAFETY On the question of safety of vessels, the Guild recommends that all steel hulled vessels be fitted with at least three watertight bulkheads so constructed as to. allow the vessel to remain afloat with any one compartment fully flooded: That performance specifications be drawn up and approved for compulsorily .provided automatic bilge alarms, and along with several other demands, that the practise of mounting windows and portholes in rubber’ be discontinued on towboats. The Fact-Finding Committee again agrees ‘with the union. They say: “Accidents are predictable on the basis of continuation of hazard situation repeatedly observed during the survey. Secondly, a number in adequate ‘safety in design’ features : contribute to hazards, and lastly, the towboat injustry lacks the comprehensive accident control program it needs.” The fact that the B. C. Towboat Owners’ Association is flouting not only federal laws, but the most simple principles of decency covering working conditions for employees, cannot be gainsaid. The strike of the tugboat men is for a valid and principled cause. Speading at the B. C. Federation of Labor conference last Saturday, Captain Cecil Rodes of the Canadian Merchant Service Guild said that talks last week with representatives of the Department of Labor and Departmemt of Transport on a code for sea-working regulation were a “step in the right direction.” However, he said, these regulation cover ships in . general, but do not .deal specificially with towboats. They are not the answer to our problem. The . federal government refuses to take cognizance of the difference between manning and_ safety © problems on towboats and other vessels. Rhodes said the talks with Ottawa officials have not . brought a solution closer. ‘For example: Canadian Pacific Investment (CPR) holds 2,140,000 shares; Investors Syndicate, (controlled by CPR) owns 527,000 shares. “Wisconsin Corporation (Bloedel) has 2,826,548 common shares plus 1,837,000 preferred | shares. Prentice Bloedel, (private) owns 1,850 shares plus "1,202 preferred shares. H.R. MacMillan and wife’s estate holds 600,000 shares. “Undoubtedly there are more large shareholders but this information is not readily available to the average worker. “As an additional justifica- tion for their actions Mr. Chisholm refers to the taxes MB pay which amounts to 10 per cent. We as workers pay 20 per cent income tax, as well as school and property tax, etc. “As a spokesman for the board of directors Mr. Chisholm says our demands are unrealistic. Let’s compare: “Base rate in the industry amounts to approximately $6,500 .a year. MB’s board of 24 directors received $586,984 for salaries and expenses. Had Mr. Chisholm made an_ honest breakdown of how these salaries were distributed, the evidence would have shown that Mr. Clyne, for example, is receiving in excess of $50,000 per-annum. This is in addition to his income from. 40,000 shares in the company. “These are the people who are telling us our demands are unrealistic. “Their second reason for refusing to negotiate is the fact that we have re-organized the structure of our negotiating com- mittee. To this we can only say, who we elect to negotiate is none of their business. We do not dictate to them who shall be their negotiators; why do they think they can tell us who will represent us? “They also say the company will go out of business if we are paid what we demand. This state- ment can only be regarded as a direct intimidation! “The letter only points out the companies’ attitude towards negotiation, which in our opinion is gross corporate irrespon sibility.”’ The Menzies Bay Camp Committee gives the sources of their information as MacMillan - Bloedel Annual Report, 1969; the Ontario Securities Commission 1967 and the Financial Post, 1969: _ Protest war The South Burnaby- Edmonds Club of the Communist Party last week sent a letter to, External Affairs minister Mitchell Sharp urging the: Canadian government to dissasociate our people from, U.S. policy in Indochina, and to stop all shipment of arms to the U.S.A. “The Canadian government claims to be waging an extensive campaign against the inflation that is plaguing our nation, but so far has turned its back on the - real reason for inflation, the Vietnam war’’, the letter said. The government should insist that the U.S.A. take its troops out of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and develop a Canadian ‘policy for peace. and trade with all nations. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1970—Page 3