- Aw —

Lecett th dl ai

By WILLIAM KASHTAN
Having, through its policies, created a reserve artiy
of unemployed, monopoly hoped it could use it not. only
to weaken the wage movement but’also for strike-breaking
Purposes, as it was able to do in the past.

So far it has not been too
Successful in its objective and
this is impelling itto look for
additional means by which to

€xert pressure on organized
labor,

One of these means is the
Unemployment insurance fund.

Despite its weaknesses it has
been of assistance to workers
temporarily unemployed’ and
has’made it more difficult for
€mployers to use hunger as a

Weapon to force workers to
SCab,
A concerted campaign is

Now on foot to change the Un-
employment Insurance Act,
Notin the direction desired by

€ workers, who want to im-
Prove on it, but in a complete-
Y Opposite direction.

It is being ‘suggested by
oeDoly and ‘its ‘press: that
he fund is being “abused» by
oe not entitled to its bene-

Recently the Toronto Globe
Que carried-a story by its

awa reporter, Robert Duffy
a itis attention to the’ fact
oy the department of labor
acs embarked on a thorough

Udy’ of the problem of unem-
Ployment.

his would be good news if
Weren’t for the fact that
uty then went on to say:
ie e results of these’ stud-
effcne inevitably have an
hein on. the unemployment

< ance scheme, and* al-
; eh the minister of labor
other Mention them, so must
nen: Tecent indications? that
nos ‘Pioyment insurance as
. stituted is wasteful both
Cours, fund itself and as a dis-
ment Sement to active employ-

: (My emphasis — W.K.)
Vv Same’ thought was -ad-
nee ae by W. Thompson, dir=
tert the National Employ-
i €rvice; when he appear-

eq
myectore the Senate land’ com:

j
wee Said he:
clay, tPloyment insurance
i hae 1S € contributing cause
ear oyment. The drug
Ses the pain is helping
iss disease.”
Upside 1S really turning things
cancer down with a veng-

it

am |
tha}

Ly
0] we SOme

ti s
Y ang ime now monop

ai Press have claimed
~or's” wage policy is
anada out of the
ae and thereby
his ng to unemployment.
Is now added the ad-
argument that unem-
Insurance - “discour-
€mployment,” is in
Contributing cause of
_-yMent,”
aug if this is so, the
Y to eliminate unem-

“ontrip,

Lo
Gitio

es active
‘a
Memplo
Oby.
beg

be watered down or decisively
improved upon.

unemployment, the highest .in
the advanced capitalist’ coun-
tries, itself an expression of the

Canadian economy and its in-

U.S.A., as well.as its continued

IT |

ployment is by the dimination
of the fund.

This completely stupid’ re-
mark would be laughable if
there were not a definite move |
on foot to undermine and per
haps change the character of |
the act, to ring it around’ with
additional restrictions so as to |
serve the basic purposes of |
monopoly.

Implicit in this approach is
the position advanced by Sen-
ator Ralph Horner recently
when he said the unemployed
were lazy and did not want to
work.

Robert Duffy helps this
thought along by stating that
“the palliative of unemploy-
ment insurance dulls the in-
centive to develop imaginative
solutions to the seasonal prob-
lem in Canada.

“Tt will not be easy for any
government to make. the
changes that would be needed
for any vigorous and positive
effort to deal with the problem
of employment and unemploy-
ment, to restore incentives and

give opportunity for personal
initiative.

“Tt remains to be seen, when
Mr. Starr’s department» has
completed a comprehensive
survey and analyzed its find-
ings, whether the government
will have the political courage
to follow through.”

It was the mass struggles of
the workers which forced the
King government to institute
unemployment insurance and
it -will be their continued and
united struggles which will de-
termine whether the act? wili

The continued high level of

dependent» charactér * of~ the

creasing domination by the

instability, with another»and
more. severe economic. crisis.
predicted before long, is a
warning to the trade union
movement.

To maintain and advance its
positions and compel ‘changes
in government policy will re-
quire more than the occasional
statement from Claude Jodoin.

It requires struggle, mili-
tant struggle, and the develop-
ment*of those forms’ of action
which can exert maximum
pressure On monopoly and its
governments.

This is something to. which
the entire trade union move-
ment needs to give close atten-
tion.

MAURICE RUSH

. . - associate editor of the
Pacific Tribune and member
of the Communist’ Party’s
national committee, was
this week named. Commu-
nist ‘candidate in: Vancouver
Centre provincial riding.

SUPPORT

FREEDOM

BOYCOTT.

SOUTH AFRICAN
Goops!

tased oy = Communist Party of Canada

UIC changes won
by labor protests

OTTAWA — Pressure of or-
ganized’ labor has resulted in
the withdrawal of nearly all
changes in sections 172-173 of
the Unemployment Insurance

regulations.
These changes, effective
Sept. 27, 1959, laid down

stringent new definitions of
“earnings” deductible from
unemployment insurance’ ben-
efits.

Under the newly revised
regulations, severance pay is

‘not to be considered: as “‘earn=

ings’ for unemployment ~in-

surance purposes.

Is Canada’s wheat
confaminated?

Canadian farmers who have
been looking increasingly to
Asia “as an outlet for their
wheat surplus have now been
told that there is ‘‘serious con-
cern” in Asian countries over
strontium-90 contamination of
our wheat:

Dr. F. M. Kelly, of Univer-
sity of Manitoba, said last
week Minnesota wheat is
“about five times” the permis-
sible maximum and “it would
be surprising” if Canadian
wheat were different.

FARM MACHINERY
INQUIRY

The agriculture committee
of the House of Commons de-
cided on June 6th to conduct
an inquiry into farm machin-
ery prices in Canada. The mo-
tion was introduced by agri-
culture’ minister Douglas
Harkness.

Farmers need expect little
from this inquiry. It is the
Tory government that is res-
ponsible for policies which are
increasing monopoly control of
our economy. Even now the
Combines Act is being amend-
ed by the Tories to make price-
fixing still easier for the com-
bines and monopolies. It is the
Tory government, too, whose
agricultural policies, such as
|deficiency payments on eggs
and hogs, ‘are driving the small
farmers off the land.

Under these circumstances it
is more than likely that the
real purpose of the inquiry is
political. The Tories and
their big business sponsors
hope to head off the growing
protest against the high mon-
opoly prices of farm machin-
ery. Perhaps they also hope to
create the illusion among far-
mers that they are concerned
and may do something about it.
| The inquiry may reveal
| some useful facts and figures.
jand labor and farm organiza-
|tions no doubt will present
| briefs to expose the true facts.
|But as for actually reducing
prices, this inquiry will be
about as effective as spitting
off the top of. Vancouver’s
Marine Building. Only a deter-
mined and militant labor-far-
mer political and economic ac-
tion can put a curb on the
monopolies,

strong protest was regis-
tered by the Communist Party
of Canada this week against
U.S. plans for conversion of
the newly proposed northern
B.C. for mobile,
rail~based, missile launchings,

railway in

“Apparently the Bennett

government is trying to pull
a Kishi on the people of this
Province in addition to the
giant giveaway to the ‘foreign
Wenner-Gren. interests,” Nigel
Morgan, Provincial leader ‘of
the Communist Party declared.

“Liberal leader Ray Perr
ault’s use of the fact that he
had been informed that U.S.
Defence authorities are highly
interested in the railway for
missile launching sites to jus-
tify the project, serves to uns
deline how tie Liberal party
places the demands of: the Pen-
tagon militarists before the
welfare of British Columbia.

“Such a deal has nothing in
common with our security or
welfare,”’ he continued. “It can
only make a top military tar-
get of our homes. We should
make it clear that the people
of this province will have ne
part of such a deal.

“British Columbians want
our northland developed, but
we don’t intend to allow the
madmen of the Pentagon fo
make our province the Bel-<
gium of a U.S.-iriggered nuc-
lear war. We want cargo ships
Pointed toward China and the
Socialist world, not Yankee
missiles,” Morgan said.

This week the Public Utilit«
ies Commission announced
postponement of the hearing
on the Pacific Northern Rail-
way application. However, it
has been made clear that the
delay is merely technical and
that it won’t halt-the project,

ne re

Photo shows Chinese mountaineers making tests on ar
eagle captured at a very high altitude on Mt. Everest.

June 24, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7