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May. 1965

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

WET SPONGE BUDGET

Finance Minister Gordon’s
budget landed with all the
impact of a wet sponge, ac-
cording to New Democratic
Leader T. C. Douglas in his
weekly “Parliament Hil1”
statement.

“Tt has been apparent for
some time that tax cuts were
about due,” said Mr. Doug-
las, “Canada’s production this
year will pass the $50 billion
mark and on the basis of our
national economic accounts
there will be a surplus of $152
million. If economic growth
is to continue some of the
government’s revenues will
have to be siphoned back into
the pockets of the Canadian
people in order to stimulate
consumer spending.”

INCOME

It will be seen that a mar-
ried man with two children
and an income of $25,000 will
save $600 a year whereas a
man with an income of $5,000
will get only $30, or one-
twentieth of the benefit de-
rived by his more opulent fel-
low Canadian. When one
takes into consideration’ the
Canada Pension levy of 1.8%
which will be deducted com-
mencing January Ist it is
clear that all taxpayers in the
middle and lower income
brackets will actually get less
take-home pay, he continued.

With this purpose in mind,
the logical place for tax cuts
is in the lower and middle in-
come brackets, he empha-
sized. ; Z

Instead of placing the tax
cuts where they would do the
most good in stimulating the
economy, Mr. Gordon seems
to believe in the old adage,
“to him that hath shall be
given,” said the federal NDP
leader. By instituting a flat
10% reduction he has ac-
cepted the principle that the
more you have, the more you
will get.

The following table illus-
trates the savings for a full
year to be enjoyed by a mar-
ried taxpayer with two
children:

TAX REDUCTION

“Tf the government wanted
to put $265 million a year
where it would do the most_
good the sensible thing would

have been to raise the income
tax exemption to $3,000 a
year for married people and
$1,500 a year for single per-
sons. This, with some upward
adjustments in the higher in-
come brackets, would have
spread the burden of taxation
more equitably and provided
tax relief for those most like-
ly to spend it on consumer
goods.”

LEGAL STRAIT-JACKET

Canada’s labor movement
is hemmed in by a legal strait-
jacket which encumbers no
other organized body of Cana-
dian citizens, a leading
spokesman for the United
Steelworkers of America has

charged.

Larry Sefton, director of
Steelworker District 6, in a
report prepared for submis-
sion to the union’s annual
policy conference maintained
that the restrictive laws en-
acted over the years reflected
society’s deep-seated hostility
to the labor movement.

“Our laws are geared to
protect and sustain property
rights,” Sefton declared.
“They retard the potential
growth of unions. Property
rights take precedence over
civil and human rights.”

The Steelworker director,
re-elected to a new four-year
term of office, noted that in
all five of the provinces cov-
ered by his district laws per-
mit the courts to foist ex-
parte injunctions on strike
picket lines, but no laws ex-
ist to bar strikebreakers from
working in strikebound

plants.

“Employer property re-
ceives full police protection.
The worker’s job is not
deemed to be his property.
The employer disposes of jobs
hag whim and fancy move

Sefton noted that all prov-

except tchewan

impose compulsory concilia-
tion services.

“Rmployers who refuse to
bargain or make concessions
to employees welcome’ the
conciliation process,” he said.
“Tt delays the day of reckon-
ing, it saves the employers
money and above all, it frus-
trates workers, it saps their
faith in unionism.”

Sefton said the time had
arrived when labor should
launch a massive drive to
“throw off this yoke of com-

pulsion.”

The Steelworker director
reminded the conference dele-
gates that small units often
disappeared because employ-
ers would not bargain and
the locals were unable to com-

pel agreement.

In British Columbia and
Manitoba, he pointed out, the
law designates unions as
corporate entities, exposing
them to suits which can bleed
them white. In British Colum-
bia, the law prevents unions
from contributing by check-
off to the New Democratic

Party.

“Unless the labor move-
ment maintains constant vig-
ilance, it will find its hard-
won rights eroded and lost
by anti-labor laws,” Sefton
warned. “Should this happen,
it would not only be a calam-
ity for labor but for our
democratic institutions as

well.”

WHALEN

Just hold it a second chief... | got that contract right here . . . among other stuff.

CANADIAN SEAWAYS DANGEROUS

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING
SAFETY CONDITIONS FOR S.I.U.

Transport Department in-
vestigators are looking into
safety conditions on Cana-
dian Lakes and St. Lawrence
vessels following complaints
from the Seafarers’ Interna-
tional Union of Canada and
the Canadian Board of Ma-
rine Underwriters. Although
the shipping season in the St.
Lawrence has barely started
several accidents have hap-
pened. One, on April 10, took
the lives of three aboard the
German freighter Transatlan-
tic, 5,500 tons, and injured
eleven.

The Transatlantic is still ly-

‘ing on its side 70 miles down-

stream from Montreal, near
Yamachiche. It keeled over
after burning all day. The
Dutch freighter Hermes, the
other ship involved, found its
way to Montreal and has had

a new bow fitted.

Following this accident and
several groundings in various
parts of the Lakes basin, SIU
president Leonard McLaugh-
lin sent wires to federal min-
isters asking for a tightening
up of safety rules. He com-
plains that crews of Canadian
ships have suffered higher
casualties than a unit at war.
The figures for 1961 and 1962,
says the SIU, were 9,34 per-
cent and 8.67 casualties com-
pared to 8.57 percent for a
fighting unit in the last world
war.

Federal authorities point
out that a steamship inspec-
tor checks to see that ships
are “efficiently and sufficient-
ly manned.” Some persons
claim that the Canada Ship-
ping Act gives too wide a
latitude and that tighter safe-
ty measures are needed.

McLaughlin protested after
the April 10 accident and

again following heavy sea
damage to the Northcliffe Hall
which had to put into Port
Aux Basques, Newfoundland
for quick repairs. Earlier the
Canadian freighter Midland
Prince grounded outside
Sodus Bay, N.Y.

The SIU president told a
Montreal reporter that under
the Canada Shipping Act a
lake carrier (some are two
football fields long and two
tennis courts wide) could be
manned by a wheelsman and
a watchman on deck.

McLaughlin says “accord-
ing to the British Shipping
Act there must be two certifi-
cated officers, a bosun with
seven years’ experience and
nine able seamen, with three
years’ experience each, on
deck.”

He noted that a carrier go-
ing 20 miles an hour should
have more than two men on
duty, one steering and one
watching. He says that if the
helmsman goes two degrees
off course he will run the ship
aground, ram the ship ahead
or bounce off the side of a
canal or dock. He claims that
instead of the two hours
wheel trick prescribed for
helmsmen after the Titanic
sinking, a four-hour trick is
required on the Great Lakes.

IWA

He says Canada is the only
country in the world requir-
ing a four-hour stint at the
wheel.

Shipping reporters have re-
called recently that John T.
Behan of the Canadian Board
of Marine Underwriters
broke down the causes of the
1956 accidents in the .St.
Lawrence river and Gulf.
There were 62 casualties in
75 vessels. Twenty percent
were attributed to mechanical
failure, mainly steering gear
faults in narrow parts of the
river, twenty percent due to
weather and 60 percent due

to human error.
Behan claimed that radar

had introduced a new danger
from carelessness. This was
true in all waters, but in the
St. Lawrence “navigation al-
lows for no second guessing.
The first course a ship is com-
mitted to is often the last and
if bad judgment has been
used, the result is swift and
inevitable.”

Federal authorities expect
it will be some weeks before
results of investigations are
known. They are alive to the
dangers of which complain-
ants speak and anxious to en-
sure safe passage for the in-
creasing traffic through the
Seaway and approaches to it.

BANDWAGON EFFECT

“Canada is always subject to what we might call a

bandwagon effect. What is fashionable in the United
States yesterday is fashionable in Canada today. This
is true whether we are thinking of clothes, food or con-

temporary social problems.”
—Prof. John J. Madden, U. of Western Ontario.

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