JANUARY—FEBRUARY, 1974

lumber sales to Japan.
_ The B.C.

B.C. FOREST COMPANIES
__ EYE JAPANESE MARKET

- _ The B.C. Council of Forest Industries intends to open an
‘office in Tokyo early in 1974 to handle major Canadian

I government has announced that it is
considering establishing a B.C. House in Tokyo to increase
_ Japanese tourism in the province.

NEW COURT RULING
HITS WORKING STRIKERS

In a decision which the union
representative said ‘‘under-
mines the very foundations of
the Labour Relations Act,’’ the
Ontario Labour Relations
Board ruled that an employee
on strike who takes an outside
job during the strike must
prove that he intends to return
to work at the struck plant in
order to be entitled to parti-
cipate in a plant vote.

In the absence of such evi-
dence, the ruling deprives
union members of a right
which until now was conside-
red enshrined in the Labour
Act. The Act states that no per-
son shall be deemed to have
ceased to be an employee only
because he went on strike or
was locked out.

Unionist P. J. O’Keefe,
Board member, called the
majority decision a major set-
back in labour relations.

The case arose when nine
members of the Bookbinders’
union employed by Brooker
Trade Bindery Ltd. took jobs at
Brant Press Ltd., when the
union struck Brooker. The
issue was their right to vote in
a decertification ballot.

Using one member as a test
case, the two-man majority of
the Board said: ‘When full-

time employment is taken,
there is an onus on a person to
demonstrate he has a continu-
ing relationship with the struck
employer. In the absence of
activities to demonstrate this
continuing relationship . . . the
Board must find that the
employment relationship has
been terminated.”

Mr. O’Keefe said that
“enshrining the right of strike-
breakers to vote on the ques-
tion of whether the striking
union will continue to repre-
sent the workers,’’ while
disenfranchising the nine

‘members from voting on an

issue vital to their life work,
up-sets the balance between
union ‘and management
inherent in the Labour Act.

‘The impact and effect of the
majority decision in this
matter can only signal a call to
more militancy in pursuit of
strike objectives,” he asserted.

Unions generally have en-
couraged strikers to take
temporary jobs during strikes
in order to keep down pay-
ments from strike funds, which
are generally small.

So the new ruling, if it
stands, could create more pro-
blems for unions in strike
situations.

HERE IS WHY WE NEED ~

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS

The following is reprinted
from the December Labour
Gazette and covers some of the
laws passed fifty years ago for
the protection of working
women.

A section of the Criminal
Code of Canada ‘‘made any one
guilty of an indictable offence
and subject to two years’
imprisonment who seduced or
had illicit connection with any
girl previously chaste and
under the age of 21 years who
was in his employ or under
control or direction or received
her wages or salary directly or
indirectly from him,” This and

other labour legislation
enacted for the protection of
women employed in industry,

was summarized in an article
titled ‘Canadian Laws
Governing the Employment of
Women” in the December 1923
issue of The Labour Gazette.
slation prohibiting the
employment of women by
Orientals was enacted in
British Columbia, Ontario and
Manitoba. The British
Columbia law — — no
person could employ any
capacity a white woman or girl
or t any white woman or
to reside or lodge in or
work in or, save as a bona fide
eustomer, to frequent any

restaurant, laundry or other
place of business or amuse-
ment owned, kept or managed
by any Chinese person. The
same provisions were made
under the Manitoba Act but
included employment by
Japanese and other Orientals
in the prohibition.

At the last session of the
Manitoba Legislature, in 1923,
a clause was added to the
Winnipeg City Charter
enabling that city to pass
bylaws prohibiting the employ-
ment, except by special
license, of any female person
in any hotel, restaurant,
refreshment or entertainment
room or laundry, owned,
managed or conducted by a
Chinese person. In Ontario no
Chinese person could employ
in any capacity or have under
his direction or control any
female white person in any
factory, restaurant or laundry.
The Female Employment Act
in Saskatchewan required any
person employing a white
woman or girl in any capacity
that necessitated her residing,
lodging or working in any rest-
aurant or laundry to obtain a
special license from the muni-
cipality in which such
restaurant or laundry was
situated.

RODGER LEWIS.

NEW 1-118
PRESIDENT

Roger Lewis, the former ist
Vice-President of Local 1-118
IWA, Victoria, has been elec-
ted the new President of the
Local Union.

Other officers elected were,
Jack Groves, ist Vice-Presi-
dent; Bill Holowski, 2nd Vice-
President; Art Casson, 3rd
Vice-President; Rod Thomson,
Recording Secretary; Bill
Wilson, Warden; Charlie
Clark, Conductor.

Al Carle, the incumbent
Financial Secretary, was re-
elected by acclamation at the
Local’s Annual Meeting.

LOCAL 1-71 MEMBER BOB CASE, a heavy déty mechanic

at the Twin River Timber Company’s shop in Terrace,
believes there is safety in numbers as he lives it up with two
friends during the festive season.

TINY REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE
HAS TOP PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN

By HARRY RANKIN

It may come as a surprise to
many people to learn that the
tiny Republic of Singapore is so
far ahead of Vancouver in
public housing that it puts our
rich city to shame.

Since 1960, more than 150,000
homes and apartments have
been built by the Housing and
Development Board of the
Republic providing housing for
over 750,000 people. This repre-
sents about 40 percent of the
Republic’s population.

By the end of 1975, 50 percent
of the’ Republic’s population
will be living in publicly owned
housing.

Singapore has about five
times the population of Van-
couver. If we were building
public housing at the same
rate, we would have not less
than 30,000 units of. public
housing; instead we have
about 3,000.

The reason Singapore has
so much public housing and we
have so little is because of two
different attitudes that prevail
in civic government.

The Housing and Develop-
ment Board in Singapore was
established ‘‘from an urgent
need to provide families in the

lower and middle income -

groups with decent and safe
housing at rents they can af-
ford.’’ (That statement from
the Board’s report is almost
word for word with what I and
the Committee of Progressive

Electors have been advocating
all the time.)

But in- Vancouver the
developers and real estate
interests have the upper hand.
Asa result City Council refuses
to go into public housing in a
big way, even though the
senior governments have pas-
sed legislation providing for
100 per cent of the capital costs
to be borne by them. By main-
taining this artificial housing
shortage, rents have been kept
excessively high and the big
apartment owners have been
raking it in.

Singapore also has a pro-
vision that people may buy
their apartments, with a down

payment of 20 percent and the
balance paid monthly over a
period of 20 years at an interest
rate of 6% percent. Today 4,000
families own their HDB homes.

Residents of HDB homes on
an average spend less than 15
percent of their monthly in-
come on rents.

The apartments are beauti-
fully designed with big green.
belts in between and with play-
grounds and swimming pools.

The cost of public.housing in
Singapore has been entirely
financed by internal resources.

Vancouver could learn a
thing or two, or three or four,
from Singapore when it comes

to public housing.

C-O-L INCREASES
BOOST OLD AGE PENSIONS

Another round of cost-of-
living increases in Canada’s
pension payments will bring
the basic old age security pay-
ment up to $108.14 from $105.30
a month, and the maximum
guaranteed income supple-
ment up to $75.85 from $73.86.

The basic pension is payable
to all residents age 65 and
older. The GIS is payable on an
income test basis. The two
combined pay a maximum of
$183.99 to a single person.

For a couple both age 65 or
over, the maximum supple-
ment is increased to $67.37
each, from $65.60. Added to the
basic pension, the amount is
$175.51 per person or $351.02 for
the couple.

The new rates are effective
in January when at least
1,955,000 people will receive the
basic pension. Of this number,
over a million will also receive
all or part of the GIS payment.

The cost-of-living adjust-
ments are made quarterly.

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