ihe Golden Land Of Profits, * GB 1 | 4 Ow ages An HIicOsis lig pales die : By BECKIE BUHAY ey HE Dovenpine Rea tel ae percent French, 35 percent IMMINS is a lively little a nglish, 27 percent of BEuro- city, but there are few : Northern Ontario is an pean origin. These people have signs of workers’ prosperity. OX - Sldceailo for ine gol built the mines and railroads, Whatever has been done to make Con hewed out the gold from which life richer has been done by the rahpuine barons me} ‘OL ed, 0. who own it. Sl its workers—the men ‘mqho produce the gold—it is land of hard work, low isq@ages and silicosis. For the ranj orkers the gold does not Ncow @onsist in their earnings, or r Dy sisigli a Way of life, but in their } “eat pioneer tradition. That an important difference. mining magnates piled up their millions, and brought Canada to first place in world gold production. Despite the fact that war production overshadowed the gold industry, gold production in recent years put CGanada miles ahead of the United States. Many of our financial Big Shots have their finger in this pie. Names of magnates, bankers, and big industrialists repeat themselves continually workers and the communities alone. How have the miners fared in this golden land? Not so well. It costs a lot to live up north. Winter is long and cold; fuel costs 30 percent more than in Southern Ontario. It costs a lot just te be a miner; he has to spend -some $99 a year on working clothes and needs be- fore he can think of his fam- ily’s needs. se the miner. Accident rates “are high. During 1944 there were 1,553 non-tatal accidents recorded in the mines of Ontario. Fatal ac- cidents amounted to 26; nine of these were in the Porcupine camps. Compensation for acci- _ . vast wealth. ITTER struggles for im- provements also took place during the first world war and in 1923. Tim Buck was one of the men who played a part in organizing the area at the time, and since then many Commun- ists have been in the front ranks in aiding the miners. Many of the Porcupine min- ers were in Noranda during the e : on the list of gold-mining di- Since wages were cut in 1919, dents does not fill the bill : Z #The population of the gold- rectorates. miners have received only one jiiper The companies will do fierce strikes there in 1934; they ing aring: region is cosmopolitan: ase overall Wage imerease in 25 ici utmost to get a man to Were in the Kirkland TASS Will ; For example, Thayer Linds- years besides the cost-of-liv- 0 back to work on a light job struggle of 1941-42. i ley, president of Ventures Lim- ing bonus incorporated in earm- rcs seven days after the ac- Th ficht eg Silsah So EMAk | SomDonseion ee gee eg ee ee eon sinel £ i the word go. In more recent ae claim can be eyoided: years they have built up Local —'The hard-rock miner is con- Every mineworker is exposed 241 of the Mine, Mall and Smel- fiered lucky if he lasts 12 con- to the dread disease of silicosis. ter Workers’ Union (CIO) and » Oe cutive years; exceptional if It shortens the average miners 27¢. Ow busily engaged in co et ee aoe é life considerably. A miner is ™Obilizing for their wage cam= ey SEerouy considered lucky if he can work P@ign which forms part of the iye@zors for as much as 15 years. 12 to 15 consecutive years in whole national struggle. They e gen he is really in the list of the mines. ee dee concerned eee wi ee ringing about improvements, : Beane TASES Whether he The silicosis rate is high, and must not be misled by the ing Eas ee the Seeean at Rouyn, very high, and the companies spurious argument that “this is je Flin Flon, Trail, Kimber- wiggle out of paying compen- no time for strikes.” : 7, Britannia, the Yellownite sation claims for many cases The s d d ‘d a ; by i them off as tuber- Ske ortisiny Geenebdels 208s th 5 = y passing 2 3 at oot ae Vdread men culosis, since tuberculosis does ‘Simple. The union’s program $e of silicosis is ever present. 70 @ 1S one of the hazards of his 3; it is not listed in the profit- 1 cemetery plots. The men who go underground, king life itself to produce Snada’s $800 million annual n, and exploitation in abund- ice, but little in-the way of . for the coupon clippers. (which so recently mourned the passing of Petsamo, Finland nickel mines into Soviet hands) and international cartels a good thing of the labor Mine, - Workers Union in 1936, years after the price of gold had in- creased 30 percent. Since the end of the war groceries, rent, etc., works out weekly to $42.30. The union’s not come under the Act. Miners also develop many cases of ar- thritis and enlarged hearts. Neither of these comes under A further cause of dissatis- faction comes from the so- ealled production bonus system. Few miners know what they will receive: for this speedup be a statistician to figure it all out! demands a 40-hour week at a minimum rate of $1.10 per hour; time and a half for overtime; and guaranteed work of no less a of a a ee ited, -the important holdings ings in February, 1943. This Penendine. of occupational dice than 1,900 hours per year. onty evidence is in broken ¢orporation, figures also in the Wa@S an imcrease of 5 cents per eases caused by work on the The fish h Se : gi displaced miners, and in Faleonbridge Nickel Mines BOF gesated fo Local 2al os job, the “authorities” say. Coe ON ee Ane Wil Amel | Senalyee 5 : a larger share of the surplus value they create in the gold mines is part of the fight of all Canadians in Ontario against the Drew reactionaries and their monopoly masters. The Tories §-d harvest, have had only one through his connections with wages have gone down. Help- s 3 aie get rock-ribbed support from rall wage increase in 25 the American Nepheline C€or- ers who received full miners’ sya ee qeges Ra the financial barons whose anti- Firs—5 cents an hour. They poration. Fo a ee ae for powder and other materials labor policy 1s the same: ve had blacklists, intimida- HE gold barons haye made er’s family of five, including 2!S° fluctuate. The miner has to In the Porcupine, the miners are dermined that they who gave liberally of their manpow- & te hes ose ee Seiad ge Sa deranad for a Des weekly basic Miners of the porcupine belt er EOL the battlefronts and of Dae asda a aiscoupaeee “On ihe va Sin cmudueeie: lee mete 1S; wae = ae way have a rich history in the build- their resources for a total war 1D Vie eer, Eun a Tee ER EPUB E BOA REESS is ing of the labor movement. effort shall not be robbed of an fe : college’ Ho fo ool ee Union activity dates back to ithe fruits of peace. They stand cont JOE hard-rock mining oper- millions in gold production. In 1910. They took a leading part — eau Go bade ai aie niijon in Canada have quad- the peak year of 1940, divi- Hicss gold in the bowels in the fight for an 8-hour day se eae Sate me rs. g led during the last 25 years. qends in the Porcupine belt of the earth adds neither to and in the ensuing strike were Workers in the great wage bat- the | : But wealth, health nor long life for fired upon by company gunmen. tles that loom ahead. ach fhe hard-rock miners and 2mounted to 315,590,930: u Z : uBjelter workers of Canada, prosperity was one-sided. The he Rough the medium of their men who went down and dug on, the Mine, Mill and Smel- the gold got no wage raise. Com Workers, are now demand- With a greatly reduced work- a@ the wage increases due ing force, the war still brought 2 *Em—25 cents per hour. It is g00d tidings to the barons. In eB due! 1944 dividends amounted to ie) a a eae $10,207,830 and the figures for a - the first nine months of 1945 are approximately the same. LETC SEE Pickpockets’ Feature Section LI : Paradise Page 2 CCF Experiment In Saskatchewan Page 4 : for the miners——poverty and silicosis.”