B.C. LUMBER WORKER

B.C.’s 50,000 JOBLESS
ASKING QUESTIONS

®

Q—How long is benefit paid
to a claimant who has paid con-
tributions for several years? I
am informed that it used to be
paid for 12 months, but that the
period has lately been reduced
to six months.

AA claimant is entitled to
benefit for one-fifth of the num-
per of days for which he has paid
contributions in the five years im-
mediately preceding the date his
benefit year commences, less one-
third of the number of days’ bene-
fit, if any, that he has drawn in
the three years preceding the date
his benefit year commences,

Therefore, if he has drawn no
benefit and has paid contributions
for five years or more he can be
paid benefit for 12 months, less
the nine waiting days for which
no benefit is payable. ?

92

Q—1 am drawing a small
pension. Recently I was laid
off from my employment. Will
the fact that I am drawing the
pension stop me getting bene-
fit?

A—No. Income from a pension
is not wages and does not dis-
qualify you for benefit when you

are unemployed.

Q—I have been making con-
tributions to unemployment in-
surance, but changed by job r
cently. My new job is not in in-
surable employment, and now I
am not paying into unemploy-
ment insurance. What should I
do?

A—Bring or send your book to
the nearest local office of the
Commission for safekeeping, and
ask for a receipt. Keep a record
of your insurance number, so that
if you return to insurable em-
portent, your contributions can

continued under your own
number.

2

If I am in receipt of a pen-
sion, such as a war pension, am
I eligible for unemployment bene-
fit if unemployed?

_. A—Yes. A pension is not con-
sidered to be earnings. Therefore,
if you have lost your job the fact
that you are receiving a pension
from some other source does not
disqualify you from receiving
benefit so long as you are unem-
ployed and so long as you fulfil
all the other usual conditions to
qualify for benefit.

?

Q—How does a man with only
one arm go about getting a job?
Can the National Employment
Service help» me?

A—The National Employment
Service tries to help everyone who
wants to work, Its facilities are
open to every class .of worker,
male and female, skilled and un-
skilled. A special division at-
tends to the needs of handicapped
persons. Go to the nearest office
of the Commission and tell them
your problem.

®

Q—Why is it that a man re-
tiring from railroad work on a
a good pension, draws his full
benefit, but when one really
needs help, as in the case of ill-
ness and convalescence, this
benefit is denied on the grounds
-that this insurance does not
cover sickness? In a case like
this he is confronted with medi-
cal and other expenses. This
seems unfair and my question
is, can this unfairness be rem-
edied?

A—The distinction is not un-
fair if it is remembered that the
Unemployment Insurance Act
specifically provides that benefit
can only be paid to a person who
is (a) unemployed, (b) available
for work, and (c) capable of
work, but unable to obtain em-
ployment.

If the Act were intended to
provide for payment of benefit
during periods of sickness, the
Act would say so, in the. first
place, and it would call for a
higher rate of contributions from
insured persons, in the second

place, to cover the much greater |}

liability upon the fund.

The retired rairoad man met
all three conditions, as to being
unemployed, capable and_avail-
able. The man who was sick, al-
though no one denies that his
need was just as great, perhaps
greater, was for the time being
neither available for work nor ca-
pable of working.

The remedy is to be found in a
separate scheme of sickness in-
surance, with its own scale of
contributions and benefit and with
its own rules as to eligibility; or
in a broadening of the Unemploy-
ment Insurance Oct by Parlia-
ment to include corresponding
provisions for persons who be-
come unemployed through sick-
ness.

®

Q—After a man has worked
all his life and paid unemploy-
ment insurance from the begin-
ning without drawing any bene-
fit, can he draw a full year’s
benefit? This gentleman has
served the School Board for 40
years and is retiring at a ripe
old age near 80 and would be
considered past the working
age,

A—See the answer to the pre-
ceding question regarding the
three conditions for the receipt of
benefit, namely, that one must be
unemployed, capable and avail-
able,

At the age of 80 a man might,

especially if no longer in good

@

BCLonsentWonven.

Representing the Orgenized Loggert end Mill Workers of B.C.
PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY BY
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO-CCL)
B.C, DISTRICT COUNCIL No, 1.

DISTRICT OFFICERS:

Addrexs all communteations to
GEORGE H. MITCHELL, Secretary-Treanurer
‘Suite 7, 426 Main Street - Phone PActiic 4151
Vancouver, B.C.

Subseription Rates___.$1.00 per annum

George H. Mitchell
‘Tom G, MacKenzie

: Advertining Representative.___.G, A. Spencer
Authorized ax Second Clans Mall, Post Office Dept, Ottawa

E 26,000 COPIES
A mt

2S

The purpose of this col-
unin is to provide a means
whereby our readers who
want information on Unem-
ployment Insurance can ob-
tain ‘it.

If you have a question
respecting Unemployment
Insurance, write it out and
send it to the editor. For
identification purposes it
would be well to include
your name and address.

‘We will send your ques-
tion to the Unemployment
Insurance Commission at
its head office in Ottawa.
The answer will be pub-
lished as soon as possible
after being received.

Do not hesitate to send in
your question or questions.
The Commission has ad-
vised us that it will be glad
to furnish answers as ra-
pidly as possible.

SO SEND IN YOUR

QUESTIONS

FIGHTS FOR
JOBLESS

health, be unable to show that he
was capable of working, or he
might indicate that he did not
wish to work any longer, but this
does not necessarily apply in
every case.

Provided he is still able to do
some kind of work and is ready
to take such work if offered
there is nothing to bar him from
the receipt of benefit if no work
can be found for him.

If he has made contributions
for at least five years immedi-
ately prior to being laid off by
the School Board, and has drawn
no benefit previously, he can draw
benefit, if unemployed so long, up
to a maximum of one year, less
the nine statutory waiting davs
for which benefit cannot be paid.

®

Q—I applied for unemployment
insurance benefit and my applica-
tion was refused. I think I am
entitled to benefit. What can I
do about it?

A—If the Insurance Officer has
disallowed your claim, and you
are not satisfied with his decision,
you may appeal to a Court of
Referees within 21 days after
you receive the decision. The
Court of Referees is equally rep>
resentative of employers and em-
ployees, and none of its members
are employees of the Commission.
Your local office can tell you how
to lodge an appeal.

Superstition and Safety
In certain parts of the United
States, people wear rings made
from various articles (one of
these is an Irish potato) in the
belief that they will eventually
cure rheumatism. Why not then
be superstitious about’ wearing
rings on the job for fear that
they might eventually cause in-
jury to the fingers or hands on
which they are worn?
C. N. Segars,
Acipco- News,

SUPPORT OUR
ADVERTISERS

CARL WINN:

Jan. 7.

“The results have vindicated!
our action,” he added. “This Con-
vention proves that the IWA in
British Columbia is on a sound, |
trade union basis and ready to
meet its responsibilities toward
the general labor movement.

“We poured everything we had
into this District to defeat the
LPP-Communists, and we’d do the
same again.”

Safety Program

The International officer praised
the program undertaken by the
B.G. District as expressing pro-
per trade union objectives. He
singled out the Safety Council
activities as giving cause for
pride. “Saving and preserving
life, and protecting innocent wo-
men and children against misery
and want is a notable endeavor,”
he affirmed.

Finances

The speaker bluntly stated that
funds allocated for the general
administrative purposes of the
District Council were inadequate.

It was unwise, in his opinion,
that a large sum should be left
dormant in the strike fund. The
fund was not large enough to
prove of any real value in a
strike throughout the industry,
and might create a feeling of
false security.

The District Strike fund, the
speaker asserted, had originally

“The attempted ‘breakaway’
October, 1948, cost the International Union over $200,000,”
stated International Secretary-Treasurer Carl Winn, addressing
the 13th Annual Convention of B.C. District No. 1 at Nanaimo,

“HARD-HITTING UNION
GETS BEST RESULTS”

by renegade LPP officers in

funds out of the Union into Com-

munist projects. m

“A hard-hitting, well-knit dis-
trict organization would prove of
greater value in bargaining than
a million dollar strike fund, and
might in the end get results de-
sired with the least resistance,”
he contended.

The International Officer
stressed the importance of re-
paying obligations owing the CIO
by energetic efforts to organize
the unorganized. “A partially or-
ganized lumber industry would
be a handicap to all CIO-CCL
Unions,” he urged.

been set up as a device to siphon

Free Labor
Federation

Mr, Vincent Tewson, general
secretary of Britain’s Trade
Union Congress, was one of the
speakers at the inaugural confer-
ence of the Free World Labor

Confederation in London, last
month.
He stated that the British

Trade Unions sought to weld a
labor movement together to op-
erate in both the industrial and
political fields in a common at-
tack on the obstacles which lie
in the way of the achievement of
a true social democracy.

There’s A

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