Page 4 A ES a ee ee B.C. LUMBER WORKER Double Cross POPULAR outery against the action taken by the Pro- vincial Government in raising the Hospital Insurance premiums, imposing additional charges on patients under the scheme, and restricting the dependent beneficiaries, has been so great, that it would appear the Coalition Gov- ernment is courting its own destruction. Certain it is that the Coalition could not safely go to the province on this issue at the present time, without risking emphatic public repudiation at the polls. They are gambling on the proverbially short public memory. We marvel at the arrogance, with which the Govern- ment used its large majority in the Legislature to steam- roller Bill 15 through before March 14, in brazen defiance of an outraged public opinion. ’ The action of the Government betrays a contemptuous disregard for the public need for hospital services, and an over-tender consideration for the bondholders. i The surplus revenue earned by the Province through increased revenues from the Retail Sales Tax, and Liquor Control has been sufficient to warrant direct subsidy from Consolidated Revenue which would maintain the Hospital Insurance Scheme without further financial burdens upon the contributors. The Finance Minister chose to transfer a larger portion than required of this surplus to Government sinking funds rather than aid the Hospital Insurance Scheme. The Government has completely ignored the effect of these additional payments on large numbers of the con- tributors in working class homes already in distress be- cause of soaring living costs. © The action of the Coalition Government has been properly described as’ a breach of contract with the public in view of the pre-election promises made in 1949. Clearly the scheme is being operated to insure the hos- pitals against bankruptcy, rather than insure adequate hospitalization to the people. Grim Prospect ‘EH further sharp increase in living costs reflected in recent cost-of-living index statistics are a grim re- minder that the Pollyanna economic policies of the Federal Government have been built on sand. No effective effort has been made to curb price inflation, and sharper in- creases may be expected, as is indicated in the wholesale price index. All that has been attempted to date, has benefited only the profiteers who have had ample opportunity to wring excessive profits out of rising price levels accelerated by Government stalling. Corporation dividends swell, while the purchasing power of the masses steadily shrinks. Price controls have been refused on the ground that such controls would jeopardize the economy. Actually, the real danger to the national economy arises from the lowering of living stand- ards in Canadian homes, and the sharp discontent evident in wage negotiations. _ As in the United States, so in Canada, the reasoned arguments of organized labor are being disregarded. The Federal Government might well heed the warning sounded by the Joint Committee of the central trade union bodies. Incomplete Remedy ‘THE Magistrate who heard the charges against a rigging slinger in the Powell River Police Court on information laid by the Workmen’s Compensation Board did more than hint that his judgment did not touch the heart of the problem. He could merely determine whether the accused was guilty as charged, but obviously the evidence incrimi- nated management and supervisory officials above the rigging slinger. He wisely pointed out that if the rigging slinger attempted to instruct the-men in his charge on the safety regulations, he would quickly be told to “get on With his work” by production men. The trial at Powell River raised the curtain on condi- tions that must be rectified, if safety measures are to secure general adoption in the logging industry. Men who are subject to penalties for breaches of the safety regulations should be given the right to refuse to work under unsafe conditions, without fear of dismissal. Before workers on the job are penalized, management should be required to establish all the conditions which ensure safe working procedures. One such condition is the regular inspection of equip- ment as a responsibility of management to ensure safety. Another is instructions from management and provision for the consistent observance of the accident prevention regulations. Crews cannot be expected to be conscientious about safety unless the supervisory officials first set the example. ae aps most important of all is that management Snel auoetaes eaiey responsibility in the training of inexperienced men and in the cone peemon of safe working habits from the camp superintendent down to the whistle punk. OV EH (=) Kos wa ly TECHNICAL TRAINING ——7 N THE WAY AHEAD _ VU ty If y aa pry Ye UNIVERSITY Ht h/ Zp 6 eg Numerous instances of racial discrimination practiced in British Columbia were cited by speakers who addressed the Joint Labor Institute on Race Relations, sponsored by the Van- couver and District Trades and Labor Council (AFL), the Greater Vancouver and Lower Mainland Labor Council (CCL) and the railway brotherhoods, in the Labor Temple, March 4. About 100 persons attended the one-day conference, and partici- pated in the three workshop LABOUR SPOTLIGHTS RACE HATE civil rights. In summing up for the confer- ence, Jim Bury, Secretary of the Greater Vancouver and Lower Mainland Labor Council, urged that every trade union establish penalize unfair employment prac-| a committee on Fair Employment tices, and infringements upon| Practices. discussions, into which the con- ference divided during the after- noon. Tom Alsbury, President of the TLC, presided. Featured speakers were: Dr. Wm. J. Rose, University of B. C.; Lloyd Harvey, B.C. Teachers’ Federation, and S. B. “Bud” Ger- vin, Vancouver lawyer. It was asserted that three major downtown hotels will regis- ter only prominent Negroes; banks will hire Chinese clerks ee their Waen you only for Chinatown branches; property holding rights in choice residential districts are barred to all of Asiatic or Afri- can descent; news reports single out those criminals with foreign iz names, and that many firms prac- tice discrimination in hiring. Poison Dr. Rose, in an eloquent plea for racial tolerance, ‘affirmed that intolerance was incited by f unreasoning fear. Racial preju- dice was as poisonous as carbon monoxide in our social atmos- phere, he stated, and was dunder- headed idiocy. = Workshop which discussed in- tolerance within the labor move- ment, urged that trade unions should grapple with the problem by education and persuade those unions with discriminatory clauses in their constitutions to abandon discrimination as hurt- ful to labor’s interests. The closed shop was advocated as one method of forcing employers to abandon discrimination in hiring. Race Exploitation In dealing with community problems, a second workshop stated, that parents are respon- sible for intolerance, not the chil- dren, Race hatreds are used by the business group to play one group against another for pur- poses of general exploitation. More education on the subject was the crying need, it was stated. 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