4 : B.C. LUMBER WORKER Prepare Now! jy ee attention throughout the IWA Local Unions in British Columbia is at pres- ent focussed-on preparations for the International Convention to be held in Milwaukee next month. This is as it should be. The business to be trans- acted by this convention is the business of building the Union. IWA Conventions are unlike those so often staged by other organizations as a camouflage for revelry at distant points. The:Union’s conventions are traditionally. business-like, and constructive. It follows that much is expected of each delegate attending, both at the convention and upon his return to his own Local Union. : Under the IWA constitution, decisions reached at an International Convention, determine largely how the Union shall be governed, with con- sequences that-reach into every woodworking op- eration. The general pattern of an organizing program follows upon the convention approval of policy. The right to deal with all constitutional safeguards are vested in this assembly, the top authority for woodworkers on the continent. The vital importance of these convention de- cisions makes it imperative that Local Unions should select their ablest and most reliable mem- bers as delegates, with great care. This selection in British Columbia takes on special significance, as this District, with its mem- bership strength can and should wield great infiu- ence in convention voting. A major contributing factor to the success of a convention is the prior consideration of the issues to be submitted before the assembly. Dele- gates selected should be made familiar with the facts relating to the issues, and membership opin- ion regarding same. When they participate in con- vention debates, they are then able to bring mem- bership opinion into focus where it counts for the most. Between now and convention time, the mem- bers of Local Unions should seize upon every op- portunity to promote discussions of the Interna- tional Union’s business, and register their views as guidance to their delegates. The level of thinking at this convention will determine the level of success which will attend the Union’s program for the ensuing year. Our Cause Too lumber workers in British Columbia are IW following the CIO-AFL lumber strike de- velopments in the Pacific Northwest States with close and sympathetic attention. It goes without saying, that: they feel the warmest possible desire that the outcome of this bitter struggle shall be completely successful. 2 This strike has demonstrated how closely the interests of Canadian-and American lumber work- ers are inter-related. The final result of this struggle will have far-reaching consequences in British Columbia. The unity of action developed as between the CIO and AFL woodworkers is an achievement which meets with loud and enthusiastic praise on the Canadian side of the border. Beyond any doubt, this joint strike action is the forerunner of even more concrete-unity of organized effort in the future. It should not be forgotten, that the employers’ interests fighting the Union south of the border, are closely identified with the: interests which dominate the lumber industry in British Columbia. British Columbia is not isolated from this struggle, which involves 100,000 or more wood- workers in an industry which stretches across the international boundary. B.C. woodworkers find common cause with their brothers in the Northwest States, and the same interest in complete victory. 2 : fy It ye nimmpg= “a Your Space Boys! Wage Hikes Offer No Solution The Editor: As those with experience in unions have found out, the con- tinuous raising of wages by united effort is not a solution, but at best only a temporary gain, which does not last very long. In spite of repeated gains the worker is still in the same posi- tion in what portion he obtains from the system of production. The portion he receives is com- parable to what the slave received out of much less production, if he was to continue as a producer. The basic argument is the cost of living, or the cost necessary to maintain the worker as a pro- ducer, and here it is reasonable to ask, why should the worker only be entitled to wages enough simp- ly to live, and whose idea was it in the first case? It certainly is not the worker's, for he has been ‘struggling against it for a long time with little success, if measured by the portion he received of -what is produced, and which might be produced, against what he did receive when production was much less, and machinery applied to production practically un- known, 2 Geared to a System The worker is geared to a sys- tem which did not originate with him, although he was in vast majority of population at any one time. However, he was a handy work horse. Clearly it was a minority who guided the system to’where it is today, but it is to be doubted if this minority had any conception of the situation that would eventually evolve from their direction. The continued fileching of labor product to establish more labor filehing devices, has established a marvellous system of produc- tion, which is not going to func- tion much further on the old premise that, the worker is only entitled to as much as will allow him to live, while luxurious non- labor living is the privilege of a few. The substitution of idealistic conception for what is an econo- mie problem is wearing very thin, although it has been successful for a long time. Science has put the old system on the shelf, and the sooner the worker in unions grasps the fact that, he is only a unit in collec- tive production, be he clever or otherwise, the sooner will he de- mand collective distribution of what he produces, and what he thinks needs to be produced, and not what in a large degree is be- ing foisted on him today, and which represents a sheer waste of effort and time—a wasteful de- struction backed by an ever in- creasing debt charge, on which he is paying ever rising taxes. Having established an econo- mie jackpot of enormous size, by misadventure from their point of view, no collection of political op- portunists and their business as- sociates are likely to be converted to a more generous distribution of the wealth, and the worker must take steps to insure his own representation where he can get some action, and that is in gov- ernment. Anon. Pre-Paid Schemes Favored. - OTTAWA (CPA) — Indica- tions that high costs of medical care are causing more and more Canadians to join prepay- ment care plans are given in the results of a recent study carried out by the Health and Welfare Department. Today some 2,400,000 people are cov- ered for some form of prepaid physician’s service compared with less than 200,000 in 1946. The study, which included 14 major non-profit medical care plans, showed that less than half of those enrolled in plans—or about 7% of the population— were entitled to a fairly compre- hensive range of benefits includ- ing the cost of medical, surgical and obstetrical care in the home, doctor’s office and hospital. $27 Million Paid Out Health Minister Martin, com- menting on the results of the sur- vey, said: “The post-war growth of these plans has been notable, indicating the consumer's con- cern with the cost of his health- care requirements, and his will- ingness to seek assistance in meeting one of the major con- tingencies threatening family security.” The survey showed that the plans covered paid out $27 mil- lion in 1953. Costs per dollar were as follows: 44¢ for physicians’ consultations and attendances; 30c to surgeons; lle for X-ray and laboratory services; and the balance for confinements and miscellaneous services. 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