ys my cf 4 Editorial Right to Health HE medicare controversy on this continent is now so highly charged with prejudice and political antagonisms that the main issues are being obscured. It is of first importance that these main issues should be kept in view by industrial workers. The right to health is now a right that is generally recognized in the civilized world. The right to health includes the right to maintain health, and therefore demands access to preventive measures as well as the availability of remedial or curative measures. The right to health is not a privilege to be enjoyed by some. It is a right that should be made secure for all regardless of means. Medical care insurance has been accepted as neces- sary in nearly all the nations of the Western World, except Canada and the United States. It has been in force in Germany since the days of Bismarck. When introduced by a Labour Government in Great Britain it found immediate favor with the British public. No political or privileged interest in Britain would now dare to propose its abolition. All classes of the British people now enjoy higher standards of health than before. There is no longer any sensible argument to be raised against the advisability of insuring the health of the people. Health is the nation’s greatest asset. Health has become a community responsibility. This has developed for many reasons. The cost of illness is too great for the average family to bear. Loss of production, due to needless illness, has placed a brake on progress. Illness which reduces any family to the social assistance level, affects the entire community, for the entire community must ulti- mately assume the cost, either through charitable donations or taxes. As civilized communities have found, certain forms of illness must be dealt with in a public way, otherwise the whole community suffers danger. The growth of voluntary prepaid medical schemes has shown the need for a more general form of in- surance. They have proved a great boon to many workers’ families. At the same time the inadequacy of these schemes has been painfully evident to workers. The first and most apparent inadequacy is that not all the population can avail themselves of such schemes. The simple reason is that they cannot af- ford the premiums. Trade unionists know what happens when a work- er who is covered by one of the prepaid medical care plans is unemployed. The IWA has made the effort to have him covered for at least a portion of the lay- off-period in recognition of this problem. If the period of unemployment extends beyond six months, the family’s dilemma is acute, if they face health problems. The payment of premiums demand- ed by private schemes is beyond the family’s resourc- es. Why should they then be required to seek social assistance in order to get medical care? The single unemployed are still without medical coverage. As in Saskatchewan, every public health insurance scheme allows the patient a free choice of doctor. There is no difference in the doctor-patient relation- ship than now exists under MSA or CU&C. Clerks in the MSA administration are made familiar with the nature of the patient’s illness and the methods of treatment determined by the doctor in charge. Under a public health insurance scheme the role of the doctors will be little different than under a private scheme. He will work as now on a fee basis, and the scale of fees will be equitably determined. He will treat the patient as determined by his best professional standards. The only difference will be that the bill will be paid by a public agency, financed by the contributions of the entire population. Of necessity, and over wide areas of health care, doctors now work on a salary basis. Witness the field of public health and the international control of com- municable diseases. No one could say that the pay- ment of salaries in itself tends to lower professional! standards. Dedicated and outstanding services have been rendered by doctors in these fields, especially in control and research. We are compelled to believe that there is a more sinister motive behind the statements of the doctors on this continent than appears on the surface. The spokesmen for the doctors enjoy a privileged, mono- polistic and profitable interest in the practice of medicine. They are championed by interests who seek to extract profit from illness. The trade union movement must steadfastly de- mand the right to health, which can only be fully pro- tected under a public medical care plan. VOLUNTARY HEALTH INSURANCE ON THE RISE *. Population Insured 60 1950 Source: Canadian Conference on Health Care | Surgical Benefit tion to de-certify the Union in the operation of Horvatin Bros. Ltd. The application to cancel the [WA _ certification was refused by the Labour Relations Board on the grounds that no evidence had been provided to show that the TWA no longer represented the employees involved. The application for cancellation of certification was made in the name of a few employees of the Company. 1959 1960 ILGWU Sues Runaway Firm Damages totaling $84,000 for con- tract violation are being demanded by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union from Judy Bond, Inc., manufacturer of women’s blouses. Final briefs were recently submit- ted before Impartial Chairman George Mintzer charging the firm with violation of its union contract in failing to make payment to the health, welfare and retirement funds in the amount of $23,000 and fur- ther charging that the firm, while pledged under contract to make all of its work in unionized shops, channeled 61,000 dozen garments in- to non-union plants. The ILGWU is demanding $61,000 in damages for this breach of contract. The briefs were filed on behalf of the Union by the law firm of Lieberman, Katz and Aronson. The ILGWU has been conducting a strike against Judy Bond since January of this year when the firm broke away from its employer as- sociation while negotiations were be- ing completed for renewal of the industry collective agreement. Judy Bond had been under contract with the ILGWU for 29 years. In its runaway move, the firm left over 900 of its employees without jobs. In conjunction with the strike against the runaway employer, the ILGWU is enlisting the support of retailers and their customers through- out the country in an appeal not to buy the struck goods. Perversions Of Old Saws “Discombulation” is the word coined to describe some of the pop- ular re-arrangements of old and familiar sayings. Here are some samples from a recent collection of witty perversions of old saws. These signs were seen in a college bookstore; “Flunk now and avoid the rush.” “Work is the curse of the drinking class.” And speaking of the saxophone, “An ill wind that nobody blows good.” The familiar “he who laughs last laughs best” has been changed to “He who laughs lasts”, and, “You buttered your bread, now lie in it.’ “Bachelors never make the same mistake twice.” “She’s as pure as the driven slush.” “Don't raise the bridge, lower the river.” “Wine, women and song” and Omar’s “book, jug, loaf, and thou”, now appears as “A bottle of beer, the little woman and TV.” ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”, now reads, “The hot dog feeds the hand that bites it”, and “I met a bark and he dogged me.” Other samples are: “All work and no play makes jack.” “You can’t eat your cake and have it.” “Even a clock that aint a-going is right twice a day.” Lighter Side The trouble with people who say they hope they're not intruding is that they usually are. ur & tk Painful truth . . . There’s usually one more pin in a new shirt than a man figures. e@ ° > Which Generation: Pity that generation which is too dependent that when it goes to the dogs, it expects the dogs to meet it halfway. “Times,” Wakefield, RIL. Publication date of the next issue of the WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER is August 2nd, Deadline for ad copy is July 27th, and for news copy July 26th. PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY ON THE FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAYS BY International Woodworkers of America eBBing (AFL-CIO-CLC) Regional Council No. 3 = REGIONAL OFFICERS: eeagueet Jack Moore Jcaihisirtipncnapencias a en .. Jack MacKenzie Pe Biss Holst . Fred_ Fieber . Joe Madden Jack Holst President spel bie Cl ig tooo i Sette Ast Vice-Presicernt