oof THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER V THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 38,000 copies printed in this issue. Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Editor — Pat Kerr Business Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representative — G. A. Spencer Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, in cash, zy o~* and for payment of postage GUEST EDITORIAL NO MORE FLIM-FLAM yee public should be thoroughly fed up - with the Canadian drug industry for charging the highest prices in the world for its products. We should be in no mood, therefore, to accept any flim-flam from the industry in failing to pass on to the consumer the full saving of 12 per cent or more that should result from the government's re- moval of the sales tax on drugs, be- ginning September 1. Manufacturing spokesmen already are hemming and. hawing that by the time the tax removal reached the retailer it would be much less than 12 per cent. In fact, they say, it might mean no more than that price increases would be de- layed. What nonsense! In frying to foist this reasoning on the public, industry spokesmen are contradicting their own testimony before the Carter Royal Com- mission on Taxation in 1963. redoubled as it passed through various middlemen until it finally reached the consumer. They were distressed, they said, that such charges weighed on the sick. But given the previous ingenuity of the trade in trying to justify its profit levels, there is ground for suspecting that they now may do their best to prevent the consumer from getting the full bene- fit of the tax cut. It is up to the government, therefore, to amass additional weapons to cut drug costs. This means the abolition of pro- tective devices that have enabled the drug industry to create a monopoly and keep prices high through lack of compe- tition. Ottawa should remove all patents and trade marks as well as tariffs and dumping duties. The drug industry has brought such government intervention on itself by its greed. Ottawa ought to exert its power At that time, they pleaded for the removal of the tax, arguing that it was to slash drug costs by at least 50 per cent. ; —STAR WEEKLY NDP STOCK “The Liberals should be happy with the outcome of yesterday’s by-elections. They didn’t deserve four out of five seats. Certainly there were reasons why Outremont, Pap- ineau and Hull should have gone to the opposition. As it was, the party held all three and lost only Sudbury but the signs were there. A sensi- ble politician will heed them. The NDP, victor in the -On- tario riding, was also a sub- stantial runner-up in Outre- mont and is a force to be reck- oned with in Quebec. Voters RISING in this province who do not wish to go Tory have now an alternative. “Tt is not either-or any long- er on Montreal Island. The quality of the NDP candi- dates, in general, is rising, better it is fair to say than many Liberal incumbents they will face in the general elec- tion. They are, furthermore, the choice of open conven- tions, not the result of para- chuting, as in Papineau, or deals or attempted deals, as they were in other seats.” —From Montreal Star editorial, May 30, 1967. San ee ee a “RIGHT TO WORK" LAWS Epiror’s NOTE: The following two letters are reprinted from the Smith- ers Interior News and dis- cuss the “right to work” topic. The first letter ques- tions labour’s right to picket the premises of an employer and suggests that workers are breaking the law by taking this action. The second letter, written by the wife of an IWA mem- ber of Local 1-424, counters this argument by pointing out that if it were not for the trade unions fighting for wage increases, the economy of the country would be in a sorry state. SHE’S FOR THEM The Editor There is only one fair way to decide on this right to work question. When we are put on this earth we all have a right to live. In order to live we have to work and anything that prevents us from working in order to live must be illegal. That is what picketing is for, to prevent people from working. Will there ever be a gov- vernment or a court with the courage to look at this ques- tion in this simple common sense way? When the Cana- dian Bill of Rights was drawn up two or three years ago, the most important right of all, the right to work, was omitted for fear of-treading on the toes of the Unions. If there were no pickets, the employer would be able to hire other people when his own labor went on strike, but in that case there would not likely be any strikes. It is because the worker can say to his boss “Give us what we demand or we will wreck your business”. Employees have a right to strike. They also have a right NOT to strike, but the picket forces them to do so. HIGH WAGES Business and _ professions have to spend a great deal of time and money before they get anything back, but if a worker gets high enough wages without any prepara- tion, it is likely to react to the disadvantage of the whole country. The right to work is funda- mental because _ without working we cannot live. A worker is breaking the law when picketing his firm just as an employer would be if he stood at a worker’s door to prevent him going out to get a job. The right to work is the most important right we have and it has cost us millions of dollars because this right has not been pro- tected. Mrs. Catherine M. Harvey SHE’S AGAINST THEM The Editor: May I use the medium of your paper to reply to Mrs. Catherine Harvey? Now, Cathy dear... are you the wife of a ‘boss’ or a ‘businessman’ or a ‘profes- sional’, or just plain ignorant as to what does constitute men’s rights? It is the working man who supports both business and professional men and employ- ers also. For every dollar the busi- ness and professional man spends in either place, the working man spends fifty — not a store could operate a week if they only had other business or professional peo- ple as customers, which also goes for garages and any place the money is spent. You will find the workmen spend and keep going numer- ous businesses that would go bankrupt if they had to de- pend on management, etc., for upkeep. Now, a union is solely to help these workmen and is made up solely of workmen. When a strike is called it is because the workman insists that his union back him. Do you think that you could run a home and properly feed and clothe two or more children, and educate them if no un- ion existed to keep uv the wages? I doubt it, for if your husband earned only $1.25 per hour, which is the mini- mum wage in B.C. and only worked 8 hours per day and 5 days per week, which is again what law says are working hours, he would, after U.I.C., income tax and C.P.P. have about $8 per day clear and about $40 per week, and you pay rent, etc. I’d love to see you do it. BETTER CONDITIONS Our unions have fought for years, and I hope will go on fighting, to better the condi- tions for the working class. It is people like you who want to see our men made into slaves, to work 12 hours a day and get no pay, who would advocate doing away with pickets, which is the workman’s only way of fight- ing to keep his job and get enough to barely exist on. Every time a scab crosses the picket line, he is taking food from the children of his fellow workers and even ceas- ing to be a friend of work- men. He is plainly a thief who steals men’s jobs — yet he will accept all the benefits and wage raises his striking, picketing fellow workmen do get. Sure he has the right to work . . . everyone has the right to earn a decent day’s pay for a decent day’s work, but not at the expense of his fellow man who is trying to better conditions for all work- men. OUR DEPRESSION Our depression of a few years back was caused main- ly by the fact that workmen could not afford to buy back goods they produced, which created a surplus of goods, causing manufacturers to close down, thereby causing unemployment. I would advise you to study this matter very deeply be- fore writing any more such foolish letters, or do you want another depression? Remember, too, the better wage a man receives, the better business he creates by his spending. May Jannack, Topley, B.C. ey MEMBERSHIP NOW 1,450,000 The Canadian Labor Con. gress membership has reach- ed a new, all-time high of 1,450,000, and more than 350 - 000 of these work and live in the province of Quebec.