_ U.S. war threat challenge to world Continued from page 5 count. This is how they are assessed by U.S. Professor R. Tucker, who suggests that the Pentagon should occupy the south-west coast of the Persian Gulf from Kuwait to Qatar. Tucker thinks this is the most suitable region for seizure, be- cause it has-a relatively sparse population, is almost woodless and the states situated here are weak in the military’ respect. The establishment of effective control here, writes Tucker, is out of all comparison with the experience of Vietnam. Tucker, like other trigger- happy persons in the U.S., by no means expects that an American military operation suggested by him will be an all too easy ad- venture, with the Arabs offering no resistance. On the contrary, he feels cer- tain that Arab patriots could re- taliate by going as far as to de- stroy the oil-fields in the: area. But he estimates that the Ame- ricans would restore them with- in three to four months. That the militaristic specula- tions of Tucker are far from being purely abstract is support- ed by a whole range of other reports in the U.S. press. The threat of armed action against Arab countries has rais- ed widespread indignation and protests all over the word. A desire is evident in many NATO capitals to dissociate themselves from Washington’s dangerous schemes. : It was only to be expected that these plans should have evoked LABOR SCENE BY BRUCE MAGNUSON Every year in Canada injuries on-the-job result in three times as many man-days lost as on strikes and lockouts. Yet many times the publicity is given to strikes, compared to many-days lost through industrial accidents. Every year more than 1,200 Canadian workers are killed in industrial accidents: ; Industrial speed-up in the quest for greater profits can be directly connected to this in many cases. What does an em- ployer in our dog-eat-dog compe- titive society care about safety and workers well being? Often as not, employers tend to put the blame on the worker for some alleged failure to take reasonable precautions. In the province of Ontario alone, there are now more than 400,000 workmen’s compensa- tion claims annually growing out of industrial accidents. In 1973 the Board reported an 11% increase in injuries on the job. The blame for the growing ac- cident toll is rightly placed on management by both safety ex- perts and trade unions. At the same time, govern- ments, which are closely tied in with the corporate structure in our capitalist society, are not doing anything to stop this dis- astrous carnage. More Wardens Than Inspectors In Ontario’s Department of Lands and Forests more than 1,000 fish and game wardens are employed to protect wild life. But only 100 safety inspectors are supposed to look after 56,000 industrial establishments. The Industrial Safety Act gives a particularly stormy reaction in the Arab world. A few days ago a session of the Arab Economic Council, held within the frame- work of the Arab League, ap- proved a common stand and re- taliation measures against pos- sible military blackmail of Arab oil-producing countries. U.S. threats and blackmail re- miniscent of the long bankrupt “gunboat diplomacy” run coun- ter to the progressing relaxation of international tensions. At the same time, they show that the imperialist forces continue to cling to the dangerous policy of diktat. This requires that all peace-loving forces should step up the struggle to strengthen in- ternational security and show. extreme vigilance. Family funding BERLIN — More than one mil- lion marks are being allocated as additional allowance to large families in the German Demo- cratic Republic. capital, Berlin, every year. This was stipulated by the city administration. This measure benefits house- holds with a gross family income of under 1,500 marks per month or one-parent families with three or more children with an income less than 900 marks monthly. Benefits include day care at reduced costs and free kinder- garten. From the beginning of 1975 these families can attend cultural events such as plays, museum exhibits and zoological gardens without cost. Salyut-4—a station today, a satellite city tomorrow By ALEXE| GOROKHOV APN Special Correspondent BAIKONUR COSMODROME— The Soviet Soyuz-17 spacecraft piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Gubarev and engineer Georgy Grechko, opened up a series of orbital experiments scheduled in the Soviet Union for 1975. “We are continuing to work in keeping with our national space program,” General Vladi- mir Shatalov, head of the train- ing program of Soviet cosmo- nauts, said-in an interview with the APN correspondent. “The program envisages the improve- ment of orbiting stations of the Salyut type. Work with long- © operating orbiting stations was and remains the main trend of Soviet space exploration.” General Shatalov noted that in 1975 the joint flight of the So- viet and American spacecraft (Soyuz and Apollo) is to be ac- complished for the first time in the history. This is not simply an experimental joint mission of vehicles developed in different countries. The Soviet Union re- gards this flight primarily as a major project in the field of the opportunities of international cooperation in space research for peaceful purposes. The results of the past year instil firm confidence -that all plans will be successfully imple- mented. Let us review what has been done. In accordance with Injury, disease and death on the job Ontario workers the right to re- fuse work where their physical wellbeing is endangered. But what happens if, and when a worker seeks to protect himself under this legal umbrella? United Steelworkers Union member Henry de Langis found out when he tried to walk off the job because of what he ‘consider- ed a safety hazard in the Steel Company of Canada plant in Hamilton. The 24-year-old work- er was promptly suspended for insubordination. It took the union 18 months of effort and $4,000 to have him reinstated. The shameful lack of concern for workers’ safety is inherent in our private profit system ' where giant corporations and their government will not spend a penny for safety or human comfort, if they are not forced to do so. Train Crews Reduced The most recent example is the final part of the railway ar- bitration award by retired Sup- reme Court judge Emmett Hall after the rail strike in 1973. Mr. Hall has approved a reduction in train crews, including the elim- ination of the rear brakeman. But he says this reduction of crews should be limited to the operation of trains. with 120 cars or less. It is a sure thing that this judgment is not aimed to enhance the safety of work” crews on bulky freight trains, and possibly other people who may suffer from increasing num- bers of railway smashups. There is also the matter of in- dustrial diseases and what is be- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1975—Page 10 " ing done to combat them. An as- bestos worker, for instance, is six times more likely to contract lung cancer. In 1973, the Ontario Work- men’s Compensation Board al- lowed around 3,000 ‘claims for occupational disease. But how many others sought compensa- tion and were refused? And how many have contracted a disease and are unaware of it? It can take one-third to one-half of a person’s lifetime to discover a disease. Even then it is not readily connected with a per- son’s job. Laws Need Strengthening Most industrial safety laws and enforcement now come mainly under provincial jurisdic- tion. As matters stand at pre- sent, these laws are in need of much strengthening, as are the task of inspections and enforce- ment. This is one area where organized labor needs to take _ measures to see to it that laws are improved, and that it be given a much more decisive voice in protection of the work- er on the job. > Regardless of jurisdictional lines, there is a need for country- wide standards, particularly in big monopolized industries where the greatest danger to health and safety of the workers -are to be found. - What we do need is a new system of society, where a worker is more than a mere statistic of so many dollars and mandays. We need to speed the day of a socialist society, where a worker will regain his freedom and self-respect as a human be- ing in the true sense. Cosmonauts Y. Rerranenka: (left) and A. ‘panchenko during | workout at the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre in the Sov Union's preparation for the Soyuz-Apollo space dock in July. the national space program an expedition to the orbital Salyut- 3 research station was carried out by the crew of Soyuz-14 — Pavel Popovich and Yuri Art- yukhin. ’ Various experiments aboard Soyuz-15 were performed by Gennady Srafanov and Lev Dyo- min. The six-day space flight by Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolai Rukavishnikov aboard Soyuz-16 was a press rehearsal of the forthcoming experimental Apol- lo-Soyuz flight. It confirmed the correctness of the technical solu- tions and the results of the ground tests of all facilities which in the near future will en- sure the docking of the Soviet and U.S. spaceships. As to un- manned space flights one should single out the launching of the new satellite of the socialist countries — Intercosmos-12, In a word, all the main tasks of the year were successfully solved. The 70’s are justly regarded in astronautics as the time of or- bital stations. Salyut-4, with which Soyuz-17 operates, opens up a new stage of the improve- ment of these universal means of studying the earth and its en- Subway science LENINGRAD (APN) — The builders of the underground ‘transit lines here have used outer-space cold to block the way to an underground river which had inundated the tunnel, al- ready completed. It was decided to fill the gap which the river had broken through, with a tap made of ice. Liquid nitrogen with the temperature of minus 196° Centigrade was pumped in. It was the first time Soviet metro-builders had employed this operation. The USSR’s first underground began operating nearly four de- cades ago. Beside Moscow and Leningrad, there are under- grounds in Kiev, Baku and Tbili- si, construction is well under way in Tashkent, Kharkov and Gcrky, and they are in the blue- print stage in a number of ‘other big Soviet cities. Soviet special- ists are assisting constructing metro-lines in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland and India. “Blagonravov, vironment. The start was maé in 1971 by the first long-operé! ing Salyut station whose c 4| worked in the orbit for 24 day’ Then the improved Salyut pro) was launched, It was used as ® unmanned variety and made! possible to check new on-boal systems and conduct numero: scientific experiments. The mi sion of the last year’s Salyut orbiting station consisted of | (manned and unmanned) par) To sum up, Soviet specialis} have accumulated solid expé ence in designing and. handilil long-operating orbital statid ‘both manned and unmanned. # though only three and half ye have passed from Salyut-l Salyut-4, this is a big distal” for astronautics. In this con tion I would like to quote * words by academician Anal the well-kno! Soviet scientist, chairman of ! commission for the explorat! and, use of outer space of ¢ USSR Academy of Sciences, said that truly great achiel ments have a wonderful featu! the further they recede into © past, the more clear becom§ their importance. - Early in the 20th Centyg Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the “P§ luga Dreamer,” the foundet § theoretical astronautics, about “ethereal settlements” 9 a base for the penetration of °§ unexplored expanses of OU® space. Today the “ethereal *9 tlement” is an orbital station. § Salyut-4 does not repre?g anything new as far as its © sign is concerned. This is 4 oe tinuation of the development § previous stations with due count of the experience of operation. Salyut-4 should considered as a new step "& ward along the main directiong Academician Valentin Gl¥'} ko said: “Today we have an § bital station to conduct reseal@ tomorrow it will have pro¢§ tion purposes. Today the stag is handled by two or three ™§ tomorrow tens and hundred5) people will work there. Toy this is ony a station, tomo, it will be a satellite city everything such a city has § the earth.” x Salyut-4 and Soyuz-17 blazing the road to this “mf row” of astronautics.