ban WCOPONS © Bomb) riifi eae HUSLOGN ACom Pena to the Stockholm Aapael in B.C. have Seated the 100,000 mark, according to the B.C. Peace Council. Petitioning has received a boost by this booth at the Guildford Shopping Centre in Surrey which is sponsored by the Fraser Valley Peace Committee. About 1,000 names were collected on a recent weekend. Seen manning the booth here is Casey Swann of the Surrey YCL. ‘Buy B.C.’ scheme sellout of public Before taking off on his tour of European cities last week premier Bill Bennett announced the names of the board of directors for the new B.C. Resources Investment Corporation, which was set up by the Socred government to take over control of crown-owned companies. When the premier introduced the new legislation, which received royal assent Sept. 1, he said the new corporation would provide British Columbians with an op- portunity to buy into B.C.’s resource industry development. Under his ‘“‘Buy B.C.’’ plan, the premier promised the public would retain control, and that shares would be limited to ensure that the new company would not be taken over by the big corporations. With four out of five nominations already made — there is still one more to come from premier Bennett — it’s clear that what the premier said was so much window dressing. The four directors named are from the top circle of big business in B.C., and have strong connections with the major big business groups who dominate the province. The four named by the premier, and their big business connections are as follows: e Charles Woodward, chairman of Woodward’s Ltd., the major retail department store chain. Woodward is also a director of the Royal Bank of Canada, West Coast Transmission Co. Ltd., Great West Life Insurance, B.C: Molybdenum and other companies. e Jack Poole, president of DAON Development Corporation, one of the big real estate companies in B.C., a director of Kaiser Resources, and Great West Steel. e John Pitts, president of Okanagan Helicopters Ltd. He is also a director of. B.C. Sugar Refinery Ltd., Crows Nest In- dustries Ltd., and B.C. Telephone. e Trevor Pilley, president of the Bank of B.C. and poeicent of B.C. Realty Investors. ; Big business can rest assured that the new government-formed company will be in good safe hands. The Socred government will turn over to them crown-owned assets running into many millions of dollars. Seldom has there been a case in which a capitalist govern- ment acted so blatantly as a tool of the big corporations as it has in this case. The assets to be handed over to. these directors, to be run as a private company, are the govern- ment’s holdings in four companies. These include 9.8 million shares of Canadian Cellulose Ltd., 1.2 million shares in Westcoast Trans- mission Co. Ltd., and the govern- ment’s holdings in the fully-owned Plateau Mills Ltd., and Kootenay Forest Products Ltd. The public in B.C. will be able to invest in the new company, but they can rest assured that control of decision-making will be firmly in the hands of representatives of big business who will run the new company. In the main the new company will seek to raise capital’ from the public for investment, but the major control will be out of their hands. So much for Bennett’s experiment in people’s capitalism and his ‘‘Buy B.C.” scheme. 0 ssi 1970 71 Gas exports grow —- Canadian exports S$ millions 1,500 — of natural gas 4th gtr to the U.S. 1,200 — 3rd qtr. 72 73° 24-95 796 The above table from the Aug. 20 issue of the Financial Post shows how gas exports to the U.S. have grown. At the end of the second quarter of 1977 (half a year) they almost reached the total exports for all of 1975 — and they’re still going up. 1 - 2nd qtr Ist qtr. 77 —George Gidora photo PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 16, 1977—Page 2 WCA benefits denied | to injured workers By ALD. HARRY RANKIN With every month that passes, the evidence is mounting that in response to demands of the Em- ployers Council of B.C., the Social Credit government is steadily and insidiously undermining the benefits due to injured workers under the Workers Compensation Act. Every union is feeling this as it becomes more and more difficult to get a just settlement of claims. More and more cases are being referred to the legal profession. There is even an increase in violence and threats of violence directed against the W.C.B. bureaucracy as frustrated and desperate injured workers run out of patience and resort to irrational but understandable behavior. I have but one case before me that istypical: I’m sure there must behundreds like it and many much worse. This man, a welder, was injured in 1971 when a 500-pound plate fell on him. In the three years that followed he continued to suffer pain in his right shoulder he was treated with cortisone shots, by chiropractors, acupuncture, or- thograms and physiotherapy. He tried to work during this period but found it every difficult. In 1974 the Workers Com- pensation Board (WCB) agreed that heneeded an operation related to his 1971 injury. In 1975 he had a second operation. The same year he suffered another injury, this time to his left shoulder. Again he was treated by chiropractors and also. received TOM CONSTABLE Constable heads slate The Burnaby Citizens Association will by vying for eight aldermanic seats in November 19 -municipal elections this year as Burnaby prepares to move to a system of elections every two years. The labor-backed municipal coalition held its nominating meeting last Thursday, naming candidates for mayor, council and school board. For the first time, all seats on council will be up for election. Incumbent mayor Tom Con- stable, who heads the BCA slate warned, ‘It’s going to be a tough fight this year.” Named as aldermanic can- didates were: incumbent Gerry Ast, Frank Boden, Joe Crosbie, incumbent Doug Drummond, Brian Gunn, incumbent Fred Randall, Elsie Rempel and Frank Ward. Eight are to be elected. Named to contest the two vacant school board seats were Beth Chobotuck and Wilma Costain. The BCA presently has three seats on the five-member board. physiotherapy treatments through the W.C.B. He tried to work but his shoulder still bothered him and then the pains went into his neck to the point wherehe couldn’t turn his head. Again he received W.C.B. therapy. His condition since then has been such that he cannot accept jobs offered because he simply cannot perform them. As a result he has suffered a loss of income. He applied for a permanent partial pension but was turned down. When he appealed the decision to the Board of Review, his appeal also was turned down. . The members of the Board of Review decided that his neck pains were due to ‘‘degenerative changes”’ related to “‘the natural aging process’’ and decided therefore to deny him com- pensation. From the evidence that I have seen I have no doubt that his current disabilities are due to the 1971 injury, or his 1975 injury, and that he deserves to be com- pensated. To blame the ailments of injured workers on aging, or previous non-compensable ac- cidents is an old and time dis- _ honored method used by com- pensation boards over the years in this province to deny compensation to injured workers. . What aggravates the whole problem and makes justice almost impossible to achieve is the method of appeal. The claimant is not permitted to see or hear the evidence given against his case. The board hears all this evidence in secret. The claimant has no opportunity to refute any evidence which may be inaccurate or even false, because he doesn’t hear oF see it. He or she is tried in secret and found guilty without ever knowing why. Furthermore, the W.C.B. has 4 huge backlog of claims and ap peals that result in it literally taking years to settle a case. In the - meantime the claimant must get by as best as he or she can. When the present government reorganized the W.C.B. it did so in response to the demand of the employers who want fewer benefits paid out and less ee recognized. Why? Just so they will have to pay less into the com- pensation fund. ' The way to reduce accidents in the workplace is by making working conditions and methods safer, But this in most cases costs more money. So the employers aré taking the other route — by demanding that compensation benefits be cut. And the Social Credit government, true to its philosophy of serving the corporate interests and turning B.C. into 4 corporate welfare state, is going along with them. GAIN rate boost wins wide support According to human resources minister Vander Zalm the cost of raising social assistance rates for B.C.’s 100,000 GAIN recipients to a liveable level would be $48 million per year — a cost, recipient groups were quick to point out, of less than half the $100 million surplus amassed by Vander. Zalm’s. department over the past year. Vander Zalm estimated the cost of the increased rates in a letter to Burnaby municipal council after Burnaby voted to endorse the six- point program to improve GAIN rates advanced by the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association. The minister hoped to discredit the proposals by threatening the municipality with increased per capita costs. Over 50 cities and towns in B.C. have voted to endorse the proposals, as have about. 30 provincial and civic organizations. The six-point program would raise basic rates for singles and couples to $230 and $340 per month; raise rates for handicapped and those aged 60 to 64 to $284 per month; provide 100 per cent shelter and utility overages; eliminate the four-month waiting period for increased basic rates; and tie all GAINrates to the cost of living. The government has already im- plemented one of the six proposals, for increased comfort allowances to people in institutions. DERA’s officers, Bruce Eriksen, Libby Davies and Jean Swanson, wrote Vander Zalm last week to repeat their request for an in- crease in GAIN. In view of the fact that representatives of over half of the population have endorsed the six recommendations, in view of your own cost estimate which is less than half of your $100 million “mderrun,” and in view of the fact that all people who depend on GAIN are living way below the poverty line because the rates are now so low, we urge you again to immediately implement the remaining five recommenda- tions,’’ DERA-declared. Oil probe news The United Fishermen and Allied. Workers’ Union has published the first edition of the newsletter ‘‘Oil Ports Inquiry News.” The newsletter is subtitled “fishery opposition to tankers and oil ports’’ and will report on the proceedings of the West Coast Oil Ports Inquiry headed by com- - missioner Andrew Thompson. Available to anyone interested in following the Thompson Inquiry, the newsletter is free of charge. TO get on the mailing list write “Oil Ports Inquiry News,’ 138 E. Cordova St., Vancouver, V6A 1K9, or phone 687-3043. RIBUNE _ Editor - MAURICE RUSH Assistant Editor SEAN GRIFFIN Business and Circulation Manager — FRED WILSON Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186 Subscription Rate: Canada, $8.00 one year; $4.50 for six months, All other countries, $10.00 one year Second class mail registration number 1560