SV
(ADS "
KATA om

i
Whietiial

PARAULAY

HICOLLS —

a sol i
PPealing Pree onan say they have nowhere to

= ee

FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1973

—Sean Griffin photo

Labor urges campaign

amb :
Met fo, Begecr today is gour-

aters, tol Tiny Himes, Sea-
Couvers d delegates to the Van-
Cil Tyennt District Labor Coun-
Motion Ueht in speaking to
action to pauling for joint labor
. “ee down food prices.
I Spins v Ime I pass acow now
T see he said.
de Sates’ e Only underscored
ing Condemnation of soar-
prices that are
ners of negotiated
es” and ‘‘robbin
n ;
those o, - 8anized workers af
Pensions.”’ :

legs
adonte: tes unanimously

d
Bc. . Motion calling for the
Communic ston of Labor to
dian 7, + hi With the Cana-
Campaign, Congress to launcha
ice inoree Balt further food
that the, ;a8°S and to ensure

Wages wo
Area
thos Ss Incre

re :

futur =a no increases in the

Tom a Dai Out authorization
Prices review board

fo fight rising foo

to be set up by the federal govern-
ment.

An amendment introduced by
Homer Stevens, Fishermens
Union, asking that the National
Farmers Union be included in
the campaign. along with the
other labor bodies also passed
unanimously.

‘“‘We in the labor movement
cannot simply stand by and
watch the insolence with which
the big food processors are steal-
ing food from the tables of ordin-
ary working people.” Jack
Phillips, "CUPE. told the dele-
gates.

He pointed out that the labor
movement, in order to get
wages increases, had to go
through negotiation, arbitra-
tion. conciliation and often
litigation after injunctions had
been granted.

--The big food monopolies can
raise prices ata whim or at the

d prices

orders of the head office,’ he
charged. E

In British Columbia alone, the
three largest food companies
realized a profit increase for the
last three months of 33.9% over
the previous three months —
through price increases.

In another council action,
expressing support for the
provincial government pur-
chase of the Crown Zellerbach
pulp plant at Ocean Falls, the
council executive stated that
government's concern for the
community and ‘‘the continued
livelihood of its residents is
commendable. ”

Jack Phillips noted the import-
ance of the government's first
step. ‘If we are going to have a
high level of employment in this
province we are going to have to
go a lot further and nationalize
the big industries.” he said,

See LABOR, pg. 12

Vol. 34, No. 12

By MAURICE RUSH
Three Unemployment Insurance Commission
referees who have been ruling on disqualified claimants’
appeals charged last week that they have seen evidence
of a. ‘‘witch-hunt’”’ to drive jobless off UIC rolls, and
that innocent people are being ‘terrified.’

The three are Murray Tate,
William Baker and Henry Weis-
bach of Toronto, who have func-
tioned on appeal boards in the
Toronto-Hamilton area.

Their charge came inthe wake
of widespread criticism of Fed-
eral government policy to-
wards the unemployed, and
particularly of Manpower Min-
ister Robert Andras, who is in
charge of administering the
UIC Act.

Last week Andras announeed
in the Commons that 40,846 job-
less had been disqualified from
collecting benefits as the result
of a ‘“‘crackdown”’ in the first
nine weeks of the year. He told
MPs that 65 percent of the job-
less investigated were disquali-
fied across Canada and indi-
cated that the process is con-
tinuing.

As justification for the action
of cutting off the 40,846 jobless,
Andras pointed to 29 claimants
from Calgary and Edmonton
who had their cheques sent toa
port office box which turned out
to be at the Banff Springs Hotel.

The completely dishonest
stand being taken by Andras in
seeking out afew isolated cases
of abuse in order to justify
launching a massive reign of
terror against all unemployed
collecting benefits is beyond
contempt.

Indications are that Andras’
department is using computers
to cut off tens of thousands of
jobless without adequate cause.
Apparently an area is chosen in
which available jobs are listed
and fed into the computer; then
the names of claimants who
have qualifications for such
jobs, and if the computer shows
that not enough of them have
applied for ‘available’ jobs,
thousands are cut off arbi-
trarily.

Violating a common principle
of justice that a person is inno-
cent until proven guilty, the UIC
claimant is condemned out of
hand by the computers and then
must appeal to prove his inno-
cence before his claim canagain
be allowed.

In the meantime, the un-
employed who have been cut off
must suffer hardships, or apply
for social welfare, until his or
her appealhas been heard which
can take months.

This reign of terror against the
unemployed is all part of the
government’s campaign to
blame the workers for the job-
less crisis we face. It aims to
make the victim the scapegoat.

Stymied in their attempt to
bring down amendments to the
UIC Act by labor’s protest and

See JOBLESS, pg. 12

‘Greetings, CP delegates

The Pacific Tribune extends a warm welcome to delegates

to the 20th convention of the Communist Party in B.C. meeting —

this weekend, March 24-25, in the Fishermen’s Hall.

Delegates from Communist clubs across the province, :
from as far away as Trail in the Kootenays to Alberni on —
Vancouver Island, will gather to discuss and decide on their
party’s policies. They come from the grassroots of the people’s

struggles for a better life.

Uppermost in the minds of delegates will be how to unite ©

labor and progressive forces in a broad anti-monopoly alliance :
to defeat the attempts of big business to push B.C. politics to

the right, and to advance the fight for a people’s program.

Every success to your efforts and may they be crowned
with success! The PT believes your deliberations are
‘important to the people of B.C. and we will give full coverage
to your proceedings in next week’s issue. :