THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 2nd Issue July, 1966 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER Published twice monthly as the official bt INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS oF 1 Western Canadian Regional Council No. 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Editor WORKER E>? Affiliated with AFL-Clo-cLe Phone 874-5261 ication of the AMERICA M Pat Business anager Advertising Representative Forwarded to every member of the vention decisions. Authorized as Secon postage in cash, Fred G. A. Kerr Fieber A. Spencer 3 ‘A in Western Canada in accordance with - Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. a d Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for Payment of 27,500 copies printed: in this issue. EDITORIAL THE PLIGHT OF THE AGED eo who suggest that Canada is nothing but a welfare state where _.. the taxpayers’ money is recklessly wasted on welfare services should examine the figures recently supplied-to Parliament by the department of trade and com- merce on the annual incomes of Canadi- ans over seventy. These shocking figures paint a bleak picture of poverty stalking our senior citizens. Over 425,000 out of the 800,000 Canadians seventy and over, have in- comes of less than $1,000 a year. Another 8,000 have no income at all. The picture is not much brighter for the 158,000- who exist on between $1,000 and $1,999 a year, or the 61,000 more who receive between $2,000 and $2,999. This is a sad commentary on our treatment of the aged when it is realized that the poverty level in Canada has been set at $3,000 a year. And yet we allow ninety percent of our senior citizens to eke out a bare subsistance in what should be their golden years. The commentary reaches its bleakest point when it is remembered that for these people, the Canada Pension Plan will have no meaning. They are the peo- ple who were in the hinterland when the application of the plan was decided upon — too old to contribute, and thus beyond the scope of the benefits. A special committee of the Senate on Aging recently declared that the welfare of older people is closely linked to the welfare of all Canadians. It expressed the view that society has a responsibility to protect and assist disadvantaged groups in the community, such as older people, but that every effort should be made to enable old people to maintain independence as fully and as long as possible. The committee alse recommends that all Canadians aged 65 and over should be guaranteed a minimum annual income and suggested that a number of national governmental agencies should be estab- lished to deal with their problems. All this sounds fine, but to the aged the immediate problem now is the allevi- ation of their financial plight. The Senate’s report took two and one half years to prepare — it will likely take twice that long to implement. SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION A GREAT many middle management decisions, traditionally thought to call for experienced judgment by man- agers, can now be made at least as well by computers according to Dr. Harvey S. Gellman, president of DCF Systems Lim- ited, Toronto. Dr. Gellman, one of Canada’s fore- most computer authorities, outlined the mounting impact of computers on society and business during a meeting of the Canadian Credit Men’s Association in Ottawa recently. : He told delegates attending the CCMA’s executive business seminar that there is convincing evidence that deci- sions in many situations can now be made with the aid of computerized op- erations research techniques far better than they have been made in the past. “We can now program computers with information on the overall economic position of a business, feed it with a set of trial hypothetical decisions for future action and the computer will predict the course that the business would follow in each situation,” claims Dr. Gellman. He told his audience that the advent of computers is causing a second indus- trial revolution which will have signifi- cant economic and social implications just as did the first. “By relieving us of detailed and routine mental effort, com- puters are freeing the human mind in much the same way as the human muscle was freed by machine power over 100 years ago,” he pointed out. Referring to the tremendous growth in the use of computers, Dr. Gellman said 30,000 computers in the United. States and more than 900 in Canada are now at work. Annual sales of the computer industry in North America alone amount to more than $6 billion and are expected to grow within the next 10 years to more than $15 billion. A recent listing of the ways in which computers are used today showed over 800 separate applications. Looking to future changes which we can expect the computer age to spawn, Dr. Gellman told CCMA delegates that several banks are currently exploring financial systems in which cheques are no longer needed — a step that is tech- nically feasible today. One such system involves a universal money card with a small transistorized - electronic circuit embedded in it. During a purchase, the clerk would place your money card in-a special input device, and enter the dollar amount of the purchase on a keyboard. Instantaneously, the sig- nals from the keyboard and the money card would be sent to a central computer which would automatically deduct the purchase amount directly from your bank balance. THE GOLDEN YEARS? HUNGARIAN WORKERS JAILED In two successive trials, 20 young Hungarian workers and students were sentenced to long prison terms for their anti-regime attitude and for having voiced criticism of the communist system. In mid-June, after a trial in Budapest Central Court, 12 young persons aged from 18 to 23 years were jailed for prison terms ranging from 18 months to five years. They were accused, among other things, of “conspiracy,” of planning to attack a police station and a prison to seize weapons and to free political prisoners. ; A month earlier, on May 19, S 1966, a group of seven young workers and two students ac- cused of “seditious state- ments,” were tried by the same court. The main defend- ant was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Seven others were jailed for terms ranging from one-and-a-half years to three-and-a-half years and one received a ten- month suspended prison sent- ence. As usual in such trials, the communist authorities tried to defame the young defend- ants by labelling them as thieves, vagabonds, foreign currency smugglers and nar- | ectic pedlars. NO CLC MOVE It is reported that the Teamsters Union has decided © against any moves at this time to re-affiliate with the Canadian Labour Congress. Some Eastern Canadian Teamsters wanted discussions to go back into the CLC but the view by the Western Ca- nadian Teamsters against re- affiliation prevailed. On his return from a con- vention in Miami the Presi- dent of the Teamsters Joint Council said: “It is our view that re-affiliation would be untimely now in view of the fact some of our jurisdictional problems still have not been solved. If we went back in the CLC now, we would be in the same _ jurisdictional hassels we were in before.” Invest in Your Future... Life Insurance: Benefit or Fraud ._.. $2.95 Start with $100 _____.. $2.95 add 5% tax in B.C. Both books are a MUST for Canadians @ CAMP SERVICE: Write for our paperback lists and choose your own reading. So) SEYMOUR BOOKS (Dept. T1) 506 E. 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