ee eee eee LEADERS OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES URGED: | et Crow’s Nest miners score signal victory Following their strike ofnearly one month which began on January 12 and terminated February 6 for a new wage contract with the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company, United Mine Workers’ Locals of Fernie and Michel have scored a signal victory, Beginning wage negotiations away back in July of 1964, Dist- rict 18, UMWA Policy Committee went through all the proceedings ‘of conciliation and arbitration but failed to secure any settle- ment satisfactory to the coal miners, The coal operators pleaded a hard-luck poverty-stricken con- dition, declaring that if the min- ers insisted on wage increases, they, the coal operators, would have to close down the mines, In Coleman mine operator Hart- nell even attended the local union meeting to plead poverty, suit- ably attired for the role, Apparently overcome by the boss’ hard-luck story the Cole- man miners stayed on the job, It is reported that the Canmore miners also succumbed to a simi- lar tale of mine-owner poverty, Of the once militant District 18 of the UMWA, only the Fernie and Michel miners put up a united struggle and struck the mines for anew wage contract, With the Fernie and Michel strike solid; negotiations were again opened, Two days of bar- gaining between District 18 of- ficers and coal operators and a new contract was arrived at, As one Fernie miner put it, “With the militant locals of Fernie and Michel solid, the negotiators achieved more in three days than they had in the previous seven months,” The new contract, accepted by the striking locals by an 80 per- cent vote, is retroactive to July 1964 and extends to December 1966, A three-stage wage hike will boost miners’ wages from 64 to 96 cents per day, while machinists and other mechanic classifications get a straight $1.00 per day hike, Fringe benefits include time- and-half for all holidays worked; an increase in group insurance from $1,000 to $1,500 per em- ployee; additional vacation time computed on basis of time worked and length of service; two ad- ditional paid statutory holidays and other benefits, An additional $10 per month has also been add- ed to the miners’ retirement benefit. Fernie and Michel miners have expressed satisfaction with the outcome of their struggle,’ but as a miner correspondent put it: “We could have done better had the rest of the UMW locals in Eastern B,C, and Alberta fol- lowed the unity lead given by Fernie and Michel,” Doukhobor community hits Simma Holt book An appeal has gone out in the Doukhobor community from an extraordinary meeting of repre- sentatives held in Grand Forks on January 17th, calling for sup- port “to protect the honor and integrity of the Doukhobor name” from the charges made in the book, “Terror in the Name of God,” by Simma Holt, The appeal states: “In the course of many years the Doukhobor name has often been smeared, sometimes de-~ servedly, but many times unjust- ly, This transpired through con- versations, newspaper articles and books, “Conversations and newspaper articles are soon forgotten, but books endure the ravages of his- tory, but the last book, ‘Terror in the Name of God,’ by Simma Holt implicates everything en- tirely, and in addition, upholds the presumptive supposition that it is based on the facts of the testimony of government offi- cials, of the courts, and of our own Doukhobor people, “We feel that this is a gross perversion and injustice, To evade this without refutation would mean, as the proverb says: ‘Silence is a sign of consent,’ But most important, if we fail to register our denials and cor- rections into a written record, then in the future people will quote these lines as the veritable truth, “Therefore, we propose that we help one another , , . inthedenial of these lies and in clarifying the true facts. We have no inten- tion of concealing or covering that which is wrong or criminal, Every person is responsible for his own actions, But it is unjust to reproach the innocent; spread discord and hatred.” The appeal announces that rep- resentatives have been appointed and a Committee on Discrimina- tion set up to collect material, It asks members of the Doukho- bor community to send in infor- mation “or injustices or lies written in this book,” Address of the Committee is Box 760, Grand Forks, B,C, All Canadian political parties were urged last week to issue a forthright declaral proposing effective legislation to curb the publication and dissemination of race hate * erature.”’ The appeal came from William Kashtan, national leader of the Communist Pa in a letter to Prime Minister Pearson, J. G. Diefenbaker, T. C. Douglas, Robert Thomp' and Real Caouette. = Kashtan pointed out that with- out prejudicing the work of the committee which has been es- tablished to study this problem, he believes that such a state- ment would create a favorable climate in which committee could bring in its recommendations, The concern of democratically minded Canadians that such legislation might be used for “un- democratic purposes” could be met, in Mr, Kashtan’s view, “by spelling out quite clearly the intent and limitation of such legislation, i,e,, it should be di- rected against acts intended to foment race and religious hatred, or advocacy of genocide and vio- lence against minority groups.” The text of the letter follows: “Our party welcomes the de- cision of the government to es- . tablish a special committee to study the publication and dis- semination of hate ‘literature’ in our country and to~recommend measures which might stop its distribution, “Without prejudicing the work of that committee, I do believe NEWS ITEM: Social Credit lead Robert Th and against hate literature” that were all political parties in Canada ‘to issue a forthright declaration proposing effective legislation to curb such ‘litera- ture,’ it could create a favorable climate in which the committee could bring in its recommenda- tions, “I am aware of the fact that while democratically minded Canadians are united in their opposition to the dissemination of such ‘literature,’ differences of opinion exist «as to whether legislation is desirable, This dif- ference of opinion arises from fear that it could under certain circumstances be used for un- democratic purposes, It seems to me that this could be avoided by spelling out quite clearly the in- tent and limitation of such legis- lation, i.e., it should be directed against acts intended to foment race and religious hatred or ad- vocacy of genocide and violence against minority groups, “Canada has a good precedent to base itself on in the Declara- tion of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, “For those who argue that Investigate the investigator! Wednesday called on the House of Commons for a gov- ernment white paper investigating ‘‘Communist and other A mass petition bearing 20,000 names was presented on the floor of the Legislature this week to the government urging that free bus travel passes be granted to old age pensioners by the B,C, Hydro. The petition, circulated by old age pensioner groups, said that this was needed to al- ieviate undue hardship to pen- sioners, Along with the petition, the old age pensioner groups pres- ented a brief asking that ayearly $5.00 bus pass be made avail- able for senior citizens, F aced with mounting criticism tid over its neglect of the plight of old age pensioners and the one dollar a month recently granted, the Socred government, after hurried consultation, decided to increase supplementary allow- ances by $5, bringing it to $30, Commenting on the govern- ment’s action, Vincent Yates, president of the B,C, Old Age Pensioners association said: “We are grateful for the raise for those on supplementary pensions, but we did hope that considerat- ion would be given to those who can’t qualify for the supplemen- tary pension,” He said: “Our request for a last subversive” activities in Canada. He made no f such an investigation of the ultra-Right and racists 9 with which he has been linked. 20,000 sign bus fare petition February 26, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—? education and not legislation’ required to overcome such gerous and undemocratic pity — omena, it would be well to re that there are laws on the sta books against murder, theft; # son and other anti-social ac not the fomenting of race ant ligious hatred also an anti-So™ act when it includes acts 0! lence against minority gro “Education obviously ple role in strengthening the cratic spirit and in overcdl prejudices and intolerance. legislation also plays a ro showing that society does condone anti-social acts ané@ deal sternly with those res sible for spreading race 0 ligious hatred, “The Communist Party bell therefore that legislation is? ed along the lines indicated and would strongly urge all tical parties to rise above P} san politics and jointly ¢ its enactment, “We believe such a joints ment would be of great si8 cance and do much to strené democracy in our country. —PACIFIC TRIBUN yearly $5 bus pass appe have been overlooked ? premier, I hope our brie be given further consider? our request.” Meanwhile, the Burnaby icipal Council, meeting M decided to press its eff? get reduced fares for uni students, The councillors decided* that the 10-cent bus fare ® won for Lower Mainlant school students be exte? include those attending up!” ies, Grade 13 and techni¢ vocational schools.