We’D LIKE A WORD WITH You! were FROM * WEIGHT WATCHERS” NEWS ITEM: Imperial Oil, Texaco and Gulf Oil companies have announced their intention to boost prices early in the new year. Imperial Oil, which was the first to announce another one cent a gallon increase for gas, diesel and heating fuel, had net earnings for the first 9 months of 1970 of $69 million. Bus drivers lot not a happy one Piloting a cargo of human economic facts when they get freight through Vancouver’s the working man in the hot seat? hectic traffic eight hours a day The snide innuendos, the dis- would be no picnic under the best criminatory, loaded questions of employment circumstances. are always reserved for the When the driver has todoitfora trade unionist. Would it not be peanut wage, it adds little joy to _ soul-satisfying once in a while to the job. see the Shrums of this province Hydro bus drivers in made the butt of the same Vancouver and Victoria get a tactics? base rate of $3.75 an hour, which in an 8-hour, five-day week means they receive the municifent sum of $150 a week before deductions. If the driver is a young Mr. Shrum, who as chairman of Hydro is in the five-figure salary bracket, might be asked, for instance, if he would agree to a reduction of his salary to keep ; bus fares down. He might be are gel ese Sage a = asked if he could manage on a children, his basic deductions = ese DE StES-00 a week? would be: income tax, $26.95; ee ries a ae ah pension, $2.49; unemployment legitimate for the government insurance, $1.40. If he belongs to ey ared = subsidize: a a medical plan it would be a service tot e people, i.e. transit, minimum of $6.00 when it is legitimate for us to Hic take-bo ae pay Sherokorc subsidize the WAC Bennett dam . : a > to the ‘tune of hundreds of Se of $113 a rillions of dollars? Why indeed ‘ through low wages should the Out of this he will pay an : oie average $160-$190 a month for ri eae ee SO Sensis rent or mortgage, maintain an automobile, paid or not paid for, There are issues other than pay for insurance, and feed and _— wages involved in the bus drivers clothe his family. Save for the struggle, but in the minds of future? Save for a university thousands of wage earners education for the kids? Save for throughout the Lower Mainland, a trip? What a hope! the wage issue stands out, for Why do TV and radio inter- their battle to survive in the viewers and high-paid Sun economic jungle of the Bennett- editorialists ignore these basic Trudeaus is our battle as well. 1 Jobless protest for Victoria report 31 percent of its members 4,000 members. Vancouver local without jobs— about 1,800 out of 217 had 2,000 of its 7,000 5,800 men. members without work before e Building trades unions have Christmas. been hard hit as a result of the | In November, 1969, B.C.’s Trudeau austerity program jobless figures were given by bringing construction to a halt. Ottawa as being 33,000 or 5.6 Vancouver electrical local 213 percent. In November, 1970 the reports 27.5 percent of their figures were 76,000 jobless, or 8.6 members without jobs. The Percent. Hardest hit have been city’s carpenters local reports the young people under 25, 12 about 600 of its members _ Percent of whom are unemployed, and the Plumbers "Unemployed. and Pipefitters about 10 percent The B.C. Feds action an- jobless. nounced this week is expected to The province’s basic industry, SPUr the whole labor movement forestry, shows heavy unem-_ into action to compel the immed- ployment. Loggers Local 71 of iate launching of a jobs program the IWA reports asmuch as 75 by Victoria and Ottawa. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FF 971—PAGE 12 Amalgamated Transit Union delegate W. Link, told unionists at the regular Tuesday meeting of the Vancouver Labor Council that bus drivers are not striking just to oppose Bill 33; they are striking for a decent wage and better working conditions, despite irresponsible reports in the daily press and other news media. The VLC delegates strongly endorsed a resolution support- ing the Hydro workers demands, and which congratulated them on their refusal to appear before the B.C. Mediation Commission. “We wish to remind the pro- vincial government that B.C. Hydro employees have the right to strike and this right should not How many days of work lost? Vancouver Province labor reporter Maurice Chenier has come up with some inter- esting figures as to the main cause of man-days lost during this past year. He states his research indi- cates that approximately three-quarters of working time lost in B.C. in 1970 was the direct result of.the Construction Labor Rela- tions Association (CLRA) lockout of building trade woekrs, Employers, particularly those represented by Tony Peskett of the Employers Council, are prone to boast of the Santa Claus aspect of their operations in providing jobs for B.C. workers. The Province reporter would be performing a service if he were to research and publish the figures for man-days lost through unem- ployment. Such figures would surely stagger the mind! BUS STRIKE Cont'd from pg. 1 The Mediation Commission is an instrument of the provincial government and B.C. Hydro is a crown corporation created by the same government. When you understand how the Com- mission used the Mediation Officer to stall our negotiations, how can you expectus to appear before the same conmission? The union has publicly called for the appointment of an inde- pendent mediator and has publicly stated that a respon- sible official of the company told them the idea has considerable merit. On the other hand, Hydro’s Dr. Shrum has stated that the place to settle this dispute is before the Mediation Commission. The B.C. Federation of Labor and the Vancouver Labor Council have pledged full support to the striking transit workers, and pledges of support are expected from the New West- minster and Victoria Labor Councils. Representative rates in the expired collective agreement are as follows: Bus driver, $3.75 an hour; mechanic, $4.30% per hour; track maintenance men, $3.20 per hour; janitor, $3.23 per hour; track welder, $4.16%2 per hour; stock room clerk, $3.53 per hour. ity unionists support us drivers all the wa be interfered with,’’ the resolu tionnsaid. The VLC resolution carried an implied warning to the govern- ment in its statement that while the strike might cause some - inconvenience to the public it does not warrant government intervention. It urged that Hydro return to the bargaining table at once. Link said that Hydro has done everything it can to push the workers along the path to the Mediation Commission. He charged that while the ‘‘cats’”’ —_ (Premier Bennett and Labor Minister Pet2rson) were away, Judge Parker, head of the Media- tion Commission, was trying to bring some credence to the com- mission. This is the man, he reminded delegates, who in Nova Scotia had proclaimed that public employees should not have the right to strike. “This can be the year the Mediation Commission can be scrapped once and for all,” said Jack Phillips, CUPE. However, the issues in the strike of bus drivers are getting a better deal on working conditions and wages, he said. There is to be a conference of unemployed at John Oliver High School on January 15 at which Otto Laing, a federal minister, will be present. The NDP Opposition in the pro- vincial legislature are soliciting briefs on unemployment which should outline ideas as to what the B.C. government, and the municipalities can do about the situation. A seminar on the Status of Women will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on January 30, (place not announced) at which Ann Francis (Mrs. John Bird)! headed the Commission 0 Status of Women will be p The B.C. Fed., the CL unemployed committees the various unions w making plans for the ne weeks for the mass lobb unemployed to Victoria oD opening day of the Legislatl January 21. 4 Nominations for 1971 off! took place, to be follo further nominations elections at the next mee the VLC two weeks h Nominated were Syd Thomp Jim Melange, Cliff Rundg Mike Stevenson, Paddy W Bill Stewart, Brian Denton,” Phillips, Jack Lawrence, 7 Hamilton, Frank Kennedy, * Skillings. During the report of ul the delegate from the Telef workers union reported t concluded an agreemen B.C. Tel for 90 cents a over two years, with i ments in pension clauses. Potters Union de reported there was still n@ progress with Crane an@ company’s products are stil D. Greenwell of the IBE¥ the union agreement with ! ends on the 31st of Marc they are presently negotiatl® Josie Halleck of the Hoté Restaurant Workers ¥ reported on a reply shé received from B.C. Hydro® question of free bus pass® senior citizens, as per a I@ tion passed at a recent” meeting. a “It was an insulting le she said, ‘‘in which they make out there are tw0! gories of elderly citizens some who can pay and som can’t, and free passes W® be fair!” ; ‘Wage rates in Canada. lag three years behind’ If there is any further proof needed that Prime Minister Tru- deau’s austerity program was based on a lie and a fraud, it can: be found in an item in the Vancouver Province of Dec. 30, 1970. Wage rates in Canada lag behind advances in production and profits by about three years. This is the finding of the Organization of Economic Co- operation and Development, a world body representing capitalist countries. Early in the launching of the ‘austerity’? program to keep ‘‘inflation’’ in check, the chairman of the Prices and Incomes Commission, Dr. John Young, had this to say: ‘‘Canadian jobs and payrolls GREETINGS for PEACE, PROGRESS & SOLIDARITY in 1971 from FRASER VALLEY CLUB, CPC _ OECD report states, wa depend on our ability t@ goods in markets aroun@ world and meet im competition at home. Lettilé costs and prices rise fasté those of our competitors be a dangerously short-S way to run our affairs.” The six percent guideline, obviously, pernicious attempt to f0 public into believing workers wages were resp for higher prices when, reality lagged as much a! years behind the producti, profits workers had crea company bosses. . The OECD made clea that ‘“‘strong acceleration rates in 1970 constituted catching up (sic) wit increases in output corporate profits. The news item cone “The OECD statement té run counter to warnl federal authorities and that lack of pay restraint major cause of inflation.” It is a mark of the hypoe the whole ‘‘austerity’’ cal, which has_~ done unestimatible harm to © that the OECD concl doubtless long known, from the public: