WILLIAM KASHTAN

Equal pay with American |
workers now practical goal |

: baa fight to. achieve equal
wage rates with those of
American workers in compar-
able industries has now become
a practical objective for the
Canadian trade union move-
ment.

Wages .were always lower in
Canada even though productivi-
ty was generally equal to that
in the U.S. This inferior status
of Canadian workers has obvi-
ously been extremely advan-
tageous to big business here as
well as for Wall Street which
looked and still looks upon Can-
ada as an area for super- profits.
Therefore it has always sought
to perpetuate that inferior
status without which its profits
would be much less. i

Workers have for many years
sought to eliminate this state of
affairs ‘but were always told
that living costs are much low-
er in Canada and therefore real
wages in the U.S. were really
not very mutch higher. This has
been the favorite argument put
forward by big ‘business and
capitalist economists generally.
It has had ‘its effects on: the
thinking of workers.

‘

. Today that argument doesn’t
hold much water. Every worker
now knows that the cost of liv-
ing iis higher here than in the
U.S. For example, last Novem-

‘ber the cost-of-living index: in
the U.S. was 188.6 as compared,
with 191.6 in Canada. This
means that the disparity in real
wages ‘between Canadian and
American workers has been fur-
ther accentuated.

The Toronto Star in a recent
editorial on the subject tried to
minimize the situation. It stated
there was a “misinterpretation
of the cost-of-living indexes’
pointing out that bread, butter,
eggs, fish, beef and fowl were
more expensive in Washington
than in Toronto. But it also had
to point out that margarine,
coffee, oranges, bananas, rais-
ins, lettuce, potatoes and a few
other items cost more in Toron-
to than in Washington and that
it also applied to furnishings,
electrical appliances, frigi-
daires, cotton goods and so on.

In the end it had to admit
that the “higher standard south
of the border seems to be due to
better waiges rather than lower
living costs. The average U.S.
worker gets $65.45 for'a 40 to
46-hour week, while the average

Canadian gets $50.04 for a 41 to.
45-hour week. With living costs

at nearly the same level the

U.S. worker can buy more with
what he earns.”

That is exactly the point!
Living costs are, by and large,
comparable in both countries,
put the differential in wages is
considerable, amounting, on an
average, as.the Toronto Star
admits, to $15 a week. It is un-
doubtedly ‘higher from industry
to industry, although product-
ivity and technological develop-
ment is pretty well on a par.

e

Thus there is no question
now but that a solid case exists
to bring about an equalization
of wage rates. There is also no
doubt but that big ibusiness here
and ‘Wall Street will oppose this
just demand of Canadian work-
ers because they want to main-
tain ‘Canada as a low-wage area,
with Quebec lower still, in order
to continue their high rate of
profits.

The February 22 ‘issue of U.S.
News and World Report puts it
quite candidly when it states”
that “American investors are
finding that profits in Canada
as a rule, are higher than in the
U.S.” The reason it gives for
this higher rate of profit is that
“wages are a little lower than
those in the U.S.’ and that
“Canadian workers, by and
large, are dependable and easy
to train . . . investors in Canada
are not worried about national-
ization.”

How little is little? A $15 a
week disparity is quite a lot and
means that much more profit
for Wall Street. U.S. News and
World Report may shortly find
out that Canadian workers in
general, and the workers in
Quebec in particular, will refuse
to allow themselves to be a con-
tinued source of exploitation
and super-profits. The demand
for an equalization of. wage
rates is growing, expressed in
the fact that a number of
unions are now moving in that
direction in current wage nego-
‘tiations.

In effect the demand for
equalization of wage rates is
a reflection om the economic
field of the over-all ‘fight for
national independence and

against the satellite and subor- ©

dinate role our government has
placed Canada in.

It is high time the entire
trade union movement took this
issue up in a practical way, in-
, and fought

it through to victory.

It's o free country, but -

Do you believe that Trunian
is a marvel?

Do you believe the Yanks are ©

really gods?
Are you spreading the idea.”
That their blunders in Korea,
Are really due to overwhpha:
ing odds? :

Do you believe we should re-
arm the Germans?.

D’you think that Krupp
should get his money back?

D’you hate the Pole and
Czech?

D’you love Chiang Kai-shek?

Should those who don’t be
threatened with the sack?

| D’you talk of “bloodstained
villains” in the Kremlin

And complacently ignore
events in Greece? .

Do you say that you abhor

The thought of atom bombs
and war?

But you’d use them in the
sacred cause of peace.

D’you cheer the Nazi eschite
‘Guns or butter?”

Can you forget the millions
who are dead?

— Of course Hitsass re absolute
ly free.

But if you dare to disagree. .

You'll 'be branded as a trouble-
making RED.

. cer uxt

Faddists a- Rania |

JACK PHILLIPS, Vancouver,
B.C.: Some people I know have
taken to one health fad or an-
other. One says we shlould eat
no meat. Another that meat is
the answer to all health prob-

lems. One‘ group is all for
setting-up exercises and a run
around Stanley Park at 6 a.m.
every day, except New Year’s
Day, when the order of the day
jis a dip in the ocean with the

polar bears.

One school swears by chiro-
practors, another by raw cab-
‘bage, vegetable juice and yapuen,

‘cereals.

But despite all ‘these conflict-
ing theories, the really healthy
person never worries too much
about his health, any more than
the busy man in the labor move-
ment worries about ‘his soul.

Faddism is idealistic and uto-
pian. Instead of seeing the
whole picture as one ‘of constant
struggle, change, the dying of
the old and the birth of the new,
the faddist starts and finishes
from one narrow viewpoint, his
own. No matter what ails you,
the faddist would cure you with
his own pet theary:

Faddism m eans ascribing
every ill and pain to a pet
theory, whether physical or psy-
chological. There is no single
prescription for health, The hu-
man body may fail in a sie
aus different ways.

“We must understand that
medicine is a private business,

- operating under a “free enter-

prise” system. The basic mo-
tive in giving service is to make
profit. This is true of the doc-
tors, the drug companies and
‘the pharmacy shops. Some ven-
dors give you your money’s
worth. Others don’t. Some are
more or less honest according
to going standards, and others
are more or less rogues.

‘A man or woman who works
for socialism must realize that
health is one of the most fun-
damental social problems of our
time. This means fighting for
practical measures within the
framework of the present sys-
tem, as part of the job of edu-
eating the people to fight for
socialism. This means all-inclu-

‘ie hat you Please. .

sive health coverage in union
contracts, higher pay to provide
more food and better living con-
ditions and a sustained, political
campaign for an all-in national
system of health insurance.

Some people become intro-
spective under the strain of per-
sonal worry, frustration ‘and so-
cial humiliation resulting from
the pettiness of their lives under
capitalism. A good number of
these become neurotics of one
sort or another. Many ‘of our
faddists must be grouped in this
category.

What we need is intelligent
care of our bodies ‘and intelli-
gent recreation. We must pro-
tect ourselves from such man-

killers as cancer, heart disease
and tuberculosis. We must also
guard against over-exhaustion,
exposure and nerve fatigue.

Lenin and tthe Bolsheviks of
Russia gave us a good example
of how to tackle this question,
in a political fashion. Before the
revolution, Lenin put forward
the idea of radically reorganiz-
ing the system of medical care,
as part of the socialist reorgani-

zaltion of society. Once in power,
the Bolsheviks did just that.
They had no squabble over co-
insurance, sales tax and exemp-
tions. Socialism gave the people
the best that modern science
could provide, absolutely free
of charge.

Thus, we see that fadnism is
a one-way street ending in a
‘blind alley. What we have to do
is fight for a better Canada.
If 20 percent of the Canadian
war budget went for health in-
surance, it would mean a radi-
cal improvement in the health
of our people. If the natural
resources ‘of Canada were har-
messed to planned production
and distribution, the health
problem would be solved. Thus,
‘the road to good health for all
Canadians is
Road to Socialism.”

We can count on him

_ A, McCORQUODALE, Clover-
dale, B.C.: Enclosing $10, one
year’s sub renewal and $7.50 on

the press drive. I am also sign- ©

ing a Pyess Builder’s pledge but
with ‘this reservation: I don’t
think I will ‘be able to make the
grade by ‘the end.of April. It

people of that unfortunate coum

“The Canadian .

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 14, 1952°-— PAGE i a

Deparpe mint

may take me a month or $0”
more.

I am starting in there on @
new place, raw ‘bushland. This.
will be my first crop and it is _
taking about every dollar I cat
scare up for seed, etc. ;

I fully realize the importance
of our press in the ‘fight for
socialism and will do my bit
to keep it going. I read the P#
cific Tribune every week from
pages 1 to 12 inclusive and e”
joy every bit of it, especially
“Guide to Good Reading” and
Tom McEwen’s “As We See It.”
He thas the Sun’s columnistS
beat all the way.

Bureaucrats his beef

G. F. HALVORSON, North
Kamloops, B.C.: What is democ
racy? Democracy is the opp? —
site of fureaucracy, and, 2
theory, if it means anything at |
all, it means that the will of the
majority shall prevail. How
ever, in practice it does not
always work out that way.

We. all remember nearly tw? —
decades ago when the Spanish
people democratically elected 4
government composed of
Liberals and a very few left:
wing candidates. We also a
member how the Spanish bur
eaucrats, with the assistance ot
their friends abroad, refused ‘?
allow that government ‘to. or
erate and saddled the dictator,
Francisco Franco, onto ¢

try. °
Here in Canada the provincial e
elections in Ontario, as well 3 |
the last federal elections, show
that the vast majority of trade
unionists do not want the
to become the government; yet
the trade union bureaucrats 45°
endeavoring 'to force the entire
trade union movement to ad0
the OCF as the political arm
labor.

By far the majority of
peoples of the world want pea”
and yet, a handful of “int
national ‘aiseamaate? with
assistance of ientehanhs in
labor movement, oth her j
dupes, ve pipaped ;

. ne