PARLEY FRIDAY Britannia to shut week before Xmas Unless las negotia- union and com- -ditch betwee tions 7 officials Friday this week bring in the situation, will about a Britannia shut down December 17, throw- ing 800 miners and their fami- lies on unemployed rolls just before Christmas Last week mine manager Jack Roper told Mine-Mill of- ficers that the New York office had given him instructions to shut down the property unless “arrangements could be made ‘o permit the mine to con- tinue operations on a reduced basis.” rrlav pariey } but unless the federal govern- ment promises aid in the form i there little agreement being ih 3 Z, (a o: 7; a -: D seems hope of an reached. Lengthening SERRE DAD OF hee Pee De Dee Der Dyer Dyer Ny HOLIDAY STORE HOURS PEOPLE’S ' CO-OP BOOKSTORE 337 W. Pender St. MaArine 5836 jobless lines in Friday, December 13 Open till 9 p.m. December 18 & 23 Open till 9 p.m. Regular Store Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Poe Bite Orig Pog tore tos tre tre Ere Coe ea B.C. have spurred Premier Bennett to voice demands for “action now” by Ottawa on the unemployment crisis. Victoria Labor Council pass- ed a resolution last week ask- ing the provincial government to call a conference of repre- ‘ sentatives of municipal gov- ernments, chambers of com- merce,’ industry, labor, and churches, to deal with unem- ployment. While Premier: Bennett is quite willing to make political capital out of the unemploy- ment issue, and urge action by Ottawa, he tends to turn a blind eye to the actual situa- tion in B.C. today. A rosy future-for this prov- ince was painted in a forecast made by the provincial bureau of economics and statistics last week. The special report pre- dicted a 75 percent increase in population by 1975, a growth of 67 percent in the labor force, and tremendous expansion in manufacturing and service in- dustries. This bright picture is paint- ed at a time when layoffs are mounting in many and when “ghost” towns being created—with Britannia next on the list. Unemployment is serious now but will not reach its peak until January or Febru- In those months it may are ary. hit a postwar high. The labor movement is de- manding action by all three government — municipal, pro- vincial and federal—to halt the threatened economic crisis. LOGGERS BALL FRIDAY DECEMBER 20 HASTINGS AUDITORIUM 9 P.M. industries Price of two cigarettes’ bars — settlement of strike, says union “Four cents an hour — the price of two cigarettes — is being allowed to stand in the wa of continuation of a service which has done Canada and the Canadian people proud in th shipping lanes of the world,” charges Seafarers’ International Union in a full-page advertis ment in the daily papers giving the facts on the strike against Canadian National Steamship on the West Indies run. Claiming that-the CNS can well afford to grant the wage demands of the strikers, _the SIU says: “Because Canadian National of the Railways Steamships is part Canadian National financial setup, the steamship operation has been shown in overall financial reports as op- erating at a loss for the last 10 years, with the exception. of a_ single year. Does the steamship company operate at a loss? Separate the CNS re- port from the overall report of the railway, and a profit is shown.” Here are the facts as sented by the SIU. @ A company owned by the Canadian people, with the con- sent of the Canadian govern- ment, threatens to deprive Canadian citizens of their right to work on Canadian flag vessels. ° @ Only a little more than four cents an hour separates the union and the company on wages. This would cost the company not more than $24;000 per year. pre- @ Yet, much more than this, $500,000 by company an- nouncement, has been spent in efforts to bredk this legal strike. Enough has been spent to meet the present wage de- mands for 20 years. @ In one case alone, the chartering of two Trans-Can- ada Airlines North Star air- craft to bring strike-breakers to Canada, the company spent more than $20,000. Add to this the wages of 95 Jamaican seamen, still on the company payroll despite the fact the planes were turned back more than two weeks ago. @ Rather than pay the $24,- 000 a year, the company de- prives the government of $84,- 325 per year in lost income tax and unemployment insur- ance contributions. It also deprives the country’s gross national product of a quarter of a million dollars a year. @ Foreign-born seamen, sail- ing foreign registered ships owned by the Canadian people, will contribute exactly nothing to Canada, the Canadian gov- ernment, the Canadian econ- omy or the Canadian people. PATRONIZE CEDAR FUEL & TRANSFER Phone: 566-R-3 Cedar, B.C.* U.S. submarine Sea Fox and a Soviet freigh’er were moored next to each other at CPR pier No. 5 last week. During November grain shipments reached a total of 15,728, — 304 bushels, with the USSR taking 2,453,919 bushels destined for Siberia. Pulp, paper strikers ask govt mediation Pulp and paper mill strikers, who have been manning picket lines for the past- month, ask- ed the provincial cabinet last “week to attempt to settle their strike, but received a brushoff from Premier Bennett and Labor Minister. Lyle Wicks. The 6,000 strikers made their request for government inter- vention through officers of B.C. Federation of Labor, who were presenting their annual brief in Victoria. At the same time Prince Rupert Chamber of Commerce declared that “the premier and the government must take an active part immediately to bring about an early settle- ment.” : CCF opposition leader Rob- ert Strachan also called on the government to “live up to if responsibilities and make 4? effort -to end the pulp an paper s‘rike by having th Labor Relations, Board call the paper companies and th union representatives togeth” er.” d Premier Bennett replied thé the government, can take ? action “unless both sides fr quest it to do so.” The strikers are still holdi? solid and no attempt has bee made to resume work at al of the six major mills. Continuation of the strik@ 7) however, is seriously affectit? the economy of the provinc® and there is a growing feeliDé that ' the government shout reopen talks betwee the union and the compani® act to December 13, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE