(00D, CLOTHING, HOUSING UP LIVING COSTS 30 FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1969 ERFRONT MECHANICAL MONSTER called a Transtainer”’ was designed to handle containers for loading td cargo ships. Containerized cargo loading is one of the most contentious issues in negotiations now erway between Pacific coast longshoremen and shipping companies. The above device would displace numbers of longshoremen. The issue of automation featured prominently in the recent convention of the national Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union, By NIGEL MORGAN Showdown between. B.C.’s rofit-bulging lumber companies d this province's biggest trade mion came a step nearer this ek when management’s rgaining agency, F.I.R., flatly lected the IWA’s request for eOpening of their two-year ‘ontract for negotiations on a roposed 12% wage adjustment. Mmediately following broad- of F.I.R.’s uncompromising ‘O”’ to the union’s request for tiations for an interim pay to catch up with the sharp in living costs and taxes, orts began to come in of iWdowns, wildcatting» and ther forms of job action. Videspread unrest and dissatis- action, which has resulted in Ontaneous action at a number ‘Camps and some coast mills in ent months, is expected to ead rapidly. Following a series of HOwdowns and walk-outs on the ern end of Vancouver Island ding Franklin River, _ inereased by 41%; plywood by meeting of the Left Caucus in wood and pulp in Nanaimo on Sunday that MacMillan-Bloedel’s Franklin River operation walked- off Friday afternoon, and that fallers at Rayonier’s operations at Jeune Landing, Holberg and Mahatta River have cut back production to as low’ as 15 thousand a day. Consensus of the Left Caucus favored extension of such actions; work to bring the pulp section of the industry into the movement for more wages; efforts to obtain province-wide co-ordination of all unions, and an aggressive public campaign to take labor’s case to the people. Meanwhile, IWA_ Regional officers lost no time in making it clear that they were not prepared to take ‘‘NO’’ for an answer. “The Negotiating Committee members are unanimous in their determination to have the contract reopened’, declared Vice President Jack MacKenzie. “Since the present contract was signed, prices for lumber have Woodworkers reject FIR’s NO -take action on job 24%; hemlock by and shingles by 60%.”’ ‘“‘And MacMillan-Bloedel’s profits are up 39% over last year’s; Crown-Zellerbach’s by 60% ; Weldwood’s 1968 profits are more than double those of 1967, and B.C. Forest Products reports a record in both sales and profits. 35%, Meanwhile, our membership like all working people everywhere, have suffered tremendously through increased cost-of-living.” ‘‘When the companies refuse to reopen the contract under these circumstances, they prove to our members and the public at large, that they are not prepared to invest one penny in good labor relations,’’ MacKenzie charged. He said the 1l-man Negotiations Committee will report back to the membership immediately, and after discussion on what action should be taken will meet again next week to decide its course, warning that dissatis- faction on the jab is so high that “neither side may be able to control it’ and a_ serious ‘confrontation’ could develop. VOL, 30, NO. 20 <> “i Tribune 10¢ W age increases are now urgent The announcement from Ottawa last week that the April cost of living index shows the biggest rise of any month in the last 13 years has added weight to labor’s demand for opening of all wage contracts with a view to gaining substantial wage increases now. It didn’t take the disclosure from Ottawa to make workers and their families realize that living costs were cutting deeply into pay cheques, and that the situation was becoming unbearable. But release of the report by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, showing that last month saw the biggest rise in consumer prices of any month since June, 1956, confirms what trade unionists and housewives have realized for some time. The consumer — price index shows that in April alone the cost of living went up 1.1 per cent. This increase was in the most vital areas for working people — food, housing, health, recrea- tion, tobacco, transportation. The major food increase took place in essential food staples: beef, eggs, chicken, sugar. Clothing was also a major item rising by two-fifths of one per cent in the month. A 3.7 per cent increase in beef prices— the highest monthly rise since July, 1967 — has hit working class families particu- larly hard. (See ‘‘Why Are Meat Prices So High”’ on page 11). What does the increase of 1.1 per cent of the consumer index mean to a worker’s pay cheque? It means that the average worker earning $3.00 an hour suffered a 3¢ an hour wage cut in the month of April alone. Economists have long pointed out that the consumer index understates the real increase. . Economist Emil Bjarnason of the Trade pointed out to Labor fights Union Research the PT that according to the index the cost of housing in Vancouver went up 12 percent since 1961. ‘‘Everyone knows that rents and housing generally in the city has gone up much more than that in the last eight year,’’ he said. Particularly hard hit are the nearly 100,000 people in B.C. on welfare. A leading official of the Vancouver United Community Services said last Saturday that, “We've reached a food crisis situation. There may be a reluctance to admit it, but it’s here. Welfare recipients simply can no longer meet the rises. They are being forced to buy low quality meat and change their dietary habits.”’ Mrs. Jean Gillon, vice-pres- ident of the Canadian Assoc- iation of Consumers said, “Someone should investigate how much beef we're exporting to the U.S.’ A leading official for one of the supermarket chains said this week that ‘‘the American buyers are coming up and buying thousands of head of cattle.” Significantly, the highest rise in food prices is taking place at the very time when Canadian and B.C. corporations are reporting the highest profits in their history. The only way for workers and housewives to fight back is to demand higher wages while launching a consumer protest movement against spiralling monopoly-fixed prices. for wage gains -See pages 2 & 12.