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Vol. 16 No. 31

EEE 28

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1957

VANCOUVER, B.C.
Authorised as second class mail by

the Post Office Department. Ottawa

: Ff Fades got pension,

then why not Zucco?

Chairman J. E. Eades of the Workmen’s' Compensation
Board should seek for justice in the case of Jack Zucco (who has
@en denied a silicosis pension) as eloquently as he did six
years ago in a brief he presented to the Sloan Commission on
thehalf of his brother (now in receipt of 100 percent disability

award.)

This is the contention of &.
L. Walker of Mine-Mill staff,
Who reviews the two cases in
the current issue of The Com-
Mentator, published by Local

480 Mine-Mill.

J. E. Eades, in a brief sub-
Mitted to the Sloan Commis-
Sion on June 7, 1951, had this
to say about the case of his
brother, R. J. Eades, Claim No.
911144:

“Surely it is conditions such
4s this (coronary heart dis~
€ase aggravated by coronary

‘anozemia as a result of silico-

Sis) that the Workmen’s Com-
pensation Act was designed to
lve recempense to in some
Measure. But surely such a
Case as this, which is obvious-
ly “due to working under-
€round, ig a silicotic condition,
and I think both medically and
Within the definition of the
act could be dealt with.

“Tf such suggestions could
be considered without merit or
leave the way open for much
difficulty in dealing with
claims then it is requested that
consideration be given to some
other means of making com-
pensation available in this par-

ticular case so that justicc’

may be done.”

Mine-Mill agreés with the
awarding of a pension to
Eades, because the union feels

he was entitled to it, writes _

Walker ... “even though he
only had eight years exper-
ience underground — even
though he did not apply until
10 years after he left the mine

— even though he was statute -

barred under the act...”

What Mine-Mill wants to
know, continues Walker, is

Continued on back page
See MINE-MILL

JOSPITAL PROBE

Premier W. A. C. Bennett backed away this week from a demand for appointment of a
royal commission to probe hospital administration in British Columbia. Demand for the in-
vestigation was made by Bill Black, business agent of the Hospital Employees Union, and sup-
ported -by Stan Kermeen,chairman of the Royal Columbian hospital board.

Confronted by reporters,-the
premier turned on_ his . best
political smile and flippantly
remarked that “maybe we
should have commissions to
look into why people make
these foolish statements.”

Black in return accused
Bennett of “laughing off a ser-
ious problem” and said the
premier’s policy “‘is endanger-
ing the welfare of hospital
patients, jeopardizing labor re-
lations between hospitals and
their staffs and undermining
the whole insurance scheme.”

Last week, Black charged
that about $12 millions of the
government’s $31 million -hos-
pital budget isn’t going to the
hospitals. He said he was will-
ing to produce proof at a royal
commission hearing.

Bennett retorted that Black
was “completely off base” and
rejected the idea-of a probe.
He boasted that since his gov-
ernment came to power the
amount turned over to -hos-
pitals has risen from $16 mil-
lions a year to $30 millions.

What the premier avoided
mentioning was that the So-
cred government boosted the
sales tax from three to five
percent, for the express pur-
pose of covering hospital de-
ficits. The extra two percent
was supposed to go in its en-
tirety_ to hospitals. _Black’s
charge—not, answered by Ben-
nett — is that the two percent
brings in more than the gOov-
ernment shells out.

_ “Health Minister Eric Mar-
tin sent a letter to hospital
boards which was a direct in-
vitation to them not to honor
conciliation boards,” Black
charged. “If the same tactics

were followed by private in-.

dustry, charges would be daid
under the Labor Relations
Act?

Kermeen said the proposed
royal commission should -in-
quire into rising administra-
tion costs andthe govern-
ment’s methods of colleetin
and distributing hospita
funds.

THE ATOM FREAKS OF BIKINI
What Cal-Tech experiments prove

FEATURE ON PAGE 6

established a committee to or-

| SERIES ON DOUKHOBORS

August 8 strike deadline
set by St. Paul's nurses

Rejecting a hospital board
offer to.settle their. wage dis-

pute, 230 nurses at St. -Paul’s
hospital have set August $ as
their strike deadline and -have

hospital in New Westminster,
scheduled to start Tuesday this
week. The new contract backs
up a conciliation board finding
previously rejected by the hos-
pital board.

ganize an .emergency service
if the strike -takes -place.

Miss Evelyn Hood, personnel
director for the Registered

: Nurses> Association, said the
A last -aminute settlement z .

Eriday .averted a strike .of 217
nurses atthe Royal ‘Columbian.

Continued on back page
See ‘NURSES

READ BERT WHYTES

SEE PAGE 2

Gontingents of Doukhobors from many places in
B.C. .converged .on Krestova to attend the funeral
of Mrs.-Mary.Gienger (above). At an inquest in Nel-
son this week RCMP Constable R. J. Davidson at-
tempted to disprove Freedomite charges that Mrs.
Gienger killed herself because of despondency over
her daughter’s detention at the New Denver gov-
ernment school,. but admitted that the child’s confine-
ment “might have contributed to the death.”

mI