” os ssmmaunsaie ll

Grape boycott
gains support

The grape boycott in support of striking California grape workers

was given a sharp impetus when Cesar Chavez, their union leader,

visited Vancouver before the Christmas holiday. On December 20 , at

about 250 picket-supporters turned out at the Safeway store at a

Broadway and Commercial to protest the sale of grapes and while gy,

there were visited by Chavez and his delegation.

Ray Haynes, secretary of the
B.C. Federation of Labor was on
the picket line along with many
trade unionists; as well as
Students, housewives and other
sympathizers.

The demonstrators
concentrated on Safeway outlets
because on their board of
directors are at least two men
who own large vineyards as well
as other agricultural land in

' California. These men are major

.

holdouts in recognizing the right
of the workers to organize.

In several radio, T.V. and
Personal interviews during his
Visit to the city, Chavez quietly

- put forward the case for the

grape workers and for the

ILIE HUDYMA

Veteran PT

Salesman set
good example

By ERNIE CRIST
Cire. Mgr.

For a long time Ilie Hudyma
as been selling the Pacific Tri-
une In the streets of Vernon.

Consistently, week after week
sue despite his advanced age,
lie made the rounds; talking to
Workers, old. age pensioners,
young people, or to whom ever

€ happened to meet, about the

Tand the things it stands for.
lie was not a big pusher but, in.
1S own quiet and consistent

way, he proved that there is a
8reat need for a working class
Paper such as the Pacific
Tribune in a town like Vernon
and that such a paper can be sold
even though there may be
relatively little industry there.

On Dee. 15th Ilie sold his last
Copy of our paper. Early in the
new year, Ilie Hudyma_ will
aS a long-cherished dream
ac make a trip to the Soviet

nion for a lengthy stay.

a people in Vernon will miss
ae who went around rain or
th ec, Summer and winter to sell

€ paper in which he believed.
tight extend our deep apprecia-
fot oe Tlie for the job he has done
for ae working class press and
REN € cause of peace in B.C. We
Ba him and his wife the very
an 2 luck and hope that they

ae In ae with us.

., ever, the people in Vernon
will Still be atte 10 buy the
eae Tribune; another PT
th eran Salesman has taken on

€ Job which, as Ilie said, must

Tae — “selling the Pacific
V une on ‘the streets of
ernon’’,

effective across Canada.

’ organizer

necessity of the boycott. He said
he was very pleased with the
success of the latter action, as it
was becoming more and more

Chavez also addressed a well-
attended meeting in the
Unitarian Church on Saturday
evening. He told the audience
that organizing the grape
workers was particularly
difficult in that agriculture is
California’s largest industry,
and big business has a vested
interest in keeping wages at a
minimum in all the fields.
Employers have an_ endless
supply of cheap labor by simply
going into Mexico to recruit.
Agricultural workers are
generally from oppressed
minority groups, he said, and are
faced with racist tactics from the
right wing Reagan government.

Union dues in their field were
necessarily low, and because of
the seasonal nature of the work
it is particularly difficult to
raise strike funds, Chavez said.
While the AFL-CIO have
provided money to assist in
organizing the boycott, millions
of dollars were being used by the
employers in an attempt to
break their fledgling union.

He said that in 1962 the
average wage for grape workers
was 85¢ an hour. In 1965, when
the workers went out on strike, it
ranged between 95¢ and $1.05.
The employers maintained they
could not afford the $1.25 the
union demanded but since then
have raised strike-breakers pay
to as much as $1.60 an hour in an
attempt to break the union.

The union leader dealt with the
prevelance of sickness amongst
his people from the use of

pesticides in the fields. DDT and |

Parathion are two chemicals
which contribute to the sickness
and doubtless contribute to death
at an early age — an average of
49 years amongst the grape
workers compared to the
American average of 70 years.

_ Alderman Harry Rankin
chaired the meeting on Saturday
evening at which Pamela Smith,
in Vancouver, also
spoke briefly. A collection of
$400 was turned over to the
Chavez delegation for the grape-
worker’s cause.

A> sidelight of the boycott
demonstration on December. 20
was the reported action of the
Safeway heiarchy in photo-
graphing some of the individuals
taking part. One man protested
so effectively that the prints
were turned over to him, and
many of those inside the store
learned, perhaps for the first
time, just how far management
will go to intimidate those who
fight for justice for underpaid
workers.

“And in addition to' molding, weld-
ing, boring, polishing and packaging,
this machine also detects Reds:

- IN NANAIMO. Photo shows some of the young marchers which took

part in the first Nanaimo peace march on Dec. 13 to protest the
Vietnam war. A resolution endorsed a telegram to Prime Minister
Trudeau urging that Canada dissociate itself from U.S. policies in Viet-
nam and stop selling arms to the U.S. Another wire to President Nixon
called for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Austerity program

boosts B.C.

Cont'd from pg. 1

“Prime. Minister Trudeau’s
recipe for curbing inflation will
only make the economy ill and
exposes him not only as a'conser-
vative but a reactionary.

“New policies are rquired to
cope with the problem. These lie

in the direction of curbing the

NOW AVAILABLE

Complete
Record

International Meeting
of Communist

and Workers’ Parties
Moscow, June 1969

Contains official documents
and full texts of all speeches.
An invaluable addition to
your personal or institutional
library.

Clothbound. 679 pp.
$5.00

CO-OPERATIVE BOOKSTORE

341 WEST PENDER STREET,
VANCOUVER 3, B.C., CANADA

jobless

unlimited power of monopoly. A
Price Review Board must be
established which would compel
monopoly to show cause before
raising prices.

“A more equitable .redis-
tribution of the national income
must take place through sub-
stantial wage increases, demo-
cratic reform of the tax system
and by increasing and adjusting
social security payments on the
basis of changes in the consumer
price index and the immediate
enactment of a $2.50 an hour
minimum wage.

“Full employment must be
maintained and the economy
stimulated by a vast increase in
the construction of low cost
housing and homes for rent.

“The trade union movement
should vigorously campaign for
such objectives which are also
the objectives of the majority of
the Canadian people and
continue to oppose any effort
directed to freeze wages and
perpetuate poverty which is
what monopoly is striving for.”

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
To All
OUR FRIENDS

CRIST FAMILY

. CEA ATTEN

2 a Lee?

t

DIGEST

THANKS

John Tanche, White Rock, B.C.
writes: First a vote of thanks to
those who have voted for new
realistic taxation policies by
giving me their vote.

It is however, a fact of history
that people only change their
outlook on things when it is
almost too late. However, it does
make one feel good that a ballot
has been marked for a progres-
sive trend.

All changes for the better in
society have been slow, changes
that were challenged by the esta-
blished institutions in vogue at
that period, the new perpetually .
changing and challenging the old
traditions, as it should be.

If one is hungry, and there is
food in the fridge, or thirsty and
there is water under tap, the
proper thing to do is to make use
of these commodities. Likewise
if education is short of funds
wouldn’t the logical thing to do
be to tax the foreign firms who
are taking out our natural
resources tax free for three
years, and are generally
depleting the province of B.C. to

their own ends?
** *

Mr. Fred Anderson, Cobble
Hill, B.C. writes: I am sending
you this article which appeared
in a recent edition of the Victoria
Daily. Times by Prof. George
Wald, professor of biology at
Harvard University and Nobel
Peace prize winner. I thought
you might like to feature this
Spendid article in the Pacific
Tribune.

(Ed. Note. We fully agree with
reader*Andersor that therarticle
in question would be a valuable
feature for the P.T. but space
prohibits running such lengthy
materials).

EQUALITY
The Rich and Poor both have an
equal chance, :
The Rich and Poor both have an
equal right,
For though you wear a Tux or
shabby pants,
You both may sleep beneath a
bridge at night.

xk

As a citizen of these United
States, | urge you Canadian
brothers to disown us! Our govern-
ment is on a par with Hitler
Germany! They seek to control [
the world! This cannot be — but
still they seek the impossible!

ee

The massacres in Vietnam expose
them for what they are. Wake up,
Brothers, Don’t let them get to you
in Canada! Fascism is just that,
whether in Germany or the USA.
We have it — and it is up to our
citizens to destroy it. Whether
they do or not, remains to be

seen. Let us hope you are
awakened to the dangers
involved.

GREETINGS from
MARSHALL GROB, North Bend,
Oregon

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RENEW YOUR
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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 2, 1970—Page 11