-

e.

Continued from page |

roblem of o

» Several factors are responsible for this great ad-

~ Medical science has made great progress, particularly
dealing with the ailments of older people. On the
ier, social plane, medicine and the related sciences

Ve improved health generally.

Narked

ore basic, industrial expansion has brought a
improvement in living standards and working

‘Onditions, largely through the unceasing efforts of the

i" .
rade union movement.

Also, the broader scope of

cial security legislation has had a beneficial effect.

fv ;

icting the labor force.

@ndparents,

d

Wo other factors enter into the picture, both af-

At one end, boys and girls stay in school longer
Mt enter the labor market later than their parents and

* At the other end, private pension plans (some as
ACM making retirement compulsory at a given age) an
age security legislation, inadequate as it may be, have

hade it possible for many workers to retire at a given

*, instead of dying in harness.

ie 1s has caused a contrac-
ho of the labor force, on
st Skills and productivity
ae in our society de-

ay employers, more con-
hed with profits than peo-
» Interested only in getting
Strongest, fastest workers
~. Can, consider a worker
» eld to hire when he is in
J forties, And the worker
a5 'S fifties and sixties who
erriby Is job is often in a
“4 € predicament.
a it is important to so-
ia sa whole, and to these
hat rotkers in particular,
rinty should be given
Rent and useful employ-
rowin rther,e there is a
/8 awareness of the fact
oe 18 morally unjust to
oe older worker from
automatically when he
— Ss a given age.

patting the depression, the
wae 65 who’ was holding
r ..* 800d job made way
: 8 womemployed or part-
mil orker with a growing
Xplaj When he retired. This
Vored why many workers
dry Fett e€ idea of compul-
ays. rement plan in those
B
Drege® are not living in a
ee €ra now and there
hiner’ Toom for depres-
ing in meeting “the
S of the older and the
It; orker,
ty eon essary to distinguish
I a4 € older worker and
Lore . Worker. The older
PE Rtys In the group rang-
e hig. the mid-forties to
Oke,  Xties. The aged
N the 4S one who has reach-
B ig . ©Cepted retirement age,
an, ™€n and 60 if a wo-

r=J
oO

- Oo

= rag
Ooeek
=

tm, aa age is a relative
Work ee men are too old
can i. 50 while others, at
Ore a ul do a good day’s
g, °MBside men half their

is demand-

Oe NY
Sanizeg labor

ing that the worker must: be
guaranteed a pension suffici-
ent to provide for the basic
necessities of life and a reas-
onable degree of comfort.
Then, if the worker so desires,
he can retire at 65 (or 60 in
case of women) or, if he pre-
fers, stay at his job. If in
poor health at any age, he
should be able to leave his
work with an adequate pen-

sion.

Automation, with its prom-
ise of super-abundance, can
and must provide the where-
withal for a vastly improved
social security program, in-
cluding better pension cover-
age.

Postponed retirement should
be the right of every worker
and not a privilege. How can
we speak of “our free way of
life’ when we arbitrarily sep-
arate a man from his job when
he has reached a given age,
irrespective of his capacities
or his health?

This is one of the fundamen-
tal principles of old age pen-
sions in the Soviet Union and
other socialist countries, where
the right of a man or woman
to work is inviolable. There,
if the senior citizen so desires
and is so capable of doing, he
can continue at his job, en-
joying both his wages and his
pension.

Roughly six percent of the
population in Canada, eS
900,000 people, are over 6
years of age. At least 100,000
of them should be able to con-
tinue in productive work.

While we cannot _ quarrel
with the idea of bringing sult-
able immigrants to Canada
where the economy will so
permit, neither can we over-
look the large reserve of older
and aged people who are
looking for the opportunity to
obtain gainful employment.

j large

A few years a89, a le
manufacturing firm ahaa
130 older workers and ‘foun

Vancouver Public Library reading’ room offers a refuge from dingy rooms.

that all but one were able to
work after 65,

Another study disclosed that
workers who are compelled to
retire at 65 live longer if they
can obtain new employment
of a suitable type.

In short, forced retirement
is often bad for the health and
injurious to the morale.

Seniority provisions have as-
sumed importance in collective
agreements these past 10 years.
Firstly, because such clauses
give a measure of protection
against favoritism and discrim-
ination in promotions and lay-
offs. Secondly, . because it
gives the older worker more
protection.

But seniority is no sure
guarantee ggainst unemploy-
ment. Bankruptcy in depress-
ed industries (coal, textiles),
technological changes and auto-
mation have and can result in
severe cut-backs in employ-
ment, affecting older workers
as well as younger workers.

While the older worker who
is protected by seniority pro-
visions is less likely to be
laid off, he will find it harder
than the younger employee to
adjust himself when he is let

out.

On November 12, 1952, fed-
eral Labor Minister Milton
Gregg, addressing the Wo-
men’s Canadian Club in Mon-

treal, said:

“There really are few more
unkind acts than that of forc-
ing retirement on a physically
active person who must then
adjust himself or herself to a
life of inactivity on a low in-
come. Some of you here to-
day may be only too well
acquainted in your own home
with the tragic results of this
practice.” \

However, the federal gov-

ernment, the largest single em-
ployer of labor in Canada, has
failed to apply this standard
itself. Every civil servant
must go at 65, an age at which
a cabinet minister, a man of
power, is usually secure for
many years to come.

But while old-line party
politicians can cynically live

by the double standard, and
refuse to raise the inadequate
pensions of senior citizens, the
Jabor movement will continue
to be guided by the one and
only standard which can be
applied to this problem, the
idea that of all our natural
resources, people are the most
precious.

Credit limits bar
would-be home buyers

Federal government credit restrictions for home building
is pricing would-be home owners in lower income groups out

of the market.

This was charged by Vancouver Housing

Association in a statement released this week.
Impact of new credit restrictions for home construction has

already resulted in a sharp
fall in all types of residential
homes during the last three
months of 1956. According to
the association, there has been
a drop of nearly 30 percent
in Greater Vancouver from
1955. This has largely been
due to an increase in interest
rates under NHA financing
from 5% to 6 percent.

The housing position of the
lower income groups in Van-

couver has actually deterior-
ated despite new construction
and severe hardships are be-

ing imposed on people in
lower income brackets and
pensioners, the _ association
charges.

To .substantiate this charge
the association points out that
applications for accommodation
at. the Little Mountain hous-
ing project rose 500 percent
during ithe last year while the
stream of elderly people seek-
ing decent accommodation
within their means has be-
come a flood.

Vancouver Community Chest
and Council estimates that up
to 2,000 people over 65 were
forced to move last year ow-

ing to demolitions and that
no provision of any sort has
been made for the rehousing
of those displaced.

The association maintains
that the level of building in the
country must keep pace with
the increase in the number of
families and at the same time
allow for replacement of ob-
solete housing. Unless this is
done, it says, there is danger
that the housing gains of the
sas. two years will be lost,

The association proposes
‘hat federal government re-
strictions for home building
be relaxed and that the gov-
ernment return to the system
of providing 25 percent of the
money for housing loans.
Through making government
funds available at cost, the
rate_of interest for homes can
be kept at a reasonable level
and the necessary volume of
building maintained,

FEBRUARY 8, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 5