MAKE REPORT PUBLIC

Conditions on tugboats
blasted by Labor Council

“We are sick and tired of
having to'live like dogs on
towboats — we are sick and tired
of having our people drowned”’,
Tiny Hines of the Seamens Inter-

national Union told Vancouver
Labor Council delegates on
Tuesday night.

Hines was speaking during the
discussion of the situation pre-
vailing on tugboats where nego-
tiations are in progress — a
situation condemned by several
other delegates. Paddy Neale,
VCL secretary, read letters he
had feceived from Labor
Minister Mackasey regarding
the report of a joint Department
of Labor and Transport inves-
tigation into the safety and
working conditions on tugboats.
The labor minister, according to
his letter, did not feel that the
report should be released to the
public at this time, although he
admitted . that, the report
revealed that conditions on the
tugs were indeed hazardous.

The VLC has requested T.C.
Douglas, M.P. to bring up the
matter of the report in the House
of Commons, and to demand that
it be made public. The reason

that it has not been released,-

Neale said, is obvious. - The
report would bear out every
contention the union has made
regarding the rotten conditions
on the boats, and would influence
current negotiations once the
truth were released to the public
at large.

A delegate from the Office
Workers Union said that he had
worked on tugboats for seven
years in various capacities, and
during that time he knew of five
tugs blown up or capsized with
loss of crewmen lives.

“Tt will never be better until
they have marine architects —
qualified people — rather than
old ships captains and engineers

doing the safety inspections.
There have been too many white-
washes’’, he charged.

Wm. Stewart of the Marine
Workers Union said that if a
strike were called in the tugboat
industry, it would have an
amazing effect on the B.C:
economy.

“Over 2 million dollars of tax-
payers dollars have gone as sub-
sidies into the tugboat industry,”’
Stewart said. ‘‘Ostensibly it was
meant to help the ship-building
industry, but today the boats are
out of date, with the result that
tug owners are putting power
units into small vessels for
which they were not designed,
with a resulting danger to the
crew.

TOM McEWEN, who recently

retired as editor of the PT
because of failing health, will
be honored at a banquet
Sunday, April 19. The veteran
Communist leader and editor
was 79 on February 11. For
details of the banquet see
advertisement below. Get
your tickets early!

Stewart said that Harry
Maloney, the employer’s
spokesman, had admitted on
Jack Websters radio hotline that

he had read the Labor - Trans-
port report on the industry, yet
the S.I.U. had not been allowed ~

to see it.

“We must ask Douglas to
insist this report be made
public,”’ he said.

The V.L.C. has condemned
the policies and statement of
Health Minister Ralph
Loffmark, that the B.C. govern-
ment intended to pay only 70% of
any increase granted to hospital
workers. This move, Neale said,
is designed to curb the wage
increases to the lower-paid
segment of the working force.
Loffmark’s move will inevitably
create layoffs in hospitals which
have the highest caseload in
North America, Neale claimed.

A delegate pointed out that
B.C. receives millions in grants
from the federal government
for health purposes, and receives
well over 200 million a year from
the 5 percent sales tax. Where is
that money going?

‘Every table grape sold in Van-
couver is still on the “‘hot list’’,
wrote. a Grapeworkers Union
organizer from California, even
though a major breakthrough
had been made when the union
had recently signed an agree-
ment with three major growers
in the state.

Other ‘‘hot’’ products where
workers are on strike are
Mackee Breads, (Kingsway),
Hertz, Tilden, and Avis car
rentals, and Dominion Glass.
Delegates from the unions
concerned urged the co-opera-
tion of other unions and the
public at large in boycotting the
products of the ‘‘struck’’ firms.

Communist youth chart course

By P.J. O’KANE

The Young Communist Lea-
gue of Canada was officially
born March 27 to 29 at the Polish -

Canadian hall in Toronto.

Voting delegates at the
founding convention numbered
about 60, with fraternal
delegates and observers making
an attendance of some 150.
Every area in Canada was
represented, from the Maritimes
in the east to British Columbia in
the west. It was very interesting
meeting the youth from all parts
of Canada, and discussing the
problems of other areas.

The main discussion centred
around resolutions such as
Canadian independence,
Vietnam, the native Indian
question, culture, sports and
education, urban affairs;
womens rights, the Canadian
Merchant Marine, as well as the
manifesto and constitution of
the Y.C.L., plan of work, and
names of organization and Lea-

gue newspaper.
Delegates from B.C. presented
resolutions on Canadian

independence, and a merchant
marine for Canada, both of
which were’ unanimously
accepted by the convention. The
delegates also agreed to change
the name of the YCL paper to a
name not yet decided — (a
contest will be held to choose a
permanent name).

There were.a number of young
‘people of native Indian descent
at the convention, some of whom
got together to discuss the resolu-
tion on Indian rights, and
offered amendments which
were accepted. Discussion
brought out facts about the living
conditions and problems facing
young Canadian Indians.

Quebec was represented by 15
delegates who presented a resolu-

tion on the national question —
stating the right of the French -
Canadian people to self -
determination as a nation —
which was” endorsed by the
convention. The LJCR_ has
formed their own paper, the
“Revolutionare.”’

The Central Committee was
elected and is made up of.
‘members from all provinces,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 10, 1970—Page 12

including two from B.C., and it is
planned they will meet three
times a year. Chuck McFadden
was elected national secretary.
Many fraternal greetings were

read to the delegates. Included in -

these were the YCL of Korea,
Israel and the German
Democratic Republic. A repre-
sentative of the 22 million
Komsomol of the USSR brought
greetings and presented a bust of
Lenin, and the Komsomol banner
to the assembly. Jervis Taylor of

_ the Young Workers Liberation

League of the United States
brought fraternal greetings and
urged that in many battles the
youth of Canada and the USA
should work together.

Mark Sydney of the World
Federation of Democratic Youth
told the delegates that the Y.C.L.
is affiliated to the WFDY which
has a membership of 150 million
young people.

Greetings came from William
Kashtan on behalf of the
Communist Party of Canada. He
made the delegates feel proud of
being part of the international
working class movement.

IR RO
AP
HIGH COST

OF LIVING

—

COPE protest
wins point

Council backs
down on carlot

Members of the Committee of
Progressive Electors, (COPE)
paraded for an hour last Tuesday
morning in front of city hall,
carrying banners which urged
council to rescind its decision to
let the Yacht Club build a
parking lot at Pioneer Park.

Among the’ protestors were ~

COPE président Frank Kennedy
of the Longshoremens Union,
Bruce Yorke, head of the
_Tenant’s Council, Mrs. Irene
Foulkes, prominent peace
worker, and Dr. H. Winrob,
candidate for alderman in the
last civic election:

In a temporary bow of defeat,
in the meanwhile, Yacht Club
members announced they were
withdrawing their application
for a parking lot near the the
beach, but instead would ask for
nearby city-owned land on which
to pour cement for their carpark.

Alderman Sweeney, at
Tuesday's meeting of city
council, presented two resolu-
tions, one which would rescind
the motion to approve the
parking lot at Pioneer Park, and
the other a vague proposal that
the city might look around for
other land for the Yacht Club.

WAGE TALKS

Cont'd from pg. 1

industry the big companies
forced 300 Teamsters out 02
strike Monday who demand
parity with other construction
unions. Large picket lines wer
placed by Teamsters’ Local 218
around LaFarge Canada cement
plants.

lead to the Laborers being lock
out by the construction
contractors. Most construction
trades are involved in contract
negotiations with the Com
struction Labor Relations Ass®
ciation, which represents the big
companies and is closely allie
with the ‘reactionary
Employers Council.

A lock-out of the Laborefs
Union by the contractors cou
quickly lead to a genera
shutdown in the whole co™
struction industry.

Emphasizing the need for sub

stantial wage increases for CO®
struction workers, D- c
O'Reilly, president of the B:©:

—and Yukon Building Trades

Council, said recently that the
average construction worker
the past year, which was a £2
one for the industry, earned
$6,864 — only $1,864 above thé
poverty level, which the federa
government sets as betwee
$3,000 and $5,000. :

He said that at present skilled
tradesmen in the industry 4!
an average of only $3.30 an he :
on a 12-month basis because a
the seasonal nature of the woh,
These facts debunk the boss’

propaganda about ‘‘excess!

wages” for building ‘4

workers.
ns

805 E. PENDER ST.

Get Your Ticket BEFORE FRI., APR. 17

TO HONOR VETERAN COMMUNIST LEADER
& RETIRED P.T. EDITOR

TOM McEWEN

—ALULU.C. HALL.
-SUN., APR.

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19-5 P.M.

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The Teamsters’ strike could