UP TO VICTORIA NOW

EDITORIAL

That final ‘cash-in’

E bes problem of disposal of the corpus dilecti after life
: has run its course may have little to do with socialist
perspectives, and then again it may. Anyway it is back in
the headlines.

The B.C. -Memorial Society was established some years ago,
primarily for the purpose of making a moderately low-cost and
dignified funeral service available; to provide an alternative to a
powerful funeral undertakers monopoly, organized to take a final big
bite out of John Q. Public in his “ashes to ashes’’ finale.

On the other hand the B.C. Funeral Services Association has been in
a very lucrative business for a long time, set up to promote and
safeguard that last “touching” big bite, so dramatically illustrated in
Jessica Smith’s book, “The American Way of Death”’

This week the FSA announced its plans for another try to safeguard
that big monopoly bite by drafting a brief to be presented to the
‘Bennett government proposing the establishment of a government
undertaker-loaded Board, which would ensure “competent and
qualified”’ burial services, etc. Obviously, despite FSA denials,
directed against the B.C. Memorial Society’s modest funeral service
rates; to get rid of a low-cost competitor with the aid of a monopoly-
dominated government.

The moral is clear. The elimination of our corpus dilecti, in other
words our ‘“‘cadaver’’, can only be realized by the elimination of
monopoly exploitation in all its evil and ghoulish forms — while we are
‘still alive.

The FSA move to consolidate the burial racket shows it is time we
struck another blow for those left behind to foot the bill.

Adolph rides again

= hile they both lived to ‘‘strut and fret their hour upon
the stage’ of Canada’s Parliament, the late Socreds

John Blackmore and Solon Low from Sunny Alberta, won considerable

notoriety as the'twin Joe McCarthys in Canadian coldwar politics.

No anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, anti-labor or anti-progressive
fabrication or slander was too putrid or stale for either of these Socred
political forgers to pick up, refurbish, and wave like a soiled rag in the
Halls of Parliament, themselves shielded by parliamentary immunity.

Now it would seem that the Blackmore-Low-McCarthy mantle has
fallen on ex-Socred national leader, Robert Thompson. :

Some few weeks ago Herr Thompson “‘discovered’’ that Socialist
Cuba was beaming ‘“‘inflammatory’’ radio broadcasts to Quebec,
urging French-Canada to rise in revolt against their “oppressors” in
Ottawa, and establish its own ‘independent’ state on the banks of the
St. Lawrence pronto!

All of which was speedily exposed as a purely Thompson fabrication.
Now he raises another thriller in parliament, to wit; that “‘Separatist”’
Gilles Gregoire, MP (Lapointe, Que.) is now visiting France, “raising
money . . . for the destruction of Canada.”

There should be some way of shutting off these mischieveous and
provocative Socred Hitlerites in Canada’s Parliament, particularly
since there are so many other really important issues upon which its
time and money would be better spent.

SSSSS8eeeere2

AS many fine speeches
and high resolves of last
week’s convention of the British
Columbia Federation of Labor, there

were very few moments in that week-

long confab which could be described
as dramatic. But there was one such
minute of drama, which lifted for
one brief moment the curtain of
routine commonplace, to reveal that
quality of unflinching and stubborn
devotion to an ideal, which might
well be described .as_ the
“imperishable soul of labor” in a
body all too often suffering from
economic hallucinations or political
rigor mortis, or both.

Mrs. Josephine Hallock of the
Union Label Trades Council,
probably best known in B.C. labor
circles as “Mrs. Union Label” was
reporting for the BCFL Union Label
Committee.

Her report was brief, but in its
brevity this \ physically frail little
Sister in the great family of B.C.
labor hammered home her
persistent and consistent message

with all the force of an ancient
Vulcan. How to ‘“‘sell’’ the idea and
consciousness of trade unionism by
putting union products and services
in the preferred class of every day
commodities — food, clothing and
shelter. How to mourish and develop
“this most neglected child of the
labor movement” so that it could
become a giant in the service of the
labor movement — a builder for
public principle and morale.

“Mrs. Union Label’ was getting
through. The first evidence of this
was when a large number of the
delegate body of the BCFL
convention seemed to be developing
the first symptoms of “St. Vitus
Dance’’ disease. But they were not.
What they were actually trying to do
was to take a peek inside their coats
(or other. garments), as
inconspicuuously as possible, to see
if they could find a union label. oCFL
Union Label Chairman Harry Minuk,

‘(International Ladies Garment

Workers Union) quietened the
figeting delegates by emphasizing
that ‘‘the time and place to look is

Rankin wins first round
in welfare boost fight

By ALD. H. RANKIN

Last week I proposed in City
Council that we ask the provincial
government to boost present
wretchedly low welfare allowances.
Specifically my four point motion
urged:

. Rental allowances should be the
amount of rent actually paid;

. A 20 percent increase in food an?
clothing allowances;

. An increase from $50 to $100 in
the allowable amount that welfare
recipients may earn before
deductions;

. Assignment of four social
workers to help people on welfare
get job training and further
education.

Welfare allowances are today
pitifully inadequate. A family of
four, for instance, receives $172 a
month. Of this amount $75 is allotted
for rent and the balance of $120 for
food, bus fares, etc. In practice rents

JOSEPH ZUKEN, aldermanic
candidate for the Winnipeg Labor
Election Committee, was re-elected
Wednesday, October 25 from Ward 3.
Also elected along with Zuken was
Trustee Mary Kardash in the same
ward. Both candidates fought a
strong campaign around the needs of
the people of Winnipeg. ;

when you are buying your clothing —
not here.”’

And then the drama, spontaneous
and deserving — in tribute to their
frail little “‘Mrs. Union Label.’’ A
whole convention rose to its feet —a
delegate body probably more
“honored in the breach than in the
observance” of union labels, to give
a resounding ovation to doughty
Josephine Hallock.

There is no doubt that if the
underlying principle of the Union
Label was pushed to its full
potential, with a few thousand Mrs.
Union Labels on the job, this ‘‘most
neglected child’’ of labor might
become considerably more robust.

The causes of this neglect are
many and varied in the boom-and-
bust capitalist society in which we
live. But one must begin by looking
within the ranks of the labor
movement itself.

Millions of people in this society,
union and non-union alike, are
compelled to purchase the bare
essentials of life, motivated by
economic necessity, rather than by
principle.

Millions of others, many among
them union men and women enjoying
a great measure of ‘‘affluent”’ living,
do much of their purchasing under
the spur of bargain basement
opportunities and ‘$1.49’ days, in

are much higher than $75 — often
$100 - $125 a month — leaving around
$50 — 75 a month for food and other
necessities. As a result many of the
more than 22,000 people on welfare
are ill-housed, ill-clothed and ill-
nourished. :

y
The provincial government, which

sets welfare scales, pays 90 percent

of welfare costs; the city 10 percent.

Surprisingly, my motion passed
unanimously, although Ald. Earle
Adams spoke against it. This is quite
a change from last May.

When I advocated a welfare
increase at that time Ald. Reg
Atherton saw only ‘professional life-
long bums” on welfare, while Ald.
Ernie Broome accused me of
following the ‘‘Commie line.”’ It
‘would seem that either Ald. Broome
has become the most recent convert
to Communism or he has had a
change of heart.

I rather suspect the change of
heart on the part. of several
aldermen was aided by the
convincing brief presented to Council
by the United Community Service,
by the women on welfare who spoke

out courageously before Counc!
their own behalf, and by the
delegation backing them UP:

However, we must remember
the motion passed by City Co
will not by itself raise we!
allowances. It is still only 2?
directed to the prov!
government. :

nl

The next necessary St€P ”
persuade the provincial goV® i
to act on our recommendatio
isn’t likely to be easy. Organs
and individuals backing the inc
should lose no time in sending ©

‘and letters to Premier Benn”

The whole effort should cl
in a large representative deleg?”
to Victoria at the appropriate!
present the case for 4
increase.

How society treats its
fortunate citizens is a 8!
of its humanity. Degradingly
welfare standards are 4 blot °

rich province; we can well 4

do better. We all must bear
responsibility for Wha
government does or fails to do.

Charter changes would

Charles Caron, Vancouver
secretary of the Communist Party,
sent the following letter to City
Council this week on proposed
amendments to the City Charter;

“Our understanding is that the
City Council has instructed its legal
department to prepare an
amendment to the City Charter. This
amendment is to be submitted to
Parliament at the next session of the
Legislature.

“The amendment calls for; No
vote for the ratepayers on capital
expenditures for streets, curbs,
roads, sewers: These capital
expenditures are called essential and
should therefore not go up for by-law
votes.

which Union Label principles play
little or no part.

Then we have another evil,
perhaps the greatest despoiler of the
union label concept; a high-salaried
trade union beaurocracy who ‘“‘sell”’
the union label to unscrupulous
employers and exploiters, so that the
latter may operate an under-paid
sweat-shop or a highball industrial
hell — then put their product on the
market as ‘Union Made’? — while
their speeded-up workers drop with
fatigue — and curse their phoney-
dominated union and their boss with
equal vehemence.

Any of the 528 BCFL convention
delegates who stood up to pay “Mrs.
Union Label’? a well deserved
tribute, can find many such
enterprises in Vancouver itself — if
they are interested. Enterprises
which, with the assistance of a trade.

prompt us to opp'
the Council.

“1. We submit that the
abrogating its authority
placing such an important ©
the City Charter to the el
the form of a referendum:

“2. We oppose the ch
amendment since ratepay’
be denied the right 10
where future capital expen
will take place. :

“In our opinion the Counc!
review its decision 0
and not seek such an ame
the City Charter.” d

union high-salarie
operate a sweatshop
facade of a Union abel
degrading the union as
label. J :
“Selling” the Union Label
without first establis ¥
principle it is preset.
represent in the factory
concerned, is scarece
encourage or imbue thé
outside with the urge
made goods only.

The products of such a
may not be “‘hot”’s Ca
depressingly and vaio
clammy. It is time the
was upgraded to mea? es
intended to mean; not@™
the product of swea 7
protection for trade, unl? 2
women against che@
,products.

wea

_ Editor—TOM McEWEN

» Pacific Tribt

.4g¢¢ ‘West Coast edition, Canadian

Associate Editor—MAURICE ee gs

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November 4, 1967 — PACIFIC TRIBUY