| = Help For (B Patients— Pagiperculosis is not something that can await treatment wery available facility should be placed in the hands of dreaded disease can be helped immediately,” William eel No. 1, told The People this week. . The information that the provincial government tend SSS wincial director of TB control in order that the victims i) give a more generous scale : ‘allowances to dependents of 4 sufferers is welcome news (a more _pasitive plan of ac- # on hospitalization of TB 5 os than that made public by ‘or Minister Pearson is neces- q:, be added. e econ ‘announced this week #: a plan for erection of a "000 2B hospital to treat be- ‘en 250 to 300 patients had nm approved, but said that the \— had not been selected and _ ‘jstruction of the building ‘ht not start for a year.. }earson has admitted that pres- hospital facilities for TB) vic- fs fall far short of the need ¥i that there are between 55 =| 75 cases without beds. Gov- ‘ment clinics are continuing uncover fresh cases at the G2 of oné out of every 200 ®sons tested. Jiver 19,000 industrial oes me Peen tested since last No- Sober and the governments jas to place TB cases in nurs- ner than the $45 a month of- ad by the government for TB 7. delegation from Vancouver jgi0r Council headed by Presi- a: it =.-E. Leary interviewed a Go cincticn ‘of sovernment a ci -in dealing with the aq ent need of hospital facilities Leary will interview Dr. W. H. li those found to be suffering Hatfield; provincial director of- #u tuberculosis. : TB control, this week to discuss: St that time organized labor Sanded that the family al- j suces for IB cases be in- creased. As matters stand, hos- pital cases cannot find beds, are _ forbidden to work, and must use whatever savings they ~possess before they become entitled to $25.85 for themselves, and in -the case of married men $11.65 a month for the wife, with an ad- ditional $7.05 monthly for each child.- Even then the family can- not receive the relief cheques unless destitute. Labor leaders queried this week expressed grave concern over the situation. “It is a seandalous state of af- fairs,’ commented F. BE. Leary. “The government should act at once, even if it means a speedy eonversion of some public build- ings as a temporary measure - pending the erection of a hospi- ; cannot trifle with the health of our people. What chance of recoyery jies open to any worker who must sit at home a victim of the ‘white plague’ with no immediate hope of hos- pitalization while his family lives ' homes pending the erection : 2 a TE. hospital have fallen Clared’ tiarold Pritchett TWA }ough because proprietors and istrict president. : jf of nursing homes can get “There definitely should be fients with lesser ailments for some reasonable provision for to $80 a month, which is family maintainence,’ declared Rirt Showler, president, Trades and Labor Council. The City Hall imployecs: Association this week passed a resolution urging special allow- ances for dependents of TB eases, which has been forwarded to the Civie Federation for en- dorsation. A delegation headed by E. E. immediate steps which must be taken to procure the necessary hospital facilities. HE PEOPLE BOOKSHOP |JNDER COVER } Ay four years in the Nazi underworld of America fl. by | OHN ROY CARLSON $4.50 | THE SOVIET FAR EAST hssued under auspices of the yastitute of Public Relations. ‘ by WILLIAM MANDELL ALASKA and the ~ CANADIAN NORTHWEST The story of the opening up of North America’s last frontier by HAROLD GRIFFIN $3.50 FALANGE The Axis secret army in the Americas by ALLAN CHASE $3.50 MArine 6929 105 SHELLY BUILDING — 119 WEST PENDER VANCOUVER, B.C. Aircraft Proposals Drafted By Reg. Wilson MONTREAL. — Officials and Shop Committee Repre- sentatives of Lodge 712, In- ternational Association . of Machinists, are drafting pro- posals and measures designed to safesuard the future of the thousands of workers in Montreal’s aircraft industry. The proposals will be presented to an aireraft ‘conference to be held here on April 23. Repre- sentatives of government and management. have been invited to attend and participate in the discussion. Irving Burman, Financial Sec- retary of the Lodge, told this reporter that three major ques- tions face the workers in the industry at the present time: @ Maintenance ot the airframe industry will become increas- ingly dependent on whether or not Canada will develop the plants for the Dsognoss of aero engines: @® Creation and planning of sub- stantial employment in the service and maintenance field consistent with Canada’s in- ereasing role in world air traffic; and : @ Estimate of employment re- - sulting from the complete ful- filment of the above, and con- sequent plans for the recon- version of facilities. Burman was of the opinion that construction and develop- ment of an airplane engine and components industry was im- perative if the airframe industry was to be maintained at all, and - ~pointed_out that Lodge 712 mem- “bers were watching with interest the proposals made by Hon, C. D. Howe to establish a plant for production of jet-propulsion en- gines in this country. “An independent engine in- dustry is absolutely indispens- able to the future of aviation and maintenance of the frame industry in Canada,’ Burman stated. “Development of this ad- vaneed engine will enable Can- -ada to start on a par with the older producers of aricraft pow- er plants, and will be of inestim- able yalue in providing an all- round industry.” Burman also pointed! out that Canada would play an impor- tant, even decisive, role in post- war air routes. “Postwar air traffic over north- south routes will become an In- creasing factor in Canada,” he said, “and we shall see a tre- mendous development in air communications between the U.S., Ganada, and the Soviet Union, requiring a highly de- veloped network of landing facilities, metereological and signal systems, and maintenance and ground crew.” “The problems of reconversion should be approached on the basis of estimating our require- ments in relation to the above two factors, and plans devised _ to provide employment for those not absorbed in national aircraft - production.” Burman also underlined the fact that the entire question is a national one and can only be met and solved properly on the perspective held out for Can- ada’s economy as a whole. WAND STUDIO “Anything With a Camera” 8. E. Hastings St. PAcific 7644] VANCOUVER, B.C. Labor Personalities—32 Tom Parkin By CYNTHIA CARTER WHEN I walked into the big Vancouver office of Aeronautical Mechanies Dodge 756 to keep my appointment with its secretary, Tom Parkin, a slim, quiet young man with an en- gaging grin, I found him to be so enthusiastic over the union’s campaign for maintenance of the aireraft industry in the city that I could searcely get him to the subject of his own life. We went into his private office. Tom sat down at a littered desk over which hung a full-color picture of a plywood Mosquito bomber. creek : “It's really amazing, you know,? he said, “the support we are winning for our postwar expansion program. This is proof that people are beginning to realize the vast possi- bilities for. aircraft con- struction in British Colum- bia. Geographically, we are in an ideal position. We are close neighbors of China and the Soviet Union and at an import- ant crossroads for foreign trade.” “Yes,” the union is do- ing a fine job in educat- ing the people along these lines,’ I agreed. “About this interview. with you for my column “Another important factor, he continued as though he hadn’t heard my last remark, “is our fine climate. And during” the war years we have developed a labor pool of 8,000 skilled aircraft workers.” : “Most of them good union members, too,” I put in. “Now; abo this interview . . - “And we have all the raw materials. With the advances made in the use of plastic weods and with forests practically on our doorstep, we have the materials to maintain. and expand our aircraft industry and give employment to thousands of men and women. Then, too, there are the new air routes—but I guess this is what you want to know.” Epsom PARKIN, who is only a few months more than 29 years old, comes from a very progressive family. His brother. Al Was associate editor of The People until iliness forced him to resign the position, and a well known member of the TWA. His — father, Ed Parkin, was a staunch fighter for trade unionism in the days before Canada had a labor code and when being a union man often meant being on a blacklist. Tom was born in Vancouver. He went to school in Vic- toria. Nanaimo and Powell River until he was 13. He quit school in first year high when the family moved to a light- house at Quatsino, where they stayed for about two years. From that time until 1935. he worked at “practically every- ting.” -He was a trucker, a steward on CPR coast boats, a long- shoreman, a garage mechanic. He worked in a Jaundry, a box factory and several sawmills. In 1936 he came to Vancouver and operated a garage with his brother-in-law for several years. In February, 1941, he started work in the tool shop at Boeing’s Plant One. Tom Parkin has always been interested in unionism and labor politices—he has been-a member of the Labor-Progressive Party since its formation. From his earliest childhood, when his father was forced out of the logging industry for union activity, an experience which naturally affected the whole : family and left a clear memory of hardship with his brother and himself to the time when Tom, at 18, marched on a Victoria picket Hine in the big longshore strike, union organ- ization has had a personal as well as a political significance for him. So when Tom started work at Boeings the first thing he did was to join the union. Before long he became a shop steward. In 1942 he was elected to the executive and chosen delegate from the union to Vancouver Trades and Wabor Council. In 1943 he was elected secretary and represented Lodge 756 at the ‘Trades and Labor Congress convention. He has been a member of the labor-management production committee since it was set up a year and a half ago. Through it, the company has paid out more than $8,000 to employees for suggested improvements which are making possible greater efficiency in all Boeing plants. He is also chairman of the Joint Labor Blood Donors Committee and is himself a four- time donor. The main task of Lodge 756 at present, he believes, lies in overcoming the understandable uncertainty among the workers. “Most men and women at Boeings are worried about their future and many are leaving the industry now, believing that work is slowing down and will soon end. The union must work to unite all members behind the slogan ‘An aircraft in- dustry for postwar B.C.,” he declares. “Tq do this, we are not only carrying on a campaign within the union, but among all citizens. A trade union which tries to keep its affairs to itself without working in cooperation with other unions, other labor bodies, and other sections of the community, is as out of date as a- Model & Ford. Now, many unions recognize this fact and are turning to political action. As unionists, we must realize that we represent an important section of the Canadian public and must strive to fulfil our important task of helping to win the war and shape Canada’s future.” fe fone