No ‘thaw’ in
wage freeze

“VICTORIA, B.C.

A‘ ‘thaw’ of $1,552,710 in the government “‘hospital
freeze’’ was outlined in the budget presented to the legislature
last week by Premier W. A. C. Bennett, but it indicated no
major break in the Socreds’ hold-the-line policy on wages and
will fail to satisfy hospital aes throughout the province.

Intense dissatisfaction was ex-|

pressed recently by business agent
William Black of the Hospital Em-
ployees’ Federal Union, local 180,
who accused the provincial gov-
ernment of giving union members

“nothing but the run-around and
procrastination.”

Black said the union had been
seeking a meeting with the cab-
inet since last July,‘ and finally
had to mail a brief, which so far
has. brought no reply.

The brief urged immediate
withdrawal of the wage freeze
order sent to all hospitals May
2, 1955, and for a commission to
review BCHIS “with a view to
placing it on a more equitable
basis, guaranteeing an efficient
service to the general public, and
protecting the democratic rights
of hospital workers.”

The union brief blasted state-
ments by government officials
that hospitals are overstaffed and
the staffs overpaid, and that the

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Speaking in the legislature
on the question, Arthur Turner
(CCF, Vancouver East) termed
the hospital freeze “one of the
most dangerous and anti-social
orders made by this govern-
ment.” Many provincial hos-
pitals were “deeply in debt”
due to the freeze order, he said.

Sister Superior at St. Joseph’s
Hospital here said the deficit for
1955 “was in the vicinity of $70,-
000.” At Royal Jubilee Hospital,
administrator George Masters said
the audit was not completed but
the deficit would be “sizeable.”

Other hospitals throughout the
province are in the same predica-

ment. Royal Columbian hospital;
in New Westminster reported last '
month it expected to wind up!
with a deficit of nearly $75,000.

Hospital administrators tend to
blame “high wages” for the finan-
cial predicament they find them-
selves in, but the fact is that
hospital workers’ wages lag far
behind those of industrial work-
ers.

“Hospital workers are resent-
ful of the insidious attack, that
has been made on them in the
press and over the air. They
have been doing a valiant job
in the face of all the pressure
and propaganda with which
they have been confronted,”
said ‘the Hospital Employees’
Union brief.

Comparing hospital workers
with police and firemen, Turner
told the legislature that he re-
membered strikes involving police
and firemen in the past, and “I
shudder to think of the conse-
quences of a dislocation of hospi-
tal services. It would be a social
disaster.”

Recognition of the hospital
crisis is contained in the budget
presented by Bennett, which in-
creases the total cost of BCHIS
to $30,433,952 in the coming fiscal
year, and slates proceeds of the
10 percent Amusements Tax for
hospital construction.

A desperate’ bed shortage
exists. in many hospitals
throughout the province. St.
Joseph’s here has 427 beds and
Royal Jubilee 500.. Both are
jammed to the doors and on one
day this month St. Joseph’s had
to refuse admittance to 32 per-
sons. Waiting list for both hos-
pitals is long, though many are
chronic cases.

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Still going strong

at 82

By BERT WHYTE

Welcoming the winners of the
recent Lillooet and Vancouver
Centre byelections to the legisla-
ture, George Gregory (Liberal,
Victoria) joshingly remarked that
they had advanced him from 48th.
to 46th member in length of ser-
vice. This set MLAs to work
with pencil and paper and sub-
sequent speakers began referring
to their unofficial standings in
a House that has witnessed dras-
tic changes in personnel during
the past few years. :

There was never a shadow of
doubt about who was high man
on the legislature totem pole,
however. That honor belongs,
without argument, to Tom Uphill
of Fernie, who has held his Labor
seat since 1920.

Today, crowding 82, Tom Up-
hill is still going strong. Clad in
a neat grey suit and natty bow
tie, the ex-coal miner has lost
none of his fighting spirit and
| zest for life, and his voice, when
he rises to speak, contains much
ie its former resonance.

In his contribution to the Throne
Speech debate, the veteran Fer-
nie member confined himself to
two points: the need for an in-
crease in old age pensions and
the necessity for the government
to give the green light to Sunday
sports in Vancouver. He plead-
ed both cases with eloquence,
passion and wit, just as he has
fought for workers’ causes down
through the years.

* *

x

Later I dropped in to see Tom
Uphill in his office, to ask him a
few questions about his long
career in the labor movement.

“From the Pacific Tribune, you
say?” said Uphill. “And how is
your editor, Tom McEwen? You
tell Tom that I remember meet-
ing him in Toronto about 22 years
ago, just at the time he ‘gradu-
ated from college.’ I was proud
of him then and I’m proud of him
now as a real fighter for the
working class.”

Keeping Tom Uphill on the
subject I wanted — his labor his-
tory—wasn’t an easy task. “Don't
print too much about me,” he
protested several times. And
then, “Don’t print this,” and he’d
digress with a joke or humerous

Calder demands
Indian problems
come to House

VICTORIA, B.C.
The Provincial Advisory :Com-
mittee on ,indian Affairs should
be scrapped because “it has done
nothing since its formation,” in
the opinion of Frank Calder
(CCF, Atlin), only Native Indian
member of the legislature. ’
“Problems of Native Indians
and
placed before a House standing
committee,” Calder told the
House. ‘That is how we deal with
labor problems, for example.
“Why should we hide Indian

with by some committee out-
side this House? I say we should
scrap the present committee.”
(Members of the present
| committee are Ellis H. Morrow,
chairman, appointed August 31,
| 1953, and Ernest Brewer, Law-
| yence Guichon, Edward Bolton,
Captain Charles Cates, and

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appointed December 20, 1950.)

‘problems in a corner, to be dealt:

Uphill has represented Fernie
in legislature for 36 years

TOM UPHILL: He will be honored at a testimonial dinner

story connected with past strug-
gles or travels.

Uphill was born June 26, 1874,
in a coal mining district near
Bristol, England. He was work-
ing in the mines at 14, anda few
years later moved to Garw
(Rough) Valley, Pontycymmer,
South Wales. An active union
man, he was elected four terms
running as union secretary and
check weighman at Ballarat Col-
liery.

When he left for ‘Canada in
1906 his work mates presented
him with a fine Lever watch (the
kind you wind with a key) and
it is now one of his proudest pos-
sessions.

Before that he had done a stint
in the army, and served with the
Irish Brigade in the Boer War.
He belonged to the Army and
Navy Veterans before the Cana-
dian Legion was formed, and is
now a life member of the Legion.

* * x

“T landed in Fernie one Sunday

}morning in April, 1906, bought

a house that same afternoon, and

began working in the mines with-|

in a fortnight,” he recalls. A
In 1911 he was elected secre-
tary of Local 2314, United Mine

Workers of America, at that time | -

the largest local in Canada with
a membership of 1,300.

Entering municipal politics, he
served two terms as alderman
in 1913 and 1914, and three con-
secutive terms as Fernie’s mayor
in 1915, 1916 and 1917. . He lost
one mayoralty election, but in
1919 swept back into office by
acclamation.

‘His first venture in provincial
politics was in 1916, when he
consented to run for the Tories
and was beaten. In 1920 he con-
tested the Fernie seat as a straight
Labor candidate, won and has
never been defeated since. Gov-

ernments come and go, but Tom

Uphill goes on forever.

Many improvements in miners’
and workers’ conditions resulted
from Uphill’s battles both ee
the legislature and > ‘outside,

picket lines.

: the early thirties Uphill
Rea _ FEBRUARY 10, 1956 _ PACIFIC TRB E

visited the Soviet Union and was
greatly impressed with what he
saw. Speaking at a public meet-
ing on his return, he described
the gigantic construction pro-
gram underway in Russia and
casually mentioned seeing wo-
men mixing concrete at a build-
ing site. ;
« “Would you like to see a sister

of yours mixing concrete?” shout-

ed a heckler.

“Hell, I wouldn’t want to mix
it myself,” said Tom. “But they
have jobs for everyone over there.
and the choice of a job is up to
you.”

The heckler was effectively
squelched.

Despite his ee as an MLA, ~
Tom Uphill found time to serve
many terms as mayor of Fernie,
and only resigned recently on his
doctor’s advice, following a major.
operation. |

On February 18 a big testi-
monial dinner for Tom Uphill
will be held in Fernie. It’s a
unique tribute to his years of
service on behalf of all citizens
of his riding that the dinner is
being jointly organized by the
Chamber of ‘Commerce, , the
UMWA, fraternal societies and
other organizations. ‘Minister of
Municipal Affairs W. D. Black
has been invited, and it promises
to be a grand affair.

‘LEG ISLATUR RE

LABOR-PROGRESSIVE
POINT. of VIEW by

NIGEL MORGAN