VOL. 29, NO. 4 ition] Labor to lobby || all MAS for end | fo injunctions Within days after the opening of the B.C. Legislature on Thursday, trade | union delegates from all parts of B.C. started to converge on Victoria for a four- day series of conferences and lobbying of MLA’s called by the 136,000-member Be B.C. Federation of Labor to demand action on many vital issues facing the ; NEWS ITEM... CANADA IS LARGEST SUPPLIER aur Bla Ota Gen 1060 984 | SUGGESTING f 4 s7op THE BOBS Bang fen > Od pen of wa un Ben Oe i] CAMIDA 1S Bin Be OOF a Bee pid apn Der ver OF Goo ee THE EPISTLE FROM PAUL PROTEST URGED Plot to scuttle medicare plan Meeting in Toronto last weekend the Central Committee Of the Communist Party of Canada strongly condemned the Conspiracy by big business, provincial governments and federal old line parties to scuttle the medicare plan scheduled to go into effect on July 1. With leading representatives of the Party from all parts of Canada in attendance, the meeting decided to Send a telegram to the Federal 80vernment demanding that the plan be gone ahead with as adopted by Parliament and that there be no Postponement or watering down of the scheme. Proposals for a Campaign to save medicare were discussed. The plot to scuttle medicare has €en in preparation for a long time. It gota big boost at the federal- Provincial finance ministers Conference in Ottawa in mid- November when Finance Minister Sharp called for pruning of costs and ’ indicated that medicare would be a good place to start. Since then most provincial premiers have come out against the plan. _ The issue has forced a split in the Liberal government and it is reported that Prime Minister Pearson has set up a special task force to work out a compromise on a “‘phasing-in”’ arrangement. Any such scheme would be a concession to reaction in Canada and represent an abandonment of the commitment to proceed with medicare by July 1. working people of B.C. Opening at the Empress Hotel on Saturday, January 27 and running until Tuesday, trade unionists are expected to urge MLA’s for action to remove the use of injunctions in labor disputes. Also to receive top priority by the labor delegates will be demands for amendments to the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Major times set aside for lobbying of MLA’s are the mornings of Monday and Tuesday, January 29-30. Some of labor’s main demands were set forth recently in a brief by the B.C. Federation of Labor to the provincial government. Among the main points made in the brief are these: : : e Accusing the Labor Department of aiding the employers of the province, the BCFL calls for the elimination of injunctions and asks that the legislation on injunctions be reviewed and that there also be a ‘ clause by clause revision of the Labor Relations Act. e@ Changes demanded in the Labor Act include abolition of sections presuming that a trade unionist is guilty of an offense until proven innocent; that leg- islation be adopted preventing the use of professional strike breakers; abolition of the government super- vised strike vote; and abolition of ‘the conciliation boards. e Implementation of the principle of the Freedman Report allowing unions the right to strike where the employer makes drastic changes during the terms of the collective agreement. e It also demands that the proposed Workmen’s Compensation Bill be referred to the legislative committee to” allow labor to make detailed presentation. e The brief urges the government to immediately set up a provincial housing corporation; to take steps to end land speculation; and to amend the Landlord and Tenant Act to require landlords to give reasons for evictions, post. rental rates for all suites and to give three months notice of any rental increase. © Other important social legislation demanded is the implimentation of the recommendations of the Morrow Commission Report on gasoline prices and the setting up of a universal and compulsory government administered car insurance scheme for B.C. e Although the brief did not raise up sharply the question of rising unemployment in the province, many unions, faced with a big jobless membership, ‘are expected. to. bring. up demands for abandoning of tight money policies and launching of economic ac- tivities aimed at producing more jobs. With most major unions entering into contract negotiations in the next few months a special conference will be held Monday evening of delegates to consider wage policy. This week the BCFL called on Labor Minister Les Peterson to introduce legislation imposing a $500 fine on employers who fire a worker or penalize him for applying for compensation. The Federation charged that employers often do this when their industry assessment rate or accident record would be threatened ‘ by compensation claims. The Federation also proposed changes to protect workers against employers bringing back to work injured employees béfuré they are fully recovered.