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FROM MINERS OF CUBA TO MINERS OF B.C.
While in Cuba, B.C. MLA Cedric Cox was pre-
Sented with a picture of a Cuban miner by the
Miners of that country to be presented to the

Mine- Mill.

miners of B.C. At the recent Mine-Mill convention ~
in Vancouver Cox (left) presented the picture to
Harvey Murphy, Western district president of

AT THE LEGISLATURE

‘Sweet and sour’ budget fails
to tackle B.C.’s big problems

The Socred government
budget brought down in the
B.C. Legislature last Friday
by Premier W. A. C. Bennett
is a “sweet and sour type bud-
get” but leaves the main big
problems facing the people of
the province untouched.

This was the charge made
by B.C. Communist Party
leader Nigel Morgan in a
radio broadcast last Sunday
Over station CK WX.

Morgan said the budget
contained some “‘goodies’”’. He
Welcomed the twenty-dollar
boost in the Homeowner
Grant; the fifteen-mill levy
On provincial properties to
municipalities in lieu of taxes;
the appropriations for educa-
tion; abolition of the amuse-
Ment tax; salary increases for
Civil servants; and abolition
of tolis on five bridges.

Recalling the fact that the
Communist Party was the
Only political party in B.C.
Which called on the govern-
Ment to boost the Homeowner
Grant without cancelling out
the present per capita granfs
-to municipalities, Morgan said
the concessions made to the
People were the result.of pub-
lc pressure.

Morgan pointed to three
Main areas in which the bud-
8et falls short. These are:

1. Tax relief for homeown-
€ts doesn’t go far enough. _

Che ait ROS A :
LEGISLATURE
3 and .«

iS

;
; oe

Weekly Radio
’ Commentary
NIGEL MORGAN

CKWX

DIAL 1130
Every Sunday

7:05

While the concessions made
are to be welcomed, Morgan
said, the Premier should have
lived up to his promise made
last July and raised the Grant
to the full $100 this year. He
said that even if the full $100
Homeowner Grant was given
now the cost to the govern-
ment would still far short of
the share the government
should pay for increased edu-
sation, health, traffic, sanita-
tion, park and recreation
costs.”

Pointing out that municipal
taxes have gone up $75 mil-
lion since the Socreds came to
power in 1952, Morgan said
more help to civic govern-
ments is needed from federal
and. provincial governments,
particularly in light, of the
tremendous boosts in educa-
tion. costs envisaged by the
MacDonald Report.

2. The budget places the
bulk of the tax burden on
consumers.

Nearly half of the $372 mil-
lion set by the budget will be
raised in the form of nuisance
taxes on consumers. Among
these, said Morgan, would be
$144 million raised from the
sales tax; $4 million in land
sales and service fees; and
$32 million from government

enterprises, surpluses from
high hydro rates, ferry fares,
etc.

Comparing the $144 million
collected from the peoples’
pockets through the sales tax
with only $98 million which
will be raised from big busi-
ness using up our natural re-
sources, Morgan criticised the
concessions made to the for-
est monopolies and said, “It’s
the sales tax that needs to be
cut and eliminated, not the
logging tax.”

3. The budget fails to hold
out any help for the unem-
ployed or to encourage devel-

opment of secondary industry _

in B.C.

Hitting out at the large
scale export of B.C. raw mat-
erials and lack of any pro-
gram for stopping U.S. take-
over of our. industries, and
building of processing indus-
tries in Canada, Morgan
charged that foreign compan-
ies, directly or indirectly, now
control sixty-three percent of
our industry.

Morgan concluded his
broadcast with an appeal to
his listeners to wire, write or
phone MLA’s demanding that
the needs of the people be
more strongly expressed in
the 1963 budget.

Liberal A-arms stand
under sharp attack

A charge that Liberal leader
Lester Pearson had “relegated
his duties as leader to U.S. inter-
ests’”’ by advocating nuclear arms
for Canada, was madg this week
by Howard Perin, a leading figure
in the Peace River Liberal Asso-

ciation.
Tt was also reported’ from Que-

bec that prominent labor leader
Jean Marchand, had apparently
turned down a proposal to be a
Liberal candidate because of the
stand of that party on the nuclear

issue. ‘ ee

Meanwhile, a leading editorial
in the ‘‘Ubyssey, University of
B.C. paper, said in an editorial
entitled ‘‘Vote No Nuclear Wea-

pons for Canada,”’ that “Canada

has a role to play—but not a nuc-

clear role.”’

New U.S. Tests
Hit by Soviets

The Soviet Union said Monday
that U.S. resumption of under-
ground nuclear tests will under-
mine prospects of a test ban
treaty, and “It will giive impetus
to the nuclear arms race.”

A statement released by Tass
said, ‘‘the government of the
U.S. bears full responsibility for
the possible consequences of this
step.” President Kennedy him-
self ordered resumption of under-
ground tests.

Steel extends

raids fo B.C.

Mine Mill fighting back

At a time when the labor
movement in B.C. has been
girding its strength and de-
monstrating some impressive
unity on the economic and
political fronts, the United
Steelworkers union has chos-
en to extend its raiding prac-
tices to Western Canada.

Steel is attempting to have
Mine - Mill de-certified as bar-
gaining agent at the Craig-
mont Mines, near Merritt,
B.C. The Board of Industrial
Relations heard testimony
from both unions last Tues-
day, but, as the PT went to
press, had not made its deci-
sion known.

Mine - Mill had negotiated
a contract with the company
in 1961. During the life of
the contract the company in-
troduced an open pit opera-
tion which, of course, had not
been covered
ment. It proceeded to hire
non-union help (there was no
closed shop, no union hiring
hall, etc.) . at the following
rates: $1.50 an hour for truck,
drivers, $2.10 for shovel oper-
ators and $2.06 for heavy-
duty mechanics. The men
were dissatisfied with these
rates and asked Mine - Mill to
act for them.

The union agreed, even
though its hands were tied be-
cause there was an existing
agreement and therefore, the
union could not even go to
conciliation.

After about five months of
negotiations, truck drivers
rates want up to $2.12 (and
will go up to $2.20 on July
11), shovel operators got $2.34
($2.46 as of July 11), heavy
mechanics got $2.30 ($2.42 on
July 11).

The union reported that,
under the existing handicaps,
these were the best terms it
could get and the workers
voted, in May of 1961, 81%
in favor of accepting them. In
addition, seven statutory holi-
days were won, along with a
number of other considerable

in the agree- |

gains.

The situation was further
complicated because the em-
ployer had quite a history of
anti-labor feeling and had
hundreds of applications for
work at the old rates of pay.

In considering all the fac-
tors present it becomes obvi
ous that Mine - Mill was able
to achieve a rather remark-
able contract. And it looks
even better when compared
to an operation like Noranda,
Que., where rates are lower
despite the fact that Steel has
represented the workers there
for 16 years, and have had
ample time to win improve-
ments.

Yet Steel has attempted to
label Mine - Mill’s contract
with Craigmont Mines a
“Sweetheart Agreement.”

Harvey Murphy, Western
Mine - Mill president, has stat-
ed: “I think the record of this
union is an answer to that
ridiculous charge.”

Murphy also told the PT
that at the board hearing on
Tuesday, Steel refused to sub-
mit any evidence whatsoever
to substantiate its ‘“Sweet-
heart” charge and failed to
call any witnesses to show
that the workers at Craig-
mont wanted a change in
union representation.

However, a group of so-
called dissatisfied workers
were present and were rep-
resented by legal counsel, as
was the Steel union. No ex-
planation was offered as to
who was footing the bill for
all of this legal talent, Mur-
phy said.

“Our union produced sev-
eral witnesses from _ Craig-
mont who spoke for the work-
ers there,’ he explained.

“We feel that we have pro-
ven conclusively to the board
that no ‘Sweetheart Agree-
ment’ exists at Craigmont,”
he concluded, ‘and we are
confident that the board will
rule in favor of our union.”

NATO GEN. HEUSINGER EXPOSED. A trial of Nazi war
criminals opened in the USSR in January to try those res-
ponsible for mass extermination and massacres of people in
Byelorussia during the war. The above documents on display,

with many others at the trial were issued by Hitler Gen:
Heusinger and detailed instructions for annihilation of Sov-
iet citizens. Heusinger is now the top planning general for
NATO, and is stationed in Washington.

Feb, 15, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3