DECEMBER, 1974

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

| EOR IWA MEMBERS DENIED U.I.C.

FEDERAL ACTION PROMISED

The following is a copy of the
letter written by Regional Ist
Vice-President Wyman
Trineer to federal Labour
Minister John Munro pointing
out sections of the Unemploy-
ment Insurance Act which
deny universal coverage to
woodworkers. The second
letter is a reply from federal
Manpower Minister Robert
Andras who has promised
action on the matter.

While Trineer’s letter to
Munro is generally self-
explanatory, Section 57 of the
Act provides that where an
employee has worked for less
than 25 days for an employer,
no social insurance contribu-
tions are made on behalf of
that employee. Therefore,
even until the employee has
worked the necessary time, the

’ required. number of contribu- -

tions have not been made nor

have to be made on his behalf
because of the said section.
The reference made to regula-

|
,
r
|

Wyman Trineer
tion No. 173 (17)
explanatory.

Following are the letters:

is self-

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

City Council acted wrongly,
on December 2nd, when it
voted to close down the East
Hotel on Gore Avenue because
its owners refused a fire pro-
tection system as required by
city by-laws. And rentalsman
Barrie Clarke compounded the
wrong by issuing an order for
the eviction of the hotel’s
(actually itis a rooming house)
40 tenants.

About 50 of the approxim-
ately 180 rooming houses in the
downtown eastside of the city
(often referred to as the skid
road area) have refused to
install either a sprinkler
system or a closed stairwell as
fire prevention measures.
When fires occur they become

virtual death traps. Most -

recent was the Georgia Hotel
when three men died in the fire
on October Ist. -

These slum landlords are
defying city by-laws in the ex-
pectation that the city will
close them down. Then they
plan to renovate their proper-
ties and turn them into com-
mercial establishments. In the
meantime the lives of the
tenants are endangered. And
the landlords couldn’t care less
what happens to their tenants
if and when they secure per-
mission to evict them.

In the case of the East Hotel
we had the unique situation
where the lawyer for the
owners was arguing before
City Council in favor of the city
closing down the hotel because
it failed to observe city by-
laws!

When I cross examined the

tative of the owners,

is what I found. This hotel

_ has a commercial enterprise
_ (some stores and a restaurant

the cost of fire prevention in-
stallations. This is the sort of
jiggery pokery that even some
of the biggest landlords are
carrying on to buttress their
phony arguments that they
can’t afford fire prevention
measures.

And when City Council didn’t
close down the hotel as its
owners demanded, the owners
proceeded to make life unbear-
able for the tenants. The water
and heat were cut off. No
maintenance or repair work

“was done. Dirty sheets and

mattresses weren’t changed.
And all this in defiance of city
by-laws.

The Downtown Eastside
Residents Associativn
(DERA) headed by Bruce
Eriksen has been fighting to
clean up filthy flea bag
rooming houses and make then
fit and safe for human habita-
tion. We have been demanding
not that City Council close
them down, but that City
Council force them to clean up
and take fire prevention
measures.

My stand is that if the owners
refuse to do it, then the city
should order it done and send
the landlords the bill. My
contention is that we have the
right to do this under the city’s
charter. But Mayor Art
Phillips and his TEAM major-
ity on Council say this is a “‘no-
no.”’ The Mayor now says we
must close them down if they
refuse to obey city by-laws,
ignoring the fact that these
tenants will be forced to seek
accomodation in other build-
ings just as unsafe and dirty or
more so than the buildings
from which they were evicted.
What our Mayor and his Coun-
cil are doing, in effect, is siding
with the slum _ landlords
against the tenants.

It is hard for these tenants,
most of whom are poor people,
to fight their case alone. They
need all the help they can get —
from the trade union move-
ment and all civic minded

ees See. groups who believe

justice and fair play.

The Hon. Mr. John Munro
Minister of Labour

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario

Dear Sir:
Re: Unemployment Insurance

Further to our discussion in
Vancouver regarding the
above, and more specifically
Section 57 of the Act, I men-
tioned that I had recent
specific instances in mind
when I drew to your attention
the problém involved and
referred to on Page 11 of our
Brief ‘Re: UNEMPLOY-
MENT INSURANCE AND
REGULATIONS THERETO”’,

submitted to the Honourable .

Rober K. Andras in February
1973 and also a copy of his
reply.

I am enclosing herewith a
copy of a letter we received
from Mr. Anthony A. Smith
which emphasizes the import-
ance and the urgency for
amendments to Section 57 that
would provide: UNIVERSAL
COVERAGE TO THOSE PER-
SONS EMPLOYED IN FOR-
ESTRY, LOGGING, AND
LUMBERING.

Also enclosed is a copy of a
letter from Mr. W. E. Hawkes,
Secretary of I.W.A. Local 1-85,
to the Minister of National
Revenue which was prompted
by a letter to Mr. Hawkes from
Mr. I. R.. Westmacott ‘For
Director-Taxation’’. Mr.
Westmacott in the last para-
graph of his letter says, “‘It is

‘the opinion the Statutes are

administered equitably and
impartially, and there is no
intent to exclude any class of
workers except as provided by
law’’.

I believe the above
statement makes our point. We
do not argue with the ad-
ministration of the law; but we
do argue that Section 57 is an
unjust law and denies our
members who are regularly
employed in the forest industry
from which they attain their
living; equality with persons
employed in other industries
should they through no fault of
their own be laid off.

I would be remiss not to
emphasize that FORESTRY,
LOGGING and LUMBERING
in Western Canada is not
casual, intermittent, or
seasonal employment and
should not be grouped in with
Agriculture, Hunting and
Trapping. Therefore, amend-
ments to the Act in this area
are urgent and necessary, and
deserve immediate attention.

Talso take this opportunity to
raise another obnoxious
Regulation which was also
dealt with in our Brief - 1973 —
the allocation of Retroactive
Pay.

We respectfully request that
you review our argument
presented in 1973 and set out on
Page 10 in respect to Regula-
tion 173(17) “RETROACTIVE
INCREASES IN SALARY OR
WAGES SHALL BE ALLO-
CATED TO THE WEEK IN
WHICH THEY ARE PAID”.
This Regulation is most unfair,
insidious, and vicious, it is
brought strongly to the fore at

this time when thousands of.

I.W.A. members are being laid

off or their employment ter-
minated.

MORE
FOR STRIKERS

The IWA Regional Executive Board voted at its Decem-
ber Board Meeting in Prince George, to give the IWA stri-
kers at Huntting-Merritt, Red Band Shingle, Meadow Lake
Sawmills and Dyck’s Containers, an extra $40.00 each on top
of their usual Strike Relief money, for Christmas.

During 1974 Master Contract
Negotiations, the I.W.A. con-

- cluded an Agreement that in-

cluded a program (RATE
DETERMINATION) that pro-
vided for Category Rate
Revisions and Retroactive
Pay. That program has only
now been ‘detailed and imple-
mented, and the implementa-
tion will produce retroactive
pay for not only those who are
employed but also to those who
through no fault of their own
have been laid off.

We reiterate that
Retroactive Pay was earned
while the employee was
working which in some in-
stances in this case was earned
even prior to June 15, 1974,
which was the expiry date of
the Agreement. We maintain
that Retroactive Pay should
not be ‘‘allocated to the week in
which they are paid’’, but
should be considered wages for
the week(s) in which they were
earned. ,

We again request that
Regulation 173(17) be re-
considered and amended in
such a manner as to remove
this unjust feature.

Thanking you in advance,

Yours very truly,

T. Wyman Trineer,
Vice-President,

I.W.A. Regional Council No. 1

Dear Mr. Trineer:

This is in reply to your letter
of October 8, 1974, to my Col-
league, the Minister of Labour,
concerning certain aspects of
unemployment insurance.

Irealize that Section 57 of the
Unemployment Insurance

(

Regulations, requiring 25 days
of work and $250 in earnings in
order to establish insurable
employment, can adversely
affect a woodworker’s entitle-
ment to benefit in certain situ
ations. Therefore, I have asked
that an Interdepartmental
Committee of the Unemploy-
ment Insurance Commission
and the’ Department of
National Revenue / Taxation
make a study of possible
amendments to this regulation
and its effect on employment in
lumbering and logging. When
the study is completed, which
should be in the near future, I
will let you know what has been
recommended in regard to the
present regulation.

The Department of National
Revenue / Taxation is involved

as it is responsible for the

administration of those sec-
tions- of the Unemployment
Insurance Act and Regulations
concerning the determination
of insurable employment and
the payment of unemployment
insurance premiums.”
Regarding Section 173(17) of
the Regulations in respect to
retroactive increases and
wages, I can advise you that
your representations have
been given positive considera-
tion and it is intended to re-
commend an amendment to
delete this regulation in the

- near future.

I want to thank you for
bringing these points to my
attention and I will inform you
of further developments in
regard to these matters.

Yours sincerely,
Robert Andras.

The provincial government
is initiating an equal employ-
ment opportunities program to
ensure equal treatment of all
job applicants within the gov-
ernment and public service.

The program will include the
creation of an office of equal
employment opportunities in
the public service commission
to ensure that jobs will be
available equally to all
members of society.

The Office of Equal Employ-
ment Opportunities will take
necessary action and recom-
mend programs to the govern-
ment so that native Indians,
women, handicapped persons,
and other groups who
presently have under-repre-
sented or unfairly represented
employment will be accorded
equal treatment. 5

The Human Rights Commis-
sion will provide consulting
advice to the Public Service
Commission to create greater
employment opportunities for
the disadvantaged groups in
our society.

The province’s new Human
Rights Act administered by the
Department of Labour prohib-

its all types of discrimination,
but the Equal Employment
Opportunities program is
designed to improve’ an
existing situation.

“In order to correct the .-

inequities of the past, we must
take affirmative action to
restore or otherwise create the
condition of equal employ-
ment,” said Labour Minister
Bill King.

“That means encouraging
government departments and
agencies to hire women, native
Indians and others for a
variety of jobs, while ensuring,
of course, that all applicants
are suitably qualified.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Gene Er-
rington has been appointed
provincial Status of Women co-

ordinator, effective January 1,
1975.

Ms. Errington, formerly om-
budswoman for the Vancouver
Status of Women and a
member of the B.C. Human
Rights Commission, will be
attached to the office of the
planning advisor to cabinet, of
the Provincial Secretary’s De-
partment. ee