Friday, June 6, 1975

15c Vol. 37, No. 23

PACIFIC

RIiBUNE

1e stakes up front page space with an
one more week to go before the
ecessary to give this front page
ders. .
s in our drive to date. Already we
any previous drive in our history.
eek the total stood at $34,000. That
n only one week before the drive ends_
-at the Renfrew Cormivanity Centre o on

ve : raised more money han we have
raised before ut we need more money — we need every cent
e $40,000 if we are to maintain the improvements made in the
er and meet rising costs. In fact, we are faced with an il per
cent: nerease. in printing costs on June 1.

_ It is therefore essential that we raise the full emote: ot the
rget, and go over it if possible. That requires a final big effort by
¥ readers and supporters in the last few days of the drive.

F you have already donated to the drive: Can you do more? Can
ou spare another contribution, large or small? We don’t have to
‘ell you how important it is. Our 40-year history testifies. to the fact
that working people know that ey must teem” our paper going and

The British Columbia Federation
of Labor will hold a special one-day
“Onvention in the Bayshore Inn,
4ncouver, on Friday, June 13, to
al with strike\ co-ordination,
mket line policies and related
Matters.

Forest probe
to be set up

Resources minister Bob
illiams announced Tuesday that
€ provincial government will set
a Royal Commission to probe
th BC

forest industry, with
pecial emphasis on the tenure
Ystem, that is, the leasing of

Public. owned forest lands to
Imber companies for their use.
Pointing out that tenures such as
€e farm licences come up for
"eewal in 1978, he drew attention
the last task force report
Prepared by UBC economist Peter
€arse which said the present
fnure system favors the large
Nulti-national corporations.
aw B.C. Communist Party has
€n pressing for a full public

Probe into the forest industry for

Many months. In May it addressed

g letter to resources minister Bob
miams urging a Royal Com-
on which will be open to the
Ublic and all interested groups.
Con its letter to Williams, the
on mmunist Party executive said
ae “underlying the necessity for
est a probe is the need to
Bablish whether the people of
the: who own over 90 percent of
forest lands of the province, are
Stting full benefit from present
icies and forest tenures.”
pete CP letter, signed by
Vincial leader Nigel Morgan,
See FOREST, pg. 11

The convention has been called
by the Executive Council and the
agenda is described in the con-
vention call as follows:

“The convention will discuss the
Federation’s policies. on picket
lines, strike co-ordination and
related matters. A policy paper on
these matters will be presented by
the Executive Council for con-
sideration by the convention.”

With the increasing number of
strikes in B.C. it is considered
necessary to improve. co-
ordination between the affiliates of
the Federation and to enhance the
leadership role of the Federation.

Under existing rules, affiliates
are expected to consult with
Federation officers before
mounting. picket lines that could
affect other affiliates not directly
concerned in a dispute. With the
increasing number of strikes and
the involvement of inexperienced
local officers, the necessary notice
to the Federation has not been
given in every case.

These omissions have led to
some hard feelings. In certain
cases they have tended to sour
relations between unions and
aggravate previous differences.

In the opinion of many who are
directly involved, the tightening up
of the rules and their application
will strengthen the trade union

movement and make it a more

éffective instrument on behalf of
working people.

The proposed amendments to the
B.C. Labor Code are being widely
discussed in trade union circles
and some of these amendments
have not been received favorably
by the Federation and its affiliates.
It is reported that affiliates will’
press to have these amendments
on the agenda of the special
Federation convention.

UNIONS MADE SCAPEGOAT

By MAURICE RUSH
Since the first half of May, 1975,
food prices have taken a sharp
upward turn after four months of
moderate increases, leading to
predictions that 1975 will see a

- Sharp escalation of prices for food

and other necessities. This has
been reflected in the sharp rise in
prices charged in supermarkets
across the country in recent weeks.

From January to April in-
dications were that the annual rate
increase in consumer prices would
be about seven and one-half per

‘cent. This estimation began to

change in May when a sharp rise
was indicated. Even before the
Food ‘Prices Review Board in
Ottawa pointed to the problem last
week, consumers were already
aware of it by the steep price in-
creases on most food staples when
they went shopping at the super-
markets.

Last Friday, the Prices Review
Board chairman,~ Mrs. Beryl
Plumptre, after months of silence,
said that food prices began rising
at a substantial pace in recent
weeks following four months of
easing from the upward trend of
1973-74, and that Canada’s food
prices will rise another 15 per cent
by the end of the year.

Last year, according to the
consumer price index, food prices
rose by 16.per cent. If food prices
rise another 15 per cent by the end
of the year, after a slow start for
the first four months, indications
are that the last eight months of
1975 will see an even sharper rise in
food prices than anything we have
seen before.

This sharp rise in food prices is

oa

not the result of food shortages.
The problems most producers are
faced with is overproduction.
There are huge surpluses of beef,
but the price of beef has been
pushed up by the food industry by
another 10 to 25 cents per pound in
the last few weeks.

What is really happening is that
the food chains are boosting prices

all down the line in an attempt to
maintain the high level of profits of
the last few years. The rise in food
prices is the direct result of
profiteering, but in-order to cover
up their gouge of the public they
are attempting, with the help of the
big business media, to make the
unions the scapegoat.

See FOOD CHAINS, pg. 12

Labor, Natives unite

on land claims issue

TERRACE — In a historic
decision last week, organized labor
in northwest British Columbia
formed an alliance with the Nishga
Indians of the Nass Valley to
campaign, along with other Native
groups throughout the province,
for a just settlement of Indian land
claims.

Labor councils from the three
major centres — Prince Rupert,
Terrace and Kitimat — also en-
dorsed plans the Nishga Indians
have to picket logging roads on
lands they claim in the Nass River
area.

The decision to throw labor
support behind the land claim
campaign came out in a three-day
northwest study conference at-
tended by Native representatives,
labor and environmental groups
and the Anglican Church of
Canada.

Delegates agreed to a_ policy
statement declaring: ‘‘The labor
movement and the~- Indian
movement of the northwest stand
together against the efforts of the

companies, government and other
selfish interest groups that seek to
divide and exploit us.”’

Another major resolution
reaffirmed ‘“‘the unity of Native
people, trade unions, en-
viromentalists, progressive church
groups, community associations
and others in supporting the fair
and just demands. of the Indian
people.”

Further support for the land

claim bid came this week from the
B.C. Federation of Labor which
declared, ‘‘development of B.C.’s
northwest quarter must not

proceed until Indian land claims,

are settled.”’

Federation secretary Len Guy
hailed the Terrace conference as
“pointing the way for effective
cooperation between labor. and
Native peoples.”

He emphasized that the
provincial government must drop
its ‘hands-off attitude’ and
“vigorously pursue an equitable
solution to the Indian land claims.”’

Sane G ffi n iia:

Adding further imptus to the land claim issue, some 60 members of the Squamish band set up picket lines
under the Lions Gate bridge in North Vancouver this week. Under the McKenna-McBride Commission of
1913, 132 acres of Capilano reserve land were cut off—without agreement from the band. ~

a