- 10 “THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER APRIL-MAY, 1976 READERS’ OPINION ON: UNION POLITICAL PARTICIPATION The editor: I completely agree with the letter from Brother Boswyk published in your Feb.-March issue. Politics should be kept out of union business! In the editor’s footnote to his letter it was pointed out that a decision was made by Regional convention action to support the policies of the NDP and publish as much as possible of the Party’s views in the Lumber Worker. Why wasn’t the membership consulted? To me this supports Brother Boswyk’s view that your paper does not express the feeling of the rank and file members of the IWA. Lorne E. Dunphy Local 1-80 IWA , The Editor:. I am another Union member who is not in full agreement with your paper, the Lumber Worker, taking any political party’s stand. Keep Union news in, but keep political “‘wish-waSh”’ out of it. I am in favour of a certain Party, but I do not cram it down every- body’s throat. It matters little to me what you decide during your Regional Convention. Keep your paper clean unless you have decided to get into politics! If you want to support the NDP, that is your business, but I won’t have any of my money spent on ‘‘back- stabbing.” I do admire Mr. Vander Zalm for his policy, no matter what Party he belongs to. It’s time to clean up on “dead-beats’”” and lazy, em- ployable unemployed. You know yourself how some Union members suddenly turn lazy after 30 days work, and then get full Union protection to keep their job. If you do intend having a Union paper polluted with political ‘‘junk’’, please remove my name from your mailing list. ‘ Paul O. Weber, Local 1-80 The Editor: Reading through your other- wise well-written and well- edited paper, I can see that you are pro NDP and feel that everyone receiving your paper should be as well. I am an IWA member and was present at a union meeting of IWA local 1-80 (Duncan) where a vote was taken to support the NDP in the then upcoming Dec. 11, 1975, provincial election. I was one of the rather large- minority -who raised their hands in opposition to the vote. The NDP, nevertheless, received the support that was asked of the union’s leaders. Support that was, not by any means, indicative of the narrow margin by which they won. With the vote termed as pro, the union, and all factions thereof, took upon themselves to declare that ‘‘IWA members were in full support for the re- election of the NDP party.” The IWA has ever since stated that its members (not some as it should have been) are in favour and support of the NDP. And you talk of the Social Credit party selling out! On the front page of Western Canadian Lumber Worker, Vol. XLIV, No. 1 (Feb.-Mar. 1976) you ran an ICBC notice which dealt with insurance agents and their commissions. The article was totally un- necessary. People are still going to have to pay the same amount for their insurance. You seem.opposed to the idea of some non-I[WA members (God forbid!) earning a living; namely the insurance sales- people. It was a very cheap shot that you aimed at the Social Credit party and insurance agents; but, then again, I can’t really expect a good shot with the low-grade ammunition that you buy. If you must persist in using such articles to sell and satisfy the IWA bigwigs, please take my name off your mailing list. My reading time can be used for better material such as Donald Duck or Superman comics. Sincerely (sarcasm intended) D. F. Altenburg = ee Everybody should be familiar with the Consumer Price Index. It’s what Ottawa uses to let us know, statistic- ally, how much poorer we are today than in 1971. Well, as if that’s not bad enough, now someone has come up with a Quality of Life Index, so we can measure how our chances for happiness vary in different parts of Canada. The QLI is the brainchild of John Kettle, an editor for the Southam magazine, Execu- tive. Kettle is still developing the index, trying to find out what factors mean more in determining the overall quality of life in a place. However, already has reached a few con- clusions. Using social indicators such as murder, suicide, divorce, the number of doctors, cars, telephones, baths and strikes, along with the severity of winter and unemployment, he has found that: e Life in Ontario is better than average, and getting better; e Life in Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick is average and getting worse; e Life in Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan is average and getting better — in the case of PEI, getting better rapidly; 5 e Life in Quebec is average and getting worse; and e Life in British Columbia and Newfoundland is below average and getting worse. Canadian Interchange os) * ” R I . Rp seed - Piz EDITOR’S NOTE All IWA policy is formulated by majority decision in con- vention by rank and file delegates elected by their peers at the local union level. IWA members unhappy with the policy have the right under the Union’s Constitution to press for changes. However, the only way this can be done is by attending local union meet- ings and participating in the business. The IWA is a democratic organization and the majority opinion prevails. The Editor: - Your correspondent in the last edition, Brother Boswyk, seems to show the same ignor- ance of union affairs as he does of provincial politics. Even Mr. Vander Zalm has admitted that all employables are not trying to dodge working; or that a shovel is the answer to all unemployment. In spite of Brother Boswyk’s remarks, there are many of us readers who hope you will continue to keep us informed and aware on political matters. It is a pleasure to have one publication that presents the NDP point of view. There are at least 400,000 voters in B.C. who are tired of most other newspapers constant attempts at defence of a system, that, as Tommy Douglas said long ago, is neither free nor _ enter- prising. . Keep up the good work. Sincerely, Ms. B. Reid The Editor: It was with some concern that I read Brother Boswyk’s letter in the Feb.-Mar. issue of the Lumber Worker. I am sur- prised that you should be criti- cized for carrying out the policy of the IWA, passed at the Convention, which is to support the NDP. Any member of the IWA who cannot see that political action is an integral part of our role as a trade union is short-sighted indeed. One has only to look at the incredible mess that the Federal Wage Control Legisla- tion has created, or the ex- tremely short-sighted, if -not outrightly vindictive steps being taken by the Socreds provincially, to realize that purely economic action is not enough. Trudeau has _ effectively eliminated collective bargain- ing for wages and working conditions, replacing it with a blind formula that fails to take into account the reasonable expectations of working people. Bennett and McGeer have already expropriated almost half of the wage increase we negotiated last year in the form of unnecessarily punitive auto insurance premiums. Bonner has claimed another chunk with higher Hydro rates, we are told that transit and ferry fares are going up, gaso- line prices are scheduled to go up. The list of higher costs faced by working people seems almost endless. Politicians can, and do, wipe out the gains that we make at the bargaining table with little concern for us, the working people. We have no choice but to become in- volved politically to defend ourselves. One other aspect of Brother Boswyk’s letter also concerns me. He seems to swallow hook, line, and sinker, the old Socred argument that the main problem with our society is that too many people are on welfare. Frankly, the argu- ment is full of holes. s Mr. Levi’s $100 million oyer- run went into Mincome for people who are either too old to work or are handicapped, and for Pharmacare for the sick. It provided necessary services for people who either have already earned them through a lifetime of work, or who cannot fend for themselves through no fault of their own. There are very few people capable of supporting themselves who receive social assistance. Politicians like Bill Vander Shovel, who attempt to make political hay out of the misfor- tune of others deserve all of the criticism they get and more. It is already clear that he and his Socred coherts are going to drastically reduce services to people such as hospital care, education, and day-care, while, on the other hand, they will be providing the business community with tax breaks, grants, and the elimination of royalties. If Brother Boswyk cannot see what Vander Shovel and friends are up to, I certainly hope the majority of the IWA membership can. Keep up the good work. Garth Brown, I.W.A. Local 1-217 The Editor: The subject of political in- volvement by- Unions has always received a great deal of membership attention and been surrunded in controversy. This is not strange as the right of an individual to their own political beliefs is probably the most cherished right in our, society and the very corner- stone of democracy. . Unions from their very con- ception have been in the fore- front of the struggle to protect this right and many others, such as, the right of people to live in dignity and freedom with an adequate income which will provide a decent standard of living. Freedom and democracy are meaning- less phrases without the opp- portunity to share in the pro- ductivity of our industrial society. The labour movement in its struggle to improve the working place, establish safety, and extract a fair share of the productivity has had to fight the companies, the gov- ernment and change the very fabric of our society. The business community and companies learned a long time ago that the way to control Unions and increase profits was to control the government and the process of legislation. They have been remarkably successful in retaining this control. Although labour has made great strides through the years, each success was brought about by bringing political pressure to bear with whatever means was at the Union’s disposal. The Workers’ Compensation Act,. Unemploy- ment Insurance, minimum wages, and Labour Acts which protect the right of workers to organize and bargain collect- ively, are but a few of the legis- lative changes that have been brought about. Those members who question labour’s involvement in the political arena should look at it in this way. Politics are nothing more than a struggle by different groups or lobbies within society to control the reins of govern- ment in order to inact legisla- tion which will protect their interests. The business com- munity has been extremely successful and in many cases this success has been at the expense of working people and society -as a-whole. Labour must ‘continue to fight to protect the gains we have already made and to continue to struggle for improvements in legislation which will make our society a still better place to live and work. The working people of this country organ- ized as the united labour move- ment have the strength and the ability to bring about tremen- dous improvements to our society and standard of living. Labour cannot leave the gov- erning of our country to the business interest as they will only act for themselves. To continue to just fight the employer on the job without a political role would force labour to fight the boss with one hand tied behind its back, a most unrealistic and one-sided contest. Labour Unions in Europe and Great Britain have long ago decided that the only way to protect their interest and improve the social and econofnic structure for society. was to create their own labour political parties which they have done. In Canada the choice has not yet been made but Labour’s alternatives are certainly narrowed with big business controlling and financing the old-line parties leaving only the New Demo- cratic Party to offset the con- centration of power in the hands of the employer and multi-national corporations. Erik Wood Financial Secretary Local 1-367 “Among the 22 industry groups surveyed, the real estate and the food processing groups showed the strongest increase (in profits). The five real estate companies showed a combined increase of 161.1 per cent over a year earlier, an increase that reflects par- ticularly good results for two of the companies. Cadillac Fair- view Corp. Ltd. had a profit of $6,099,000 in three months ended Nov. 30, up from $1,906,000 a. year earlier.