SSINGIHE
 MIEGISIURE

By NIGEL MORGAN

5 Auto insurance rates in B.C. — already among the highest
ny the continent and about to jump again— came in for sharp
criticism in the Legislature this week.
Son While the government announced establishment of a
Rate chdog”’ board of five members to supervise insurance
facie a the 185 companies operating in B.C., there was no
ae jon the million captive customers “compelled to buy the
C = by law are to get protection from what the recent
rs A - Royal Commission on Automobile Insurance (1968) called
Well documented partnership between the Government of

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mitish Columbia and the insurance industry.”
eae of this is the reaction of company spokesman
raise al pense that There is no objection to it looking at the
eae the board, dominated by the Public Utilities
= Sion (whose record on hydro rates is well-known) is
Mena to examine the rate structure.
aaa appointment of insurance actuary Byron.
Riki indicated the board will delve into the industry’s
aa would accept that as reasonable”’ he concluded. Such a
Y acceptance certainly. doesn’t indicate any fear of
with priv ee car owners forced to take out insurance
Th ate, profit-motivated companies.
eee ple of compulsory, no-fault insurance is a good
ne sa to leave motorists to the whim of companies who
ee continue to defiantly announce their intention of
sini § on the basis of whatever the traffic will bear, is to
“<€ people the victims rather than the beneficiaries of pre-

if sens rates in B.C. are already HIGH. Exhorbitantly
coming. B efore the recently announced increases that are
8. B.C. has just about the highest rates across the
= and the poorest coverage.
ee pebeult to compare rates because the insurance
y has devised an elaborate and complex system. In B.C.
ght different rates, while Saskatchewan (because
t-owned and operated) they have one uniform
ow, VERY LOW compared to B.C.
* * *
ples that prove the only real answer to
rges lies in a government-owned and
i Sask y Operated insurance scheme include :—
Skatchewan, where drivers pay only $65 a year for a
8e policy for a standard size 1966-70 car that includes
: ulate liability, and a collision and comprehensive
rates 4 with $200 deductable. On the average Saskatchewan
are about half those of B.C.
-C. government itsélf doesn’t insure with the
panies. Knowing how inefficient and costly the
es are it provides its own insurance. In 1968 the
N-profit insurance for the government’s 5,838
ything from passenger cars to snow ploughs)

with pee ments B.C. Hydro used to insure its buses
are es ables at a cost of $60-$70 per bus. Now it
e cost its own insurance too. My information is that in
ompar worked out to only about $15 each for 2300 buses.
insurance ; those figures with what you’re paying for
- If the Government can take care of their own |

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WIHE SECOND LINE” ’

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HARRY BRIDGES, president of the
International Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union, writes a
regular column for the union's paper,
“The Dispatcher,’ called ‘‘On the
Beam.'’ The following column
appeared in the issue of Dec. 18,
1970. :

When we were in Vancouver,
British Columbia, for the Inter-
national Executive Board
meeting, the papers, radio, and
TV were going continuously on
that one subject of the release of
the British trade commissioner,
James Richard Cross, in
Montreal.

There has been no general
labor movement position on the
question of the rights or wrongs
of hijacking, kidnaping and
bombing. Unions generally take
the same position that most
people do on the use of violence
in our society. In other words —
they’re against it.

If these devices — the use of
hijacking, kidnaping, bombing
— are weapons that would be
called truly revolutionary, then
one might wonder why they are
not used more often by people in
daily life. For example, why
couldn’t these methods be
engineered as part of collective
bargaining? Of course it
wouldn’t be a ‘‘legal’’ weapon,
but if pressure is all that is
needed then why couldn’t this
method be utilized?

I raise this not in serious
vein, but because such methods
are becoming more common-
place every day — especially in
this country, and, of course,
more recently in Canada.

Let’s analyze these primitive
methods a step at a time. Take
hijacking. Here we have a
situation where a man or woman
climbs aboard a plane filled with
passengers— all kinds of people;
all races, colors and creeds, rich
and poor, men, women and
children. Even some workers,
taking a cheap tour— a once ina
lifetime holiday, perhaps —
would be there.

The hijacker then says in
effect to all the people on the
plane, as well as to its owners
and the government: Do as I say
you must do; go where I say you
must go or I'll see to it that
everyone of you dies!

So this is a revolutionary
tactic? It is like hell. I sure see
nothing revolutionary or coura-
geous about it whatsoever.

Then there’s the next tactic,
the use of kidnaping, holding
someone for ransom until you
have your way. This is a tactic,
incidentally, which reaches far
back into the dark ages when it

“Action Program For Jobs”’
will be the subject of an address
by Bruce Magnuson, National
Labor Secretary of the
Communist Party of Canada
when he visits B.C. this week.

He will speak on Sunday
February 7th, 8 p.m. in the
Swedish Hall (Hastings St. &
Clark Drive) in Vancouver.

On Monday February 8th, 8
p.m. in the Dell Hotel, 10662 King
George Highway, Whalley, in
North Surrey.

And on Thursday, February
llth., at 8 p.m.-in the Williams
Auditorium, Broughton  St.,
Victoria.

Magnuson will also hold a
number of organizational
meetings with Party members

. during his week-long visit to B.C.

was employed generally by
kings and princes in struggles for

Mag n USO n to S p & | k power against each other.

This is exactly what happened
in Montreal, to the British
official, Cross, who was finally
released after Montreal and pro-
vincial police, supported by
federal troops, discovered his
hide-away.

In another case, a Govern-
ment Labor Minister in Quebec,
Pierre LaPorte, was murdered

_ by another group of kidnapers.

This is the group who claim
they are fighting in the name of
justice, equality and liberty, to
separate the Province of Quebec
from the Canadian nation.

Last, there is something I
consider most cowardly of all —
bombing. If one combs the pages
of labor history in all countries
at all times, one notices that
bombing’ is used only as a last

“fesort when all ‘other! methods

HARRY BRIDGES SAYS:

Terrorist tactics are not
weapon for working class

fail. It is a natural for police
agents and labor spies to
accomplish their aims — evil or
otherwise, and to discredit
unions, break. strikes and
confuse the working classes.

For example, there is the
Mooney Case. In that situation,
Tom Mooney, a noted labor
leader in San Francisco, was
accused of a vile bombing plot in
which a number of people were
killed in 1916 in the so-called
Preparedness Day Parade.
Mooney was first sentenced to
die and finally his sentence was
commuted to life. Eventually
Mooney was fully pardoned and
the entire world was aware that
his conviction was a hoax and a
frame-up against the labor
movement.

In our industry later on there
was the Modesto frame-up. It
was eventually proven that the
guy who persuaded a bunch of
our union people (mainly Marine
Firemen), to take a trip up to
Modesto, ostensibly to blow up a
few oil tanks, was discovered to
be a paid agent of the oil
companies. This happened
during the West Coast oil tanker
strike of 1935.

When I say it’s cowardly. I

mean it’s.a lot different from a.

holdup man marching into a
bank with a gun and saying “give
me your money.” After all he
runs serious risks, he takes his
own life in his hands. But a
bomber who plants bombs and
then takes off leaving innocent
persons in jeopardy is certainly
taking no chances with his own
life.

These methods such as hijack-

ing, kidnaping and bombing are
crude and insane operational
tactics. They are anti-people
more than anti-establishment.
They don’t benefit the working
class, or help bring about social
betterment for humanity.

We as workers banded
together in a union have the
greatest weapon.of all. Properly
organized and planned, properly
used, our weapon has all the
potential of a nuclear bomb. And
I mean the organized striking
power of working people.

With this power to strike, to
join forces to even bring about
nationwide shutdowns, organ-
ized workers can use striking
power to stop producing or even

. to stop wars.

Bombing or kidnaping or
hijacking will never equal this
workers’ weapon or ever even
come close.

- Cartoon from Quebec Communist paper, “Combat”.

Trail’s Mayor Devito
hits Victoria policies

In his 1971 inaugural address to
Trail City Council, progressive
Mayor F. E. Devito said there is
an increasing struggle between
the federal and provincial
governments in the appor-
tioning of national income as
demands grow at the provincial
level.

Cities in B.C., he said, have-
been subjected to considerable
pressure from the provincial
government in Victoria in the
last year.

We have seen municipalities,
hospital boards, and school
boards faced with sharper
directives from Victoria on the
matter of costs and
expenditures. Indeed, at times
relationships between the
various municipal groups and
the provincial government have
bordered almost on warfare as
each one of us attempts to meet
the problems of demand and
inflation.”

_. Deyito said there is a growing

= we

gap between expectation and
fulfillment on the part of all
citizens young and old, poor and
middle class. This manifests
itself to growing resentments,
frustration, criticism and

cynicism about the role of

government...

“‘The day has passed when
local city councils can interest
themselves solely in local
problems . . . the young people
in our society are being joined by
increasing numbers of adults in
the demands to alter priorities
and, in fact, change the system.”’

‘We can expect increasing
pressure for rapid change. How
quickly groups such as this city
council move to dispel the
frustration and anxiety of our
age may be the measure of our
success or failure.

“Any of us who accept the role’

of public persons at any level
today have to accept the
responsibility of recognizing
and meeting the challenge of our
times.

ACIFIC TRIBUNE—FR|DAY—FEBRU/