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"IT'S GOOD BUSINESS TO GET RID OF
WASTES WHERE IT 1S CHEAPEST!"

_ Still time to block
| Utah pollution permit

Towards the closing days of
1970 B.C.’s Pollution Control
Board indicated that its New
Years resolution for 1971 will be
to silence public protest over
pollution, and continue to grant
permits to giant corporations to
further pollute our environment.

One of the final acts of the old
year by the board was to reject
the appeal by three anti-pollution
groups which asked that the
public inquiry into the proposed
dumping of 9.3 million gallons of
waste by the Utah Mining
Company at Port Hardy be con-
tinued at a later date.

The Board thereby closed the
door to any further hearings by
the Board ‘against the dumping
permit which the Socred
government is anxious to put
through for the U.S. and
Japanese monopolies behind the
‘huge mining complex on
Vancouver Island.

DIGEST

Alex Muryn, Surrey, writes:
The latest news coming from
Ottawa that the government is
taking off the voluntary ‘“‘price
controls’? makes me wonder
what will happen now? My
experience with ‘‘voluntary
price control”’ is this: A year ago
I built kitchen cupboards and I
paid .50 cents for hinges; .30
cents for handles.

This month I purchased from
the same store the same hinges
and handles. The hinges were
$1.25; the handles .60 cents. The
only difference was in the
packing — last year they were in
a plastic bag, this year they were
attached to cardboard with
plastic domes over them.

I also priced a kitchen electric
clock at three different stores
last March at the-price of $6.50
‘each, and in June the same clock
in all 3 stores was priced at $9.50
each.

Yes,
percent!

hold the line at six

The three groups had been
refused permission to appear at
the Port Hardy “‘hearing,”’ if it
can be called that. Only four
protests were allowed to be
heard out of 150 protesters. The
three were the Cowichan-
Malahat and Vancouver Central
branches of the Society for
Pollution and Environmental
Control (SPEC), and the
Richmond Anti-Pollution Asso-
ciation.

The three protesting groups
were told by the Board that they
could submit ‘‘technical informa-
tion’ they have on the pollution
application by Utah Mines to
Pollution Controller W.N.
Venables within 30 days. The
Board says it will ‘consider’ the
information.

A Vancouver SPEC official
said his organization was
“extremely disappointed’ with
the Board’s ruling. ‘‘One of the
great things about a public
hearing is that you can get cross-
questioning going ‘both ways.
You can’t do that just by sending
written material.”’

At the Port Hardy hearing in
the first week of December one
of the mine company officials
said he presumed they will get
the permit.

The Socred government, which
undoubtedly has an under-
standing with the giant U.S.
mining monopoly and its
Japanese customers, speaks out
of both sides of its mouth. Early
last year Premier W.A.C.
Bennett told a meeting of the
Quesnel Chamber of Commerce
that his government will close
down industrial plants that fail
to take adequate pollution
control measures.

He told the press: ‘‘I made it
very clear that unless they (the
companies) kept the beauty, too,
and kept away from pollution,
our government would not
hesitate to close their plants.”’

Compare that statement with
what the government board is
actually doing to granting
permits all over the coast for the
dumping of waste into our
coastal waters.

The 30-day deadline given by
the Board to the three protesting
groups to submit their briefs
means that a decision has
already been made to time their
announcement of approval for
sometime in January.

Unless a public outcry is heard
loud and clear in Victoria there
is no doubt among anti-pollution
groups that the permit will be
granted.

JOE WALLACE

POEMS ON CBC

The CBC radio program
‘“‘Anthology’’ will present a
recitation of poems by Joe
Wallace on Saturday, January 30
at 10 p.m. This long-deserved
recognition of one of Canada’s
greatest poets is eagerly
awaited. -

FOR CONSPIRING TO FRAME ANGELA DAVIS

& -

RONALD REAGAN

ARMED AND CONSIDERED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

Where do we go

from

here in the woods?

The latest newsletter, “On The
Beam,” published by The Left Caucus
In Wood, deals with the problems
facing woodworkers in coming
months:

It is very difficult to find
anyone in the woodworking
industry who will disagree with
the principle of one union in
wood. This has been so for a long
time. Yet, in spite of this fact,
there have been no positive steps
in this direction. In fact the
opposite is true.

In the last few years some of
the more militant groups of
workers in pulp broke away from
the IBPS and PMW to form a
Canadian Union. This split the
pulp workers on the west coast of
Canada down the middle, and
they are now outside the main
stream of the labor movement
(i.e. the CLC, B.C. Fed. and local
Labor Councils).

This union is now in a position
of having to grow or die as an
organization. Consequently, its
leaders have adopted a policy of
expanding its influence into the

IWA as well as the international,

pulp unions.

Because of dissatisfaction and
frustration there are sections of
the IWA membership who are
receptive to the idea of a
Canadian Union. In addition
there are those who believe that
their lot can best be improved by
forming separate organizations,
i.e. the fallers, mechanics, etc.
At the same time, there are
many workers searching for a
more effective method to
strengthen their bargaining
position, but over-simplify the
problem by asking ‘‘should we
support and switch to the P. and
PWC or stay in the International
Unions?”’

The 19th provincial convention
of the CPC in spelling the policy
said in part, ‘Whether or not our
party will give support to a
particular expression of desire
for autonomy at a given time
will depend upon our estimation
of how it will serve the class
interests of the labor movement.
While we cannot rule out split-
aways from International
Unions and the setting-up of
purely Canadian Unions on this
basis, we cannot agree that this
is the answer to all of the
problems of the trade union
movement.

At this stage, we must
emphasize the need for unity on
a class basis, while at the same
time fighting for an ever-in-
creasing degree of Canadian
autonomy.”’

How is this policy applicable to
the wood working industry?
In our opinion, to answer this

question it is necessary to
correctly determine the basic

weaknesses in the unions in
question at this time.

It takes a little involvement to
realize that the basic
weaknesses do not stem from the
fact that these unions are interna-
tional or national, but rather the
weakness is the result of an
opportunistic leadership and an
apathetic membership. Any
improvement in either of these
weaknesses will complement the
other.

If it is true that leaders of the
International and the Canadian
are more interested in building
empires than looking after the
class interests of the people they
are supposed to represent, and it
appears that this is so, then how
can any self-respecting
Communist, Marxist or honest
worker serve the class interest
by lining up with either of these
empire builders, be they of the
right or left wing variety?

Obviously the drive for one
union in wood cannot be
enhanced when the primary
concern is collecting dues. This
does not mean that honest
workers cannot co-operate with
these opportunistically inclined
elements at a particular time on
issues.

In the 1970 negotiations when
some steps were taken in
conjunction with the B.C. Fed to
co-ordinate negotiations, the
leaders of IBPS and PMW
refused to have anything to do
with PPWC. On the other hand,
as a result of pressure from
below some of the leaders of the
IWA did at least pay lip service
to inviting the leaders of PPWC
to participate. The action of the
leaders of the PPWC also left a
lot to be desired, because they
only made a token effort to have
co-ordinated negotiations. Their
objéctive appeared to be to
prove that they were more.
militant and therefore a better
union to belong to. This
adventuristic policy lead them
into a lengthy strike, in which
they could never win all of their
objectives but could have
destroyed the organization.

One union in wood must be the
objective; every effort must be
applied to have discussions on
co-ordinated negotiations,
mergers, etc. The rights of
workers to discuss and vote for
the union of their choice must be
defended, but when the empire
builders go into the established
jurisdiction of another union
then this should be vigorously
opposed from within that
particular union.

The slogan one union in wood
must be popularized far more
than it is at the present time.

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RENEW YOUR
SUB TODAY

DAY, DECEMBER 31, 1970—PAGE 11

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