«and lately I've actually caught myself listening to my employees’ grievances.” Sask. CP calls for govt. grain action Charging that “the arrogance of the CPR knows no bounds,” the Communist Party of- Sas- katchewan has written Agricul- ture Minister Greene, urging direct government responsibility for Canadian grain exports. Grain shipments have been falling behind schedule because the CPR has simply refused to ‘assign enough diesels and rolling stock to handle the situation ade- quately. Because this monopoly runs its affairs in line with its own needs rather than national interests, the letter demands implementation of a national transportation policy by which railroads would be com- pelled by law to satisfy the needs of the nation. William Beeching, saskatche- wan party leader, stated in the letter to Greene that the best way_to guarantee such a policy —was~to nationalize the CPR and run it as a ‘social service,” “However, since that is ob- viously a proposal for the future, we contend that the railways should be legally obliged to pro- vide those services that are clearly in the national interest. «There can-be no argument that the movement of grain, vital for our domestic economy and a tremendous factor in easing our balance of payments, is in the national interest and vitally con- cerns Canada’s international re- lations with other countries.” The letter also called for ex- pansion of port facilities in Van- couver, But this cannot be left to chance—it requires a govern- ment assessment of the port’s needs, followed by providing enough capital to provide ade- quately for those needs, Such action cannot await pri- vate capital’s interest, the letter concluded, LABOR ROUNDUP: oma i Wig dy Mail in Vancouver area won’t cross picket line Reporting for the Vancouver local of the Federated Associa- ‘tion of Letter Carriers at last’ week’s session of the Vancouver and District Labor Council (VLC) Ray Andrus, president of the local stated the “mail won’t go through if it has to cross a picket line . . - we will now respect all picket lines in the Vancouver ; area.” Delegate Andrus said members of his local had given unanimous endorsation to this position at a recent local meet- ing. i @We have to protect the mail* said Andrus, “so we'll take it back to the post office rather than cross a picket line to deliver it. The companies can pick it up from there,” The postmen local also decided to affiliate with the B,C, Federa- tion of Labor and to up local dues to $5 a month to enable the set- ting up of a local office and the appointment of a full-time official, * KOK : At a recent session of the Kamloops and District Labor Council, a motion put forward by Civic Employees Union delegate Bill Ferguson, calling upon the provincial government to take over Craigmont Mines was unani- mously approved by the delegate body. In the long-protracted strike of the United Steelworkers at Craig- mont Mines the company’s atti- tude in refusing to conclude a wage contract comparable to other mining operations in the area was described by Steel dele- gate J, Diamond as ‘callous’; particularly since the company had netted a $23-million dollar profit last year, “yet refuses to meet the union’s modest de- mands,” Signalizing its support of the Craigmont strikers, the Kam- loops Labor Council decided to hold its next session (Feb. 18) at Merritt to “impress upon resi- dents there the Labor Council’s support for the Steelworkers strike,” * * * In his address to the delegates of the 14th National Convention of the Mine-Mill Union which ~ ended its sessions in Trail last week, International President Al, Skinner said: <¢ Without anticipating the action of this Convention on the Steel call for a merger, I say to you now that this union is not for sale, We have gone through many adversities in the past and will again in the future, but the Union lives on because the workers of the hard-rock mining industry in Canada and the United States need a union like ours,” In his concluding remarks the Mine-Mill International Presi- dent issued a challenge to the Steel raiders, saying:— “Let’s have the rank and file workers in the Steel industry debate the question of whether or not their leaders should stop their dammed raiding.’’ International President Skinner received a standing ova- tion from the convention dele- gates, Propose 6-point program » for B.C. woodworkers An attractive leaflet entitled ‘Woodworkers’ Needs in 1966’ issued by the Woodworkers Com- mittee, Communist Party of Canada puts forward a 6-point program for B,C,’s woodworking industry. First of these is on the issue of wages, which trail consider- ably behind increased productivi- ty and increased cost of living. A straight increase of 40¢ per hour across the board for each contract year is proposed. Second, due to technological ad- vances in the woodworking indus- try, a 6-hour day with no reduc- tion in take-home-pay is recom- mended, Also as in the Oil Work- ers settlement formula, a six months notice by employers on technological changes, which might result in workers being displaced, and would provide for retraining, education and sever- ance pay for all such. Third, the elimination of all overtime work, and/or, if such is considered necessary, time and one-half and double time, with all overtime accumulated taken in the form of ‘time off’, Fourth, all matters in dispute returned to the bargaining table, plus the right to‘strike during the life of collective agreement over any question in dispute, not covered by the agreement, Fifth, other benefits to include accumulative sick leave with pay computed on the basis of one day per month; portal to portal pay for loggers, travel allowance from point of hiring to job, and daily guarantee for shingle saw- ing and packing. And six, a ‘decked’ retirement income plan which would include the government’s OAP, the Can- ada Pension Plan, and existing management-union pension schemes, to be administered jointly by union and management, (The Mine-Mill pension plan with Cominco at Trail is suggested as a good pattern to follow). ‘ The leaflet concludes by urging that woodworkers ‘‘elect dele- gates who will work for the above program at the Union’s bargain-, ing conferences”, McKnight battles pollution George McKnight, labor candi- date for Port Alberni’s council in last December’s elections, is pushing ahead with his drive to rid the Alberni valley of air: pollution and is enjoying an even wider backing from exasperated and fighting mad residents. McKnight has charged that fall- out from MacMillan-Bloedel’s mills in the area “materially depreciates homes, automobiles and other properties,” besides being a grave health hazard, He is circulating a petition to ‘the Provincial government in an attempt to realize the setting up of anti-pollution controls, Aim of the petition campaign is 5,000 signatures, According to reports received shortly after the cam- paign was launched, well over 1,500 people had already signed the petition. McKnight is also urging home- owners in the valley to appear before a court of revision sitting on February 2 to argue for re- ductions in assessments on homes, This is only logical, he says, because values are ad- versely affected by industrial fallout and pulp mill odours, Last Sunday, more than 250 people packed the Nordley Cen- tre in Port Alberni to attend a protest meeting sponsored by McKnight and Colin Wilson, The meeting decided to demand that both Alberni city councils en- dorse the petition and follow this up by sending a delegation to Victoria when the petition is presented. Pensioners lose — but Liberals, Socreds win Lester Pearson’s Liberal min- ority government narrow ly averted defeat twice within recent days, thanks to the shameless backing of Herr Robert Thomp-— son and four other Social Credit MPs, : The Socreds have openly cast their lot with Liberal Party for- tunes, rather than with Canada’s old, age pensioners, Last Friday, the New Demo- eratic Party sponsored an. amendment which would have im- mediately boosted old age pen- sions to $100 a month from their present level of $75. The move January 28, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3 was defeated by a vote of 126 to 1175 Then on Tuesday the Tories tried to achieve the same end, but the attempt fell by- 134 votes to 126, (With 260 of the Com- mons’ 265 members voting, this was the highest percentage since the Liberals took office in 1963.) NDP member Frank Howard (Skeena) voted on Tuesday with the government andSocial Credit, without making any statement of his position. Thus, twice within a week, our country’s pensioners have had to suffer insult heaped upon in- dignity at the hands ofthe Liberal and Social Credit parties.