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LEST WE FORGET |

By LESLIE MORRIS

7: must have been 10 below zero. Long lines.of ragged, over-
; coatless men, shivering and stamping in the frosty afternoon,
_ converged on Manitoba’s parliament building on Broadway.
They wanted to see the premier, Mr. Bracken. The city of
Winnipeg was broke. Relief (macaroni and beans) was for
idents only. These were the men from the mines, lumber
ps, farms, with no “residential qualifications.” To be a
adian wasn’t a certificate for relief. You had to be a
Unicipal citizen.”

They crowded around the big bronze doors, hefty cops
ing the way. We went in to see the premier and asked
to let the unemployed come in meantime, to get warm.
ey came in and crowded around the famous buffalo sculp-
s in the mezzanine. Finally they were given tickets for

night’s flop at the Sally Ann and three meals.

3 a x a

GRAND Sunday morning in June, 1938 in Vancouver. The
) single unemployed men had locked themselvés in the post
ice at Granville and Hastings, and in the Art Gallery. “Work
or wages,” they said. They had been there for weeks, winning
admiration of the city for their discipline and courage. That
nday morning, as we came on to Hastings Street. the battle
is over. Broken glass strewed the pavements. Blood was on
streets. Police were everywhere. A hospital for the boys
d been set up at the Ukrainian Labor Temple.
-Vancouver’s first D-Day had come. Early in the morning
hile the city slept the buildings had been surrounded by
RCMP. Commands and ultimatums were hurled. The boys
refused to come out. They were tear-gassed and as they
came choking through the doors, clubs rained on their heads.
f Right up to midnight thousands of Vancouver citizens
jammed the waterfront to see the boys off to Victoria on a
special boat provided by the scared Pattullo government.
Bloody Sunday was over.
Cas: bes Eo3 bes

freight pulled into White River, Ontario, famous for

= its ear-snapping cold and its tough railroad police. As the
freight slowed down the “bulls” came alongside.

- Some of them had whips. They went along the train driv-
img the younger fellows off, chasing the old hands who knew
better how to elude them. A couple of miles up the track was
_ the largest jungle in Canada. Many of the lads crowded around
_ the camp fires, biting into crusts.
| —__ Some of them died later on the beaches and in the fields

_ @f France and Italy.

5e3 x

" QUST south of St. Lawrence and Main in Montreal was the
| market. Hundreds of jobless men congregated there to
form their association. Young Communists spoke from the soap-
box. Suddenly the police swarmed down’ and smashed the meet-
ing, clubbing right and left. The speakers were jailed.
xt x x

.F A BOY of 16 was heading homewards. It was late October
G and the snow was beginning to blanket the Saskatchewan
Prairie. A nasty north wind made it mighty uncomfortable on
the road. He hadn’t worked since leaving school.

|} __ Im Yorkton he saw a train being made up. Some of the

_ Winnipeg was home. ’
a He climbed into one with some straw on the floor. He
piled it around him and went to sleep. Between fitful dozes
he could feel the car banging around. It was spit-freeze cold
and he burrowed deeper into the straw. Soon, he thought, I'll
_ see Mum. “
aes After several hours he awoke. The car was motionless.
He crawled to the door and peeped out. He was still in York-
ton. The empties had been switched around in the yards
through the night. He was blue as hell. He must really learn
about the tricks of railroading, he said to himself.
. 4 m 50 3 at
/ ™HE head-end shack hollered to the engineer as the freight
~-— started to pull out of the Mimico yards. “Stop her,” he
‘shouted. ;
‘The crew piled out and went back a bit. They pulled
“the mangled youngster from under the wheels.
_- **Why don’t they learn how to jump on?” said the fireman.

ea

box cars were empties with “Winnipeg” chalked on them.

In the middle of an economic “recovery” jobless lin

Labor movement should demand

GARG

RB

es lengthen in many parts of Canada.

$3

withdrawal of Ul Act changes

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

In 1958, before the Tories were returned to power in Ottawa. John Diefenbaker made
an election speech outlining what his government would do in the matter of labor relations
and labor legislation if elected. On Unemployment Insurance he said:

“We believe that unemployment insurance legislation must be materially changed: if
it is to effectively meet the needs of our country. To that end we advocate an increase in benefits

and allowable earnings, ex-
tension of the benefit period
to 52 weeks, elimination of
discriminatory regulations af-
fecting - married women and
elimination of waiting periods
and reorganization of the ad-
ministration to effect prompt
payment of claims.”

What has happened to this
election pledge?

Two weeks ago Labor Min-
ister Starr introduced some
amendments to the Unem-
ployment Insurance Act,
which have very little rela-
tionship to Diefenbaker’s elec-
tion pledges.

True,, the benefit period is
extended to 52 weeks from
36. But this is what it was in
the first place.

The waiting period has not
been eliminated. ;

Moreover instead of in-
creasing benefits and allow-
able earnings to all workers,
only a small number will
have their benefits. increased,
while allowable earnings are
increased by $1 for some cate-
gories and $2 for others.

What is really being
creased are the contributions
workers have to make to the

in-.

Unemployment Insurance
Fund. In this case the gov-
ernment was quite liberal. It
did not discriminate against
any insurable workers who
now will have to pay from 30
to-50 percent more in contri-
butions to the fund.

The mountain moved but all
it produced was a puny little
mouse. So much for the gov-
ernment’s election pledges.

The trade union movement_
should oppose the- increase in
contributions If the fund is
low, the additional sums of
money should come from the
government and from the big
corporations.

Corporation profits last
year amounted to about $2.8
billions and corporation de-
preciation charges totalled
$3.7 billions. Why can’t the
entire increase in unemploy-
ment insurance contributions
come out of thése profits and
depreciation charges?

Apart from cpposing being
burdened with the additional
costs of the fund the trade
union movement should press
for benefit increases. for all
unemployed workers Rising

living costs and=the emer-
gence of a permanent army of
unemployed make this essen-
tial.

Those workers who are un-
able to find work need larger
benefits which should con-
tinue for the duration of un-
employment. The government
recognized this when Diefen-
baker made his _ election
promises. Now it has thrown
this proposal out of the win-
dow.

Big business through its
government, wants to do a
job on the unemployed in the
same way it is doing a job
on the rights of the trade
union movement. It is all part
of its drive to use the per-
manent army of unemployed
to depress wages and attack
living standards.

The trade union movement
should demand the with
drawal of the unsatisfactory
proposals advanced by Labor
Minister Starr and the gov-
ernment and press for those
amendments to the act which
will really serve the interests
of the workers and the un
employed. :

May 22, 1959 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3