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LABOR ROUNDUP:

a IWA strike in Kamloops

enters its sixth month

The IWA strike at the Frolek
Sawmills in Kamloops is now
entering its sixth month, Under
a Provisions of the Labor Re-
lations Act the IWA strike action
is entirely legal, all provisions
having been strictly observed,

Not so with the Frolek Saw-
mills, They not only thumb their
Nose at all LRA provision,s but
as the February edition of the
IWA newsletter “Bullpine® states,

Night watchmen at the Frolek
Sawmills have been carrying
ec... until the matter was
Teported to the RCMP,”

. An 8-point advertisement in-
erted in the press by the IWA
estern Canadian Regional

Council) points out that the F'rolek
Sawmills flatly refuses to meet
or negotiate with the union; that
it refused to meet with agovern-
ment-appointed conciliation of-
ficer; that all proposals by the
IWA for a conference with com-
pany representatives have been
Side-tracked by the latter, and
that the issue of this strike is a
basic one, the right of workers
“under the law to organize, bar-
gain collectively and secure an
agreement,”

On the above score the Frolek
Sawmills at Kamloops stand out
as an open-shop, anti-union,
scab-herding enterprise; aset-
up for which there is only one
cure—a united labor movement
behind the IWA strikers,

Britannia

for Mine-Mill,

th

members,

faile

miners vote

Close to seven months since the Mine-Mill strike began,
August 11, 1964, in which the Anaconda Mining Company tried
every trick in the calendar to freeze out the union and close
down this mining community, a signal victory is now in sight

Settlement terms have been worked out between Mine-Mill
Negotiating Committee and the company, already accepted by
€ latter, and will be voted on by Britannia miners this week,
age increases have been achieved and the hours of work and
job classifications mutually agreed upon, The union bargaining
committee has recommended acceptance by its Britannia local

Company efforts to turn Britannia into a“ghost town” have

d, The new union agreement won by Mine-Mill persever-

ance and broad labor unity is the guarantee, as one miner
Put it, that “Britannia will live again,”

Telephone

takeover

Urgent says Morgan

ee Communist Party in B,C,
owe @d the demand for public
€rship of the B,C, Telephone
ty last weekend following
; cement that the U,S,-
Company profits had risen

ASt Year h
Y nine percent to al-
MOSt $21 million.

The dem
Communist
leader Nigel
WY radio br
Sunday night

and came from B,C,

Party provincial
Morgan in his week-
Oadcast over CKWX

Morgan
Can
Meq

hat

Said telephone rates
a Should be cut back im-
ely, In addition, he said
Sai automated exchanges
Ls Possible to carry sta-
ie “Station long - distance
8 Calls for three minutes
any phone within the country
aS little as $1,

tion

He ar
that 8 ew

© Un
Compe]

eve
Count

Yeas

attention to the fact
© Bell Telephone Co, in
ited States has now been
led to lower the rate to$1
a Call anywhere in the
os : and Said there was no

why it can’t be done here,

ayy veer Pointed out that it costs

ae re to Phone Victoria than

cea which is twice as far

aw only 15¢ more to phone

Son 4ncisco than to put through
€ Call to Penticton,

Rece
Phone

Whic
Sidiary -C. Telephone is a sub-
jump < announced a 12 percent

Corporate earnings, al-

Mos
: dislodging General Motors

a the American Tele- :
Telegraph Company, of ©

Corporation as the profit-making
champ in the world,

Commenting on the recent $5
per month increase in the old
age pension, which comes into
effect on April 1, Morgan said
that “Welcome as this increase
is, the Communist Party feels
it falls far short of what is

needed,”

He said that 32,000 pensioners
would be helped “but because of
the means test 100,000 pension-
ers in this province will get no
boost even though bus fares went
up for them too.”

if RE
LEGISLATUR

ae

1130 K.C.

CK WX 655 P.M.

SUNDAYS

COMMUNIST PARTY’S
WEEKLY RADIO
COMMENTARY

by NIGEL MORGAN

“The Bullpine”? referred to
above reports an interesting in-
cident which happened on January
23, On that day the Frolek open-
shoppers were celebrating their
60th wedding anniversary, Socred
Minister of Highways drove
through the IWA picket line to de-
liver a box of flowers to the
Frokek celebrants, An IWA picket
with his camera handy took a snap
of “Flying Phil.” “You didn’t have
my permission to take my pic-
ture,” barked Flying Phil, “take
that film out of that camera,”

When it was suggested to Gag-
lardi by another picket (who res-
cued the camera) that he must
feel very ashamed at crossing a
picket line ifhe objected to having
his picture taken, he gaveaclas-
sical Socred reply: “I didn’t see
the picket line when I went in...
and anyway this is a free coun-
Ciyer

ako

John Moffatt, national organ-
izer of Mine-Mill and Archie
McDonald, president of the Shaft
and Development Local 1035 of
Mine-Mill will represent their
union at the Granduc inquiry,

Under the authority of the B,C,
Department of Mines the inquiry
will begin its hearings on Thurs-
day, March 4 at Stewart, B,C,
Of the 18 known dead and a num-
ber still missing in the Granduc
mining disaster, many were
Mine-Mill union members,

Sponsored by Mine-Mill a
Granduc Disaster Fund Commit-
tee has been set up,’Those who
have agreed to serve include
Glen Osborne, former president
of Bridge River Miners’ Union;
Jack Henderson, long time trade
unionist, former president of the
B,C, Command Canadian Legion
and 22-year member of the Van-
couver School Board untilhis re-
tirement; Chris Pritchard, for-
mer Commissioner of the Work-
men’s Compensation Board; Mel
O’Brien, former director of Bra-
lorne Mines, and Les Walker,
Compensation and Welfare of-
ficer of Mine-Mill, Tuesday this
week the VLC added secretary-
treasurer Paddy Neale to the
Granduc Disaster Fund Commit-
tee,

-CP leader

to speak

The people of B,C, will have
an opportunity to hear and meet
the new national leader of the
Communist Party of Canadawhen

“he speaks at a number of public

meetings and socials in the next
few days,

He will be in North Surrey’s
Kennedy Hall on Fri, March 5
at 8 p.m, and in Victoria’s Wil-
liams Hall, 749 Broughton St,,
on Sat, March 6 also at 8 p,m,
He will return to Victoria on
Tues. March 9.to address stu-
dents at Victoria University at

noon,

On Sun, March 7 Kashtan will
speak in the Hastings Auditorium
in Vancouver at 8 p.m, Coffee
will be served after the meeting
and the public will have an op-
portunity to meet the new leader,
He will also speak on the UBC
campus on Mon, March 8 atnoon,

cet

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ALLA

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—PACIFIC TRIBUNE-

Communist

Party urges

increased municipal aid

. Demand for a royal commis-
sion enquiry into the financial
plight of B.C, municipalities was

’ raised by Nigel Morgan, Provin-

cial leader of the Communist
Party at a public meeting in
Surrey’s Dell Hotel last Tuesday,

“Decision of the Provincial
government -- under strong
pressure from B.C, municipal-
ities and opposition MLAs --
to up the projected increase in
muicipal grants from one-dollar-
a-year to five dollars, represents
a forward step,” Morgan declar-
ed: “It falls far short of what’s
needed, however,”

“Local tax levies onour homes
and small business are stagger-
ing. Municipal debts are reach-
ing the point beyond which
borrowing becomes impossible,
Yet, most municipalities face a
tremendous expansion in both
the demand for, and the cost of,
essential services,” the speaker
claimed,

«It’s utterly impossible, and
entirely wrong to expect taxes
on ‘real property’ (our homes,
farmland and small >usinesses)
to carry the load for today’s
educational requirements - let
alone the vocational and technical
schools and junior colleges we
need. The monopolies, whose
profits have risen to fabulous
heights, are not only best able
to pay, but they ire the direct
beneficiaries of the advanced
technical knowledge and training
being provided.”

«The increased grants will

ease the pressure on municipal
budgets somewhat, but don’t look
for any cut in your municipal
tax bill,” Morgan warned.
“Premier Bennett has cunningly
Shelled out just enough to keep
the municipalities at heel; but
not enough to give you and I
any tax cut.” The new system
of grants will be based on $16
per head for the first 3,500
population; $12 between 3,500
and 8,000: $8 up to 50,000 pop-
ulatioa; and $6.50 above that
level,

“In Vancouver where civic
taxes already eat up not far short
of one monli’s saraiag of the
average worker, tax increases
for 1965 (after allowing for the
$15 increase in homeowner grant)
can be expected to jump another
$5 to $10 on the average,” he
said. “The inadequacy of the
increase is shown when Proy-
incial government receipts of $43
million for sales and road taxes
is compared with the less than
$3 million returned to the city’s
treasury,”

“More funds must be made
available by the senior govern-
ment,” Morgan said. “Why not ~
introduce a capital gains tax
to help provide for our expanded
educational requirements and
municipal tax relief? And why
not a cutback on wasteful and
futile armament expenditures to
provide for our health and social
needs? Certainly our munic-
ipalities have the right to expact
much more than Premier Bennett
is yet giving them,” Morgancon-
cluded,

Legislature asked to
adopt full medicare

Elimination of the means test
and substitution of universal,
comprehensive medical coverage

for the limited, restricted, pri-

vate scheme proposed yesterday
for this province—was urged on
the B,C, Legislature by the Com-
munist Party,

In an open letter to Premier
Bennett and Health Minister Mar-
tin, Nigel Morgan, B,C, leader
of the Communist Party wrote:
“The Hall Commission report
leaves no doubt as to the urgent
and immediate need for such ac-
tion, and of the inadequacy of
the present private plans,”

“For most of those not paying
income tax, even the proposed
50 percent of the present exhorbi-
tant private premiums proposed
under your limited benefit
scheme, is completely beyond the
family budget,” the letter de-
clared,

“The people of British Colum-
bia want auniversal, comprehen-
sive, pre-paid, government -
sponsored medical care pro-
gram, That this is so is perhaps
best demonstrated by the fact
that the B,C, Legislature almost
unanimously endorsed such leg-
islation over 15 years ago,”

March 5, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3