» Ban

tiie Jones attacks exorbitant gas rates

This week

a button was pressed at a cerem

ony in Van-

COuy, : et Hotel which brought Peace River natural gas to the

OWer “Mj tended

tom / astern Canada and the

bene of Peace River &as is widely hailed

Ds achievement of great im-. een a But very little has business by government, big about tr or the daily - press. ® e fact that 80 percent, day ion cubic feet a untin Cross the border at

ini On, B.C., to feed U.S. ‘ 8 Only 20 percent of

= Lala corr ga By eeue

intendea Transmission line is ing, for use in this prov-

Co p Mmenting on this, Effie

House building down

OTTAWA epee ot Of Statistics lat- Bruch on ‘housing con- dr n'records'‘a 17 percent

of y for the first.eight months

Tha

est

Preyj itis. year. The analysis Iceg €s the three main in-

starts of home construction, berg ‘i Completions, and num- ? Nder construction.

teeas i Teviews on. housing Seri major Canadian cities € the lack as “chronic.”

PATRONIZE CEDAR FUEL TRANSFER

Phone: 566-R-3

Cedar, B.C. eae

ainland for the first time. : y Premier W. A. C. Bennett and business tycoons United States.

aS compared with the -

ry

e of their tomorro

DON'T GIVE FIRE

The ceremony was at-

Jones, militant civic “leader, said this week that the people of Vancouver and other B.C. centres are being denied the full benefits of natural gas be- cause the B.C. Electric mon-

opoly has been allowed to seize control of distribution.

She charged the Vancouver rate was four times greater than that ‘of Edmonton, while g California, which will distri- pute 50 million cubic feet a day of Peace River gas, will pay only half the rate being

paid in Vancouver.

Vancouver gas rates being ed by the : ees ane first 300 cubic feet, 21 cents a hundred for the next 700 and 16 cents a hundred for the next 2500 cubic feet. Vancouver rates, said Mrs. Jones, are among the highest in the country.

With the colder months

ahead gas consumers in Van- couver and Lower Mainland will soon feel the full impact of these exorbitant B.C. Elec- trie rates, she observed.

She announced her intention of heading up 4 campaign to win reduced gas rates when the Public Utilities Commis- sion reviews them next year.

A PLACE TO STA

STE

B.C. Electric .

James G. Endicott

* Dr.

(above), chairman of the Canadian Peace Congress, will make a speaking tour of this province from November 8 to 24, it was announced this week by B.C. Peace Council.

4

Fishermen reject offer

The coastwide ballot of the °

United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union and Native Brotherhood on fall chum prices shows over 78 percent of members voting to reject the Fisheries Association of- fer, it was reported this week. “Therefore the strike remains effective and all salmon net fishing has been declared hot,” a union release stated.

Price offers made by the Fisheries Association ranged from 2% to 4 cents below last year’s minimum prices.

Speaking for the fishermen’s

committee, UFAWU secretary

Homer Stevens told operators that fleet representatives were prepared to continue bargain- ing in an effort to reach a speedy settlement. Spokes- men for the canners, however, said they could see no point in continuing. talks for the present and in effect cut off negotiations. A special note of warning hag been issued to the mem- bership in all areas to watch out for certain persons posing as cash buyers and making verbal offers to pay prices

over and above union demands.

to’ meet union demands.

or The UFAWU - Brotherhood joint committee’s policy is

that any such buyers would have to. make written propos- als to the committee and all such proposals would have to be dealt with “by the entire membership on a_coastwide basis “before any contracts could be entered into.

Average earnings of fisher- men so far this year have been extremely low, and the. price slashes proposed by the can- ners, according to union offi- cials, are completely .unwar- ranted in view of the good market situation for chum sal- mon, * i

Ban on work. permits

| for Americans asked

When the B.C. Provincial Council of Carpenters meets in convention at Nanaimo October 21-23, some issues of considerable importance to all Canadian workers will be up

for debate. One of these will be a coun-

cil éxecutive resolution urg- ing that provincial and federal governments stop issuing work permits on Canadian construc- tion’ to U.S. workers. In the past it has beeri, the practice of U.S. companies engaged in

_industrial construction in B.C.

to bring in unlimited numbers of American workers, thereby depriving Canadian workers of jobs. *

‘Another resolution to come before the convention will pro- test the arming of foreign civ- ilian guards on Canadian ter- ritory. _ On U.S.-supervised construction jobs such as the DEW line and similar under- takings, American civilian guards and other personnel have been heavily armed, while Canadian prospectors are for- bidden even to carry small arms for defense against pre- datory animals.

The convention is expected to seek to restrict. “overtime” work permits, except in emer- gency situations, and press for tightening up. of the provincial Hours of Work Act.

Changes in the Workmen’s Compensation Act | (already under heavy fire from all sec- tions of labor) will also be sought. Wording of -certain clauses in the act can now be interpreted by the: board to deprive an injured workman of compensation because he has not sustained an “acci- dent” as defined in the act.

Another objective of ‘the convention will be to seek joint certification for its af- filiated unions on a province- wide basis, thereby enabling

‘Was this girl

a union maid?

WASHINGTON

With the news that James J. Hoffa had won the presi- dency of the powerful Team- sters Union, succeeding Dave Beck, a U.S. Senate rackets investigating committee at- tempted to subpoena the re-

cords of the union’s Miami

Beach, Fla., convention. . In this it was unsuccessful. Union officials informed the senate investigators that a ho- tek maid had inadvertantly thrown the convention records into the house incinerator, and later died of a. heart attack when apprised of her error. As was predicted, Hoffa won the presidency of the 1,500,000 member intérnational union by a big margin over all other contenders. t:

the union to bargain for the whole province as a single entity, rather than as at pres- sectional

ent, on an area or basis.

aE es

-Winnipeg’s veteran labor

alderman, Jacob Penner, (above) ‘is campaigning for re-election on a program to cut taxes on homes in half through federal assumption of elementary. education. costs and a new assessment. policy.

Labor contests civic offices in Saskatoon

SASKATOON

Saskatoon labor is uniting on this year’s municipal elec- tions in support of the newly formed Saskatoon Civic Asso- ciation. .

The group is campaigning to elect aldermen and_ school trustees on a program calling for far-reaching tax reforms, including a demand that a greater share of the national tax dollar be made available for municipal purposes, with increased federal aid to edu- cation, It also demands muni- cipal participation in low-cost housing under the National Housing Act.

Candidates for alderman are‘ Len Wallace of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; George Taylor, prominent labor lawyer; and Dr. E. Mahood, normal school teacher. The president of Sas- katoon Labor Council, Fred McClelland, is running for high school board. ‘

M. Germann, Canadian dist- rict president of the Oil, Chem- ical and Atomic Workers’ Union, seeks a position on the Separate School Board, and Mrs. Betsy Naylor, a house- wife, is candidate for public school board.

October 11, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 7

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