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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.

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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.

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" 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.

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

In the middle of an economic “recovery” jobless lin

Labor movement should demand

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es lengthen in many parts of Canada.

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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