FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1975

Over 100,000 unemployed

JOBLESS RATE IN B.C. HIGHEST IN 15 YEARS

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_ After several weeks of delay, charges were officially filed this week against B.C.’s chief landlord Spokesman, Richard Dolman, “accused last November by the B.C. Tenants Organization of illegal Tent increases at his apartment at _ 2710 Waterloo Street in Vancouver. Our counts were laid against Iman in Vancouver Tuesday, two of them in violation of the Landlord and Tenant Act, one in Violation of the Residential _ Premises Interim Rent Stabilization Act and the last a Violation of a bylaw outlined by the Vancouver Rental Accommodation Grievance Board. The first two charges involve rent increases imposed at intervals of less than a year and without the ‘Tequired three months notice. The _“hird charge involves rent in- creases in excess of the 1974 ceiling of eight percent while the last charge involves accepting security deposits. in excess :of $50, in Violation of the stated city bylaw. ‘The charges are returnable Wednesday, January 22, 1975 at

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which time Dolman must appear in court and the date for his trial will be set.

Before finally appearing in court in Vancouver, the case took a convoluted course that began early last November when the B.C. Tenants Organization, armed with documentary evidence of the illegal rent increases and security

Odessa greets city unions

“Warm cordial New. Year’s greetings to our colleagues in Vancouver” was the message from the Odessa Regional Trades Council, read Tuesday night to

delegates at the. Vancouver and

District Labor Council.

Council delegates decided to send a return message of greeting to the Odessa unions. Odessa,

which is a seaport in the Soviet

Ukraine, was adopted as Van- couver’s twin city during World War 2. ex

SS

andlord head charged —

deposits, filed the information with the attorney-general’s department in Victoria. From there it was referred to the regional crown prosecutor who in turn referred it to the Vancouver city prosecutor along with further information that the B.C. Tenant’s Organization has secured.

The city prosecutor did not deal with the matter himself but referred it instead to the office of the rentalsman where, after a lengthy investigation, presumably to verify the information, it was acted upon and the charges laid.

The long delay in proceedings on the contentious case is contrasted with the speed with which charges were brought against Bruce Eriksen late last year for alleged assault against the operator of the East Hotel — despite the fact that three witnesses were present, all of whom have sworn that Eriksen did not commit any offence.

Dolman faces a six-month jail sentence and/or a fine of $500 for

~ each count in the four charges laid

against him.

Tribune

Unemployment among B.C. workers has passed the 100,000 mark and is higher than at any time in the last 15 years, ac- cording to Dr. Roslyn Kunin, an economist with the Unem- ployment Insurance Commission (UIC) in Vancouver.

Dr. Kunin said her figure is

based on the latest UIC figures.

which show that in September there were 84,726 claimants for unemployment insurance. She estimated that the number of claimants has now jumped to more than 100,000 in B.C. She added that the forest industry has been the hardest hit, and that woodworkers on unemployment insurance is 40 percent higher than a year ago.

Latest Statistics Canada figures show that B.C. had an actual unemployment rate of 7.3 percent in November compared with the national rate of 5.1. Since November there has been a further sharp rise in unemployment in BG:

The fact that there are over 100,000 unemployment. insurance claimants in B.C. puts the actual jobless figure at much higher than 100,000.

There are many thousands of jobless who are not included among UIC claimants — such as unemployed who have used up their claims; many thousands more who do not qualify under the act such as fishermen, agricultural workers, etc.; -and many .who would like to work but have been unable to find work and have

_ temporarily given up looking for

jobs, such as youth and married women.

Faced with massive unem- ployment and rising UIC costs, right wing forces in Canada are

once again raising the cry to revise the Unemployment Insurance Act as they did during the 1972 federal election campaign. The rejection by voters of both the Tories and Liberals that year and the election ofa minority government set back plans to revise the act.

However, following the 1972 election, manpower minister

_ Robert Andras brought in a bill to

revise the act on January 17, 1973 but the New Democratic Party, which then held the balance of power, declared it would vote against the minority government on that issue. The Liberal minority government never brought the bill back for second reading and it died on the order paper.

Now apparently, manpower minister Andras thinks the time is politically right — with a majority Liberal government in office — to bring back the unpopular amend- ments to the UIC act. According to a statement quoted last week on the Southam News Service he said he will soon introduce amendments to the act.

According to reports, the amendments being proposed would include two major changes which were bitterly opposed by the trade union movement and _ other progressive groups when proposed two years ago. There are:

e That persons who quit their jobs or get fired ‘‘for cause”’ may

_ See JOBLESS, pg. 12