B. C LUMBER WORKER 2nd Issue, June Nations’ Goal WASHINGTON, D.C. (LIAPS)—The health of a nation determines the wealth of a nation. Unless the people of a country are well and strong, they are unable to work no mat- ter how much they may desire to do so. Health and Wealth Infant Mortality People per Per Capita 150.6. 600 m0 . Egypt . ; Tae 115.9 6,000 60 Peru . 104.6 4,500 100 Philippines 104.2 12,000 44 Switzerland 29.2 1,000 894 United States 28.5 750 1,639 In 1948 the World Health Or- ganization (WHO) was establish- ed to deal with these killers of mankind. T.B.—Untold milions suffer from it, with 5 million dying annually. Malaria—300 million cases each year with a death toll of 3 mil- lion, Syphilis—2 million deaths per year despite the ability of medical science to eliminate it if given a chance. Leprosy—7 million cases through- out the world. Bilharziasis (snail fever)—100 mil- lion people afflicted. Plus typhoid, dysentery, plague, filariasis. yaws and elephantitis which kills countless millions more, Malaria Control Some of the World Health Or- ganization’s most dramatic work has been directed against malaria, In Thailand 13 proved to be the| lucky number. Of 30 different Species of mosquito the 13 to be tested proved to be the malaria carrier. Contrary to expectation its breeding place was swift runn- ing water rather than stagnant pools. Further research showed that the mosquito attacks only between the hours of 9 p.m, and 4 am. and never settled above eight feet high on the walls of the huts, A two-year WHO DDT spray program eliminated malaria from the area. Today the DDT spray numberings on the houses are used as postal addresses, Malaria control has not been confined to Asia. A similar pro- gram in rural areas of Greece raised ‘the family income from $196 per year to $385 by eliminat- ing days lost by sickness and was equivalent to adding 150,000 people to the working force. At the same time a 67% increase in acreage cultivated resulted by eliminating the dealy breeding places. Unfortunately, the mosquito seems determined to foil medical progress because in some places it has developed an immunity to DDT. WHO is now experiment- ing with a new spray, Dieldrin, which seems to be more potent than DDT. Mothers’ Allowances Raised REGINA—Saskatchewan Welfare Minister Sturdy announced that the province would increase its payments to recipients of Mothers’ Allowances by $5 a month. U.S. Minimum Wage WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate gave approval by voice to a yote to a $1.00 an hour minimum wage. This followed a vigorous campaign by labor to raise the present 75-cent minimum to $1.25. The Administration had recommended a new minimum of 90 cents an hour. Beer Empire Charged OTTAWA—The E, P. Taylor beer empire was charged by the Restrictive Trade Practices Commission with attempts at “mon- opolistic” control over the Canadian brewing industry. Canadian Breweries Ltd. and subsidiaries accounted for 48.3% of production and 48.6% of sales of Canadian brewery products between 1949 and 1952, the Commission reported. : Rents: 21% Are $70 Up—Of the estimated 1,078,000 Canadian dwellings rented for cash in Sep- tember last year, 43.5% were rented for less than $40 a month, 15% for $40 to $49, 11.5% for $50 to $59, 9% for $60 to $69, and 21% for $70 or more. Printers of The B.C. LUMBER WORKER Russ McNeil, President of Lo- cal 222, United Auto Workers (CIO-CCL), has announced that one of the demands to be made on the General Motors Corp. in 1955 contract negotiations will be the guaranteed annual wage. Thus an attempt to insure sta- bility in at least one section of Canadian industry through a guaranteed wage/employment plan has moved out of the realms of theory into the field of reality. It is probable that U.S. auto manufacturers will also be faced with GAW demands this year. UAW Proposes Since the auto industry affects, directly or indirectly, one in every seven persons in the U.S. and a similar proportion in Can- ada, the 1955 GAW drive will be followed with interest by all em- ployer and labor groups. The principles laid down by the UAW in its drive for annual em- ployment or wage guarantees include: the goal of steady em- ployment; payment, in lieu of work, “sufficient to insure take- home pay adequate to maintain the living standards which the worker and his family enjoyed while fully employed”; guaran- teed employment or wages for a full year for all with the neces- sary seniority, and for lesser periods graduated according to length of service; GAW payments integrated with unemployment in- surance benefits; joint union- management administration with an impartial chairman for dead- locks; and financing through a combination of pay-as-you-go and a'‘reserve trust fund with provision for re-insurance. Employer Liability In the plan mentioned above it is recognized that some limit must be placed on an employer’s liability. Thus the UAW has pro- posed that payments will be made by the employer as a specified maximum percentage of his cur- rent payroll. Thus when business is not good and payrolls decline the actual amount of the per- centage deduction will be reduced. Should guarantee payments exceed the agreed percentage of payroll deductions, the balance would be made up from the Re- serve Fund (see last principle above). This Reserve Fund will be built up to an agreed level by the employer. Another Favorite HEAD’S Champion of All Lightweight LIGHT CRUISER @ Caulked Boots Featuring High Carbon Steel Oil Tempered Boot Caulks FOR SURE GRIP HEAD’S famous “SAFETY TOE BOOTS” for Mill Workers W. J. HEAD BOOT FACTORY LIMITED 21 East Hastings se, (PA, 4844) : “HEADS YOU WIN” Vancouver, B.C. i} SOLICITOR 10 THE 1. W.A. Financial Penalties * With the financial penalties to an employer at times of erratic employment implicit in the plan, the union feels that the auto companies will be forced to aim at steady, year-round employ- ment. UAW President Walter Reuther has stated that the GAW need not cost the companies “one red cent”—so long as they pro- vide steady employment. In the past year, production has been erratic. Reuther esti- mated that the January 1955 rate of U.S. auto production would re- sult in the whole year’s needs being filled in 8% months. Simi- larly, in Canada one-half of the 1954 production was turned out between January and April and 70 percent was completed by the end of June. Management Attitude The attitude of management towards the GAW has been quite restrained pending the presenta- tion of concrete proposals for i clusion in collective agreements. However, there have been numer- ous instances of businessmen describing the scheme as “un- workable”, “too costly”, ete, A series of eight articles on the GAW, which purports to ex- amine “impartially” the whole question of guaranteed work and wages, has received wide circu- lation in Canada. The series, vir- culated free by Gilbert Jackson and Associates of Toronto, con- cludes by stating, not unexpec- tedly, that in seeking methods of reducing the hills and valleys of employment: “Guarantees are not the way.” Mr. Jackson queries: “Will its (GAW) unpredictable cost and its clear moral risk — in the strictest actuarial meaning of the term—endanger the solvency of Canadian industry.” The econo- mist does not answer his own question but his articles leave little room for doubt as to his opinions. Just in case auto manu- facturers stage a major fight on the GAW issue, the United Auto Workers plan to raise a $25 million strike fund to back their collective bargaining demands. Legal Snags? There has been some specula- tion about legal snags that might be involved in using the GAW to supplement unemployment insur- ance benefits. In the U.S. unem- ployment insurance is adminis- tered on a State basis. The CIO Economic Outlook for October, 1953, notes that legislation pass- ed by Congress in 1952 allowed unemployed veterans to receive federal supplements to State un- employment insurance. “Although it had been argued earlier that such supplementa- tion was not possible under many State laws, all States accepted the supplementary arrangement. The States will find similarly that guaranteed wage payments Alex B. Macdonald Barrister & Solicitor Notary Public 751 Granville Street VANCOUVER, B.C. Telephone TAtlow 6641 G.A.W. ADVANTAGES s ATTRACT UNIONS By CLIFFORD A. SCOTTON (Thls is the second in a series of two articles on the GAW. Plans for winning the GAW, to be worked out at the UAW con- vention now In session at Cleveland, may reveal some differences in emphasis in the light of subsequent study but the UAW is unlikely to depart radically from the principles stated below.) and benefits can be supplemen- tary.” . CCL Research In Canada, present Unemploy- ment Insurance Act regulations would preclude the co-ordination of GAW and unemployment in- surance payments. The Canadian Congress of Labor research de- partment has noted, however, that “an amendment to the Act, or at least a change in the regu- lations, would be required before guaranteed wages and unemploy- ment insurance benefits could be fitted together.” * Gilbert Jackson, commenting on this aspect of implementing the GAW, told the Canadian Council of Foremen’s Clubs at Toronto in October, 1954, that any U.I. Act changes to this end “would be nothing more than an attempt by Parliament, in collu- sion with organized labor, to load taxpayers with a cost which business or labor, or both, should pay.” Parliament has not been notor- ious for this “collusion with or- ganized labor” but it would likely recognize the GAW as a stabil- izer for the economy. GAW Coming! Despite predictions to the con- trary, labor is going to get’a guaranteed annual wage in the near future. It will be won by larger union groups at first and will then become an accepted part of collective agreements as pen- sions, medical care and other contract provisions are now ac- cepted by management. Dire Results Employers raised their hands in horror and predicted dire re- sults for the economy when the 48-hour week was proposed. They did the same when the 40-hour week was proposed. A 40-hour week is now common in industry and the economy has not col- lapsed as a result, Walter Reuther once predicted: “We're going to get the guar- anteed annual wage; there’s no question about it. We hope the issue can be resolved at the bar- gaining table, but we'll do what is necessary to get it.” Reuther is a very experienced labor offi- cial, he is unlikely to make cate- goric statements like that idly. ADVICE STARTLED DAOUST OTTAWA (CPA)—A cabinet minister may regret the advice he gave to a group of unionists who sought his aid in getting government action to solve the problem of the depressed con- ditions of the Canadian textile industry. In his report to the second Canadian Conference of the Tex- tile Workers Union of America (CIO-CCL), Canadian TWUA Director J. Harold Daoust related details of an interview the textile workers had with members of the federal cabinet, Revenue Min- ister McCann, who represents a riding in an Ontario textile area, told the delegation “that we could not expect much for textile workers until we secured the election of textile workers to Parliament,” Mr. Daoust said.