€ Robarts-Trudeau deal to
_ Ptivate insurance com-
Sin on the medicare gravy-
IS going to cost OHSIP
tibers millions of dollars.

Gy there is a plan for in- ’

'§ premiums next July.

bscribers rates for OMSIP,
Or OHSIP when it comes
pect on October 1, are
Y exhorbitant. In addition
Ow also pay the federal

reent development tax,
Tis generally considered as
a coution towards’ the

Share of costs for medi-
After October 1, Ontario

Setting some $180 mil-
S nually from Ottawa to-
OHSIP, while it got no
th Conrtbution for OMSIP.
Premiums to subscrib-
Main the same, and will
ven higher. :

Bate consortium of 31
7. ~ COMmpanies, now known
Featthco,” will get a bon-
ative op Of so-called adminis-
Os Sts, which will be the

it y which they will make
Profit, in addition to gim-
aaa as package deals
Covered pects on items not

y the OHSIP.

e Royal Commission on
tor. . €rvices found that doc-
laineg 75 -re4 medical plans re-
“dllectio 6 percent of premium
Dumposes s for administrative
C mer, .2nd for reserves, while
“felal carriers retained

44.3 percent for the same pur-
pose, based om 1961 figures.

The experience of OMSIP was
such that the Ontario govern-
ment considered 6 percent ade-
quate compensation for admi-
nistrative costs for private car-
riers under OHSIP. This was
promptly rejected by the insur-
ance companies. As a result an
agreement has been signed
whereby the government in fact
guarantees the private carriers
to cover administrative costs
without any ceiling, but with-
out allowing the companies to
make a profit. At the same time
the private insurance companies
will -have endless numbers of
loopholes to get around that
provision, with the government
turning the other way.

No matter how the plan may
be camouflaged, the facts are
that under the OHSIP set-up,
subscribers will: continue to
subsidize private profits of the
private insurance companies.

This real machiavellian fraud
is being sold to the people in a
slick, brainwashing operation, in
which rising costs .are blamed,
with special emphasis on wages.
At the same time the caretak-
ers of animals at the Riverdale
Zoo in Toronto are being paid
a much higher wage than those
who care for people in our hos-
pitals.

The private insurance com-

panies should be eliminated en-.

Manitoba cuts
medicare dues
by about 887,

WINNIPEG (CP) — Health
Green ang

Wa 4
eS
“0 ant an RT

tirely from this OHSIP opera-

. tion, and the government should

take it all as its responsibility,
and as originally provided for
in federal legislation. -

A government-operated
OHSIP could provide 100 per-
cent payment for all medical,
surgical, diagnostic and anaes-
thesia services, and drastically
reduce premiums to subscribers
by eliminating profits altoge-
ther in a vital area of health
services.

Organizations and individuals
should flood Queen’s Park in
the next few weeks with tele-
grams, letters, resolutions and
even public demonstrations, to
protest the Robarts manoeuvre
to allow private insurance car-
riers to profit at public expense
under OHSIP.

Ontario hold-up

The Ontario government re-
fuses to reduce Medical Servic-
es Insurance Plan premium rates
despite the federal contribution
of about $185 million a year.
This means that the combined

. medical and hospital insurance

premiums will cost Ontario

‘families $309 a year, compared

with $72 in Saskatchewan.
Three provinces have or plan
to have health programs fully
financed by ordinary tax reve-
nues. They are Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia and Quebec. New
Brunswick and Prince Edward
Island also are expected to oper-

ate plans without premium sys-
tems.

The following table illustrates
the different. positions in the
five provinces with full or part
premium systems (British Col-
umbia and Alberta have premi-
ums only for medical insur-
ance).

A precise comparison is made
more difficult by the fact Alber-
ta, British Columbia and Sas-
katchewan have differing sys-
tems of deterrant fees or “‘co-
insurance” and all plans vary
with respect to services provid-
ed. In British Columbia there is
a $l-a-day charge for hospital
stays but the medical insurance
coverage is considered the
broadest in Canada.

Single

Ontario $136.80
Manitoba

(present) 102.00

(proposed) 72.60

Br.Columbia 60.00

Alberta 60.00

Saskatchewan 36.00

ANNUAL PREMIUM COST

1

Couples

Families |
$273.60

$309.00

204.00
145.20
150.00
120.00
72.00

204.00
145.20
120.00
120.00

72.00

(The Globe and Mail, Aug. 7, 1969)

—

Working class unity
key to social advance

5 ominant characteristic
Moog eae and in all likeli-
Net aie hallmark of the
Bnogeae ce’ has been the emer-
€ multi-national cor-

Tati
Toe, US: Some call it the “mac-

“Co ;
Poration,” some the “su-

Tan
hati
Mattar ae _ Corporation.” No

face or ait iS described, it is
of the world’s economic

2 also conceivably, a
5 danger to the world

m
Wout Vement . , . Ultimately, -

Of in Seem clear, some form
fnational contro] of these

USt be Corporate complexes

h eee to assure social-
bem. By Sible conduct from
Sg tedion this process, doubt-
Xtran, cS and intricate in the

lative’ 1S at presen :
tive Necessity.” t only a spe

rRewot of these lines is
ner; President of the
Jy 2eri Utomobile Workers of
eekly > Writing in the British

op. Dune on June 8, 1969.

ere €uther has finally dis-

© class struggle to a
ae issue and, more-
as “tp, IS Imperialist struc-
€ face of the world’s
uture.” He further

‘ ‘Th th

Slab © decade of the seven-

or internationally must
d perfect organiza-

tional machinery which is
responsive to the democratic
will of all participants, under
the control of no single trade
union centre or bloc of such
centres, and serving the inter-
ests of workers everywhere,
irrespective of national boun-
daries or possibly: conflicting
national interests . . . in most
mass. production industries
there is no room left for pure-
ly national trade unionism...
the sooner and the more vig-
orously we set about building
an international source of
workers power commensurate
with the global power now
uncontestably in the hands of
the macro-corporation, the
safer the world’s future will
be.”

A rather confused and rambl-
ing approach that follows the
cosmopolitanism of big capital,
rather than working class inter-
nationalism, solidarity and alli-
ances, based on the respect for
national autonomy and sover-
eignty. . :

Speaking to the biennial con-
vention of the Papermakers and
Paperworkers at Pittsburg on
August 20, Donald MacDonald,
President of the Canadian Labor
Congress, dealt with the same
theme. He translated the word
“conglomerate” as meaning “Ooc-
topus-like corporations with ten-
tacles extending often to the
most remote parts of the world.”

‘He said, “decisions vitally affect-

ing workers and their families

‘now are often made in board

3). sh
‘

viens wiosit  gaibsel js beaiis esw

rooms thousands of miles away,
by financiers who have never
seen the plant where these peo-
ple work and who, in any event,
may be regarded as a relatively

“insignificant part of the conglo-

merate’s operations.”

These are indisputable facts
that mirror the reality of life in
Canada and, indeed, throughout
the capitalist part of the world.

Mr. MacDonald said it was
“just plain common sense” for
70 percent of Canadian union
members to belong to United
States-based trade unions. He
termed all criticism of this ar-

rangement of trade union colo- »

nialism as an “attack on the
principle of international trade
unionism.” But he left the dis-
tinct impression that by inter-
national trade unionism he
meant simply the global exten-
sion of American unions, rather
than a democratic alliance and
solidarity between — sovereign
contingents of organized labor,
based upon each sovereign na-
tion-state.

Labor’s cause is immensely en-
henced by international co-oper-
ation and solidarity. But this ob-
vious fact of life and the class
struggle on an_ international
scale, has nothing in common
with a policy of one trade union
centre in one country (ex. the
American AFL-CIO) dominating
and imposing its laws and. prac-
tices upon the trade union move-
ment of another country (ex.
Canada) .

A class alliance of

i elieweos WU ORS

the work-
PTA. OOF HE

De

ers and their trade unions of
the world in opposition to the
class alliance of big capital and
imperialist monopolies is a his-
torical necessity if social pro-
gress is to be advanced.

But the sovereign authority
of the nation-state cannot be ig-
nored. Neither class, nor natio-
nal democratic issues can be
compromised or left out of ac-
count.

Ignoring the class struggle on
a national and global scale, and
seeing the tasks of the trade
unions as purely a social and
moral question, can only result
in a policy of dependence on in-
ternational capital. Such a policy

Teduces trade unionism into an
adjunct or vassal of monopoly ~

capital and imperialism. It not
only condones, but actively sup-
ports a system of private owner-
ship and control. by monopoly
of all the main means of wealth

production. It looks upon a sys-

tem of exploitation of man by
man as natural, pre-ordained
and eternal. ©

Both Mr. Reuther and Mr.
MacDonald are both well aware
of the fact that over one-third
of the world’s people have al-
ready abolished capitalist explo-
itation and are now building so-
cialism and communism. They
are also aware of the fact that
the trade union movement was
well on the way to becoming
united on a world scale after the

‘Second World War. They know

that it was the right-wing and

pro-imperialist policy of the
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—

a ae ade Per

American labor leaders which
led to the split in the World Fe-
deration of Trade Unions. They
are fully aware that this policy
was of immense services to
American imperialism and the
launching of the cold: war.

The main question before us
in the trade union movement of
the world of today, is not one of
international unions versus na-
tional unions.

The main question is the role
and direction of policy of organ-
ized labor in opposition to mono-
poly capital and its political
power centered in the nation
state wherever capitalism rules.

The sinister role of monopoly
capital can only be crushed on
a national scale through mass
actions forcing the government
to adopt anti-monopoly legisla-
tion, and promoting popular
anti- monopoly economic and
social policies.

The aim of the trade unions,
acting in conformity with the
historic -role of the working

class, is to lead the working .

class and all exploited people,
everywhere, into political action
to bring to being anti-monopoly
governments. This is what will
open the door to a more com-
plete and revolutionary transfor-
mation of our social, economic
and political life; to freeing of
labor from exploitation and soci-
ety as a whole from monopoly
domination; to the achievement
of working class political power
and the achievement of social-
ism. .

SEPTEMBER 12, 1969

Sek any.

PAGE 5

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