EDITORIAL ILLUSION [PACE UNIONISTS will not be deceived by the medi- care illusion act now being staged by Premier Bennett in the Legislature. His proposed plan is as dif- ferent from genuine medicare as chalk is from cheese. It has all the appearance of a plan to detour pro- vincial participation in a national health insurance plan based on the recommendations of the Hall Royal Com- mission Report. The numerous objections to the Bennett plan have been well stated by NDP members of the Legislature and the B.C. Federation of Labour. Most objectionable feature is that it has a built-in assurance that the insur- ance companies will make profits out of the scheme. Mr. Bennett has capitulated to vested interests in or- ganized medicine. The mini-medicare plan perpetuates the old idea that the preservation of health is strictly a matter for the individual who must be prepared to shoulder the costs of illness. Because the health of the population is a national asset, the health of the community be- comes a community responsibility. Eventually, medicare must provide comprehensive coverage. Such coverage assures equality of responsi- bility as well as equality of care. Only as the cost and benefits of medicare are spread over the entire popula- tion do they fulfill the purpose of medicare. Mr. Bennett would divide us into three classes. Those in affluent circumstances who can afford high-cost in- surance; those who can pay a portion of the premiums; and those who are to be rated as indigent. The imposition of a means test on families who can ill afford the high cost of illness or the premiums exacted explodes the claim that the Bennett plan is medicare. HYPOCRISY yw MEMBERS Rae Eddie, M.L.A., and John Squire, M.L.A., have done their fellow - trade unionists a service by exposing hypocrisy in the Legislature on labour matters. The rules of the House provide for a Standing Com- mittee of the Legislature on Labour. It was originally intended that this committee would hear evidence sub- mitted on behalf of the claims of organized labour. The committee has seldom functioned during the Social Credit regime, because the government has refused to allow it to function. The government claims to know best what the workers need and want. Several years ago, Labour Minister Wicks promised that this committee would make a continuing study of the problems of automation. Never was it so important that this study should be made as a basis ‘of urgently required legislation. His promise has been forgotten. Failing action by the Assembly and the Government, Rae Eddie and John Squire took the initiative, suggest- ing that the House be asked to permit the committee to do its job. Government influence killed the possibility. This affront to organized labour irks because other organized bodies are allowed extensive hearings be- fore other House committees. If MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River Ltd. have views about tree farm licences, the red carpet is rolled out for Mr. Clyne’s high-priced public relations men. The sad consequence of this legislative hypocrisy is that, once more, the burning question of automation is brushed under the rug. Published twice month! as the official publication of the .-™,: _ INTERNATIONAL _ Canadia DWORKERS OF AMERICA, nm Regional Council No. 1. Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC ial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 .. Grant MacNeil OAS RENE Pat_Kerr ~--—. Ered Fieber .. G. A, Spencer varded to member of the IWA in Western Canada in ee with Saaaention decisions, Subscription rate for non-members ized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa, ‘payment 4 in cash. THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER PRESIDENT'S DESK Equality Before the Law By JACK MOORE ON Mr. Gaglardi and his friends can do no wrong, it appears. Their halos prob- ably give them immunity from all law en- forcement. The RCMP know what I am talking about. Events in Mr. Gaglardi’s riding have made the point plain to the IWA. Mr. Gaglardi told our pickets at Frolek Sawmills Ltd., North Kamloops, that he was not ashamed of crossing an IWA strike picket line. It is a legal strike and the pickets were where they should be. The Minister may not have seen the picket line when he visited a friend whose residence was on the mill site ,as he claims. If so, his protest about a movie film of his appearance was rather too vehement to make his explanation ring true. What a Minister of the Crown should note is that this strike has occurred because his friend and supporter has evaded the law. As a member of the Government and the elected member for the Kamloops constituency, he should now act to promote labour relations based on the laws enacted by the government of which he is a member. If a union is certified as the legal bar- gaining agent for employees in a bargaining unit, the law requires that the employer shall, “within five days, commence to bargain col- lectively and make every reasonable effort to conclude an agreement ...” This his strikebound friend has not done. The Union has been granted permission by the Labour Relations Board to prosecute this employer who is charged with another violation of the Act in respect of his actions during the period of negotiations. This per- mission would never have been granted un- less there had been grounds for the charge. I may remind Mr. Gaglardi that we have heard him demand penalties for trade unions suspected of disobeying the law. Now, he His wife’s been bringin’ him . business in a pub. . + + ever since she fo . instead of attendn’ th’ meeti should make it very plain that, as a Minister of the Crown, he advocates the impartial -en- forcement of the law — not one law favoring his friends and another penalizing trade unions he apparently holds in contempt. A MODEL EMPLOYER??? Any government-owned enterprise may face a strike, for a strike or the threat of a strike is an inescapable part of collective bargaining. Nevertheless, there are aspects of the dispute between the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and the P.G.E. which re- veal that the Government is far from being a model employer. The P.G.E. is a Crown corporation, but it will be remembered that the Premier is the president of the railway company and ° takes an active part-in its management. It will also be remembered that the same government has lowered recognized stan- dards of hours and conditions in other pub- licly-owned enterprises. In his budget speech, Mr. Bennett pointed to the P.G.E. as a gem in his new dynamic society. Evidently, he thinks only in terms of the balance sheet — the workers be damned. Collective bargaining is written into the provincial statutes but Mr. Bennett places little reliance on the processes of collective bargaining in dealing with government em- ployees. A better.example on his part would have an impressive influence on other em- ployers in B.C. . Government agencies exert pressure on the public and especially the trade unions to observe the established safety regulations. It is startling to learn that the govern- ment, as an employer, has disregarded al- most every safety rule in railway operations. If genuine collective bargaining is right for employers and employees in private en- terprise, it is right for the government. _ Af the observance of safety regulations is right for industry, on the highways and in - the homes, it is right for the government of British Columbia on the Pacific Great East- ern Railway. - ip him arguin’ Union n SLE 0 NOIRE inns Senta sree els, got ate es NS a Re eS |