Siz) iS A | THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER d vy thewestern Canadian LLWoor A.) 34,000 copies printed in this issue lumber worker Published once monthly as the officia! publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-ClO-cLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 PatKerr Business Manager — Bob Schlosser Advertising Representatives — Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the 1WA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. ok HE Canadian Labour Congress’ campaign to seek an adequate pension — 75 percent of wages at 60 years for all workers in Canada covered under the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans — is highly commendable and should receive the support of all thinking Canadians. Unfortunately, the campaign will meet stiff opposition from the federal government whose Minister of Health and Welfare, the Hon. Marc LaLonde recently stated, “The Canada Pension Plan was not set up to provide a total retirement income. Rather it was viewed as a middle tier of a three-tier system — Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, and private pension benefits and annuities. The first two components were geared to ensure adequacy, the third to provide whatever sup- plementary margin of comfort was desired.” The Congress argues rightly that this is not good enough. When the Canada Pension Plan reaches its top level on January 1, 1976, it will be providing for a pension of twenty- five percent of maximum pen-. sionable earnings, which will be less than 25% of the average industrial. earnings; the Old Age Security pension will be less than 12.5% of the industrial average. The combination will be a maximum of 37.5%, or less, of the industrial average. In effect what the government is saying is that a pension of 37.5% or less at age 65 is an adequate pension for retirees. The government has also failed to take into account the fact that at the present time, less than 40% of wage and salary earners in Canada are covered by private pension plans and the vast majority of these plans .are based on retirement at age 65. There is also a danger that workers covered by private pension plans may never see their pensions. William M. Mercer Ltd., Canada’s leading pension consultants, writes that unless inflation is checked, “‘it would be not unduly pessimistic to forecast the breakdown” of private pension plans. ONS FOR ALL _ The consequences of collapse would be terrifying. Four Canadians in ten rely upon private pension plans, operated by their employers, as their principal sources retirement income. There are about 20,000 plans in Canada, with com- bined assets of around $20 billion. Some companies have already run into trouble. One large company in Montreal informed its 500 employees that it could no longer continue their pension plan. They had the choice of closing the plan or closing the plant. The workers chose to keep their jobs but the money they invested into the plan was lost along with the pension plan. ~ Even the industrial giants are facing a rough road ahead because of a bear market which has eaten so deeply into pension portfolios. For example General Motors owes its pension plan $800 million, Bethlehem Steel $758 million, Ford, Chrysler and Canadian Pacific all between $500 and $600 million. Uniroyal, with total assets of $205.8 million owes its pension fund $421 million. These are considered only paper debts but if inflation continues at its present rate these debts could impede these companies profitability, growth, and borrowing power for years to come. The Congress states that the only way to protect the majority of Canadians when they enter their retirement years is to make the Canada and Quebec Pension Plan benefits available at age 60 by 1981 and to increase the amount of pension benefits by 2.5 percent per year until they reach 75 percent of wages in 1996. The Congress is also recom- mending that the contributions be based on a worker's full salary and not just on the present “maximum yearly pensionable earnings’ system.” This would eliminate the current inequitable situation in which lower income earners pay a larger proportion of their income for coverage than people at the top of the wage scale. B.C. MARINE TRAINING PROGRAMME A marine training facility to meet the manpower requirements of Canada’s west coast has been recommended by an advisory committee to the Minister of shipping a ation, it was announced by the Hon. Eileen Dailly. ‘The committee recommended that the training school be established on a waterfront location in the Greater Vancouver area and be operated by a board of governors ding to the Minister of Education. It would be independent of any existing college. of - J ANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1975 When they made me Shop Steward I thought I’d be in the shop all winter! SEES SET BS AE FE U.F.W. PRESI DENT CHAVEZ EO THANKS REGIONAL COUNCIL Editor’s note: The following letter written by Cesar Chavez, head of the United Farm Workers: Union, is in appreciation for the co- operation extended by the IWA Regional Council in supporting the United Farm Workers’ boycott of California grapes and lettuce. Tom Fawkes IWA 2859 Commercial Vancouver, B.C. Dear Brother Fawkes: Jessica Govea has told me of the wonderful reception given her by the B.C. Federation of Labour Convention that I was unable to attend because of illness. She particularly said that you will be helping with media exposure to help spread the word about the boycott. There are many signs of real hope for the workers. One of them is a new California farm labor bill, which would allow the workers to decide by secret ballot election who they want to represent them. Thank you for your assist- ance and support. Viva la Causa! CESAR E. CHAVEZ President B.C. PRAISED FOR ECOLOGICAL ACT | | | British Columbia has _ re- ceived commendation from Canadian and Australian scientists and conservationists for its Ecological Reserves Act passed by the provincial gov- ernment in 1971. Following its election in 1972, the NDP government has taken a major interest in main- taining B.C.’s_ ecological reserves and have established fifty-five new areas varying in size from 1.5 to 24,300 acres. These reserves involve both rare and typical of natural environments, including seabird islands, forests, deserts, and alpine tundra. B.C. ecological reserves are _part of the International Biological Programme’s plan to set aside natural areas. There are now _ sixty-two countries with ecological reserves. WHERE TO PUT YOUR MONEY Dominion Stores shares are highly recommended capital gain and income by Richardson Securities of Canada. And it’s mainly because of the neat profitabil- ity of the supermarket giant. It is estimated that profit of the big food retailer will rise in the fiscal year ending March, 1975, to $2 a share from $1.64 last year. Sales at Dominion have been rising about 10 per- centage- points faster than those of the industry as a whole (27 per cent compared to 17 per for cent). Further introduction of high-profit, non-food items is expected to give an additional push to the overall profit picture. A dividend increase is antici- pated in the coming year and the securities house noted that ‘shares have held up well during this year’s broadly falling stock market and this strong performance leads us to believe the shares will perform well as equity markets im- prove”’.