STRUGGLE AT CRUCIAL STAGE

Unity way out for woodworkers.

Act deserts residents

After waiting patiently for more
than two months, the Downtown
Eastside Residents’ Association
was informed last week that
amendments to the Landlord and
Tenant Act designed to protect
permanent hotel residents would
be enforced on an’ “individual
complaint only”’ basis.

The amendments were in-
troduced last June following
protests from DERA after several
downtown hotels had raised rents
by as much as 100%. The amend-
ments outlined a review procedure
by which the Rentalsman would
have the power to designate a room
occupied by a person receiving any
form of social assistance as a
permanent residence and bring it
under the 10.6% rent increase
limitations introduced last year.

Bruce Erickson, president of the
1250 member association, said that
his organization considers the
amendment totally inadequate and
had been pushing for the
designation of 125 hotels as per-
manent residents. ‘‘We arranged
for a computer print-out of all
recipients of social assistance, and
came up with a list of 1,369 people
living in 125 hotels,”’ he said.

Erickson said that the onus
would then be on the landlord to
show that he was providing
transient rental accommodation,
which could then be exempted
from the Landlord and Tenant Act.

He said that he had been assured in
a meeting with Norman Levi,
minister of human resources, on
August 12, that this would be done.

“However Mr. Levi has ap-
parently reversed his position and

, will now administer the act on a

complaint only basis,’’ Erickson
said.

With the amendment being
administered on a complaint only
basis tenants can expect a
minimum of six weeks delay
before any action is taken on their
case. In a prepared statement,
DERA said that a tenant with a
complaint must go through four
separate offices before the Ren-
talsman even deals with the case.
And then, the Rentalsman has the
option of designating the hotel or
not.

The DERA statement blasted
lack of definitive government
action in protecting hotel residents
and pointed out that there has been
no protection introduced for
residents of motels, rooming
houses, lodging houses or multiple
dwellings. The statement also
promised that DERA would not
hesitate to return to Victoria as
they did in early June to publicize
“the shortcomings of the Depart-
ment of Human Resources, the
Attorney General, the Ren-
talsman, and. the NDP govern-
ment.”

Restore Democracy in Chile

Public Meeting with

ABE FEINGLASS

International vice-president,
Almagamated Meatcutters Union,
_ Chairman U.S. Labor Commission to Chile,
February, 1974.

Also: Chilean.speaker,
entertainment by Vancouver Chilean Association

~ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7

8:00 P.M.

UNITARIAN CHURCH
49th and Oak, Vancouver

Sponsored by Canadians for
Democracy in Chile

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 5, 1975—Page 12

By JACK PHILLIPS

The workers in the forest in-
dustry on the coast are confronted
with a very complicated situation.
At a time like this, the workers
need leadership of the highest
calibre.

It is most unfortunate that the
leadership of the International
Woodworkers of America is split
over the issue of what course to
follow. It was the same split that
caused division in the ranks before
the vote on the Hutcheon report. As
a result, what could have been an

- 85 percent rejection was reduced to

a 51 percent rejection.

Meanwhile, the 13,000 members
of the Canadian Paperworkers’
Union and the Pulp, Paper and
Woodworkers are getting restless.
They have been on strike for nearly
two months against the major
employers with whom the IWA
negotiates and they want to extend
their picket lines to all IWA
operations on the coast. The
leaders of the two pulp unions are
advancing the only .line that can
unite the members of the three
unions at this time, i.e., an all-out
strike.

Spokesmen for the IWA have
indicated a desire to get back to the
bargaining table. That is positive
thinking. However, the only way to
make any more gains at the
bargaining table is to go there
jointly with the two pulp ‘unions.

Some IWA leaders are pressing
for another vote of their members
on the Hutcheon report, with a
view to having it accepted. Should
this come about, there will be
serious divisions within the IWA
and between the IWA and the two
pulp unions for years to come. That
could lead to raids and counter-
raids. In the long run, only the big
monopolies who dominate the
industry would gain.

In the immediate future, failure
of the IWA to declare a strike could
lead to expanded picketing by the

pulp unions, resulting in a com-_

plete shutdown on the coast. Were
such a situation created, there
would be heavy pressure exerted

on the provincial government to

legislate the workers back to work.
Only a united labor movement
could resist such strike-breaking
legislation, and it would be difficult
to achieve such unity if the IWA
was not on strike by its own
decision and was prepared to fight.

In short, the best way for the
IWA to come out of this situation is
to go boldly into the eye of the
storm.

The Toronto Financial Post of
June 28 made it very clear that the
Employer’s Council of British
Columbia (the voice of big
business) is co-ordinating the
employers’ attempts to laod the
cost of economic crisis and in-
flation onto the backs of the
workers. William Hamilton,
president of the Employers’
Council, was quoted as follows:

“TI think the forest industry
negotiations are undoubtedly the
turning point in the whole picture
in British Columbia. It will be a
guidepost for other industries.”

e ‘ .

Let us examine the wage in-
crease proposed by the Hutcheon
report:

If we deducted the cost-of-living
allowance the forest workers
would be entitled to in the first ye$r
if the COLA clause would continue
to operate, the total wage increase
for the first year would be only 32
cents an hour. In the second year,
there would be a nominal wage
increase of 75 cents an hour, and

we could expect that more than.

half of it would be eaten away by
rising prices.

Despite the noises made by the
employers, big business would be
very happy with such a settlement.
Next time around, they would
sharpen their knives and take
another cut at the workers’ living
standards.

Some leaders of the IWA are
complaining about people outside
of their union interfering in the
internal affairs of the union. The
fact remains that the capitalist
newspapers, the radio, the
television, the Employers’ Council,
the premier, the minister of labor
and the spokesmen for the forest
industry have been publicly
pressuring the IWA membership to

accept the Hutcheon report. We”

have yet to read one statement by
the Regional Negotiating Com-

mount difficulties and give

GAS SELLOUT

Continued from page 1 ©

“been acted on by the government.

Taken together, the gas and oil
price boost to the monopolies will
mean much higher prices for fuels.
Hit by a 5.1 cent a gallon increase
in gasoline Wednesday, consumers
can expect gas and oil prices to
escalate sharply as a result of the
NDP government’s actions.

Responding bitterly to the NDP
government’s action, John
Sawatsky, a former research co-
ordinator for the B.C. Petroleum
Corporation, said in an article that
the NDP government is subsidizing
Shell, Gulf, Pacific Pete and
Standard Oil of B.C... .“‘With the
price of new gas jumping, the
bonanza is made bigger for the
lucky few. The risk has been
reduced by 75 percent and the price
increased by, nearly 100 percent.
It’s not gambling. It’s welfare, of
the corporate bum variety,” he
said.

The Tribune has repeatedly
called for public ownership to the
gas and oil industry in B.C. The
price we are paying to keep the big
monopolies in business making

_ profit, is too high. The government
’ should reverse its stand and move

to nationalize the industry as the
only way to serve the genuine
interests of the public..

mittee to offset this heavy, outs
pressure.

In short, the committee in i
majority tacitly accepted tht
pressure because it was in line wil}
their position for acceptance. |

If the IWA Leadership continué
to shy away from a policy of unil))
in action, of extending the striky
they will be remembered for yea") |
to come as leaders who betray®
the trust given to them by
membership. This would bé ®
tragedy. If they recognize !
realities of the situation and
steps to unite the membership !
joint struggle with the two P
unions, they will be remembé
as leaders who were able to

positive leadership that wa
required. ae

If the IWA leadership takes
positive road, it will be a vicld
for thw. whole labor movemé
and a set-back for the big eft
ployers in their long-range plans
hold wage increases down to a
minimum, while prices, dividen™)
and profits continue to rise. |

The employers are united 0
common front against, the wo
pulp and paper workers. A str
stand by the IWA at this time
open the door toa common front
organized labor, the %
guarantee of making gains in SU"

a difficult period. |

IWA MEETING

The situation-in the forest in
dustry seemed to be falling into at)
unofficial strike at Tribune pr, f
time while IWA leaders hesitalé
in recommending direct 4
forceful action.

With less than 8,000 of the 30,0" it
IWA members still on the J
more mills were being shut dow!
by pickets of the two pulp unio!

Objections from below
parently dissuaded union leade”
from calling another vote of afl
Hutcheon report as Local
president Syd Thompson !
pressmen that such an ae
would be ‘‘doubtful.”’

The regional negotiating col on
mittee was meeting on Welt
to set further plans.

SUN., SEPT. 21

Vietnam leader to speak
at city benefit rally

The minister of information and
culture in the Provisional
Revolutionary Government of
South Vietnam, Truong Tan, will

speak at a benefit rally to aid in the ~

reconstruction of Vietnam in
Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth
Playhouse on Sunday, September
21.

Sponsored by the Canadian Aid
for Vietnam Civilians (CAVC), the
rally will feature the distinguished
South Vietnamese leader as well as
a concert program to demonstrate
the support of Vancouver citizens
for aid to help rebuild South
Vietnam.

The benefit rally will be from 2-4
p.m. Truong Tan’s meeting in
Vancouver will mark the beginning
of anational tour which is expected
to take him to major Canadian
centres.

‘The opening of the national tour
in Vancouver will come only a
short while after the September 2
anniversary of the proclamation of
Vietnamese independence by Ho

Chi Minh. Thirty years ag® |
September. 2,
Vietnamese leader read
famous a
dependence in Ba Dinh Square

Hanoi, which launched the 307
struggle to win their freedom

TRUONG TAN,

1945 the revel”

tbe

Declaration of