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WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

2nd Issue

Leaders Many Ontario Locals Seek Support New Party and president of the 1,800-member Toronto ‘Newspaper Guild, Conta cf Locals “xepreaéutidy almont’ the “feure would’ xiee *to youl

has been elected a vice-president at large of the American News-

paper Guild. Dobson defeated

better than two-to-one margin. *

Robert Zonka of Chicago by a

* %

TORONTO —Ontario’s relief rolls continue to grow. A pro- vincial Welfare Department survey of 40 representative munici- palities showed more than 45,0C0 relief recipients in August— 32 per cent more than for the corresponding month last year.

*

* a TORONTO—The Toronto and District Labour

Council

called on the Ontario government to enact safety legislation con- trolling the use of trucks to transport workers.

*

* *

BRUSSELS—The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has appealed to Generalisimo Franco to rescind death sentences on two Spaniards, who, 20 years ago, participated in the resistance to the Franco uprising against the then democratic

government. %*

* *

TORONTO—A breakthrough on the pensions front and a 10-cent-an-hour package of wage and fringe benefits paved the

way for settlement of a 10-week,

cross-country strike at Dominion

Bridge Co., Ltd., Canada’s largest structural steel chain.

Stop Blaming

Labour

Starr Tells Industry

Union economists who argue that labour costs should not be made the culprit for pricing Canadian goods out of world markets received support from an unexpected ally—federal La- bour Minister Michael Starr.

Mr. Starr suggested in an ad- dress to the Toronto Board of Trade that latest studies in his department indicated industry’s profit margin was increasing while labour costs remained at about the same percentage of gross value of output.

Examine Profits

The labour minister said Cana- dian industry should examine its profits, capital investment and efficiency rather than blame la- bour costs for any inability to compete in foreign markets.

Mr. Starr cited a Labour De- partment analysis showing that wage costs in 1949 were 15.7 per cent of the gross value of output. In 1958, wage costs had actually declined to 15 per cent.

Raw materials costs fell from $4.8 to 53.3 per cent, the same

study revealed, while resitual costs including profits, capital allow- ances and other expenses—climbed from 27 per cent to 29.2.

Manufacturing industry in many cases was lagging in providing new jobs, Starr said. The country’s manufacturing output had risen more than 21 per cent since 1954, but employment was up less than 4 per cent.

Other Causes

Often, manufacturers com- plained of high labour costs when the failure to woo customers abroad could be traced to other causes. Starr recalled the case of a company which was losing out to foreign competition in | the manufacture of a particular device, ‘citing wage costs and rates of exchange as reasons. But a com- parison of the two devices re- vealed that labour costs were not in question; the main factor was one of design for low production costs. The Canadian design was altered, costs were cut 75 per cent and the lost market recap- tured.

Karachi Traffic Rules Would Fill Our Jails

Karachi in Pakistan has enacted an edict permitting 10 years imprisonment for traffic violators. This is due to the “utter dis- regard” of drivers there for traffic rules.

Maybe that is the right way

to go about it, with no ifs, ands,

or buts. Meantime we grumble over our parking tickets.

—Windsor Star.

The

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Several British unions are now considering means of bringing national leaders into closer contact with the rank and file on the workshop floor.

These moves follow much re- cent criticism of union organiza- tion, and it has been argued that many misunderstandings, and even some unofficial strikes, have been due to leaders being out of touch with their members.

Special Committee

A delegate conference of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, Britain’s second largest union, has just recommended its leaders to set up a special advisory com- mittee “to improve their com- munications with the shop floor in the motor industry.”

It is suggested that this com- mittee should consist of regional officers, district secretaries and district committee men, and that it should meet about four times a year.

The Transport and General Workers’ Union, Britain's largest union, has already set up an ad- visory committee in the automo- bile industry, which consists of elected representatives from fac- tories in the main centres, and three district officials.

Proposals Considered

Five unions in electricity sup- ply, including the T.G.W.U. and the A.E.U., are considering pro- posals that there should be con- sultations from time to time with members in electricity generating stations. It is thought that this would help to undermine the powerful unofficial shop stewards movement which has developed in this industry.

half of the trade union mem- bership in Ontario will have signed a Statement of Support for the New Party by the end of this year, Morden Lazarus, Ontario Federation of Labour political action director, has an- nounced.

‘Lazarus told the OFL annual convention here that more than 260 locals representing 140,000 workers have signed the state- ment.

This figure does not include the 45,000-member Ontario Carpen- ters Council nor any other dele- gate body.

300 Locals Soon

Lazarus said he was confident

lecals by January.

The OFL political action chief told convention delegates there were now 12 part-time New Party organizers in the field in the province, including five in Toronto.

He said his department was encouraged by the setting up of political action and education committees in labour councils and locals.

‘The federation’s political action publication, MEMO, had been published eight times since the last convention with 6,000 copies going to labour councils, PAC chairmen, local presidents and secretaries.

Crop Insurance Plan Sought By Farmers

The 20,000-member Ontario Farmers Union wants a govern- ment-sponsored crop insurance scheme.

In a brief submitted to the Ont- ario Legislature’s select committee on crop insurance, the farmers’ union argued that all citizens of the province should share in pro- duction risks since they benefit from increases in farm efficiency.

Share Jointly

The OFU called for a scheme under which federal and provincial governments would pay adminis- trative expenses and half the pre- mium costs. Participating farmers would pay the remainder.

The brief suggested the plan should cover all crops and all risks

including drought, hail, wind- storms, insects and = earthquake damage.

Coverage under the scheme should be limited to either the cost of production or the average yield in an area, the union said.

Low Interest Loans

In a second presentation, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association suggested low-interest loans or grants to farmers in times of hardship as an alternative to a regular crop insur- ance plan.

Stanley Smith, chairman of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, elabor- ating on an earlier brief, attacked private insurance companies which underwrite hail insurance.

“We feel their rates are placed as high as the traffic will bear,” Smith told the committee. His group’s brief supported a general crop insurance program.

Toronto Sewer Workers

Face Bone Disease

Up to 10 per cent of the men who worked underground in a major Toronto sanitary sewer project will develop serious bone disease, the Royal Commission on Industrial Safety was told.

Dr. J. R. Middleton, medical dir- ector for Dominion Underground Construction Co., told the provin- cial commission that five of the workers were chronically ill now and one man had died. He said a heart condition contributed to the one fatality.

The Bends

Those stricken suffer from the bends (caisson disease). Persons who work in tunnels under high. pressure will develop the bends if decompression is not conducted properly. The bends result when nitrogen gets into the bloodstream and interferes with circulation.

The bone disease is an end pro- duct of the bends and sometimes cannot be detected for two years.

About 850 men worked on the project in question, the huge Cox-

well sanitary sewer, started in 1956 and completed in 1959.

Lower Pressure

Dr. Middleton said a small per- centage of the hundreds of men now employed on Toronto’s new east-west subway may be subjec- ted to the same disease but the threat is reduced because air pres- sure is lower than on the Coxwell project.

The medical consultant recom- mended changes in Labor Depart- ment regulations to combat the threat.

When workers were obliged to work in tunnels where compressed air pressure was at or above 34

pounds, exposure time should be reduced, he said.

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