March 3, 1961
THE FISHERMAN
Page 3
Pictured against the Vancouver skyline here is the seir.er "North, view," lost in Fin-layson Channel with her eight-man crew during a storm on February 23. Built at Vancouver in 1951, she has a 65.3-foot ■egistered length and 18.9-ft. beam. At the time she is believed to have foundered, be-tween 1 and 2 p.m., she was travelling light from the Namu area to fish herring in Meyers Passage before proceeding to Laredo Sound.
—Courtesy
Vancouver Sun
WESMETCO SHEET METAL LTD.
Ventilation - Roofing and General Sheet Metal
BOAT TANKS & BOAT PIPES PLANTERS
Alex & Thelma Bilyk LA. 1-2223 706 Victoria, New Westminster
SOINTULA CO-OP STORE
is
A 100% Union Store
and
is entitled to
the
Patronage and Support
of
All Union Members
RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOC. Local 1518
Manitoba Natives, Metis Join in Strike Victory
GRAND RAPIDS, Manitoba: Indian and Metis brush cutters on Grand Rapids power project here have won a week-long bush strike which has been termed the "greatest thing to happen in this area since Louis Riel," the UE News reported last month.
BCP Official Pa'd Less Than Whites
Passes Here
The fishing industry lost a well known figure on Sunday this week by the sudden death of Neville E. Gerrard, who had held various managerial posts with BC Packers for the past 25 years. He was 52 years of age.
From 1936, when he joined BC Packers, Neville Gerrard was successively manager of the Campbell River office until 1948, manager of the Prince Rupert office from 1948 to 1950 and manager of the Victoria office from 1951 to 1956. For the past five years he had been in charge of BC Packers' fresh fish plants, fillet division, working from the Vancouver office.
His many contributions to community work included management of the Prince Rupert Symphony Orchestra during his two years in the northern city and participation in Neighborhood House activities in North Vancouver.
He is survived by his wife, Dolores, and one sister in Southern Rhodesia.
Funeral services were held Wednesday this week from St. Phillips Anglican Church, Vancouver.
The strike blew up over substandard wages and working conditions for Indian and Metis workers as compared with white workers on the project. The white workers were housed in company trailers; the Indians and Metis had to live in tents in the subzero weather.
Hourly pay for Indians and Metis was supposed to be $1.35 an hour while white workers received $1.55 an hour and a $2.50 a day allowance for food.
The strikers charged that they were not only grossly underpaid; but that the contractors chiseled on hours worked so that actual pay worked out as low as 40 cents an hour.
The strike settlement assured that the $1.35 would be paid, plus 10 cents an hour for using their own power saws. All men fired or suspended as leaders of the strike were to be reinstated. An assur-
ance was given that hours worked would be accurately tallied.
Settlement of the strike in record breaking time by company and government action came just in time to stop a threatened march on the government by the men. The swiftest government inquiry In Manitoba's history headed off the march which would have dramatically underscored the gross discrimination against the Indian and Metis workers.
While going back to work, the strikers still demand that the construction companies provide bunk-houses and the same provision for meals as given to white workers on the project.
It was rumored that two provincial health and welfare employees stationed in Grand Rapids were to be made scapegoats. It was charged that they had encouraged the strike.
The Indian and Metis workers say that they, and nobody else,
engineered the strike. Officialdom, it is reported, refuses to listen to this as the thought of Indian and Metis workers going on strike is seemingly impossible for them to grasp.
The strike brought out the fact that discrimination against Indian and Metis workers is widespread. Workers on another site had struck last fall over the same poor wage and working conditions.
In each case the complaint was identical; hourly minimum wages were not being paid and cutters being paid on a per acre basis couldn't possibly make the minimum rate in heavy bush.
A fact finding commission appointed by the provincial government is to investigate and' report to government on working conditions on the Grand Rapids project. The Indian and Metis workers describe the conditions under which they work as "primitive."
Steel
and
Wooden
FISHING VESSELS
ALL STEEL
ALL WOOD
QUALITY BUILT VESSELS BY EXPERIENCED CRAFTSMEN
REPAIRS - REFITTING - OVERHAULS
COMPLETE MACHINE SHOP - PIPE FITTING SHOP - ENGINE INSTALLATIONS
STAR SHIPYARDS (MERCER) LIMITED
61 Duncan Street
New Westminster, B.C.
Phone LA. 1-0731
NYLON FISHING NETS
QUALITY NETS THAT GIVE YOU DEPENDABLE SERVICE
EXCLUSIVE AGENTS
E. A. TOWNS LTD.
MUTual 5-7929
1017 Marine Building Vancouver, B.C.
•
NIKKA OVERSEAS AGENCY LTD.
MUtual 4-7623
217 Dunlevy Avenue Vancouver, B.C.
•
TRANS-PACIFIC TRADING CO. LTD.
REgent 3-3216
Nylon supplied by TOYO RAYON CO. OF JAPAN
1005 West Broadway
640 West Hastings St.
EXCLUSIVE EXPORTERS MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED
Vancouver 2, B.C.
Vancouver, B.C.
MUtual 3-7505
No Recession Seen In Profit Picture
Ben Swankey is a labor economist attached to the Trade Union Research Bureau. He has recently concluded a popular series of classes on economics and related matters under sponsorship of the New Westminster Local. He is at present conducting, the same course at Steveston for members oj the tuo locals.
By BEN SWANKEY
HOW are profits holding up in this, the fourth "recession" since the last war? We know there are over three quarters of a million Canadians without jobs and in many homes there is real poverty and suffering. Is "big business" feeling the pinch too? Let's examine some of the latest figures:
Early in February the major oil companies increased the price of gasoline by one cent a gallon in British Columbia. This happened at about the same time that Premier W. A. C. Bennett brought in his budget announcing a three cent per gallon increase in the tax on gasoline.
Spokesmen for the oil companies have denied Lhey had any previous knowledge of Bennett's ntended tax incerase; they would have us believe that it was just an accident that Bennett's tax ncrease and the oil companies' price increase took /lace at the same time!
The companies said that the increase was necessary because gasoline prices were "unrealistic." But what about company profits? Here are the facts on oil company profits during 1960 (the figures given are net profits—after depreciation, depletion, taxes, etc.):
1960 Net Profit Increase over 1959
Imperial Oil ______ $61030,000 11.9 percent
BA Oil 30.803,000 20.3 percent
Texaco Canadian 3,448,000 111.3 percent
Interprovincial Pipe Lines 8,700,000
The question may well be asked: Are not such profits and price increases "unrealistic"?
Other BC Firms Doing Well
Here are some other BC firms that are not doing too badly during this "recession." (Figures are for 1960 and are net profits):
1960 Net Profit Increase over 1959 Crown Zellerback _ $8,700,000 10.1 percent
BC Forest Products 3,535,000 9.6 percent
BC Telephone 7,245,000 11.8 percent
i We haven't dealt with the two giant monopolies—the BC Electric and MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River. They will be treated in a special article.)
Now a few figures on net profits for 1960 from other Canadian companies, some below and some above the previous year's figures but all of them substantial:
1960 Net Profit Change from 1959
Bell Telephone ______________________ $53,513,000 -I- 6.4 percent
Steel Co. of Canada __________ 21,355,000 —35 percent
Canadian Breweries ____________________ 13,761,000 +11 percent
Ford Motor of Canada 20,599,000 —10.3 percent
CPR _______..... ...................______________ 33,700,000 — 6.6 percent
Dom. Tar & Chemical .......... 10,079,000 —12 percent
Abitibi Paper 12.266,000 + 3.7 percent
The above figures, taken from the daily press and the Financial Post, do not include many of the big monopolies such as International Nickel, Aluminum Ltd., Consolidated Mining and Smelting, Massey-Harris-Ferguson, General Motors of Canada and Imperial Tobacco. As these figures become available, they will be published. But even from the above reports, it can be seen that "big business" does not seem to be suffering! In fact, I'm sure that not a few of them go to bed each night with the prayer: "Lord, if this be recession, may we have more of them!"
US 'Recession' Profits Stand Up
Some American firms have done quite well for themselves too. Stockholders last year received a record high dividend amounting to $14.5 billion, the best in US history.
American Telephone and Telegraph handed out cash dividends amounting to $737,424,000; General Motors $564,108,000: Standard Oil of New Jersey $487,199,000; Du Pont $309,427,000; US Steel $161,976,000; Ford Motors $164,622,000; General Electric $177,390,000.
These figures are not the total profits, which were actually much higher — they are "ony" that portion of net profit distributed to shareholders in cash dividends.
As for profits—these three examples will illustrate their magnitude: American Telephone & Telegraph made a net profit of $1,250,-955,000; US Steel a net profit of $304,520,681 (up $50.5 million from last year!) and Du Pont $418,695,610. All the companies whose profit figures have been quoted can well afford to pay higher wages and increased corporation taxes, despite the extensive big business campaign to the contrary.
BRAIDED
ROPES
The right rope for every job!
DISTRIBUTED BY..................
GUNDRY (PACSFIC) LTD.
996 Powell Street MU. 1-9303 Vancouver
Opposite Campbell Ave. Fish Docks
SERVAIS
QUIET
No Back Pressure
EXHAUST SILENCERS
Marine-lndustrial-Truck, a complete range of sizes always in stock from 1" to 10"
Distributors Western Canada
Marines INDUSTRIAL Industrial
Engines |. k
Gasoline )^f""»Ts T'JT'py
& Diesel
Heat Exchangers Silencers V-Drive Transmissions Reduction Gears Propellers
FORMERLY HARRY WALKER LTD.
1737 W. GEORGIA ST. VANCOUVER, B.C.
