COMMUNIST LEADER SAYS:

‘Councils must get back

to the bargaining table —

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

Something has to be done to get
municipal employees and their
employers, the municipal councils,
back to the bargaining table.
Unless the present impass_ is
resolved, we’re heading directly
for a strike or lockout with all the
curtailment of services and _ in-
conveniences that these involve.

My stand has always been that
since the issues in dispute have to
be resolved in any case by
negotiations, why not keep on
negotiating now until a settlement
is reached rather than negotiating
a settlement after a strike or
lockout.

The present state of affairs is
this.

The Labor Relations Depart-
ment of the Greater Vancouver

» Regional District, which includes

all the mayors of the region, put its

settlement proposals on the table.

een I HEAR THE WORD saucer I REACH FOR MY GUN! 12 The unions did the same, declaring

‘Crisis not yet a depression’

TORONTO — Ina seminar on the
question, “Recession or
Depression in Canada,”’ introduced
by William Kashtan, leader of the
Communist Party of Canada, all

aspects of Canada’s economic and’

political life’ were subjected to
scrutiny and analysis. The seminar
for Communist Party members
and friends took place on Saturday,
March 15.

After backgrounding the current
crisis in the capitalist system,
noting the coinciding of the further
deépening of capitalism’s general
crisis with a serious cyclical crisis,
Kashtan pointed out that. the
deepening of the general crisis of
capitalism even when the present
cycle ends, “inevitably will lead to
more and more countries leaving
capitalism and seeking a new path
of development.”

He noted two important facts in
the present-day struggle of the
Canadian working class as com-
pared with the thirties. “‘One, the
workers don’t go along with the

idea that the way to solve the crisis

is for them to be the victims. by’

tightening their belts, accepting
wage cuts, accepting layoffs and so
on. Two, there’s no acceptance of
the idea that the government has

no responsibility; ‘the state has a

responsibility.”

Discussing the terms recession
and depression, the Communist
leader said that, ‘““when we speak
of a depression, we speak,
basically, of a decline of the
economy to such an-extent that
there is a very low rate of
economic activity for a very long
time.”’ (In*1929 it dropped about
25%:) There is, secondly, a
massive liquidation of assets, to
reduce prices.”’

He said that “today, monopoly
has such a hold on the economy,
that whether the economy goes up
or down they can maintain prices.
They reduce production and make
more profit.”” The ‘‘normal’’
features of such a crisis are not
evident at this time, he ag

“There’s a decline in production,
but not a serious collapse- of
prices.” Also, we have serious
unemployment, but. not massive
unemployment characteristic of
1929.

“Canada is in a decneaing
crisis,’’ Kashtan said, “but it is not
yet at the level of a depression. Our
slogan, Stop. the
Depression is sound,” he said,
“because it is based upon the
possibility that if the working class
unites its efforts it can compel the
government to undertake
measures that conceivably could
stop the economic cycle collapsing
to that extent, and protect the
working people to some degree.”

Kashtan warned, however, that
it would be wrong to conclude that
we could not be faced with another
1929; the monopoly system tries to
solve the crisis in part by local
wars, while the working class is
called upon to combine its battle on
the economic front with the fight
for peace

Drift to:

that their objective was parity with
other public service employees in
the community such as_ those
employed by the B.C. government
and B.C. Hydro. But as soon as the
unions placed their proposals on

the table, the Labor Relations’

Department of the GVRD abruptly
broke off the negotiations without
even considering the union’s
position. *

The unions are charging that the
Labor Relations Department of the
GVRD is really under the thumb of
the Employers Council of B.C.,
which they describe as a “‘reac-
tionary grouping of big business
interests which is determined to
keep down the wages of municipal
employees.’”’ They have a point.

' The Labor. Relations Department

is affiliated to the Employers
Councils and almost all the mayors
are businessmen closely tied in
with big business interests.

The unions further charge that
their negotiations are being used
for political purposes by right wing
municipal politicians, that
municipal employees are being
used as pawns in a political power
play by municipal politicians
against the NDP provincial
government. The many _anti-
government statements’ by

Alderman Volrich, Mayor Phillips”

and others certainly bear out this
contention.

It seems to me that the dif-
ference between the increase of-
fered by the Labor Relations
Department of the GVRD and what
the unions consider parity are not
only negotiable but must be
negotiated. The Labor Relations

Department and the mayors are
pursuing harmful and disruptive
tactics when they break off
negotiations. This has all the
earmarks of deliberately trying to
force the unions to resort to job
action and strikes and then use this
as an excuse for a lockout.

The Labor Relations Depart-
ment of the GVRD and the mayors,
under the present setup, have
altogether too much power. They
can force a confrontation and
declare a lockout without even
consulting municipal councils. In
effect negotiations have been taken

out of the hands of the elected rep-

resentatives of the people.

My proposals to resolve this

situation are:
-1,The Labor Relations
Department and the mayors must
end their arrogant stance and get
back to the bargaining table with
the unions.

2. The Labor
Department and the mayors must
not make any major decisions such
as breaking off negotiations or a
lockout without the expressed
consent of municipal councils.

3. The Labor Relations
Department and the mayors must
take their directions only from
municipal councils and not from
any outside source.

HOUSE PRICES JUMP

The average sale price of a house
in B.C. in 1974 was $43,168. This is
the highest average in Canada and

was 36 percent more than the year

before, The average for all of
Canada was $41,133, an increase of
27 percent from the previous year.

May Day-40th anniversary issue

Plans are going ahead to produce
a special 20-page May Day-40th
Anniversary issue of the Pacific
Tribune on April 25. This special
edition will carry many interesting
features, including articles on

“The On-To-Ottawa Trek,” and the
“Battle of Ballantyne Pier’’ which
were two major struggles that
coincided with the founding year of
the paper, 1935.

In addition, there will be many
interesting and entertaining

features on the 40th anniversary of —

the paper along with many colorful
illustrations and pictures. It will
not only be an interesting issue — it

will be an historic’ one which |

readers will want to keep.
Advertisements and greetings
for this special May Day-40th
Anniversary issue must be in the
PT office no later than Friday,
April 18. Place your advertisement
early. Also, order a special bundle
for distribution to your friends,
neighbors and workmates.

Relations | |

A “Joyal Opposition” in parliament or outside of it is .

supposed to be a sort of balance wheel or a safety valve
in our democratic way of life, to keep the prevailing
government policies on an even keel; a sort of watchdog
carefully protectihg the livelihood and interests of John Q.
Public.

This concept, inherited from the long past, is very much:

a pipedream in today’s “‘free’”’ world, since all so-called
“Joyal Oppositions” have been at one time or another the
governments of the day. And most of them, like the
Socreds of yesterday, enacted policies which consisted
mainly in giving a grasping monopoly everything it
wanted, and John Q. Public everything he didn’t want.
This applies with equal emphasis to Tories, Liberals
and other hybrid political products where either performs
in the role of the loyal Opposition. Their loyalty consists of
remaining steadfastly loyal to the vested monopoly in-
terests they slavishly served — and wish to serve again as
a government rather than a loyal Opposition. Their
performance as a ‘LO’ invariably centres around the
digging up of manufactured dirt, slander and worse to
heave at the ‘in’; a carping criticism which would be far
below the dignity of a garrulous fishwife, but seldom on
the issue of basic policies. On that score they know all too
well — as John Q. Public also knows, that they didn’t and
couldn’t do a damn bit better than the ‘‘ins” they now seek

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1975—Page 2

to smear. In all likelihood, from past experiences,
probably a hell of a lot worse.

Here are a few examples of loyal Opposition as it func-
tions in the banner province of British Columbia.
Following 20 years or more of a monopoly-dominated
Social Credit gang that masqueraded as a government,
the people of B.C. in their majority voted into power a
New Democratic Party government. A well-intentioned
government, socialist in everything except socialism. But
with all its drawbacks, by far and away the best govern-
ment this province has had since the halcyon days of
Amor de Cosmos. And brother, we have had some dillies
in between, ranging all the way from hard-nosed Tory
reaction to Tory-Liberal coalitions down to give-away
Socreds who chanted a noisy hallelujah every time (which
was all the time) they gave away a chunk of this banner
province to the vested interests of big business!

Now of course an NDP government, with or without
socialism is anathema to the tycoons of big monopoly, be
they boss loggers, mine operators, ripoff landlords, real
estate sharks or what have you. It is also poison to the
political hacks of the ‘“‘loyal Opposition’ regardless of
their partisan stripe.

Thus when an NDP premier gets into a temporary

hassle with some provincial egg producers the Liberal |

leader of Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition publicly com-
pares him with British ex-minister of defence Profumo,
who gallivanted around with the choicest of British call
girls in pursuit of his “defense” duties. For this brand of
“opposition’’ this Liberal yahoo didn’t even receive the
customary slap on the wrist from a magnanimous NDP,
let alone a stretch in the cooler for malicious slander.
Without going so far afield, he might have compared the
premier’s egg omelette with the affaire d’amour of Tory
leader Hees with the glamorous Gerta Munsinger, but

that would have disturbed his Tory ‘loyal Opposition’

colleagues no end. Better try and put the NDP premier in |

the Profumo category.

Then to top it off we have this “loyal Opposition”
hysterically yodelling anent some $200 cheque for NDP
“election expenses,’’ and horror of horrors, from an ex-
convict at that. A measly two hundred upsets Tory,
Liberal and Socred ‘‘loyal Oppositionists,” who deal in
hundreds of thousands from their wealthy monopoly
backers ‘‘for services rendered,”’ either in vast resources
giveaways or hard cash to these same backers — with

- promises of more to come once we “get rid of the NDP.”

And all the above is only a flea bite in the campaign of
lies, slander and innuendo directed against the NDP by al
organized if somewhat diversified “loyal Opposition” —
the political jumping jacks of a predatory monopoly
oligarchy. And an alleged free press and general media.
provided: the fullest coverage of it all.

“The NDP,”’ they say, “‘is going too far and too fast.’ OD
the other hand, John Q. Public, scenting a strong odor of
political pollution, says ‘“‘it isn’t going half fast enough,
and taking too much damn time to get there.”

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Pacific Tribune

t edition, Canadian Tribune-

Editor - MAURICE RUSH
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