By BERT WHYTE ~
INDSOR is the fifth largest
city in Ontario and the
fifth industrial centre in

Canada.

A few years ago Windsor was
in a slump, with plants running
away to relocate closer to the
centre of an expanding market
—that is, the Toronto-Montreal
axis. Prophets of doom claimed
that Windsor’s highly. skilled
labor force had dug its own
grave by demanding “exorbi-
tant” wages.

The prophets were wrong. To-
day Windsor is experiencing an
economic upswing (some call it
a boom) and one reason is that
manufacturers have learned that
skilled labor. produces more at

~ less cost, while “cheap labor”

in this era of technical revolu-
tion is incapable of meeting the
needs of modern industry.

Windsor is the automotive
capital of Canada; the majority

_of its highly skilled workers are

employed in that industry. But
there are also scores of smaller
plants producing machinery,
pumps, light and heavy chemi-
cals, pharmaceuticals, scales,
textiles, beverages and what
have you.

As a homeless, wandering bie
ped I visited Windsor in the
Hungry Thirties, and remember
the many _ boarded-up _ store
fronts on Ouellette Avenue and
other business streets. Giant
Detroit, one mile north across
the river, was also in the throes
of the economic depression at
that time.

Driving around Windsor a
few weeks ago I was struck by
the signs of prosperity and
growth. True, the huge Chrysler

Right to strike and automation |

_ RECENT editorial in the
London Free Press merits
further comment on the

subject of labor’s rights.

The editorial discusses a sug-
gestion by Vice-President Nicol
of the CBRT to a London edu-
cation council that “unauthor-
ized strikes” may be necessary
to bring about changes in labor
laws which prohibit strikes dur-
ing the term of a union con-
tract. Nicol said this question
presses now because it is pos-
sible for a company to sign a

contract one day and automate .

the next.

The London Free Press dis-
agrees with what it terms
“wildcat strikes” as a means of
forcing changes in the law. In-
stead it advocates contracts.

which would make “casual -

work stoppages unnecessary” to
meet new problems created by
the introduction of automated
machinery.

The editorial says such con-
tracts should meet “certain well
defined conditions, covering
compensation, retraining and

plant was shut down tight, with
UAW pickets at every entrance
—but everyone knew the strike
would soon be won (as indeed
it was, with a fine settlement).

My host, an auto worker,
pointed out the new Cleary
Auditorium, the new City Hall,
the University Centre and other
evidences of progress. It was a
far cry from the decay and deso-

lation of the Thirties.

We stopped at a tourist office
and I picked up a _ brochure
published by the Chamber of
Commerce. It informed me that
Windsor, ideally situated in the
“Sun Parlor” of Canada, has a
population of 113,697 and 195,-
345 for the metropolitan area;
that over five million tourists
enter Canada from the U.S. at
Windsor every year; that five
railways connect the city with
all parts of our country, and
steamship lines connect with all
Great Lakes ports, and the St.
Lawrence Seaway.

An Ottawa dispatch last
month pointed out that the rate
of manufacturing investment in
Windsor has almost tripled in
three years. Planned expenditure
on construction and machinery

and equipment this year totals.

$87,600,000 — a 30 percent in-
crease over 1964.

e@
As someone said to me re-
cently, wherever there’s a silver
lining there is likely to be a

dirty old black cloud hanging
around nearby.

In Windsor’s case the black
cloud is. a hard core of un-
employment consisting largely
of unskilled workers and people

tions: the figure hovers around
5,000.

A detailed 118-page study on
Occupational Unemployment in
Greater Windsor was published
last September. The report was
prepared for the Greater Wind-
sor Industrial Commission by
Cecil M. Birch and J. Blake
Gertz, two members. of the
faculty of the School: of Busi-
ness Administration of the Uni-
versity of Windsor.

The study shows that in times
of recovery and prosperity, such
as the city is enjoying now, un-
employment becomes “mainly
non-cyclical — a mixture of
frictional, seasonal and ~ hard-
core unemployment.

“Technological change, widely
referred to as automation, may
result in unemployment for
some,” says the report. “For
example, the production of auto-
mobile engine blocks has been
almost completely automated,
resulting in at least temporary
dislocation for some ey
workers ...

“More and more, peouneubh
is becoming mechanized and
automated. Those- who build,
operate and maintain modern
instruments of production must
possess increasingly eee de-
grees of skill.

“The demand rode is for
trained manpower. The old fac-
tory labor gang, whose personal
specifications were limited to
physical fitness is, for the most
part, a thing of the past, its
functions taken over by. me-
chanical processes.

“One result of industrial pro-
gress, then, has been that un-
skilled new-entrants into the

re-employment.” It cites the In-
ternational Longshore Workers
Union contract as a padi ex-
ample.

It concludes that it ‘is ob-
vious that only through a co-
Operative approach by labor,
management and government
can technological change be
fully used for the benefit of so-
ciety.”

The newspaper’s approach to
the complex social problems as-
sociated with the automation
revolution is commendable.
However it seriously under-
estimates the problem of achiev-
ing the aims it sets forth when
it downgraccs the right to

Strike during the term of the
contract as “casual work stop-
pages that would make it that
much more difficult to get a con-
tract of any kind.”

The right to strike is the es-
sence of collective bargaining—
first to get a contract, and sec-
ond, to ensure effective imple-
mentation of the terms of the
contract. Take away this right
and the workers are placed in
a very unfavorable position.
The U.S. longshoremen’s con-
tract, which the Free Press
uses as a model, has this pro-
tection and these workers can
strike if -necessary during the
term of the contract.

» will the
boom lIas??

seeking. jobs in service Sceupa-

labor market; and persons over
45 whose skills have become
obsolete, : find jobs increasingly
difficult to find.

“Some people are affected by
the problem of partial unemploy-
ment: frequent interruptions in
employment due either to (a)
sharply fluctuating demand for

.the: product or - service: which
they produce, or (b) the inabil- :
ity of the worker to obtain any-

thing better than a series of
temporary jobs. In short, em-
ployment. opportunities are di-
rectly related. to a person’s
occupation, his education and
training, his experience, and his
age.” ‘ i

The report stresses the need
for skilled workers: today, and
points out that an examination
of the composition of the Wind-
sor area - unemployed proves
that training is needed especial-
ly for (1) Men under 20, and
65 and over; (2) Women in the
age bracket 45 to 64.

Men under 20 are school drop-
outs; the report should be a
warning to them. and to their

‘parents. Men over 65 (in my

opinion) shouldn’t have to worry
about a job; they should be re-
ceiving an adequate pension.
Under capitalism, 20th century,
they don’t, so the report deals
with conditions as they are, and
can’t be faulted on that score.

Not all. unemployed are cap-
able of being re-trained, but the
young (and a very large propor-
tion of jobless are in the under-
20 category) could be taught a
skill. The report advocates step-
ping up programs for training
the unemployed, and advocates
closer liaison between industry
and Canadian Vocational, Train-
ing officials.

It is not the unions which
stand in the way of negotiating
the type of contracts made ne-
cessary by the introduction of
automation. It is the employers
who enjoy the protection afford-
ed them by the acceptance by
governments and the courts of
the concept of “management
rights,” unjust labor laws and
anti-picketing injunctions.

In every dispute with man-
agements -the unions have to
battle against the outdated con-
cept of management rights. The
employers base their claim to
these rights on ownership.
Growing eut of this concept is
a theory known as “manage-
ment’s residual rights,’ which
holds that all rights not speci-
fically restricted by union con-
tract or prohibited by law be-
long to management.

For instance, the railroads’
claim for the sole right to de-
termine measures such as run-
throughs and shop-closings is
based on the management’s re-
vidual rights theory.

April 23, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE

ee

’ “A comprehensive app")
to training recognizes the Y
of--training persons before |
enter the labor force, oF *
they’ are employed, thus
ing them against the
gency of future job loss

on by shifts ‘in demand,

in technology,’ and so f at

: Bays.

5 alte ‘id ° sréalistic to edly
young people who are in "
now for what one authoril,
called ‘families of occupa
so if a person’s job dis@
in a technologically ad
age he is capable of bél
trained in a relatively “)
time for another job.

“There is much to B
too, for training for anot
while employed, as there
much less hardship whé
disappear if the members |
labor force are versatile. ~

Automation, in its F
stage, is displacing work
some industries while ©
new jobs in other areas:
sor is one of the if!
centres which will fa% 9g.
problem sooner than
Young workers there
lose no opportunity to #
new skills to meet new
tions in the not-too- Gil
ture. . _

Automation, in the 107
will prove incompatible ¢ |
the capitalist system; ;
create economic 60?
which will help Canadia®
ers become aware
socialism will solve thé i of oh
lems. This realization wig
first in our great in’;
cities, of which Windso!

On the other hand edt
rights, not based on the fol
ownership, have to bé nfl
for and won against Be
employer resistance 3” uf
moded government and ©

_ titudes and practices.

These workers‘ righ# of
clude: a) the right to Wag
the right to organiz@, ©) {
collectively and_ strike; sao
right to share in the P|
and benefits of automar),
the right to adequate |
standards; e) the right
ty and health; f) the a |
higher education and j ‘a
ing; g) the right to leis?

.

a secure retirement. j

Because of the unequ@)
tion between manageme f)
labor, based on the fact ® f
ership, the embodiment ©
rights in the union cone ff
not sufficient in its
rights of labor need 0
bodied in law as well. |
secure such laws, 1a poral’
men and women in fede
provincial parliaments ©
work for their enectme?

AS

ent:

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