Elderly in poverty
a national disgrace

TORONTO — Half the elderly women in Canada over 65 have
annual incomes under $4,000, and the plight of the elderly widow
has become a national disgrace, according to lawyer and pen-
sions expert Marie Corbett.

Speaking at a conference of Women and Pensions, organized
by the Congress of Canadian Women, May 14, Corbett said that
even with the number of women in the work force today the
situation is unlikely to improve, since more than 55% of all
workers are not covered by any private pension plan. :

Women make up 72% of the part-time labor force, she said.
Part-time workers are rarely, if ever, covered by private pension
plans. Wage inequalities in the work force are carried with a
woman into her retirement. Earning 60% of men’s wages women
find themselves collecting 60% of men’s pensions.

She said women should begin now assessing the adequacy of
their retirement incomes, remembering that their marital status
and attachment to the work force will have a significant impact on
their entitlement.

Mary Prokop, secretary of the women’s commission for the

The peace panel at the CCW conventi

Czechoslovak Union of Women, Nelya Ramazanova of the Soviet Women’s Committee, Lillian Curley 0

Women of Economic and Racial Equality in the U.S. Also participating was Laurette Sloan, president of
Ligue des Femmes in Quebec and Lilo Morse of the CCW.

Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, an organization
which for 60 years has been involved in providing independent
social services for its members, accused private pension com-
panies of blocking necessary reforms to public pension plans.

The basi¢ Old Age Security of $100 has not been increased
since 1973, she said, the $132.97 increase has Only been in re-
sponse to inflation. The OAS should be increased to $600 a
month, with monthly indexing to keep it above the poverty line.

She also recommended raising Canada Pension Plan pay-
ments. CCP, which currently provides for only 25% of pre-
retirement income should be raised to 50%, to a maximum of the
average industrial wage which now stands at $19,000.

The advantage of these plans is that they are universal, port-_
able, not subjected to cuts and do not carry the stigma of social
welfare that the supplementary income programs provided by
some of the provinces do.

“Pensions are not charity”’, Prokop said. ‘‘They are deferred
wages. They are a right to seniors for the wealth they created.”

Private pensions also came under sharp attack by Nadia Geith,
a researcher for the United Electrical workers, a union with
about 20,000 members, mostly in Ontario and Quebec.

“*Pension companies have become big business’, she said.
“By 1980 they had assets equallying 14.9% of the Gross National
Product. Yet most of the money never reaches the retiree.”

Of the 65 plans the union studied, although each had its own
features they had common threads running throughout — no
portability, no part-time workers, 10-year continuous work
requirements, no survivors’ benefits and no indexing.

The results of these restrictions are illustrated when one con-
Siders that only 12% of retiree incomes come from these plans.

In arguing for a universal public plan, Geith said consideration
will have to be taken of time out of the work force to raise children
or through unemployment. Her union recommends allowing a
25% deduction from time in the labor force rather than the current
15%.

To deal with rising divorce rates and the number of husbands
who die before their wives, she advocated 100% survivor benefits
and splitting benefits 50-50 on divorce.

Responding to concerns as to whether the Canada Pension
Fund would go broke in the future, Alex MacLennan of the
Toronto Council of Retirees explained that since the fund was
established in 1966, $17-billion had been lent to the provinces in
low-cost loans with interest ranging from 2.5-12% yet the prov-
inces are not in a position to repay the fund.

“There is a danger of the fund going broke because it is being
given away in an irresponsible, piecemeal fashion,” he said.

Women lobby Ottawa
for peace, pensions

A deputation of nine women
from the CCW convention, took
the meeting's concerns to Otta-
wa, May 17.

Members of the Liberal caucus
failed to keep their appointment
with the delegation. It did how-
ever meet with Pauline Jewett and
Margaret Mitchell of the New
Democratic Party who extended
their support. for many of the
delegation’s proposals on abor-
tion, technological change and
disarmament. 5

The MPs reported the NDP had
just held a conference on pen-
sions and were still undecided on
a formula for providing them to
housewives. Although they ag-
reed in principle with a $600 feel, we make it clear, but we

monthly indexed Old Age Secu- don't know where they stand’’.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE— MAY 28, 1982— Page 10

rity, they claimed the total costs
would make it unfeasible.
Participants in the deputation
reported that the four Con-
servative members they met with,

Crosbie found most of the de-
mands *‘outrageous’’. ‘‘ Although
they support disarmament, they
don’t support cutting the Cana-
dian defence budget,’’ reported
Regina delegate Darlene Ruth.
Donna Byers, A_ hospital
~ worker also from Regina said she
felt the delegation didn’t come
away with much. ‘‘There’s alot of
talking around the issues, you
can’t get these guys committed to
anything. They know how we

including finance critic. John-

Disarmament, jobs priorities —
for women in the 80s — CCW

TORONTO — Delegates to the 13th Convention
of the Congress of Canadian Women, May 15-16
elected a new president, and called for immediate
government action to cut military spending by half
and to declare Canada a nuclear weapons-free
zone. :

The demands were part of a comprehensive re-
port endorsed by the convention which outlined
the organization’s priorities and emphasized the
need to stop U.S.-Canada weapons testing agree-
ments (specifically the Cruise Missile tests in Al-
berta) and the withdrawal of Canada from the
North American Air Defence agreement and from
NATO. The Congress also is asking Canada to
urge the United States to sign the SALT II agree-
ment.”

The report, delivered to the convention by CCW
president Mary Dennis, who later stepped: down
from her position after a seven-year term, cited the
struggle for peace as ‘‘the most burning issue’’.

Close to 70 delegates from British Columbia to
Ontario attended the two days of meetings which
opened with the president’s report.

Dennis told the delegates ‘‘$5-billion was being
spent by Canada in 1981 on arms, the cost rising by
12% yearly.

‘Yet only one Leopard tank could be cashed in
to pay for 36 kindergartens; one Trident submarine
could pay for 416 schools.

Her point was emphasized by a number of guests
at the convention. ‘‘Governments are feeling the
pressure for reduction in ‘arms,’’ said Laurette

Sloan of La Ligue des Femmes du Quebec. ‘‘Rea- .

gan is talking of opening the SALT talks, and our
government has said they will delay the missile
testing in Alberta, until after the UN Special Ses-
sion’ on Disarmament, she noted.

Nelya Ramazanova, editor fo the English edition
of magazine Soviet Woman, expressed her solidar-
ity with Canadians struggling for peace. She stres-
sed the number of pressing social issues that could
be addressed if the arms race were halted and the
process of disarmament begun.

Other guests welcomed by Dennis, included the
head of the Czechoslovak Union of Women, Maria

Kabrhelova and Lillian Curley of the U.S.-based e

Women for Racial and Economic Equality
(WREE). i ;

Delegates noted that while the threat of nuclear
war had taken on a new importance in people’s
lives, sections of the labor movement were not
taking up the question with sufficient seriousness.

B.C. delegate Karen Dean’s recommendation to
produce kits relating arms spending to unemploy-
ment and social service cuts was unanimously en-
dorsed by the convention. ‘‘Peace is more than a
motherhood issue”’, she said. ‘‘We need peace not
just because it wouldn’t be nice to get incinerated,
we need it because without a massive arms cut,
inflation will continue to run rampant, social ser-
vices will continue to decline and jobs will be lost.
Disarmament is in our own immediate self in-
terest.””

Another resolution endorsed holding a con-
ference in conjunction with women in the labor
movement to explore the links between dis-
armament and jobs.

Lack of employment opportunities and the
growing threat to jobs through the introduction of

_ to women particularly the fight for better daycare.

-in the labor and women’s movement.

new technology into the workplace was anothet
major concern of the convention. |

As many as one million jobs could be affected
the next decade, warned Deborah Littman, |
sociology instructor, specializing in women
studies.

She also outlined the health hazards linked to
video display terminals the technology requifes,
Cataracts, nervous disorders, skin problems am,
statistically rare clusters of miscarriages and b
defects have been associated with these machines.

Littman was critical of Canadian and U-S. stam
dards of exposure to the radiation the machi
emit, noting they are based on “‘whether or not y¢
burn up’’. In the USSR, she said standards are I
times higher than here and aimed at protectin,
workers from any physical change, includi
headaches, eye strain, etc.

Based on the workshop Littman led, the conven
tion decided to develop a policy paper on the €
fects the new technology will have for women
to hold regional seminars on the subject. :

It also called on government to enact legislation
to allow workers’ control over introduction of tht
new technology, give them the right to refuse work
until proven safe, and introduce a shorter wor
week with no pay loss to ensure workers benefil
from the new technology.

The Canadian constitution was also noted by tht
delegates for its sellout of women’s, Native
French Canadian rights. Defending the right
Native people to self-determination, the convel
tion issued a strongly worded resolution to on
vincial governments, condemning the practice or,
removing Native children from their homes andi!
some cases selling them to adoptive couples in th
U.S. or placing them in non-Native homes whet
their cultural identity is lost.

Explaining the situation of Native women, Jant
Gottfriedson, president of the Native Women
Association of Canada, said the aim of all gover
ment policy, including denying Indian status t0
Native women who marry non-status Indians is t0
‘eliminate the Native community’’. x

The convention also passed resolutions in er
port of two single mothers’ groups who presente
their cases to the delegates. The Dixon Hall Projet!
is a group of 11 mothers who are pressuring th
federal Manpower department to fund an on-the:
job retraining program. The Family Benefits
Workgroup is tackling the Ontario Governmen
over its proposal to transfer single mothers from
Mother’s Allowance onto the municipal welfare
rolls where they would be forced to conduct jol
searches in order to qualify.

Other resolutions adopted included the demant
for free, universal child care, cuts in interest rates
a roll back on food and children’s clothing co Ss,
ending discrimination against women applying for
unemployment insurance and paid maternily
leave. =
The new CCW president is Virginia Thomson, 3
30 year-old daycare teacher and member of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees. Thomson ”
has been involved in a number of issues of concert

.—"

Elected with her was an almost entirely new
member executive of women with backgrou