The accelerating pace of scientific and technological
change necessitates constant improvement in education
as a fundamental need of a healthy and growing society.

But the anarchy and uncertainties of a capitalist

economy-makes decisions about training labor difficult.

“Continuous growth of the Canadian economy’”’, said
one provincial minister of education, ‘is dependent
upon the timely development of the labor force’’. Those
which are timely are occupations “‘in demand and not...
those that have a labor surplus’. This kind of circular
logic has plagued educational planners for years.

The world economy since World War II has developed
from being a world system dominated by one economic
power, the United States, into a system of several great
economic powers. This is now forcing an era of intense
- competition between nations. Countries are stepping
away from more traditional but short term responses to
competition. The development of technology has be-
come the greatest factor in achieving a long-term com-
petitive edge. This requires the frequent updating of

skills and greater involvement of government in the _
promotion and development of technology. Two prob-.

lems then confront governments. What to do with those
holding obsolete skills and what skills should be taught
for the future?

In 1982, the federal government announced its new
National Training Act. This legislation gives the federal
government room for more initiative in providing skills
training, especially in response to shortages of skilled
labor. An essential feature of the Training Act is the
Canadian Occupational Project System (COPS), de-
signed to forecast occupational need to allow for training
in advance of need. This system is not to be remarkably
different from existing systems of manpower projection
and will not have any greater effect. With current poor

~ Jevels of co-ordination, planning and controls in the

economy, reliable manpower forecasting remains doubt-
Dark Side to Technology

With the new technology there comes the contradic-
tion of cutbacks in education and limitations on enrol-
ments. Despite the anticipated ‘‘golden age’’ of under-
standing and personal realization that microchip

technology is supposed to bring there is a dark side.

At a recent conference on micro-chip technology, de-
legates heard predictions from an Economic Council of
_ Canada economists of 2-million jobs lost by the year 2000
~~ due to automation alone. There is general agreement that
the immediate future holds high rates of unemployment
and greater polarization of wealth and poverty. The most

sobering report at the confereace predicted that in the

Qualifications for the new jobs?

coming years, the fastest growing job areas will be in
fast-foods, janitorial work, and sales. :

This is the reality of technological development under
capitalism. The answer to why post-secondary educa-
tion is to be cut back thus lies in the fact that many jobs in
the future will be low in skills required and fewer in
number. As with the National Training Act, education
becomes a short term commodity produced ‘‘on de-
mand”’ for the private sector, used up and thrown back
into the labor pool when the skills are obsolete.

This is not much different from the way it has always

|

The smug optimism of technopundits doesn’t extend
to the problems of the unemployed between jobs. —
Former Employment Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, for ex-
ample, proposed work-sharing as a means of sustaining
the unemployed in periods of retraining, thus making
workers directly assume the burden of economic adjust-
ment.

Control of Economy ‘<

Workers. are the main source of revenue for public
expenditure. Tax breaks to corporations amounting to
tens of billions of lost revenue or wasteful spending on
the non-productive military sector are the real culprits in
the crisis of public finance. Since workers will continue
to pay for public finance, they must demand the right to

“greater control of the corporations which feed off their

tax dollars.
Economic planning, which can control rapid techno- —
logical change will only be to the workers’ benefit with
democratic control of the economy. With their lacklustre
performance in the face of appalling levels of un-
employment and their poverty of ideas, both major —
capitalist political parties have demonstrated their in-
ability to provide either the economic planning or demo-

_cratic control of the economy necessary to resolve this _

~

or future crises.
Those. seeking access to higher education will face —
greater obstacles guaranteed to make the best jobs the |
preserve of the wealthy. But promoting better accessibil-
ity to education alone will not solve the problems of a
declining employment base.
Reduce.Work Week
A good beginning to solving the problems brought
about by technological change lies with labor’s increas-
ing demand for reductions in the work week. This is 4
very traditional way of distributing wealth arising from |
the course of economic development in a capitalist |
system. ;

——

With the new technology there comes the contradiction of cutbacks in education and limitations
on enrolments. Despite the anticipated ‘‘golden age’’ of understanding and personal realization
that microchip technology is supposed to bring there is a dark side ...

——

been under capitalism. The only difference now is the
increasing velocity of turnover in employment. Those
with jobs now have routine expectations of a dozen or
more occupations in a working lifetime.

Capitalism, which has given the working class so
many occupational hazards, now presents the worker
with the hazard of occupation, dislocation from periodic
layoffs and termination.

—

A 30 hour work week for 40 hours pay would provide
one form of distribution of the benefits from technology
and create jobs. Relieving the social pressures as-
sociated with unemployment will give Canadians some —
room to deal with the changes necessary to avoid future |,
crises in the economy. Ultimately this means a socialist |
form of social organization and democratic control to _
ensure the sharing of technology to everyone’s benefit.

+ f

The necessity for students and labor to
work together has been talked about in
_ the student movement for years. In

British Columbia, the possibility of a
labor-student alliance has never been
closer, due to the draconian budget and
accompanying repressive -legislation
handed down by the governing Social
Credit on July 7.

__. Within days of the budget’s release a
- fightback coalition of community organ-
izations, trade unions, churches and stu-
dents was formed in the Greater Van-
couver region. Calling itself the Lower
Mainland Budget Coalition, it was soon
followed by the provincial alliance of
trade unionists, Operation Solidarity.
Now broadened into the provincial Soli-
darity Coalition, and complemented by
regional coalitions across B.C., it unites

almost all elements of society and cuts_

across partisan affiliations into one mas-
sive movement demanding the with-
- drawal of all the 26 bills enshrining the
Socreds’ ‘‘restraint’’ program.

Student leaders were involved from
the beginning, when representatives of
the Pacific Region of the Canadian Fed-
eration of Students attended the organ-
izing meetings of the Lower Mainland
group. At that point the regional CFS

involvement was an executive decision.

But at a recent conference held Aug.
23-28 in Nelson, delegates from cam-
puses across the province overwhelm-
ingly endorsed the organization’s parti-
cipation in the Solidarity Coalition, and
backed that commitment with a $1,000

donation.
“I think it’s clear the student leaders

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 28, 1983—Page 6

realized that the only way to fight this
(legislation) was by being involved in a
broadly based group,”’ the Pacific Reg-
ion’s executive officer, Donna Morgan,
told the Tribune.

Post-secondary students in B.C., as
with their counterparts across the coun-
try, have faced steadily rising tuitions

~ and declining student financial aid for

years. But nothing in previous years has
matched the blow delivered by the sev-
eral bills introduced with the Bennett

_ budget.

College Budgets Slashed

College budgets received a 1.5 percent
cut, while funds for universities were
frozen at the 1982-83 levels. The prov-
ince’s contribution received the biggest
slash, dropping more than 40 per cent
from $24.6 million in 1982-83 to $14.6
million for the current academic year.

The slashing of student aid funds is
accompanied by a host of regulations de-
signed to prevent students from receiv-
ing provincial assistance — which com-
prises the ‘‘grant’’ portion of student aid
— to the detriment of students from
working class families, Morgan noted.

Other acts before the legislature affect
the education community in a non-
monetary way, attacking the democratic
traditions enjoyed by students and edu-
cation employees. Amendments govern-
ing colleges and technical institutions
remove faculty, support staff and student

~ representatives, as well as public school

trustees, from the institutions’ governing
boards. Meanwhile Bill 3, a notorious
piece of legislation allowing the firing of
public sector employees without cause,

as well as legislating wage freezes and
rollbacks, also has staff, students and
faculty up in arms.
Support Picket Line

Through Bill 3 the Socreds have taken
aim at faculty tenure ‘‘and that is seen as
important by students,’’ said Morgan.
Students at Kwantlen College showed
strong solidarity with striking support
staff in late August by registering, in a
large majority, at an unofficial regis-
tration booth set up by the strikers,
rather than cross the picket lines. Others
who did cross lines to register signed a
petition urging the college administration

to speedily resolve the dispute, itself

connected to wage rollbacks under the
revised restraint program.

The Canadian Federation of Students
sees a major task in educating students as
to the causes of cancelled courses,
crowded classrooms and declining stu-
dent aid. To this end the student associa-
tion members of the CFS Pacific Region
are planning ‘“‘action committees’’ on
their respective campuses, and many
student societies plan to hold general
meetings with faculty and staff this fall,
said Morgan.

The solidarity coalitions are not the
first forum in which students, faculty and
staff have mutually participated. Last

* year Bennett’s restraint program helped

form the Defend Educational Services
Coalition (DESC), a grouping of six un-
ions, faculty organizations and student
and teacher associations. B.C. Teachers
Federation president Larry Kuehn is
DESC’s representative on the steering
committee of the provincial Solidarity
Coalition.

So oe ee. ee

Gps "
€ empLover®
Re et ap a 3th

Part of the crowd of 25,000 rallied a
Bennett’s budget.

ees:

g

8

gainst