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Special to the Tribune
HALIFAX
fightback actions by the Nova
Cotia labor movement have
ioe the provincial government
Becueet from its plans to intro-
ae the union-busting **Michelin
min the legislature for debate.
ls OVvincial labor minister Ken
i Stteatch said April 24, the
80Vernment was indefinitely de-

, “Ying the introduction of its

amendments to the Nova Scotia
eae Union Act, which would
tive ee what makes up a collec-
vine argaining unit in the pro-
a The opposition in the legis-
ana called Streatch’s
fee cement “the greatest re-
ence Napoleon left Mos-

» Teferring to the labor

€ was willing to sacrifice his
Political career to see the act pas-
Sed into law.

Dubbed the “‘Michelin bill’,

y the Nova Scotia Federation of

400r and the labor movement,
© Proposed amendments would
Prohibit a union from organizing
only one branch plant of a com-
Pany operating in the province,
on Out organizing all of that
5 Mpany’s holdings in Nova

=) “COtia,

LABOR
SCENE

By BRUCE MAGNUSON

-* | ; A report published recently by
— | ‘Ne Science Council of Canada

oo that Canada faces a seri-
Us threat of de-industrialization,

Mi oe more and more workers
ployed either in the exploita-
¢ ‘On of natural resources or in ser-._

; \'Ce industries such as banking,

_ Teal estate and personal services.
nd while the Conference Board
oa Canada, a private economic re-
pen organization, claims it has
Und little evidence of serious
Reine in manufacturing, it is
a ertheless forced to acknow-
oe an increase in regional dis-
y and little or no increase in
*mployment.
mes. our inability to
ig Re Our unemployment problem
‘lati amed on the size of our popu-
a ©n, which supposedly does not
Vide a large enough domestic
ee for development of high
“hnology manufacturing indus-
We Another excuse is that we
En © not enough of skilled work-
on and therefore have to resort to
Reet of skilled labor from
ae But, perhaps we should
es ea look at our highly
z ©nopolized and largely foreign
Ontrolled private profit system
con compare it with some other
untries under a different social:
€conomic system.
Technological Development _
In this age of scientific and
_€chnological development the
portance of education is con-
Nually growing. Yet we see cut-
-°8cks continuously advocated by
80vernments in this country
Ich threaten to undermine
ena standards, particu-
_ Uy in engineering and other
“dustrial development.
In Czechoslovakia, with its 15
Million inhabitants and full

i ‘ployment, developments in

© education field concentrate on

iar

Militant, :

Minister's earlier statement that ~

‘Areas related to high technology -

It is aimed directly at the Un-
ited Rubber Workers who have
been campaigning for two years
to organize the workers at Miche-
lin Tire Canada Ltd. at Granton
and Bridgewater, N.S.

If passed, the bill would mean
that even if the union had signed
the majority of workers in one or
other of the plants, without sign-
ing the majority at both plants, the
Rubber workers wouldn't be able
to certify the Michelin workers as
a collective bargaining unit.

Labor Minister Streatch has
made it vividly clear that the
proposed legislation is designed
to help out companies like Miche-

lin, and to attract other manu-

facturing investment into the pro-
vince with the promise of a
weakened trade union movement
and consequently a cheap and de-
fenceless labor force.

Notoriously Anti-Union

Michelin has promised the
government it will add some 3,000
more workers to its work force if
the government can be assured of
‘‘labor stability’’. The company is
notoriously anti-union and was
recently cited by the labor rela-
tions board for unfair labor prac-
tices.

’ The **Michelin bill’’ provoked
organized labor in Nova Scotia to
call meetings and lobby the pro-
vincial government. This pres-
sure and Nova Scotia Federation
of Labor president Gerald Yet-
man’s threat to resign and pull all
labor representatives from vari-
ous government-sponsored
labor-management boards and
committees, forced the raction-
ary Tory government to an-
nounce an indefinite delay in the
bill's introduction to the
legisltaure.

On April 22, representatives
from seven labor councils and the
leaders of-the provincial labor
federation met with members of
the legislature to show their op-
position to the proposed amend-
ments to the Trade Union Act.

Yetman said the bill ‘‘denies
basic rights of people to belong or
not belong to a trade union’’, and
charged it violates an article of a
convention of the International
Labor Organization, of which
Canada is a member.
~ Article two, part one of Con-
vention No. 87, freedom of as-
sociation, says ‘workers and
employees without distinction
shall have the right to establish,
and subject only to rules of or-

De-industrialization
vs. industrialization

the fullest development of the
working people’s qualifications.

There the educational system ~

recognizes that today the key
to greater labor productivity lies
less in mere skill and technologi-
cal dexterity than in knowledge
and the capacity to use this know-
ledge. New materials and
technology. as well as new pro-
duction facilities require both a
new approach to production and

higher qualifications. That is why

socialist society considers the
complete democratization of
education, which becomes a
necessity for everyone, to be one
of its basic principles.

In pre-war Czechoslovakia, the

‘ food and consumer goods indus-

tries were responsible for more
than 60% of industrial production.
Textiles and glass were the main
export articles. and these only
found a place on foreign markets
because of the starvation wages
paid in these branches. Engineer-
jing accounted for only 11% of
total production and the chemical
industry for 2%.

Obviously such a structure was
not in keeping with the require-
ments of a socialist society.
Nationalization made it possible
to make important changes in the
structure of industry. By means
of a planned investment policy it

~has been possible to develop the

engineering industry to such an
extent that it now accounts for
roughly 31% of total production,
while the share of the chemical
industry is approaching 10%
; Machine Export
‘Meanwhile, the centre of grav-
ity of exports has shifted to the
engineering industry. The export
of machines, industrial equipment
and means of transport provides
Czechoslovakia with roughly

one-half of its funds of: foreign:
~ date.

currency. And it is engineering

that more and more is being:

drawn into the international divi-
sion of labor, especially in the
framework of the socialist coun-
tries’ economic body — the
Council of Mutual Economic As-
sistance.

During the capitalist era, indus-
try was very unevenly located on
Czechoslovak territory. The
development of industrial produc-
tion was particularly retarded in
the eastern part of the country —
Slovakia.

‘Over the years, socialist
Czechoslovakia has built up re-
search and design departments
either attached to individual
enterprises or in the framework of
entire branches of industry. Its
industry has mastered completely
new types of production and in
many branches has raised the
technical level of its production.
At the present time, the engineer-
ing industry in Czechoslovakia is
introducing the production of nuc-
lear reactors and other compo-
nents for atomic power stations.

As a socialist society Czechos-
lovakia knows no alternating
booms and busts in its economy.
Production develops in a planned
way, at a steady pace and with no
great fluctuations. This is con-
firmed by the even and steady
growth of industrial production.

If a small and relatively less
wealthy country in terms of
people and resources can do it,
why not Canada? Certainly this is
a question which requires some
serious answers in terms: of fun-
damental change in national poli-
cy, including structural reforms.
A vote for a Communist Party of
Canada candidate in this federal
election will constitute a step to-
ward such a change.

Remember this on election day
wherever there is a CPC candi-

ganization concerned, to join or-
ganizations of their own choosing
without previous authorization.”
Yetman said April 20 he was
meeting with Canadian Labor
Congress president Dennis
McDermott to request the CLC
take the question of the bill to the
ILO for action on that level.
Meetings were held throughout ~
the province organized by various
labor councils. They were held in

Nova Scotia gov’t retreats on union-busting Michelin Bill

Trenton, Sydney, and Hantsport
in addition to the meeting with
members of the legislature in
Halifax.

Promising to ‘‘go all the way”
to fight this denial of human
rights, the federation president
had said if necessary the labor
movement would organize a mass
march on Province House to back
up labor’s resistance to the reac-
tionary law.

CLC blasts cutbacks
in medicare coverage

OTTAWA — Canada’s doc-
tors and the provincial govern-
thents.should stop the erosion of
medicare taking place across the
country, by collectively bargain-
ing for wage contracts, the
Canadian Labor Congress de-
manded April 30.

In this way, the 2.3-million-
member CLC noted, Canadians
would be guaranteed free access
to health care as provided by the
original Medicare Act of 1968.
The Congress also urged the
federal government to ‘‘exercise
its responsibility and insist that
health premiums and extra bil-
lings be eliminated from pro-
vincial medicare programs.’

The statement, entitled *‘SOS
Medicare’? was adopted by the
participants to a special confer-
ence on medicare, held here April
25 with the participation of some
trade union leaders from across
the country.

CLC President Dennis
McDermott said the federal
government is first to blame for

' this erosion of our medicare

system. “‘It should have insisted
on provincial compliance with
the. four conditions explicit in
the Medical Care Act: com-
prehensive coverage, universal
accessibility, portability of
benefits between provinces, and
public administration on a non-
profit basis’, he said.

‘‘Instead it stood idly by while
most provinces continued dilut-
ing these principles under the

pressure of medical associa-
tions, until soon there will be
nothing left of our medicare
program.

We call on all Canadians who
support and value medicare to
join with organized labor in
promoting a program designed
to save our health care system
before. it is completely des-
troyed,”’ the CLC president said.

The nine-point program, as
set out in the CLC plan, also
calls for:

e The right for ‘‘all health-care
workers, including doctors (for)
a fair and reasonable standard of
living’ and full collective bar-
gaining rights. ‘‘As for the medi-
cal profession, once it has
negotiated a schedule of remun-
eration as part of a collective
agreement, its members have
their bills paid by the medicare
system. ... Attempts by most
provinces to force doctors into a
situation in which they will re-
sort to extra billing must end;””

e An end to “indiscriminate
attempts’’ by federal and pro-
vincial governments to cut
health expenditures which “‘re-
duce the quality of health care
and make no contribution to the
introduction of a more cost-
effective health-care system;”’
and

e More emphasis on preventive
medicine and. a more efficient
use of professional personnel
and facilities. ~

REMEMBER |
THE HEALTH-CUTS!

vers 42a AR