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Conada's pitiful record

Public housing only 5%

By OBSERVER

The Nati
onal blic housin
ay public g
agence held in Ottawa May

among other
ee pressing need for
Messed housing for those not
ae with the privileges of
Del € affluent.

a eetes to this conference
‘ ee Public housing pro-
thst . Rcppments, and smaller
actogg Ol public housing units
aNd me anada to discuss ways
ty | ans of having a greater
n Public housing.
0 a result was a series
fa al and the formation
a conve ing committee to plan
dna tion next year to form
Chal organization of ten-
a Organization is to

Nants in public hous-
iy +s Well as tenants of priv-

Commercial landlords.

on Dublie Conference zeroed in
°atural - housing it was only
arog at attitudes prevalent
housing “nada towards public
Into te tenants should come
Bites limelight. Many dele-
Sometime out that they
ttizens elt like second-class
attitude biased is the public’s
the well against them, despite
tt Cana hnown fact that 60%
buy hgians cannot afford to
and Ana at present prices
lig hou the Waiting list for pub-
am 8 is as long as your
Thi

tsp, Conference set out to
teants eet all public housing
"ots, a ive on welfare, have no
lion Nd are a transient popu-

’ Or are just “treading

LABOR SCENE

by Bruce Magnuson

Cision to ninister Trudeau’s de-

Movi; convene a meeting of

A} :

Eeonona! treasurers to discuss
must Policy on July 12 and
Oe foo a seen as a response
®ihizeg ; oO Protests from or-
Lg oe abor against grow-
tious Unemployment. The
Uthe, —S Of the situation is
Motncem wphasized by the an-
piture ae in the Ontario Leg-
in Be 68 more plants are
rit 3200 0m the province
the gyarmore workers added
fs, “Welling. number of job-

Qn
labor ay 31, the Canadian
4,009 ress called upon its
® to flor mbers across Cana-
mts Pe Ottawa with de-
We to 3 a new economic
Dt of Provide jobs. The pre-
alg. he CLC, Donald Mac-
ment a larged the govern-
ing’ throu, Precipitating — the
“ ate 8h austerity budget-
yt to med on the govern-
Ce asion 0 get us out of it by
Wy eg budgeting.” The
long, Reed all affiliated
taj, lab 7 ovincial federations
“Stams a cuncils to forward
ies Step aug letters to Prime
acy, Bens deau, Finance Min-
Dan asey ee Labor Minister
lig es .F faders of opposition
Ment, ll Members of par-
lcieg to sisting upon new
The Egy Produce jobs.
lane diate 8ress call has evoked
aya dj response from such
pihe niluential labor bodies
Ment an ee Federation of
"Bolitan  abor Council of
2n Toronto. Reports

ity for. the

water” until their “boat comes

in,’ when they can buy that

bungalow in the country with

the white picket fence.

There was some friction dur-
ing the first day of the confer-
ence due to some thoughtless
“politicking” ‘by some groups
who wanted to say that they
represented “all” Ontario public
housing tenants, combined with
the fears of delegates not repre-
senting organizations that this
group would become a “power
force.” But the common sense

‘of all the delegates overcame

this possible schism, and they
closed their ranks to present a

solid front. This was shown by

the resolutions adopted which,
apart from one exception, were
passed unanimously by the vot-
ing delegates in the final ses-
sion.

An indication of the mood

of the delegates was reflected at
the previewing of a film, soon
to be completed, under the dir-
ection of Kathleen Shannon of
the National Film Board. Cer-
tain sequences of this film of-
fended many of the delegates
who felt sections of it portrayed
an air of condescension towards
public housing tenants.

One sequence purported to
show the small size of public
housing unit kitchens, but un-
fortunately showed only the
clutter of the kitchen’s con-
tents, reinforcing the impres-

sion designed by those opposed

to any form of public housing.
It was, in the view of the dele-

gates, quite unrepresentative of

the majority of ordinary people
living in public housing who,
despite the smallness of their
kitchens, still manage to keep a
tidy .house.

The film came in for much
criticism, and promoted much

heated discussion, all pointing

out the mood of the delegates,
as did their constant criticism
of all levels of government for
their completely inadequate con-
sideration of the housing needs
of the Canadian working people,
be they working, unemployed,
on welfare, mothers allowance,
or old age pensions.

The delegates were honest,
outspoken and blunt in bringing
plain common sense to this con-
ference. 3

The overall amount of public
housing in Canada is still little
more than 5% of all housing
built. Pitiful, when one consid-
ers that every modern civilized
country has paid more attention
to the plight of housing for the
working people. Even in the U.S.
it is 15%; most Western Euro-
pean counteries have up to 60%;
with the socialist countries of
Eastern Europe up to as high
as 90% and more.

Hopefully the proposed new
National Organization of Ten-
ants will put on enough pressure
to change this lag of a quarter
of a century. These changes will
be far-reaching, if this confer-
ence was any indication of the
mood of the people from “Bona
Vista to Vancouver Island.”

Sask. Fed. of Labor — |

Restore labor's rights

REGINA — A conference to
“Restore Free Bargaining and
Employee Rights” was con-
vened in Regina on May 29th
by the Saskatchewan Federation
of Labor.

In. opening the conference,
President of the Sask. Federa-
tion: Ross Hale said; “The capa-
city of the (trade union) move-
ment to function and to grow

—to attend to the best interests ©

of the working people of the

provinces—depends on the real .

right to organize and bargain
collectively with employers.

What has happened in Sas-
katchewan is that this. right has
been brutally violated. What
this conference is about must
be how we can act in unison to
restore freedoms.”

Mr. Hale pointed out how the
rights. of the trade unions in
Saskatchewan had been gradu-
ally whittled away, beginning
in 1966 through Bill 79, which
weakened union sécurity, en-

couraged the formation of com-.

pany unions, and introduced
the “hypocritical and damaging
so-called employer free speech
clause.” Later came the Essen-
tial Services Emergency Act,
known as Bill 2, which further
eroded organized labor’s posi-
tion, he said. In 1969, a new bill

‘was introduced with a “hot

cargo” clause arid a compulsory

strike vote after 30 days, by-

passing the Labour Relations
Board to enable prosecution of
unions in the courts, etc.

“But the chief thrust against
the wage. earners and their or-
ganizations,”. he said, “has
come through the gradually
tightened noose of compulsory
arbitration. . . . In another Spe-

cial Session, the (Sask.) ie

lature: rammed through for

arbitration in Bill 2 covering ©

30,000 additional workers in the
construction and ° associated
trades...”

The meeting adopted an elec-
tion program calling among
other things for immediate re-
call of Bil] 2 and a new Trade
Union Act to restore labor’s
democratic rights; a $2.50 mini-
mum wage; planning for full em-
ployment; and early action..to
establish “fair and guaranteed
farm prices and a thriving mar-
ket for farm produce.”

Labor protests to flood

Ottawa

from elsewhere across the coun-
try would indicate a veritable
flood of protests from trade
unions and members against Ot-
tawa’s economic policies.

By far the most effective call
for united action of employed
and unemployed to get the coun-
try out of the economic mess it
is in now came from the Hamil-
ton Labor Committee for Jobs.
Ten days before the CLC call,
this committee published a full
page advertisement in the Ham-
ilton Spectator. The ad was
sponsored and paid for by
unions in construction, steel,
auto, electrical, rubber, glass,
teamsters, one national union
auxiliary and the Oakville Labor
Council. This excellent adver-
tisement placed the responsibil-
economic mess
squarely upon big business and
the government. It presented a
12-point action program as the
basis for a completely new eco-
nomic policy, and a concrete -6-
point plan to increase buying
power, reduce poverty and ex-
pand domestic markets by
means Of a re-distribution of
national income in favor of the
working people and those in
need.

Just how far the Trudeau gov-
ernment is prepared to go in
order to alleviate the growing
job crisis will ‘be seen when
Finance Minister Benson sub-
mits his budget speech on
June 18.

Between now and then, and
prior to the forthcoming July
meeting of federal and provin-

cial finance ministers, it is ex-
tremely important that central
labor bodies, local unions: and
individual members. and their
families respond to the call of
the CLC and forward letters and
telegrams as suggested above.

It would be even more effec-
tive if, wherever feasible, pub-
lic meetings and demonstrations
could be held, along with the
fullest use of the mass media to
get organized labor’s message
across to the public.

The greed of investment bank-
ers, industrial and commercial
monopolies and speculators
knows no bounds. The most re-
cent is the steel industry, which
continues to raise prices. The
cost of materials, land and in-
terest rates is pushing up build-
ing costs. Landlords use this to
charge inflated rents.

The blame is placed on labor.
Even unemployment is blamed
on labor. The mass media,
owned and controlled by big
business, make use of all kinds
of bourgeois economists and so-
called Jabor relations experts to
distort the real economic rela-
tionships in the interests of
monopoly capital and its greed
for super profits. This policy of
clobbering the victims while re-
warding the robbers is continu-
ously extending in scope. As
the crisis of the economic sys-
tem deepens, the attack on its
human victims becomes more
insidious and inhumane.

It is safe to-state that 99.9%

of working men and women in
this country prefer work and
independence as a way of life,
rather than dependence on pub-
lic hand-outs as a means of ex-
istence for themselves and fami-
lies. However, there is always

-that one-tenth of .one percent
who are shirkers from respon--

sibility because of anti-social
habits; habits which are bred,
nourished by, and inseparable
from our present private profit
system. It is the few exceptions
to the general rule which are
now put forward as the excuse
for a general attack on all wel-
fare’ recipients as “people who
shack up just to get on public
welfare,” people who “think

they’ve found a. gravy train” .

making it unnecessary for them
to work for a living, etc.
Consequenly, municipal work
programs for employable people
on welfare are now promoted
by local politicians who find
themselves in a squeeze be-
tween protesting taxpayers, and
the increasing number of wel-

fare recipients because of grow-

ing unemployment. The fact
that every fifth dollar paid out
in welfare has to be charged
back in. property taxes means
a double squeeze on small home
owners and tenants, employed
as well as unemployed. In some
cases supplementary welfare
programs are financed entirely
by local funds.

The work-for-welfare propo-
sitions, the proposed use of
welfare funds to finance make-
work programs for employable

people on welfare at the muni-
cipal level, is a most insidious
attack on labor. Such a ‘system
of work can bring about a new

“serfdom,” a form of second-

rate citizenship which will be
used to undermine the living
standards and working condi-
tions of all organized workers.

Labor’s solution to this prob-
lem must be both an economic
and political struggle to put
curbs on monopoly control of
our economic life. Anything
short of this in a more fully au-
tomated society will mean
greater exploitation of fewer
and fewer employed workers,

with more and more of the

labor force living on welfare
and statute labor.

The answer lies in eventual
abolition of monopoly control,
and in an economic system in
which the benefits of a higher
technology will be passed on to
the people in the form of higher
living standards instead of, as
now, to the monepolies in the
form of super-profits.

Clearly the problems of the
working class of Canada will
not be solved in isolation from
the working class of other na-
tions, but in fraternal solidarity
with the international working
class movement of all coun-
tries. Learning the lessons of
their experiences in the strug-
gle against international mono-
polies we can win both jobs and
income security, as well as a
world .at peace.

PACIFIC TRIBUNEL_FRIDAY, JUNE 11,1971 PAGED"

(W.B.) -—