- Argentina

RiBUNE

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The first contingent of some 30,000 demonstrators marches onto Parliament Hill during the CLC rally

~Onday. (See story).

—Richard Morgan photo

Will ‘never submit
to controls’ — CLC

In the biggest. demonstration in
the capital’s history, close to 30,000
trade unionists massed on
Parliament Hill Monday to declare
their unequivocal opposition to the
federal government’s wage con-
trols and to demand the with-
drawal of the legislation.

And if prime minister Trudeau
and the members of his cabinet
showed little preparedness to alter
the controls, the labor movement
demonstrated clearly that Mon-
day’s protest was only a beginning
in the campaign to defeat Bill C-73.

“T can assure this government,”’
Canadian Labor Congress
president Joe Morris, addressing
the demonstration stated, ‘‘that it
has only seen the initial stirrings of
a centralization of labor’s power.
This labor movement is on the
move. We intend to maintain our
position, our unity, our solidarity
for this is the only way in which we

have the strength and capacity to
resist the power of government.’

The demonstration, called by the
Congress some weeks ago to
coincide with its annual presenta-
tion to the federal cabinet, was a
blow to the government’s official
position, voiced by cabinet
spokesmen, that rank-and-file
unionists supported the controls,
that only the trade union leader-
ship was in opposition.

Workers from all across the
country had begun gathering in
Ottawa early Monday and: by the
time of the scheduled meeting
between Congress representatives
and the cabinet, demonstrators
had completely surrounded the
huge lawn outside the Parliament
Buildings.

In Quebec, thousands of workers,
protesting stalemated contract
talks as well as the federal con-
trols, staged ‘work stoppages’ to

see CLC pg. 12

Hospital strike seen
as pay pact breached

Government cutbacks in health
spending may be forcing a strike
by Local 180 of the Hospital Em-
ployees Union which has served 72-
hour strike notice on 99 B.C.
hospitals and health care in-
stitutions.

Union spokesman Jack Gerow
said the strike notice was promp-
‘ted by the refusal of the hospitals to
pay $450 each to about 10,000
women employees as agreed to by
the NDP government in a move
designed to ease job discrimination
against female hospital em-
ployees.

IGHT THREAT IN ARGENT

A military coup seized power in
early this week,
posing the government of Isabel
ron and apparently fulfilling the
4A’s plans for a consolidation of
ght-wing regimes in the southern
half of South America.
though news at press time was
‘canty, Peron herself had been
€n under arrest to the interior of
€ country and army commander
General Jorge Videla had installed
Mself as head of a three-man
Military junta which promptly
ISmissed all governors,
“ongressmen, municipal ad-
‘istrators and members of the
‘“Upreme Court.

Ore ominous were news

: dispatches stating that the new

Military rulers were to proceed

With “3 roundup of leftists.”’

Although rumors that a coup was

imminent have been rife for
months, Peron’s government,
racked by internal crises, had been
unable to deal with the situation.
Opposition leaders had for
months criticized the government
for failing to carry out the National
Program outlined by former
president Juan Peron and for
failing to take decisive steps
against a wave of terrorist actions
carried out mainly by the fascist
Alianza Anticomunista Argentine.
Former president Hector
Campera had also called for a new
alignment of forces within the
Peronist movement to form a
broad liberation front to ensure
democratic freedoms and to chart
an independent course for
Argentina. 2
His call was prompted by in-
creasing right-wing pressure

within the Peron government
which had _ blocked many
progressive measures and had
forced passage of harsh austerity
measures against Argentine
workers.

An earlier threat of a coup was
only averted last July; when
pressure from the trade unions and
democratic forces had precipitated
the dismissal of ultra-right
minister Lopez Rega whose con-
nections with fascist terrorists
were revealed.

Many other right-wing ministers
remained, however, some of whom
were also alleged to be master-
minding terrorist activities.

The intrigue within the govern-
ment found a ready response from
both the CIA and fascist dictators
in neighboring Uruguay and Chile,
as well as Brazil.

Last month, Enrique Rodriguez,
a leader of the underground
Communist Party of Uruguay, told
a press conference that Uruguayan
dictator Bordaberry and Chile’s
Pinochet had held a _ meeting
recently with a view to developing
plans to “protect the southern tip
of South America from Communist
ideas.”’

Rodriguez warned that the
fascist bloc with the assistance of
the CIA was intending to throw a
cordon around Argentina where
the ultra-right had thus far failed
to gain a foothold; and provoke
disruption inside the country.

Tuesday’s coup in Argentina also
poses new dangers for anti-
Imperialist regimes in Peru and
Panama against which any con-
solidation of Latin American
fascism will be directed.

Gerow said that the new Socred
government had carried out the
NDP agreement and paid the
hospitals the necessary money, but
that the hospitals had not carried
through their part in the
agreement and paid the em-
ployees.

With the threatened cuts in
hospital funding made by the
Socred government, many
hospitals appear to be unwilling to
release the funds earmarked for
payment to the employees, and
have held onto the money in order
to pay their operating costs. As
well, many hospitals, in an-
ticipation of the government cuts,
have announced their intention to
reduce support staff, and to hold
wage settlements to a minimum.

These pressures, coupled with
the hospitals’ refusal to carry out
their agreement to pay the female
employees has led to a serious
deterioration in labor relations in
the hospitals.

Gerow said that the hospital
administrations and the newly
formed Hospital Labor Relations
Association, have acted in such a
manner as to leave the province’s
16,000 hospital workers in a state of
total demoralization.

Government reaction to the
threatened closure of the
province’s hospitals has been non-
committal, with health minister
Bob McClelland saying only that he
has now power to order the hospital
to pay the workers their money,
even though the government was
party to the agreement.

The union has been working
without a contract with the
hospitals since December 31 of last
year.