Labor in Toronto's coming election HE question of labor en- dorsation for a mayorality candidate in Toronto caused a Nov. 5 labor council meeting to end in confusion and disarray. Labor council’s political edu- cation committee brought in its list of recommendations, with incumbent. Philip Givens slated to get a nod. But delegates, in- cluding striking typographers, came to the meeting to oppose this proposal, with some even prepared to support Lamport for mayor. Controller Lamport has won ' friends by his recent outspoken support of the printers’ cause. The TLC debate was so pep- pered with procedural and substantive challenges chairman Don Montgomery lost control and accepted a motion to adjourn. The printers’ dispute is rap- idly moving to the centre of this year’s municipal election stage. This opens the way for and demands greater participa- tion by labor in civic politics. It sharply raises the need for labor unity in ‘political as well as in economic battles. Once in its history Toronto had a labor mayor. The way battles are shaping up, the day may not be too distant for the development of a concept of a council and mayor who are truly the candidates of labor 30-hour week would ease crisis of automation A 20 to 30 hour work week would offset the impact of automation, says a professor of McMaster University in Hamil- ton. Dr. J. A. S. Evans, asso- ciate professor of history, says the federal government should implement the shorter work week across the country. He favored this over “feather- bedding” to increase the num- ber of jobs. Dr. Evans warned that automation means unem- ployment and increasing unem- ployement. “The passage of time will not solve automation and will not make the unem- ployed go away,” he added. that - and representatives of the peo- ple. This year the choice for mayor is still between two politicians of the old-line par- ties. The need is not for a debate about the relative merits of these candidates but for mass pressure by the working people to force the issues confront- ing labor—above all the news- paper strike — even more strongly to the centre of the campaign. Pressure will determine the positions taken by the mayor- ality and other candidates. It can make the civic election a key factor in winning victories for the printers and all work- ing people. Genuine unity and a new, pro-labor alignment at the municipal level demands a new attitude toward Communists. For example, labor is propos- ing endorsation of Controller Herbert Orliffe, who opposed the motion in the board of con- trol for reports on the possi- bility of a bylaw against strike- breaking and the feasibility of taking the daily newspaper box- es off public sidewalks. Is it not correct, however, to endorse for controller candi- date Phyllis Clarke, . who orought both these questions "Do You KNoWw THAT CN THE BANKS OF THE MississiPPy THERE STILL ROAM TRIBES. oF FeRocious lallite MeN 2” yefore the board of control? Every section of the labor movement is needed in the struggle to beat back the of- ; fensive of big business, an of- fensive perhaps most clearly seen in the actions of the pub- lishers of the Star, Telegram and Globe and Mail. Two large and united demon- strations in support of the printers took place recently, one at city hall, the other at the provincial legislature in Queen’s Park. Is not the next stage of this struggle the elec-. tion of candidates who have in deeds as well as in words indicated where they stand on this crucial issue? Honest adherence to the TLC’s own formula would = as- sure labor endorsation of Phyl- lis Clarke for board of control. Ending the big business do- mination of city hall would open the door for a law against strikebreaking, an end to the use of municipal police on the boss’ side in labor disputes, curbs on speculators and real-: estate sharks, tax relief for the a powerful working people through duated business tax, am forthright attack on . enter es which pollute the air. A municipal governm made up of labor and the ple’s representatives would force combi big business dominatio both the provincial and governments and their Pp This kind of a struggle necessary if we are to force higher governments to take: responsibilities of gigantl penditures for education, and welfare off the bac ‘homeowners. Big business is content ¥ things as they are. Big ? ness representatives in m fi pal governments will not : with vigor or consistem against their counterparts Queen’s Park or in Ottawa Only genuine representati of a united movement, labor its central part, can such struggle to success. The frantic, aching haste — of Rich Piechowski's job _ VERY 58 seconds, almost like clockwork, Rich Piechowski climbs into an autobody on the assembly line at Chrysler’s huge Jeffer- son Assembly plant in De- troit. During those racing sec- onds, measured out by the inexorable pace of the line, Rich flings himself down on the car floor and installs the = draft pads around the base ~ of the steering column with - five screws. Then, in the frantic haste — dictated by the beat of the ». clock, he must tear out of -: the one body and into the next as it bears down on him on the line. Every hour, during a full work day, 62 auto bodies will pass by ” Rich’s- work station. He will have climb- ed into every one of those bodies during that hour and installed the draft pads. That is his work life, met- ered out in units of seconds, later measured by the ache in his shoulders and the tears and cuts inflicted on him by the sharp metal ed- ges of the unfinished body. : “Most of the day I can’t _ wait for that relief time to = come,” says Rich Piechow- ski, a 15-year veteran of the assembly line. “Sure, you get used to the work after a while — you get sort of numb. But sometimes all you're living for during the day is the chance to get away from the line, even if it’s only for a few minutes.” The 12 minutes’ additional relief time won for certain _ Chrysler workers in the set- : tlement will help him get In one car, but the other for Piechewski-_ through the day, Rich says. “A trip to the washroom or a fast cup of coffee four times a shift will make me feel a little human again.” Rich’s sentiments are heartily echoed by other as- semblers at the Jefferson plant, members of United Auto Workers Local 7. All have stories of merci- less work paces, of men turned into machines by the clanking motion of the as- sembly line flesh-and-blood machines, however, with hopes, fears, weariness. and aches. All welcomed the addition- al relief time. All felt 12 more minutes, added to the .24 minutes they have been off the line previously, would leave them not quite as tired, as sore, at the end “We have needed mo lief on the job,” sayS © Scotland, off and on of their shifts. at Chrysler since | “We're always being © I have to get in and ® each car four times 1 up vent cables on: eat’ —and I have to do minute and a half, of lll welcome more time.” : Chrysler ~assembly ers interviewed By 92! following disclosure | terms of the new cont agreed: although th mic benefits of the are “historic”, and be desired, one of th : est rewards of the Pa be the added time from the dismal MOP of the job. : ra _pag? November 20, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE?