LABOUR Mobilize the public to fight privatization, says British MP All the theories of privatization touted by the Thatcher government and its advisers in Britain are beginning “‘to break on the rocks of reality” and people in Britain are seeing more and more the “down-side” of the Tory policy, the leading Labour Party critic on the privatization program told a confer- ence of trade unionists Tuesday. “Phase 1 of privatization in Britain is now essentially complete — and phase 2 is where reality and experience take over from the theory,” said Tony Blair, the Labour Party MP for Durham and the party’s trade and industry critic. He said privatization was promoted in Britain initially as a means of putting public companies into the private sector “‘to make them more competitive.” But then the pol- icy spread to contracting-out of services and finally to the privatization of big public utili- ties such as British Telecom and British Gas which were turned over to the private sector as monopolies. “And by then, the original idea of competition had gone out the win- dow. “It’s like drug addiction — it starts with the soft ones and then you’re on the hard stuff,” he said, noting that privatization was having the same debilitating effect on the Bnitish economy. Blair, a Labour MP since 1983, was the keynote speaker at a special conference on privatization called by the Canadian Labour Congress and the B.C. Federation of Labour. Some 200 unionists attended the two-day meeting, which heard several panels of speakers on the public sector and commun- ity action against privatization as well as CLC executive vice-president Nancy Riche. The second day of the conference was closed to the media as delegates considered the trade union response to the privatiza- tion program launched by Premier Bill Vander Zalm. In working out that response, opponents of privatization in this province can learn a lot from what happened in Britain, Blair told the audience. “Tt is absolutely essential that you mobil- ize the public against privatization at as early a stage as possible,” he said. “You can’t fight it on the issue of job protection alone, important as that issue is.”” Talking with reporters later, Blair noted that the British labour movement had made - a mistake in not mobilizing consumers and ° explaining to them the effects that privatiza- tion would have on the economy and on services. Those effects are now becoming clearer, particularly with the privatization of British Telecom and British Gas, and with the contracting-out of services provided by local governments and hospitals. “There might have been some savings from contracting-out, but it has meant a lower quality of services,” he emphasized, reading a number of examples from a lengthy list of contractors’ failures compiled by the British Trades Union Congress. TONY BLAIR... tion critic. ““And the overwhelming source of those savings has been pay cuts to public sector workers and the replacement of full-time work by part-time,” he said. The British MP also emphasized the “network of vested interests” that has pro- fited from the privatization program, including advertising companies, invest- ment brokers and banks. Investment companies, most of which are integrated with merchant banks, have made millions from the sell-off of compan- ies, charging fees for advising the govern- ment and arranging the share transfers as well as broker’s commissions for selling the shares to investors. In addition, said Blair, much of the money raised from the privatization of Brit- ish companies has gone to providing tax cuts for the wealthy. Foreign investment has also increased, reducing still further public control over industry. But lately there has been a shift in Britain “and what has really changed in the last few months has been the realization by consu- mers’ groups that privatization has dam- Labour Party privatiza- Employees at Pacific Press Ltd., which publishes the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers, have settled for a 45-month agreement providing close to 14 per cent in total wage hikes. Members of the Vancouver and New Westminster Newspaper Guild voted over- whelmingly to accept the pact, also ratified by a vote among the members of the Joint Council of Newspaper Unions, which does (cor FIRIBONE | i t H i Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street & : Vancouver, B.C. VSK 125. Phone 251-1186 e i RNR se a eo SR - re a a eo 2s Ree I Oe hc Ss Pont Gotle oe é lamenclosing 1 yr.$160) 2yrs.$280) 6mo. $100 L Introductory offer, 3mo. $30) Foreign 1 yr. $250 Bill me later 0 : READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 18, 1987 TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN aged their health, their welfare and everything else.” Blair told the conference that the damage created by privatization has also “put the issue of public control and ownership back on the agenda. “Now we’ve got to have the courage to re-state the case for their being crown cor- porations and public ownership in the first place,”’ he emphasized. “Whether it’s a strategic corporation of immense importance to the nation’s econ- omy or whether it’s a basic utility that pro- vides a service that every single person needs, there is a case to be made for it being under public ownership and proper public accountability.” The Labour Party MP called on the labour movement to “be united” in its Opposition to privatization and to be pre- pared to “be as hard-minded as the government.” CLC executive vice-president Nancy Riche told conference delegates that the congress would soon be launching a country-wide campaign against privatiza- tion to complement its campaign against free trade. CLC leaders will be speaking on the issue _ at every provincial federation of labour convention throughout the fall and the con- gress itself will convene a special seminar on ‘privatization at the time of the CLC execu- tive council meeting in December, she said. In addition, the labour central has com- missioned the production of a 20-minute video which is being completed and will soon be distributed across the country. Vancouver-based researcher Donald Gutstein is currently preparing a major research project on privatization which will also be available shortly, she said. Delegates to CLC-B.C. Fed conference spent time Tuesday discussing public opin- ion about privatization with federation secretary Cliff Andstein and Glynnis Deering-Robb, of Profile B.C., a Van- couver-based pollster. Although that session was closed, a poll released Tuesday by BCTV revealed that public opinion has shifted decisively against Vander Zalm’s privatization program. The survey, based on 600 respondents, showed that whereas only 32 per cent of people opposed privatization in May, that opposi- tion had grown to 51 per cent by November. News unions reach pact not include the Guild. The contentious issue of a Saturday morning edition, which would have had employees working weekend hours at straight time, has been set aside, Guild vice- president Don Ellam said. The agreement, retroactive to March 1, provides for an immediate 2.3 per cent wage hike, with a 3.5 per cent hike on Dec. 1. Subsequent hikes will see wages rise by four per cent on Dec. 1, 1988, and 4.1 per cent on Dec. 1, 1989. The contract expires Nov. 30, 1990. Additionally, a cost-of-living raise kicks in if by Dec. 1, 1989, the Vancouver Con- sumer Price Index has risen by more than the 4.1 per cent wage hike. In that event the increase could go to a maximum six per cent. Ellam said the Saturday edition issue, a contentious one, has been ‘“‘put aside” by the company. But it could be reopened dur- ing the life of the contract, in which case full negotiating regulations, including the right to strike, would apply, he said. Prior to the settlement both the Joint Council and the Guild were preparing for strike action. _ Engineering Yukon Building Trades Council (BCYT) in support of the council’ boycott of Hyundai has drawn _ blood from the huge Korean con glomerate. But the ads that the company took out in response to the demon- stration are as misleading as the Hyundai industrial policy is anti union, charged BCYT president Len Werden. More than 150 unionists demor strated outside Vancouver Hyundai Nov. 12, to highlight the BCYT call for a boycott of Hyundai Auto pro- ducts. The boycott was launched earlier this year to protest the action by the engineering arm of the Korean multinational in teaming u with anti-union contractor, The _Kerkhoff Group, to build the Sky: _ Train bridge over the Fraser ! non-union. the demonsiiation with full-page newspaper ads claiming that Hyun dai Auto Products and Hyundai “operate completely independently of one another in Canada” and that Hyundai Auto knew nothing of the Kerkhoff- Hyundai joint venture until it became public knowledge. The ad also stated that a Hyundai auto ~plant was being built in Quebec with 550 unionized workers. But that was just “misleading advertising,’ charged Werden. __ Although it was Hyundai Au which placed the ads, he said, it was officials of Hyundai Engineeri who “contacted C