Friday, May 28, 1976

Sara 48
CS aa

VOL. 38, No. 21

RiBbUNE

20°

} Keeping up a vigil outside the provincial courthouse, supporters of

*+€0nard Peltier await the outcome of the extradition hearing which this

‘Ohta entered its fourth week. Although evidence is still being

Seeks defence lawyer Don Rosenbloom has stated that the final

“aah rests with justice minister Ron Basford and people are asked to
. letters urging that Peltier not be extradited.

i)

any lthough the first official
. ernment reaction to the newly-
| Say program of the Canadian
Bon r Congress was a negative
©, delegates to the Congress
they ntion in Quebec City voiced
i a determination .to carry
Stbee the program and gave
sa tance to the decision with the
heen of a series of resolutions
fee Swipraenls as the week-
5 me
Friday. e sat wound up last
ycteral labor minister John
Nro had voiced doubts about the
B amacy of the CLC’s historic
ts r Manifesto and belittled the
vention’s general strike
oft but president Joe Morris
ts ered him with a terse
of een that echoed the feelings
J& 2,300 delegates.
% € staked our claim,” he told
Convention, ‘“‘that not only
d we mount a direct and
mm ctted attack against wage
Ntrols in the short run, but that
a use the same strength to
ang a Power from the corporations
* heir government for the good
Workers and of Canada.”’
la delegates buttressed the
‘ fess action program with an
Sek policy statement which
7d out their opposition to the
«etal government’s. programs.
This nation today faces many
‘ous economic problems, some

‘New economic policy
ineeded, CLC demands

of near-disaster proportions,’’ the
statements declared, citing high
unemployment and inflation as the
major ills. ‘‘Yet we have few
policies of substance which would
help the poor in our society; we
have no realistic programs to deal
with long-term problems as they
exist in the energy, housing and
food sectors of our economy... .”

In fact, the statement added,
“The response to the problem has
been nothing short of irresponsible
by agovernment whose first line of
attack has been to alter its
measurement of the rate of
unemployment.”

The economic statement set out
to refute many of the myths
propagated by the corporate
community and the government as
to the reasons for unemployment
and inflation and pointed out that
over the expansionary period
which preceded the imposition of
wage controls, profits ‘‘were
reaching record levels.”

“Where was the government in
the 1971-74 inflationary period,
when pre-tax corporate profits shot
up by an unprecedented 111 per
cent and earnings per worker by
only 27 per cent? There were no
calls by politicians then for price
restraints.”

Elaborating on the principles
embodied in the Labor Manifesto,

See LABOR, pg. 12

‘Budget attacks

The budget brought down by
finance minister Donald Mac-
donald Tuesday was branded by”
Canadian labor as ‘‘a budget which
attacks the unemployed, not
unemployment.”

This characterization of the
budget was made by Canadian
Labor Congress secretary Donald
Montgomery shortly after the
finance minister tabled his budget,
which made it clear that the
federal government plans to
continue its policy of shifting the
burden of Canada’s crisis onto the
backs of working people.

In the budget, the Liberal
government served notice that it
intends to continue with the wage
freeze on workers. It is planning to
maintain a level of unemployment
above seven per cent, while
making the victims of this policy
pay for it by whittling down of
unemployment insurance benefits.
It also gives tax breaks to cor-
porations, and ends the current
freeze on corporate dividends in
October.

The budget admits, by inference,
that corporations have been taking
advantage of loopholes to boost
prices. It includes a provision that
more companies will be ordered to
“tell” the Anti-Inflation Board

when they plan to raise prices.
That hasn’t stopped prices from
being boosted in the past. An
example of that was the recent
increase in B.C. Tel rates despite
the fact that it was reported to the

AIB, and that the company rolled
up fabulous profits in the first
quarter of 1976. (See story, page 2).

The main thrust of the budget is
its attack on the unemployed. It
contains no provisions to meet the
serious unemployment problem
which has reached the highest
point in 15 years, as was recently
reported by Statistics Canada, with
the:B.C. average close to 10 per
cent. Unemployment is viewed by
the federal government as a means

unemployed, not
unemployment’

of cooling down the economy and
“fighting inflation.”

The budget announces tougher
measures against the unemployed
who are without jobs as a result of
federal government policies. The
Unemployment Insurance Act is to
be amended under’ which
claimants will be required to work
at least 12 weeks instead of the
current eight before they are
eligible for UIC payments. This

See BUDGET, pg. 12

Socreds step up
anti-union drive

Brandishing threats and back-to-
work orders, the provincial
government and labor minister
Allan Williams have left little
doubt as to their intention of
severely curtailing the labor
movement’s right to strike.

In the last month Williams has
introduced legislation which would

-ban any strike or lockout on the

B.C. Railway, ordered 5,800
striking hospital’ workers back to
work, and promised to introduce
legislation to ban any strike on the
B.C. Ferry system. As well he has
promised legislation for the fall
sitting of the legislature which
would ‘‘broaden the definition of
essential-services.”’ Presently the
government has the right to in-

tervene in any labor dispute which
is categorized as involving an
essential service, and with new
legislation these powers would be
greatly increased.

The largest group of workers
which the government has moved
against to date has been the
hospital workers who had struck
six B.C. hospitals and were or-
dered back to work on May 20 for a
“21-day cooling off period.’
However, Williams made it. very
clear that if a settlement were not
reached in that 21-day period he
would introduce legislation which
would guarantee that ‘‘never again .
will hospital services be with-
drawn.”

See ANTI-UNION, pg. 12

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Passersby watch as construction crews put the last finishing touches on the Habitat information centre in
Vancouver's courthouse square. The designs on the pavilion (at centre) were created by students in several

Burnaby schools using paper mache.

— Sean Griffin photo