RACISM.

DISCRIMINATION |
AND DIDF!

This article, the personal experiences
of a young woman working at the
Neilson’s chocolate factory in Toronto,
recently appeared in the Young Com-
munist League paper, Young Worker.
As that paper commented, “though she
is speaking specifically about Neilson’s
the conditions are common among
food-processing industries in Toronto.”

Last fall a bi-annual speed-up started
at Wm. Neilson’s Ltd., chocolate and
ice cream factory. The company extend-
ed two existing shifts to twelve hours
each rather than hire a third, night
shift.

The effect of the long hours on wo-
men workers, who do all production
line work, was severe, Those who could
not work these hours were given an-
other week of the fegular eight hour
shift, then put on twelve hours. A
number lived so' far away that it took
up to an hour to travelling one way on-
public transit, plus many had very
young pre-school children,

The continuous vibrations-of machin-
ery throughout the factory floors made
many vomit after long stretches on the
line. This, coupled with the hypnotic
movement of the conveyor belts and
the rhythmic noiss of the machines and
the increasing pressure to produce be-
yond capacity and desire, forced many
to quit. In doing so, their likelihood of
getting another job and/or Unemploy-
ment Insurance decreased.

Because of these results, the com-
pany was forced to use what it tried to
avoid — the night shift.

Massive hirings took place. The day
I went down, more than 50 women were
hired.

Line Speed Doubled

At the time I started, there was a
two-week “training period,” the. first
ever in plant history. After this period,
the line was suddenly increased to
twice the speed. We were told by the
floor lady and supervisors that this was
not possible, although a mechanic said
“of course,” it was.

We worked on incredibly old ma-
chines which broke down every ten
minutes or so due to constant wear
from 24-hour-a-day use and improper
maintenance. On my floor there were
supposed to be four mechanics. There
was one, working a twelve-hour shift

from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. He was in charge
of seven to twelve machines which
were at different parts of the floor and
constantly breaking down. This caused
an increase of pressure to produce even
more. .

We had three strict rules to work
by: (1) Never stop a machine; (2)
Never jam a machine; (3) Never miss
a space in the belt by being too slow.
The golden rule: never waste—money, .
chocolate, paper, .etc.

When improperly made bars are
produced, they go back to be made into
miniatures. This ‘is done by chopping
them into smaller pieces and re-cover-
ing them with chocolate..The steel
blade used to chop the bars. comes

A

down on the belt, at. 120 pounds pres- .

sure, once.a second. Four women work

at this, two make sure the bars are cut ..
- Straight and the other two separate the

pieces. I was.one of the.latter: I looked
up for a split second and when I looked
back down, two fingers were pinned
by the blade.

Employer “Concern”

When I fan for medical help, the
floor lady asked how it happened, then
said, “Did you get someone to replace
you?” That really illustrated to me that
nothing must stop production, no mat-
ter how serious!

I was lucky — during the previous
couple of weeks, the same thing hap-
pened to two women. Both women had
their fingers cut off.

There was no night nurse—the night
supervisor took care of small cuts.

There was a time three years ago
when the plant was shut down by the
Department of Health. The chocolate
was caked inches deep on the floor. At
that time, the floors were cleaned once
every 24 hours; now it’s once a shift —
every eight hours. Even so, they get
pretty dirty in a-very few hours.

While I was there a frozen mouse
was found in a cooler; live ones were
frequently seen. Evidence of squirrels
and rats were found in the storage
rooms where the nuts.are kept. If a
tray of bars was dropped, all but those
in complete contact with the floor were
picked up and used again. Workers
with coughs or colds were merely told
to breathe away from the bars.

When the night shift was hired, we
were told that we would have a week’s
warning before a lay-off. This didn’t

happen, and several of us reported this
to the Department of Labor. People
can’t afford to be out of work, but all
we were told was to wait a few weeks
before making an “official” complaint.
By this time, most would have another
job, and very conveniently for the com-
pany, the department office closes at
3: 30 p.m. — very few people can make
it down to complain before this time.
Keep Workers Devided

As any-profit-minded company, Neil-
son’s uses any available tactic to keep
workers divided. The greatest tool is
the racial and ethnic backgrounds of
workers. Those of the national majority
and those aspiring tobe ‘“‘anglo-saxon”
are given the more “skilled” work —
the more automated work which calls
for more co-operation and communica-
tion between workers. This was the
only area in which workers of the same
cultural background worked side-by-
side. :

On, the other floors where the ma-
chines are older and less automated,
workers are almost entirely of minority
groups — Italian, Greek, Maltese, West
Indian, Ukrainian. Here, friends of the
same background were split up when
working. Italians worked with Greeks;
Canadians with West Indians or Uk-
rainians, etc. This served to discourage
any getting together among friends,
or those more likely to become friends
sooner, to talk about work conditions,
simply because of the language prob-
lem:

One. exception was in the case of the -

-.West Indians: those workers were in- ~
‘variably put together and stuck off ina

corner away from the rest. There were
three Canadian whites and we were

“usually ‘paired up with a different per-
-s0n each shift, presumably because of

our knowledge of general working con-

ditions in Canada (standard wages,

Labor Code) and fluency in English.

We never once worked together. |
Barred From Day Shift

During most of the year there are
only two shifts — the day (7:00 a.m.
to 3:00 p.m.) and the afternoon 3:00
p.m. to 11:00 p.m.). As can be expect-
ed the day shift is usually in great de-
mand. The workers on this shift are
almost entirely white, anglo-saxons,
and those who are not — well, it’s hard
to tell.

Women have worked there for years
and never been on this shift, although
they wanted to from the beginning. In
the meantime, others with less senior-
ity have been transferred to days, the
only reason, it seems, because they
were anglo-saxon.

Another method of division used, is
that of unequal wages between men
and women. The starting wages differ
by 16¢ an our (30¢ when night shift
bonus is included). This isn’t a large
amount, perhaps, but inequalities be-
tween workers will never produce soli-
darity, which is needed to bring about
better working conditions for all.

It is obvious here, at Wm. Neilson’s
Ltd., that the workers are divided and
kept so by the company. There are
numerous issues on which the union,
Canadian Food and Allied Workers,
must be forced to. make a stand against
the company: unsafe working condi-
tions; unequal wages; and twelve hour

shifts (which are against the Labor
Code)...

Hunger strike supports Palestinian Arabs

Archbishop Joseph Raya,
head of the Greek Catholic
Church in Galilee, went on a
four-day hunger strike on July
15 in front of the Knesset (the
Israeli parliament) in support of
the right of Christian Arabs to
return to their villages of Ikrit
and Kafr-Burum in the north of
occupied Palestine.

Raya, whose health faltered
and who fainted on the third
day, was joined by 150 people
from Ikrit and Burum, and
about 250 Palestine Arabs from
Gaza Strip and West Bank. The
strikers demanded that the Is-
raeli government allow Pales-
tine Arab villagers, ‘to .return, to.

their villages and rebuild their
homes from which they were ex-
pelled by the Israeli forces 25
years ago.

The archbishop hoped that the
majority of the Israelis do not
want to impose the age-old suf-
fering of the Jewish people on
their Semitic brothers—the peo-
ple of Ikrit and Burum. He point-
ed out that the two villages is-
sue is the symbol of the Pales-
tine Arabs’ struggle to restore
their rights and dignity.

Some Jewish elements, who
support the demands of the
strikers, visited them to express
their solidarity.

. to... | Israeli: MP) Meir: Avizohar told: :
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1973-—PAGE 6

the Knesset on July 20 that he
would join the protest led by
the archbishop and added: “I
thought that prevening the in-

‘habitants of Ikrit and Burum

from going back to their homes
was neither courageous, wise,
nor just.”
Long struggle

The story of Ikrit and Burum
started when the inhabitants of
the two villages were asked by
the Israeli forces to evacuate
their homes for “security rea-
sons” late in 1948. Since then
the people have been forbidden
to return. :

In 1951 the Israeli Supreme

Court; upheld their right, in prin-

ciple to return. In spite of that,
David Ben Gurion, then Prime
Minister and Defense Minister,
ordered the air force to raid the
villages and destroy every single
house. The Israeli government

invoked emergency regulations:

dating back to 1945 during the
British mandate on Palestine to
back its ruling. :

Last summer the villagers

Staged another campaign against

the Israeli authorities inside oc-
cupied Palestine. They have
been sending petitions and dem-
onstrating. From the beginning
of the year representatives have
been sleeping overnight in. the
churches ‘in ‘protest.

THE THE

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