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Editorial

Unity against Tories

At the end of last month, Ronald Reagan forwarded the Canada-U.S. free
trade bill to Congress, which now has 90 working days to pass it. “There’s one
lap of the track left to go,” he beamed.

The glee of corporate America at the prospects of an open Canada ready for
the picking was barely concealed. The U.S. president urged Congress to “step
on the gas” and get the deal passed. He explained how, once the deal becomes

law, the U.S. will aggressively pursue its newly-won rights in Canada, ruthlessly

monitor “unfair practices” by Canada and rigorously enforce current U.S.
protectionist legislation. He also assured Congress it will have the power to pass
new laws overriding the trade deal if it so wishes.

Reagan’s message is clear: the U.S. won virtually everything and surrendered
nothing. He summed the situation up well, telling Congress that a fundamental
new direction was being embarked upon —continentalism — longa dream of
US. business and political leaders who have long envisioned one North Ameri-
can empire.

It was against this backdrop that the anti-free trade battle raged on in Ottawa.

But while the real attack on Canadian democracy remained the crude effort
by the Tory steamroller to ram through Bill C-130, debate was unfortunately
allowed to become sidetracked around the issue of the Senate (which does, in
fact, have the constitutional powers to amend and delay legislation).

The Senate isn’t the issue, and Mulroney shouldn’t be permitted to make it so
or to assist in shifting debate from the trade deal sellout. This can only divide
and weaken the anti-trade deal forces and ultimately contribute to the Tory
strategy of getting the legislation through without consulting the people. —

The real attack on democracy is the Tory refusal to let Canadians decide on
the issue through a federal election. The real attack on democracy is Bilt C-130
which will ven the door to the trade deal and radically alter and Americanize
our cov

Tr .n Ottawa have no mandate for this, and the obscene speed with
whicu u.., are pushing ahead indicates they and their U.S. friends have no
assurance Canadians will support the deal.

No election, no referendum, no proper hearings, no amendments
allowed — this is raw Toryism. It’s the intrinsically undemocratic nature of the
pro-American party determined to ram through C-130 at any cost.

The fightback must not sidetracked. The labour movement and all pro-
Canadian, anti-free trade forces must unite as never before in these crucial final
days and assert the will of the Canadian people.

SLAND FERRY, THE FOLAR BEAR
EXPRESS, ANB THE SK/ LIFT AT
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f you’ve wondered why your paycheque -

doesn’t seem to fare as well at the
supermarket and in the housing market
despite all the Tory hype about a buoyant
economy, some recent figures compiled by
the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
might help provide an explanation — if

not any comfort. surveyed were up a hefty 52 per cent over

People and Issues

been afflicted by a failing heart for the last
decade of her life. And it was especially so
when that heart stopped beating, early in
the morning on Aug. 12.

A memorial service has been set for
Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Bonsor
Community Centre, 6650 Bonsor Ave., at

organizing, bargaining collectively and the southeast end of the Metrotown shop-

According to the federation, workers’
incomes have actually declined in real
terms — after taking inflation into ac-
count — by some $8.60 a week since
1983. For minimum wage workers in fed-
eral jurisdiction, the decline has been
much worse — since 1980, their incomes
have been cut by one-third.

Nor is there a great prospect for new
full-time jobs being created to fill that
income gap — despite all the Tory claims
about job creation. According to the SFL,
some 27 per cent of the new jobs created
since Mulroney came into office in 1984
have only been part-time jobs and of
those, 20 per cent were held by people who
wanted full-time work but could’t find it.

But at the other end of the class and
income spectrum, the economic picture is
unfolding as the Tories would have you
believe.

The quarterly survey of 100 companies ©

carried out by the Financial Post found
that corporate profits for the second quar-
ter of 1988 were up 31 per cent over the
same period in the previous year. And
bear in mind that 1987 was itself a banner
year for profits. The Globe’s Report of
Business reported earlier this year that
1987 profits among the 1,000 companies

1986.
* * *

t was only last summer that thousands

of workers across South Korea, after
months of strikes and militant industrial
action, won wage increases and improved
working conditions from some of the big-
gest corporations in the multinational ros-
ter: Hyundai, Daewoo and Samsung. The
dictatorship was also compelled to intro-
duce some limited reforms to labour legis-
lation in the face of the strike wave —

_Teforms which were duly noted by

Hyundai Canada Ltd. which has been try-
ing to counter the effects of a boycott of its
cars instituted by the B.C. and Yukon
Building Trades Council.

' But now we see, according to the North
American Coalition for Human Rights in
Korea, the regime of Korean president
Roh Tae Woo has now unilaterally
declared 71 major corporations to be
exempt from the reformed labour legisla-
tion because they are “important defence
industries.”

Needless to say, the list includes such
companies as Hyundai Precision, Daewoo
Precision and Samsung Heavy Industries
and bars workers at those companies from

- striking, under the threat of five years

imprisonment and fines up to $10 million
won (U.S. $14,000).

The coalition reports that the list of
companies includes not only the military-
related plants owned by the various
Korean multinationals “but all plants
belonging to the corporation.” It also
notes: “The new restrictions on labour
activism came shortly after 27,000 workers
at two subsidiaries of the giant Hyundai
conglomerate, Hyundai Motors and
Hyundai Precision, ended almost month-
long strikes June 20 and 21.”

Coincidentally perhaps, Hyundai Can-
ada has embarked on a big promotion in
the Lower Mainland, mailing out lottery-
style scratch cards to households, urging
people to bring the cards in for as test drive
on a new Hyundai vehicle for a chance to
win a prize. But the South Korean
regime’s action provides one more reason
to stay away from the auto manufacturer’s
car lots.

he SK

here was, perhaps, a certain poignancy
to the fact that Anne Swankey, who
was known to many for her warmth and
compassion towards others should have

ping complex in South Burnaby.

Born in Winnipeg July 14, 1916, Anne
quickly developed her musical talent to
become an accomplished pianist, earning,
in 1937, the highest certificate granted by
the Royal Society of Music.

At the same time, she took her place in
the growing progressive movement, join-
ing the Communist Party and assuming a
prominent role in the campaign to aid
Republican Spain — a campaign she con-

tinued during a year-long stay in Los .
.Angeles. She remained a member of the... |

CP throughout her life.

It was also in Winnipeg that she met
and married Ben Swankey, beginning a life
together that spanned 43 years.

For most of those years, Anne con-
tinued her work in music, but this time as a

‘teacher, earning a reputation as one of the

top piano teachers in the three cities where
they lived — Winnipeg, Edmonton and
Burnaby — and imparting her knowl-
edge to hundreds of students, many of
whom later went on to careers in music.

In later years, although poor health cur-
tailed her activities, she continued as a
member in the Congress of Canadian
Women and as a participant in the peace
movement.

4 Pacific Tribune, August 17, 1988