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ORGANIZED LABOR
and the .
AFFLUENT SOCIETY |

Debating this theme at the University ‘of Windsor Graduate Society seminar on
Nov. 12 were George Burt, Canadian regional Director of the United Auto Workers,
C. W. B. Gravett, administrator of the Chatham General Hospital, and Stanley Ryer-
son, editor of HORIZONS: the Marxist Quarterly.

While Mr. Gravett argued the case. for management (the hospital is a profit-
making institution, wage-increases mean increased costs to the public, the function
of planning is the prerogative of management) the other two speakers dealt with
labor's role in the quest for higher living standards and in the democratizing of so-
ciety. Excerpts from these two presentations follow.

GEORGE BURT |

The subject of our discussion, it seems to me, makes seve-
ral assumptions about the labor movement and about our So-
ciety which I would like to deal with right away. The first is
that organized labor no longer has a role in societies which
enjoy an abundance of material wealth or, at best, a greatly re-
duced role. Second, there is implied in the title of our seminar
discussion that because our society is affluent and we are all
members of a social community, therefore, every member of
this community is affluent.

Both these assertions are far from accurate in the view of
the labor movement in Canada and the United States today.
Certainly the labor movement has come a long way in chang-
ing the enviroment in which workers earn their living and make
use of their leisure time. We have waged a long battle, success-
fully, to place human values ahead of property rights and have
given priority to people over profits. :

Wages.and working conditions have been steadily im-
proved. My own union is especially proud of its gains in the
field of fringe benefits which have brought economic security
and dignity to workers and their families. ‘

Not one of the improvements in the economic circum-

stances of the worker was granted voluntarily by industry.
Many of the more important fringe benefits, such as pensions,
supplementary unemployment benefits and protection of the
purchasing power of wages against increases in the cost of
living, were won on the picket line. Management will continue

to defend its claims to as much of the economic pie as it can.’

The right to strike will be just as necessary in the future as it

‘has in the past.

_ We know that we cannot limit our efforts just to the nego-
tiation of another nickel in the pay envelope. Organized or un-
organized, workers are members of a much larger community

STANLEY B.

First: the “affluent society,” to the extent that it is a reality
in terms of material output, is itself the product of labor. The
technological revolution is a revolution in the world of work.
Science, combined with the collective power of thousands work-
ing in the great modern industries, is leading to.an unimagin-
ably vast productivity, opening up wholly new possibilities for
human life.

Second: the huge private corporations, owned by a wealthy
handful, not only take unto themselves an inordinate share of
the social product (the $80 billions in U.S. corporate profits are
an illustration of it!) — but they exercise in our so-called “free”
society the economic and social and political powers of an
irresponsible autocracy.

Third: democratization of economic power, which leads
through workers’ winning a say in technological change and
in economic policy, in the direction of socialism, is the answer
to an irresponsible government of corporate wealth.

Fourth: the technological revolution holds such a promise
of a new and better civilization based on abundance, that aware-
ness is beginning to spread that the present profiteering, nu-
clear-war-directed domination of society by monopoly corpora-
tions is an obstacle that is going to have to get out of the way
of human progress. ee

This awareness is the underlying common denominator of
the growing social criticism in this country, and of the upsurge
in militancy of the organized labor movement. ee 3

How else are we to account for the current and widespread
“new mood of revolt” in so many areas of Canadian society, at
a time when this country enjoys a standard of living that is one
of the three highest in the world?.

in which a!l members face the shortcomings and deficiencies
that stand in the way of our progress toward achieving a fuller
richer life for all. ie

That is why we are concerned about the decay of our
cities, the lack of adequate housing, the transportation mess,
foul air, the unclean water, the disappearance of fields and
woodland, the over-crowding’ of already overburdened parks
and beeches, the need for more open space in our metropolitan
area, the over-crowded classrooms, the underpaid teachers and
the low standards of education in some urban and rural sec-
tions of our country. These are some of the reasons why unions
like the UAW cannot afford the status of a narrow economic
pressure group. <=

We now have the tremendous productive power of auto-
mation at hand to bring to bear in solving the problems of pov- -
erty Yet in Canada we have not begun to fight the war against -
poverty. Instead we have permitted our federal and provincial
administrations to drift along in a phony-war mentality, both
hiding behind the barricade of divided constitutional respon-
sibility. Perhaps both are waiting for the poor to fire the first
shot.

Do we have to wait until the pressures of a mounting popu-
lation render absolutely intolerable the present degree of depri-
vation before we act? ;

In the labor movement we are going to explore new ways —
of adjusting our economy and society to the challenge of afflu-
ence. We will continue to negotiate at the bargaining table for
more for our members. We will strengthen.our commitment to
full employment however that goal may be defined in the
future. And more and more we will strive through legislative
and political action to win the war on poverty and create a so-
ciety in which all can share equitably. in its affluence.

RYERSON

Whether it is among trade unionists conducting hard fought
strikes, or going out on “wildcats,” by-passing or heavily pres-
suring their leadership — or among angry housewives picketing
supermarkets — or university students protesting against the
U.S. war in Vietnam — the spirit of revolt is unmistakable. As
yet its meaning is only sensed; when it is understood, and acted
upon unitedly in struggle, society will be revolutionized.

* KS Kk

Between the colonial struggle for “responsible government”
over a century go, and labor’s present struggle on the issue of
“management rights,” there is a line of historical continuity.

The well-nigh absolute power of the corporations reserves
to a tiny minority of 700 men, owners of Canada’s productive
plant, a sort of economic “royal prerogative.” The fight of the
labor movement to break the monopolists’ control over the con-
ditions of labor, over processes of technological change, is a
fight for economic democracy, for “responsible government” in. _
the economy — for majority rule. ~ :

In this struggle, the issue of “labor as a commodity” — of
the labor-market as the successor to the slave-market — em-
braces the whole problem of alienation, of the bewilderment
and frustration of everyday living for the mass of the people.
Ours is “the empty society” because of the overwhelming sense
of powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation, self-estrangement:
(“thingness”) that come from the dependent, exploitive rela-

tionship that is the hallmark of the rule of capital.

The self-government of the producers, replacing the inter-
nal (and external) colonialism of the private monopolies, will.
in our time lead to the new relationhips between people, the
real human community, of the new society of socialism.

December 2, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3: