ihite to oust Tories’

PWILLIAM. STEWART
© Workers face into
: fi this year with one
tnt € ballot box, a firm
r Picket line and grow-
tation for united labor
ant mass actions in the
3 st an all-out mon-
tity. on their jobs

Prone € of the attack on
ng and farming peo-
only the Hungry Thir-
4 precedent. There is a
ction that the
Of mass _ actions
pate legacy of that
thr, ©, LE Updated and
fe Tough now :

Poly Capitalism in this
Province in Canada

for

CI
Nod

mod scaling down
ce—impoverishing
; ty nmunities, In its mad
og, up sagging rates
Sh ue to intensified
: Petition between im-
pe Powers, it is turning
ff a Ontario working
AR thei, we People, intensify-
i ork loads and throw-

h ; to the s:reets.
: B thar ers are demon-
Meet art they will not be
Ae the nd. and = off their
MA ce Whim of big busi-
" Ny aie of months ago
tects ep workers took to
: Wanted tell Mr. Trudeau
| kisses Jobs, not promises
" 100) .728t_ week more
an lagara_ Peninsula
hs ee in’ St. .Cath-
~ “ar out their united

nf DON CURRIE

Rise finds the work-
Tibales, in the midst of
the °F economic struggle
4 majo ment involves ate
ke fo, ohStruction unions
Province-wide bar-
i _ Or higher wage
lng Proved working
a Slum € companies, util-
op thin P in construction,
ny and ts to weaken the
> dro deny the key de-
Suen nce-wide agree-
hen an agreement
fry! : the companies’ tac-
i Co; ®Ying off

l Nstry

Vv; 5

Ever? ine Wage rates.
on oot appointed con-
NY to £r's report has at-
Dute aa the blame for
Which the bricklayers’
Ment ¢ Tefused to sign an
ation Wages far below
Uetig, “ands. The other
8 rarwtions, instead of
united more
‘Wide © demand for a

Up tp, 28Teement and
de Minist: bricklayers, NDP
taped the Russ Paulley

Up ¢ © bricklayers and
hich © conciliation re-
ts a farly favored the
Was a divisive

} atte,
lent the Pt to break the
the” antintons involved.

My “unio
Hy. OF th nN stand drew
ring Wafite Unions and the

Nth Of 23,000 unem-
! ce pis
ify, ind ening in the
“uring SY, and light

Ndustries affect-

answer to strike-breaking firms
in that area trying to take ad-
vantage of the economic crisis
to break the back of their
unions.

The same week in Brantford,
more than 700 workers from
Hamilton and Brantford, under
the leadership of the two labor
councils rallied behind the
Texpack workers. There are in-
creasing work stoppages in the
automobile plants across the
province in protest against
crushing speed-up and intoler-
able working conditions.

Instead of capitulation in the
face of mass unemployment and
job insecurity, the mood of the
working people is anger and
the demand for leadership and
an alternative to growing in-
security, poverty and economic

chaos.

They are more and more
turning to those who will lead
them into struggle against the
injustices of the capitalist sys-
tem-monopolies and begin to
democratize economic and sO-
cial decision making in this
great province.

Workers and farmers, all de-
mocratic-minded people in On-
tario see the coming provincial
elections as an opportunity to
deal a crushing blow to mono-
poly in Ontario: to unseat the
Tories, and their Liberal-tweedle-
dum with them and to unite at
the polls to elect as many NDP
and Communist members as
possible. :

This would be a great victory
of labor, farmers and the demo-
cratic forces, opening up the
possibilities of turning the On-

Manitoba ‘union

ed by Nixon’s 10% import sur-
charge. The provincial govern-
ment has not announced any
steps: to SoUntee es threat of
U,S.-inspired layofis.

The ceribusness of the bad
employment picture is reflected
in a rash of layoffs at Thomp-
son where International Nickel
has one of its biggest opera-
tions. INCO has closed down
Soab mine and layoffs in other
areas of the compen’ opera-
tions are reported.

On the political front, the
biggest. challenge to the labor
movement since
election of June 1969 is the up-
coming unicity elections in
Winnipeg on Oct. 6. At stake is
the issue of which coalition of
political forces will control the
new city. The Liberal/Tory
clique in local politics is coming
forward disguised as indepen-
dents. It aims to win a majority
to control the new city’s finan-
cial policies and use it as a base
to attack the provincial govern-
ment — to steal a march on the
NDP at the local level. From
the beginning the Schreyer gOV-

ernment has underestimated

this threat, with its edie ae
lications for the working -
Ne In spite of Schreyer’s
underplaying of the serious
nature of the ae
new city a battle nas en
out in the NDP and the Win:
nipeg and District Labor Coun
cil for a bigger fight-back a
greater involvement of labor a
the elections. Labor Couns.
president Harvey Pate
sharply attacked argume

the council which called for ue
fabor movement to stay out ©

the provincial

Ontario labor faces vote

tario Legislature into a weapon
against the monopolies in this
province instead of their hand-
maiden which it has been.

For this to happen requires
that the. mass struggles of the
workers and farmers, of the
people, the struggles on the
picket lines, against plant shut
downs, for lower rents and bet-
ter housing, against poverty, for
jobs and adequate income for all
people as.a right, for a new tax
deal, for a guaranteed income
for farmers—be intensified in
the immediate period ahead and
join with the electoral battle to
unseat the Tories at Queen’s
Park.

We can defeat the sell-out of
our country to the U.S. We can
put our jobless back to ,work.
We can provide our farmers
with the high standard of living
they richly deserve. We can era-
dicate poverty. We can turn our
Northland into a mighty indus-
trial part of the province while
protecting its precious natural
resources. We can overcome pol-
lution and construct a sensible
transportation system.

To do all these things ~ we
have to defeat monopoly — de-
feat it on the picket line, in the
plants, in the communities and
at the polls. :

In this task labor must unite
and rally behind it all the forces,
the overwhelming majority of
people being gouged by mono-
poly. ;

This is the lesson for labor in
Ontario on Labor Day, 1971 and
there are heartening signs that
there is growing recognition of
this in its ranks.

politics :

the civic elections. The result
is that the labor movement
played a role in the recent NDP
municipal conference. :

The notion that the election
of the NDP to power would
solve all. of the problems of the
labor movement is giving way
to a demand for more positive
and. far reaching policies.

The Schreyer government's
policy towards labor is based
on the non-class idea that the
government must “balance” the
interests of labor and the em-
ployers. The minor improve-
ments in the minimum wage
and workmen’s compensation
acts, lowering the voting age,
an improved Landlord and Ten-
ants Act and a better deal on
medical and car insurance pre-
miums are welcomed by labor.
But the big problems of expand-
ing the economy in the indus-
trial sector, major tax reforms,
controlling rents and widening
people’s control over political
and social life in the province
have not been seriously tackled.

As labor heads into the strug-
gles of the 1970's what is be-
coming clear is that its political
role must increase if it is to win

onomic goals.

The ieouon of the NDP to
power in Manitoba with the
support of the organized labor
movement has posed a chal-
lenge before all the politically
advanced forces in the working
class and. farm movements.
Constant, high level, positive
and organized political action
around clearly defined prog-
rams for the people has become

the most burning need to guar- :

antee further left-ward advance.

oxy

British occupation troops are continuing to terrorize N

cone

Ireland while the Unionist ultras are calling on extremists there to
arm themselves to destroy “Romanism and Communism.” British
workers meanwhile are holding solidarity demonstrations with the
Irish in London and other cities, demanding the withdrawal of British
troops, ending of arbitrary internment powers and release of the
hundred of political prisoners. Labor Party chief Harold Wilson has
condemned ead government terror actions. :
e@ Northern Area Committee of the Communist Pa f

has issued a statement calling for an end to pee a en
extremists, declaring that “the real culprits are British imperialism
and its Unionist Party allies” and calling for a political solution
through ending the 50-year partition and reuniting the Northern

counties with the Irish Republic.

Fight for real equality
for the working women

By JEAN JACKSON

True, there are relatively
fewer women unemployed and
looking for work than there are
men. Does that mean that wo-
men suffer less from unemploy-
ment and the other economic
ills that beset the working peo-
ple?

More and more women find
themselves the family bread-
winner while father looks for
work. In spite of “equal pay”
laws, her earnings are in all
likelihood about half of what
her husband earned. In spite of
all the good will in the world
on the part of her husband, a
very large part of the care of
the children and the household
chores are done by mother.

Last year a report from the
Ontario Dept. of Labor show-
ed that 70% (60% married,
10% widowed, separated or
divorced) working women in
Ontario are married and over
50% of them had children un-
der 15 years of age.

In 1967 only 1% of children
under three years of age and
3% of children from three to
five of working mothers in Can-
ada were cared for in day care
centres. :

Mother gets up at 5 a.m. Gets
the children’s clothes ready,
prepares breakfast, wakes,
washes, dresses and feeds them.
Gives the school-age ones in-
structions about lunch, how to
get to school safely and on
time, what to do and not to do,
does a quick tidy-up, runs to
the streetcar, hoping her hair
is in some kind of order and
that she hasn’t forgotten to put
on some of that much needed
make-up. At 7:30 the job starts
and it is rush, rush, rush to
keep up the quota. At 4 p.m.
hurries to the store to get some-
thing for supper, only to find
that it has gone up six cents a
pound. Picks up the baby, hur-
ries home hoping father has
found a job only to find junior
has not returned from school.

Finally at 11:30 p.m., after
supper, washing, ironing, cheer-
ing up father, she goes to bed
only to start all over again the
next morning. 2

This is the life of thousands
of Canadian working women.
And we ask them to go to union
meetings, take part in peace

demonstrations, join price con-
trol committees . . . it is a great
credit to their stamina that
thousands of them do.

Equal pay? If a few, and
there are very few, do the same
work as men and can go through
the long legal procedures of
Proving that they do, they
will get equal pay .. . But 50%
of the working women in- On-
tario are employed in jobs such
as secretaries, sales clerks, typ-
ists, domestics, nurses, teach-
ers, waitresses, where there are
no men to claim equal pay with
and rates are set accordingly.

The burden of low pay, speed-
up, high prices, poor housing,
lack of help with child care, the
stress and strain of making ends.
meet when father has no job
demands more action from the
labor movement. -

More and more women are
calling for liberation from low
pay, overwork, lack of child
care, poor housing, and unem-
ployment of their husbands.

The Day Care Research
Group in Toronto, a group of
young mothers, is contacting
unions, calling upon them to
help in a résearch project de-
signed to point up the need for
more and better child care. The
report, when complete, will be
used to help the unions, and
particularly the women in the
unions in a fight_for nurseries
and child cate centres.

There are few union conven-
tions or conferences nowadays
where the women are not heard.
Union contracts: are eliminating
the “Male,” “Female” job de-
signations. Well over one-third
of the work force’ are women
and over half of these are mar-
ried women. Their demands are
coming out loud and clear:

equal opportunity in school
in choice of occupation and in
pay; 3 ane

” more and bétter child care;

¥ full employment;

~ decent homes;: '

» shorter hours, longer vaca-'
tions with mofe and better cul-
tural opportunities.

Although the male majority at
the last CLC convention turned
down the demand of the women
for a special commission on the
problems of women, thé next
CLC convention will be very
hard put not to meet. this
demand.

” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1971—-PAGE 9

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