Wage parity:
whose gimmick’

By RAE MURPHY

ts late July, the Toronto Star
wrote an anguished appeal
against Canadian-American
wage parity. “A dangerous
dream,” it called it. Now, in late
November, the Star decides that
the problem isn’t so much a

“dangerous dream” but merely .

a “gimmick.” It’s a gimmick be-
cause:

“Genuine parity would take
into account differences in living
costs. It might require a steel-
worker in Sault Ste. Marie, for
instance, to be paid 10 or 15
more Canadian dollars a week
than a Gary, Indiana steelwork:
er is paid in U.S. dollars.”

One should not leap to the
conclusion from this quotation
that the Star. thinks that the
_ steel workers in Sault Ste.

Marie, or in: any other place,

should demand full justice and
_ go for wages that would be high
enough to cover the differential
between the Canadian and Ame-
rican dollar. :

Not a chance. The Star goes
on to suggest it “might be bet-
ter to forget the whole idea,
vemember that Canada is a dif-
ferent country, and get on with
the job . . . of raising Canadian
productivity so that it will sup-
port higher wages.”

It is nice of the Star to re-
member at this late stage of
Liberal rule that “Canada is a
different country” (a bit of ram-
pant nationalism, whot?) but if
the Star links wages. to produc-
tivity in November it was hav-
ing none of it in July. It ar-
gued then that in the steel and
auto industry where it has been
proven that Canadian producti-
vity is as high if not higher
than American, wage parity
would, according to the Star,
cause a great wage disparity in
Canadian industry as a whole.
“We doubt,” said the editorial,
“if any responsible labor leader
would want the Canadian labor
- movement divided into princes
and paupers.”
_- There you have it in a nut-

Shell: Canadian workers should
_ not demand wage parity because
they are not as productive as
_ American workers . . . Canadian
- workers, who are as productive
as American workers, should
not demand wage parity because
not all Canadian workers are as
_ productive as American workers
. . . Canadian workers should
_ not demand parity because it is

a “gimmick” in the first place.

_ Canadian workers should not

_ demand parity because it is in-
-flationary . . . Any day now,
Lubor J. Zink is going to write
a column that wage parity
causes dandruff. :

If ail the arguments against
wage parity were stacked one
on top of. the other, that is ex-
actly what you’d have—a pile
of stacked.arguments.

_ Now that-the Economic Coun-

& e 2

IS It:
cil of Canada has gotten into
the act with the suggestion that
wage parity now would be out
of line because the economy as
a whole is not strong enough,
the whole question is made even
more obscure.

For the labor movements, as
well as for the national interests
as a whole, there are several
compelling reasons why wage
parity is not a “gimmick” but
a vital question of our economic
future.

In the first place, one wonders
why wages are tied to rather
Suspect and arbitrary figures of
productivity and profits are not.

One naturally suspects the
figures released on the amount
of the gross national product of
Canada, simply because the
greater part of Canadian indus-
try is controlled in the United
States and the balance sheets
of their operations can either
be consolidated with the parent
company or doctored. Who in
Canada is in a position to deter-
mine how much invisible profit
is transferred to the United
States through internal pur-
chases and sales in these giant
corporations and other financial
manipulations?

Even if one were to set these
questions aside and accept the
arbitrary figure that productivity
in Canada is about 20 percent
lower than in the United States,
the question arises: why are
wages about 30 percent lower?
And what about the profit ratio
in Canada as compared with the
United States?

Do the owners of the Toronto
Star, for example, expect a low-
er return on their investment
than a comparable newspaper in
the United States? It sells on the
street for the average price of
an American daily, its rates of
advertising are in the same area,
only its pay rates are lower. Are
the wages lower because the

Star is a less efficient operation
than, for example, the Detroit
News, because the workers
don’t work as hard, or because
they are Canadians?

Take another example: the
construction industry. Canadian
wages are considerably lower
than American wages, yet the
Canadian construction industry
is as advanced as the American.
There are many example of con-
struction projects, especially in
the north, where Canadian and
American workers are engaged
in the same work, there a wage
differential is paid the American
worker. :

Canadians are penalized twice:
our wages are lower and the
prices we pay for the goods we
produce are higher:

The auto industry, especially
since the pact, is a case in point.
What possible justification is
there now for Industry Minister
Drury to charge that wage parity
in auto would be inflationary?

It is time for Canadian labor
to demand of the economists
and statisticians that they show
which industry in Canada is less
productive than its American
counterpart—and why it is so,
before being brow-beaten by ar-
bitrary and in many cases mean-
ingless statistical wheeling and
dealing.

The other side of the question,
that of the longer term econo-

.mic development of Canada,

weighs very heavily on this is-
sue.

The prospe¢t of independent.

economic development of our
country will grow ever more re-
mote as long as we are colon-
ized as a low wage, economic
dumping ground for the U.S.
industrial complex.
Stated simply, the question of
wage parity now is part and par-
cel of the struggle for our nation
just as it is part of the struggle
for a better standard of living.

.e |

WORKERS at the Ste. Therese plant of General Motors ha
voted to return to work on the basis of a wage formula which W
bring their rates of pay in line with those prevailing in the
Oshawa operations by July 1967. Wage parity with the Osha
workers was the main issue in the 80-day strike. The wage ave
in Ste. Therese was $2.10 an hour, while in Oshawa it stands
$2.82.

The new settlement accords GM one important concession
relation to the rest periods. The new relief system at Ste. Theré
will be patterned on the American set-up where production is
interrupted during the shift and workers receive their time 0
individually. In Oshawa the entire line is stopped during rest perio

This question of relief time is expected by many to loom as
important issue in the coming negotiations with the auto giant.
* Ke ee Sk

THE FIRST worm diggers’ strike in the history of the Uni
States has’ ended after 24 hours with a complete victory by
workers. The 300 bloodworm diggers of Wiscasset, Maine, stu
to back up demands for an 1114 percent wage increase. The mol
of the bloodworm pickers’ victory was not lost on some 0
workers in the area as a few days later 100 sandworm diggers to
strike action. The sandworm pickers strike also lasted for only
day and ended in a complete victory for the workers, and that’s t
way the worm turns these days. ;

* * *

ACCORDING to statistics of the federal department of Lab
there were fewer work stoppages in September than in the P'
vious month. However, there were considerably more strikes th
September than the previous September. In all there were J
work stoppages in September, involving 159,867 workers and
time-loss of 699,630 man-days, compared with 132 stoppages
August with 216,080 workers involved and a time-loss of 968,2
man-days. :

Based on the number of non-agricultural wage and _ sala
workers in Canada, the number of man-days lost in Septembe
presented 0.55 percent of the estimated working time, compa!
with 0.70 percent in August. The corresponding figure for Septeé
ber 1965 was 0.18 percent.

* * *

“THE ENTIRE trade union movement must stand and
together to put an end to the use of injunctions in strikes,”
Russell, director of organization of the United Electrical Wor
union told 160 delegates to the union’s annual national coun
meeting. Russell pointed to the stand taken by unions in sup)
of the Oshawa printer’s strike. That strike, he said, proved “thay
all-out united action can cause the powers that be to look the oth
way when mass, united action is taken in opposition to this, unj
law. In every situation where an injunction is used against la
unions must act in the same way and use the same measure
taken in Oshawa.”

The UE is currently conducting a petition campaign with
target of 40,000 signatures by the time the next session of
Ontario legislature gets underway.

: * * *

PEOPLE generally complain about politicians giving eva
answers to questions. In at least one instance, however, Rev
Minister Edgar Benson stands out as a shining exception to #
rule. During a recent discussion in Parliament about the fast
Studebaker Motors pulled by importing 10,000 duty free Volk
wagens into Canada, the following discourse took place in
Commons: ,

Mr. A. D. Hales (Wellington South): Mr. Speaker, my. ques
is directed to the minister of national revenue. Did he or his
league the minister of industry, when they gave approval to
Studebaker-Volkswagen deal, suggest or recommend to the C
pany that the 17 percent saving in duty should be passed on to
Canadian purchaser?

Mr. Benson: No,. Mr. Speaker.

* * *

_ LAYOFFS in the Canadian steel industry are developing
the wake of the credit squeeze and the generally cloudy. busi

_ outlook. To date the Steel Company of Canada has cut 500 t

porary and low seniority employees from its force in Hami
and further layoffs are likely. Cut-backs have taken place in
the other steel producers as well during this period. -

* * *

CAN A WAITRESS be an active trade unionist and still k
her “bunny image?” According to a recent arbitration award
the United States the answer is yes. Marica Hurt, a Cincin
waitress, was recently fired from her job because, according to
owners of the club she worked in, she had lost her “bunny imag
The arbitration board ruled that she was fired because of uni
activity and ordered her reinstatement with back wages.

December 9, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pagé |