_By MIKE PHILLIPS TORONTO — Inco strikers and their supporters gave the greedy multinational hell April 18 at the annual shareholders’ meeting. Toronto’s plush Royal York Hotel was the scene of the action as strike supporters from Sudbury and Toronto held a press conference in the morning to ‘‘remind the shareholders of the seven month strike and to guarantee the meeting wouldn’t be ‘‘the usual corporate Streamroller .. .”’ The press conference was ad- dressed and sponsored by represen- tatives from OXFAM Ontario, Pollution Probe, the Development Education Centre of Toronto, and the Latin American Working Group. Steelworkers Local 6500 presi- dent Dave Patterson, Yvonne _ Obansawin of the Sudbury Wives Supporting the Strike Committee, Tom Hanaway of the Inco Pen- sioners, and Nickel’ Belt New Democratic MPP Floyd Laughren also participated in the media brief- ing. Outside the hotel, in a demonstration of guerrilla theatre, a group of strike supporters dressed as miners were refusing peanuts froma white faced, top-hatted and bloated symbol of Inco manage- ment. The press See followed a mock trial in Sudbury held the night before by the Wives Committee which found Inco management guilty of prolonging the strike and . Hanaway asked. He said refusing to grant the miners and smelter workers a decent settle- ment. Wives Committee spokesperson Yvonne Obansawin told the Toron- to press conference Inco wouldn’t be able to repeat its past victories over the strikers by exploiting dif- ferences in the community. ‘‘In ’58, the company sent us (wives) letters telling us to get our husbands back to work. Some of us were ‘stupid enough then to fall for it, but we’ve seen the suffering and hurt it caused in Sudbury’’, she said. This time the wives are ; playing a key role in mobilizing support for the strikers, keeping morale up by organizing meetings and special community events, and this time, she said the entire community is backing the strikers. ‘‘We finally got the churches on our side,’’ she noted, ‘‘and knowing where the financial power comes from, we don’t very often get much support from them.”’ Inco Pensioner Tom Hanaway a 30-year mill worker tossed out with a disability and a pension of $315 a month, compared with pensions of a 43-year Inco boss with a Frood miner having the same time with In- co. The boss got out-with a pension amounting to $10,500 a month while the Inco miner was on the Street with a miserable $276 a month upon retirement in 1968. “‘Where the hell is the justice?’’ the government should take over Inco and bring the multi-national to task Sie ae _TOM HANAWAY ... “Where the hell is the justice?” for its shameful treatment of retired workers. He also criticized ‘‘some people in the labor movement who could be putting a hell of a lot more pressure on this company to negotiate a decent agreement.’’ Later, in an eloquent speech at the shareholders’ meeting, Hanaway summed up the anger of Inco pensioners who get less and ~ less from Inco, as the cost of living continually increases. Hanaway’s eloquence was recognized by Inco chairman Edwin Carter who cynically responded to the Inco mill worker by suggesting “that in a couple of years I may come about to join you.’’ The Inco pensioner asked: Carter ‘company’s only role SHAREHOLDER MARIANNE about people. — and the shareholders if it wouldn’t be more humane to use the tremen- dous profits created by the workers to ensure them a dignified and com- fortable retirement after commit- ting the bulk of their lives to an employer. ‘‘It isn’t easy to stand before a group such as this and plead .. .”? Hanaway said. ‘‘It’s time to stop thinking this is to fulfill profits.’’ 5 Inco shareholder Marianne Ken- nedy angrily blasted the company for ‘‘making the same mistake very mining company in the north has made,’’ — forgetting about people. “It’s people who make mines’’, Kennedy said, noting that not a single word in the. shareholders’ INCO fo KENNEDY eiees report talked about the peop ‘Sudbury suffering by Inco’s f to come to a settlement. She told reporters outsidé meeting that she hadn’t plant! speak but felt compelled becau® one was talking about people. © Kennedy told Inco ‘‘you’ve#@ so much out of the country couldn’t begin to repay it.’ She said that prior to organization, Inco was in for being a sweatshop and thi hard-nosed approach to peop carried over to this day. “? why you have labor problems; told the directors and | shareholders. ‘‘You asked fo! and I’m not sorry for you.” CP’s platform geared to needs of labor The Canadian Union of Public Employees (Canada’s largest trade union) has a very sophisticated public relations setup. I was reminded of this when I read the May, 1979 issue of CUPE Facts. The May issue contains material prepared by the Canadian Labor Congress to win support for NDP federal candidates. One feature deals with bankrupt policies ‘‘that shrink our paycheques.’’ The facts and figures are most enlightening, as the following examples will demonstrate: @ Since 1968, when the Liberals came to power.under Trudeau, prices have increased by 95 per cent overall. Housing prices have-in- creased by 101 per cent and energy prices by 101 per cent (since 1971); @ In 1978, prices rose by nine per cent overall, while food prices increased by 15.5 per cent, housing Prices by 7.5 per cent and energy prices by 9.5 per cent. Since 1968, wages have increased by 143 per cent, but taking into ac- count the increases in prices, real wages have increased by only 48 per cent. In contrast, profits rose by 229 per cent (and in terms of real profits rose by 134 per cent) over this same period. The article predicts that when all the facts are reported, real wages for 1978 (what you could buy for your money) will show a drop of 2.6 per cent over 1977, while real pro- fits will show an increase of eight per cent. According to Facts, in 1967, the year before Trudeau, came to power, personal income taxes ac- counted for 39 per cent of total gov- ernment revenues, while corporate income taxes accounted for only 16 per cent. By 1977, the share of the tax burden on individuals increased to 49 per cent, while the corporate tax share dropped to 15 per cent. ‘‘Unfortunately,’’ the article in- forms its readers, ‘“‘the increasing taxation of individuals has not been accompanied by increased social services. In fact, in-a large number of areas (such as health, housing, education and welfare) social ser- vices which supplement our pay- cheques, have been cut back to pro- vide greater tax breaks and sub- sidies to the corporations.”’ In 1975, the Trudeau government forecast that the rate of inflation would be four per cent by 1978. In fact, it turned out to be nine per cent. Last year, we were told the LABOR COMMENT BY JACK PHILLIPS rate of inflation would be 6.5 per cent in 1979, Later, the figure was revised to 7.5 per cent by the minister of finance. After stating these facts the article goes on to condemn the Liberals for contribut- ing to higher-prices directly by: @ Removing food subsidies on milk and bread; @ Increasing interest rates (six times in 1978) which has meant higher mortgage rates; @ Increasing domestic energy prices towards international prices as a conscious policy; The Liberals, it is pointed out, have made it very clear they will continue to lessen the tax burden on corporations by giving them more tax incentives and subsidies. ‘‘Since 1974, corporations have received over $3 billion in new tax incentives and over $10 billion in subsidies. They are also slated to receive at least $1 billion in new tax incentives alone over the next two years.”’ The Conservatives -are dealt with briefly and to the point. For example: “The Conservatives differ frorr the Liberals only in degree and not in direction. “With a Conservative govern- ment we can only expect a repeat of past Liberal failures to deal with the root cause of rising prices.”’ PACIFIC TRIBUNE=MAY 4, 1979=Page 12 Then follows a section on the NDP policies, designed to win votes for that party. Some of the key NDP planks listed are the follow- ing: @ On food prices, better man- agement of agricultural markets; @ An expansion of Canadian production of farm machinery; @ Selective government invest- ments to reduce food storfége and transportation costs; e@ Land zoning regulations to conserve agricultural land; @ On housing, an eight per cent ceiling on mortgages for low- and middle-income earners; @ Policies to curb land specula- tion to lower land costs; @ Government investments to. increase the supply of low-income housing where the existing vacan- cies are extremely low; @ On energy prices, a lower price for domestically sold oil and the international price for exported oil; @ The establishment of a “Fair Prices Commission which would: have power to roll back price in- creases in the cases where com- panies were increasing their prices unjustifiably.”’ On taxation, the article states that “‘the NDP believes that taxa- tion Should be based on ability to pay.’ ~ Frankly, I believe while such messages are good, they don’t go far enough. The Communist Party Slection program, in my opinion, deals with these problems in a much more — comprehensive and realistic fashion. A few quotes will illustrate that point: _A genuine redistribution of the national income geared to raise the living standards of the working peo- ple: **1) Price controls to curb infla- tion (with an immediate total freeze on prices), starting with a rollback of prices on food, children’s cloth- ing and footwear through govern- ment subsidies, rent controls and a two-price system on energy. 2) A reduction in hours of work with no reduction in take-home pay; 3) Tax reduction on incomes be- low $20,000 and the elimination of tax on earnings under $15,000. 4) Abolition of restraints and cutback programs and advance- ment of social security through free medicare which should include denticare, nursing home care and pharmacare through agreements be- tween the federal and provincial governments. Nationalization of the pharmaceutical industry. 5) A 25 per cent increase in pen- sion payments with senior citizens’ pensions commencing at age 55 for women and 60 years for men; a minimum wage of $4.50 per hour, unemployment insurance paid at 90 per cent of earnings for the entire period of unemployment. ° Canadianize the economy through an economic strategy to: 1) Put a halt to economic ‘takeovers by foreign interests; 2) Concentrate on developing secondary industry; 3) Process raw materials in Canada instead of shipping them abroad and buying them back as finished goods; 4) Put the resource industries, particularly energy, now mainly controlled -by U.S. and other for- eign-owned corporations, -under publicly-owned joint federal vincial bodies and build technology secondary indus the source of these resources; — 5) Establish government P to assure that research and devé ment is directed to strengthen * ada’s independence instead of! ing the profit interests of the porations; all multinational co! ations must be compelled by J@ undertake research and devé ' ment in Canada; 6) Undertake effective me to overcome regional disparitys 7) Nationalize Bell Tele -the Canadian Pacific Railway Canadian Pacific Investment thereby create an integrated ada-wide transport and com cation system under public 0 ship and democratic control. A more long-range plank ca public ownership of U.S. plants in Canada, nationaliz4 of the banks, trusts, insurance panies and the credit system 1 cure the capital for planned nomic development. All readers who belong. to yi unions should do everything ! can to make the election pag or of the Communist Party availa : to fellow workers. Working per should vote for the program thi pat most in line with their needs, # continue to fight for that prog after the election. RiBUNE -City ortown........ Postal Code .............. Read the paper that fights for labor “ Address Ag ee ee oo ae ..Province.......+*" ¥ Ei. lam enclosing: q 1 year $10[ ] 2 years $18[ ] 6 months $6[ ] Old[ ] New[] Foreign 1 year = ] Donation $.....