: ASBESTOS WORKERS SAY

Strike issue: health

Special to the Tribune
BAIE VERTE,Nfid. — The
Workers at the Advocate Asbes-
_ tos Mine here, which is owned by
_ the multi-national Johns-Manville
_ \0., only want the company to
Provide lockers so they can
Change their asbestos-ridden
Clothes before going home, show-
€Ts so they can wash the asbestos
_ dust off their bodies before return-
- Ing to their families, and com-
 Pany-paid car washes to ensure
_ the family buggies won’t be con-
laminated with asbestos dust.
The company says no,-and the
Workers, members of Local 7713
United Steelworkers, have been
On strike, possibly for their very
lives, since Feb. 13.
If noted industrial disease ex-
_ Pert Dr. Irving Selikoff of New

York’s Mount Sinai School of

: Medicine is right, and there is lit-
a tle evidence to suggest he isn’t,
_ 485 asbestos workers at the Ad-
_ Yocate Mine at Baie Verte are
_ being exposed to too much asbes-
tos dust and it has got to stop.

the 485 workers, Selikoff found
that of 168 employees examined
by x-ray with less than five year’s

'
{
.
| The layoff this July of 750
Canadian auto workers in

_ Windsor, Ontario, because-the

. Chrysler Corporation of Detroit,
_ Michigan, is transferring produc-
_ tion of light duty pick-up trucks to
_ Its converted Jefferson assembly
_ plant in that city, is yet another
_ Cfass example of the vulnerability
Of a Canadian branch plant
_ Operating under the hegemony of
_ 4 foreign multi-national corpora-
_ tion.

The layoffs are clearly a ‘‘pro-

_ duction and facility realignment”
- Involving two Windsor truck as-
| Sembly plants in Canada, and a
- Plant in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

The latter is an assembly plant for

| two large Chrysler cars, the

Newport and the New Yorker,

_ both of which have been phased

1

_ out. The Chrysler Corporation’s
_ Plan to convert the Jefferson plant
_ Into an assembly plant for pick-up

| trucks this coming autumn fol-

lows a U.S. decision to ease

exhaust emission standards. This

S. government decision, in

_ tum, is capitulation to Chrysler’s
| threat to scuttle its reconversion
_ Plan, claiming its $50-million cost

_ Unfeasible in view of the stiffer’

_ €mission standards.

. Avery clear-cut case of export-
ing Canadian jobs to the USA and
- Unemployment being im-

_ Ported into Canada. As one

just

Sler office worker in one of
Windsor plants put it: ‘‘It’s
another case of Americans

_ Stealing our jobs.’

thi

* * *

Last week it was pointed out in
S Column that a multi-national

_ Company sees its profits in world

| Plang

terms. By that is meant that it
is: Its investments, its re-
ing? Its Products and market-
8 On an international basis. Such

_ 2Corporation trades with itself ac-

aemneneaieeemnaaes

we international borders — at its
one Prices. (Witness higher
Ces for identical cars in Canada

In a report based on a study of

exposure to asbestos dust, 5.4%
showed abnormalities. The 200
who were examined and had more
than 10 years exposure showed an
alarming 15% abnormality rate.
The 117 workers in the study who
had five to nine years exposure to
the dust showed an abnormality
rate of 10%. i

Selikoff’s 30-page report out-
lines the various diseases which
have been linked up with expo-
sure to asbestos over the past 15
years. They range from various
types of cancer, to asbestosis, and
mesothelioma. The study showed
that in addition to workers di-
rectly exposed to asbestos like
miners, millworkers and in-
sulators, “‘risk even extends to
individuals not employed in as-
bestos contaminated environ-
ments. Mesothelioma has been
found among. family contacts of
asbestos workers residing in the
same households as the asbestos
worker, and among people living
within a quarter mile or so of as-
bestos plants or other facilities
which have used asbestos-con-
taining material.”

What the workers are angry
and concerned about is the fact

as compared to the USA — no
matter what side of the border
they are produced)... «

A multi-national corporation
can, by a process of international
costing and accounting, manipu-
late its generation of super-profits
by ‘“‘transfer pricing’, which
means the fixing of prices at
which it (or its subsidiary)
supplies raw materials or parts to
itself.

Multi-nationals generate
enough internal revenue to meet
capital costs without borrowing.
In fact, their huge funds are often
used to undermine the monetary
policies of capitalist governments
and with it the currency stability
of the capitalist part of the world.

It is no longer like it used to be
when gold bricks (bullion) were
used as monetary transfers from
one country to another as residual
settlement of outstanding ba-
lances on trade and capital
movements. That was in the days
of competitive capitalism.

Today the multi-national
monopolies hold tremendous
monetary assets in all the major
banks of all the industrially de-
veloped capitalist countries. A
sudden withdrawal from any one
country .may take place without
any relationship whatsoever to ba-
lances outstanding on trade in
goods or services, or to move-
ment of capital assets. The
movement of monetary assets are
highly speculative, dependent on
interest rates and potential profits
to be realized by instantaneous
shifts of cash assets from one
bank to another, and from one na-
tional currency to another.

It is this so-called ‘‘hot money”
flight from one place to another;
independent of real trade, or capi-
tal movements (long and short
term) which constitutes one of the
most inflationary and unsettling
factors in the economies of all the

Time to end
foreign domination

detailed in Selikoff’s report that
the effects of exposure to asbes-

‘tos don’t make themselves evi-

dent to the victim for 15, 25 or
sometimes even 35 years from the
initial exposure. Early x-ray
changes, such as those suggested
in the study of the 485 Steelwork-
ers studied by the industrial dis-
ease expert, show enough expo-

sure has occurred to prompt the

changes and foretell the dangers
of future risk of disease. They de-
finitely suggest the need for im-
provements in the working
atmosphere. : ;

Despite company claims they
have reduced dust pollution, local
union officials dispute the com-
pany’s figures and point out man-
agement’s failure to have leaks in
piping mended, failure to have
dust areas washed down, and fai-
lure to water down asbestos
tailings.

Local 7713 vice-president
Gerry Dwyer says, ‘in general
there has been some clean up of

the outside problems but I ven- —

ture to say that in some areas in-
side the mill, matters are actually
worse.”

capitalist countries of the world at
present. Indeed, the International
Monetary Fund. (IMF), itself a
bankers multinational, is the
coordinating agency for interna-
tional capitalist monopoly -pro-
fiteering at the expense of the
working class and all working
people.

The extent of monopoly con-
trol can be seen in the fact that
three-quarters of all investment in
the capitalist world is held by four
countries — the U.S., Britain,
West Germany and Japan.

It is the huge multi-national
monopolies based in these coun-
tries that are holding capitalist
countries up to ransom by refus-
ing to invest at anything but
maximum profits, and by the clos-
ing down of enterprises when
they cannot market goods at
monopoly-rigged prices. This
kind of blackmail results, as a
tule, in concessions such as lower
taxes and government subsidies
to cover part of capital invest-
ment. :

In Canada today, the govern-
ment allows the oil monopolies to
charge excessive prices to meet
what it calls ‘‘exploration’’ and
‘‘investment”’ costs.

ake Cee ak

The answer to the multi-
national monopolies is public
ownership and democratic con-
trol through nationalization. This
is the only way by which Canada
can gain control of its resources
and means of production and to
reduce and eventually put an end
to the branch-plant economy.
The crisis of unemployment and
inflation cannot be overcome, and
no meaningful economic and so-
cial planning can be undertaken,
as long as privately owned multi-
national monopolies make all the
vital decisions, more often than
not outside of our borders in
foreign lands.

act

MA

working conditions in general.

Electrical workers on strike

rs of Local 514 United Electrical
Workers (UE), hit the bricks March 3, to back demands for a decent”
contract with Trillium Recreational Vehicles Ltd., that would pro-
vide an adequate wage increase, cost of living clause, a dental
plan, job classifications, proper work descriptions, and sultable

KHAM — Striking membe

CIVIC WORKERS ON THE LINE 3
Shorter hours, more pay
Strike issue in Calgary

CALGARY — Outside munic-
ipal workers are as far away from
a settlement with this city as they
were March 2 when they were
forced to begin their 25-day
strike: Two weeks ago the strik-
ers, members of local 37, Cana-
dian Union of Public Employees,
were joined on the picket lines by
their 165 foremen, who are mem-
bers of CUPE local 709, and who
can’t get anywhere either with the
hard-nosed mayor and city coun-
cil intent on keeping their wage
rate increase to 6%.

The strike involves a total now
of 2,100 workers, and the central

demand by negotiators for CUPE

local 37 is a $1.11 an hour across
the board increase in a 36-hour
work week at 40 hours pay. The
union is also opposed to propos-
als by one Calgary alderman to
contract out to private employers,
work normally done by CUPE
members. oe.
Like CUPE 37, the members of

Local 709 are going after a 12%
wage increase. CUPE 709
spokesman Orlando Campo said
last week there have been no for-
mal talks with management since
Feb. 18 but that the union is wil-
ling to talk any time the other side
is ready. The foremen picketed
the city’s bus barns March 21 and
drivers refused to cross picket _
lines.

Opposition to the strikers has
been well organized befitting the
Tory atmosphere of Alberta. The
morning daily, the Albertan has
led the attack with a “‘poll’’ sup-
posedly showing the city’s stand
being backed by most Calgarians.

The authorities don’t appear to
be very confident of the public’s
support however, as the Alberta
Supreme Court, March 16 is-
sued an injunction ordering the
city’s 1,750 inside workers,
members of CUPE Local 38, to
cross their striking brothers’
picket line.

Kitchener labor demands
free transit for seniors

KITCHENER — Free public
transit for senior citizens, and the
opening of Kitchener-Waterloo’s
first help centre for the un-

- employed, dominated the discus-

sion at the March 14 meeting of
the K-W and District Labor
Council, :

Council president, and head of
that body’s four-member full
employment committee Hemi
Mitic reported to the delegates
that office space for the un-
employment help centre had been
rented in downtown Kitchener,
and a committee had been ap-
pointed to handle details. Mitic
said the labor council will request
a $5,000 grant from the K-W Fed-
erated Appeal to aid the project
this week.

Similar unemployment help
centres have been set up in To-
ronto, Brampton, Brantford and
London. The K-W centre will be
manned by volunteers who will
help jobless applicants fight
through the red tape, harassment,
and attempted benefit cuts of
Canada Manpower, the Un-
employment Insurance Commis-
sion, the Workmen’s Compensa-
tion Board and local welfare
agencies. The centre won’t try to

duplicate Canada Manpower as a
job placement agency.

In other business the labor
council unanimously endorsed a
resolution urging the city councils
of both Waterloo and Kitchener
to initiate a system to allow the
communities’ senior citizens to
ride the public transit free of
charge.

The 66 delegates agreed also to
forward copies of the resolution
to the mayors and aldermen of the
twin cities. Following the 10-cent
fare hike in February, senior citi-
zens now have to pay 25 cents a
ride. The regular adult fare is 45
cents. - :

In formulating the demand, de-
legates noted how inflation was
seriously cutting into the buying
power of senior citizens and how
they depend on the public transit
for weekly shopping and their so-
cial enjoyment.

Wayne MacKay, financial sec-
retary of United Auto Workers
local 1451, told delegates: ‘‘It’s
about time we started to recog-
nize the contribution senior citi-
zens have made to our society,
and Kitchener council should be
quite prepared to absorb the
deficit.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 31, 1978—Page 5