DEAL LOOMS
FOR CHRYSLER

By WILLIAM ALLAN
DETROIT

HE United Auto Workers is
expected to get without

. struggle from, Chrysler
Corporation the “Ford pack-
age,” of 59 cents an hour raise
for production workers and 85
cents for skilled, spread over a
three year contract. The fringe
concessions Ford won have al-
ready been practically agreed to
by Chrysler. Only the ribbon
remains to be tied on the box.

Meanwhile at General Motors
where 482,000 new 1968 cars
stand unsold in GM showrooms,
the UAW top negotiator, Leon-
ard‘Woodcock, in what many felt
was'a “too ‘little and too late”
move, told GM officials that the
union will authorize strikes at
GM Res to a8 GM from
using overtime “to build a stock-
pile” in preparation for national
walkout. Woodcock hung 4
string on his threat, by stating
strikes will only be authorized
and would add up to the amount
of overtime worked and would
be a reprisal for “jungle war-
fare”. tactics GM has adopted
against the union. The author-
ization would be granted in any
plant : where overtime
scheduled as long as‘the plant
had unresolved problems or un-
settled grievances. —

Five’ days after the Ford
agreement had been reached,
GM scheduled Saturday work in
21 of its 23 assembly -plants.
What UAW strategists now are
waiting for is to see if GM

was -

takes a union veto on overtime
(long the bane of auto workers
lives) on its production plans or
decides to take on the UAW by
shutting down all of its opera-
tions in defiance of the union.

Somewhat timely was the an-
nouncement that the U.S. Jus-
tice Department was readying a
trust busting case against GM,
the same day the UAW put the
ban on overtime in GM. GM has
about 53 percent of the sales of
auto vehicles, as well as being
a supplier of certain parts for
Fords and Chrysler. It also do-
minates the supplier and acces-
sories field, in which over 300,-
000 UAW members now await
negotiations on contracts that
have expired Oct. 1, and have
been extended, awaiting the out-
come of the Big 3 (GM, Ford,
Chhrysler) .negotiations.

GM if it does decide to talk
on the UAW on big issues, in-
creasing the time of union com-
mittee-men to service grievanc-
es from increasing hours a shift
to eight hours; for granting 12
minutes additional relief time;
for streamlining the killing griev-
ance procedure in GM and for a
big money .package to cover
wages, wage inequities, Can-
adian parity and fringe demands,
has a two month supply of cars
in its showrooms. Its also the

‘ richest corporation in the world.
What everyone here is watch- -
’ ing is, what will UAW-Chrysler

bargainers get, the Ford UAW-
bargainers gave in on wage
parity for Canadian Chrysler
workers. Little news comes out

of negotiations at press time
that the Canadian parity issue is
on the “Big Table”. Forty one
cents less an hour is the wages
of Canadian production workers,
$1 for skilled, than their Ameri-
can counter-parts.

The word is that over in Can-
ada (Windsor, Toronto) there is
no meaningful negotiations tak-
ing place. At an Oct. 3 meeting
of the bargaining committees of
Chrysler, GM and Ford reports
from all the committees were
the same—no dice.

In Windsor, Chrysler, after 20
meetings agreed on only one
item—a new master agreement
that will cover Windsor, Ajax,
and Etobicoke, seven plants in
all. UAW _Int.-Representative
Frank Burke, told Chrysler, “we
reject entirely the demands sub-
mitted to this union by the com-
pany; we are not here to retro-
gress, we are here to correct our
problems”. Chrysler company
officials listed a whole slew of
demands drafted by their legal
department.

Meanwhile as the UAW puts
bans on overtime in GM plants,
Chrysler workers are asking
how come, overtime ‘is being or-
dered in Chrysler shops. Six
days and as many as nine and
10 hours a day is being worked
on both sides of the U.S. bor-

der.

In Canada, Nov. 15, is strike

deadline day for Chrysler work-
ers, the date of the expiration
of-their contract. About 10,000
workers could be involved.

Action urged
against high prices

MEN against. Soaring

¥Y¥ Prices in ‘Toronto, were

quick to get up to Otta-

wa to see Hon. John Turner as

soon as it was announced that

he had the job to protect the
consumer.

Mrs. Margaret Rouble, their
chairman, presented him with a
brief at the same time as a num-
ber of women’s organizations’
from Quebec also demanded ac-
tion on the high prices.

The WASP brief said:

“A year ago we started ap-
pealing to the Federal Govern-
ment and later to its Royal Com-
mission investigating high pric-
es. We made similar representa-
tions’ against exorbitant prices,
especially on essentials, foods,
rents, etc. to our local and prov-
incial governments.-We gathered
thousands of signatures on. pro-
test petitions, one of which we
are submitting to you today. We
picketed super-markets.

“You know what happened.
For a few months food prices
stopped rising. A few chain
stores dropped trading stamps.
While the public eye was on
them. The big food: chain stores
even found it possible to roll
back a few prices.- Hope was

held out to the consuming: pub-.

lic that more might be cut,. pri-
ces on other essential foods held.

November 17, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 6

But the statistics show that,
once the public eye was off
them, the big food monopolies
began to slowly edge their pric-
és up again. Now they are high-
er than ever, and, considering
this is just after harvest-time
when food prices should nor-
mally be at their lowest, we can
expect worse in the months
ahead. Action must be taken
now if ordinary people, especial-
ly the young and the senior citi-
zens, are not to suffer real pri-
vation this winter.

“We urgently appeal to you,
your new department and your
government to undertake such
protective action without delay
as:

“Standardization of weights,
measures, descriptions of pro-
ducts. Penalties for fraudulent
advertisements. Illegalization of
trading stamps.

“Nationalization of the Drug
Industry.

“A public Prices Review Board
with power to fully investigate
increases in the prices of essen-
tial foods and, if not: adequately
justified, to prohibit such in-
creases. If technically justifiable
and yet too heavy to bear by
consumers then subsidies should
be instituted by government to
still hold down the price.

“Strict application of the anti-

Combines Act to break up and
make competitive such huge
food monopolies as the Weston
interests. If the present anti-
Combines legislation is inade-
quate to effect this then we sug-
gest the necessary strengthen-
ing amendments be passed by
Parliament. If that process be
found inappropriate or inade-
quate to achieve the goal of sta-
bilizing prices of essential foods
at a reasonable level, then we
recommend such food empires
be expropriated and operated as
a public utility.

“Greatly aggravating growing
hardships - and deteriorating
standards of living are exhorbit-
ant rents. Rampant profiteering
in land values and leaping taxes
and mortgage rates; the fact
that families with children are
unwanted as tenants have in
many areas (particularly Metro
Toronto) led to a crisis situation.
We call on you Sir, and through
you the Federal Government to
assume national responsibility
for this housing crisis; to insti-
tute Rent Controls in such dis-
tricts as ours, and to launch
adequate low-rental housing pro-
grams on a national emergency
basis. And of course to outlaw
discrimination by apartment
owners against families with
children.”

OFL President:

‘Vietnam gnaws conscien

“PTIHE war in Vietnam con-
tinues to gnaw our con-
science,” declared presi-

dent Archer of the Ontario Fed-

eration of Labor.

Archer addressing the 11th
annual convention of the OFL,
told: the almost 800 delegates
attending that the Federation
was gratified that at long last
Minister for External Affairs
Paul Martin had called for an
end to the bombing of Vietnam.

However, he hinted that more
must be done. The Federation,
he said, has “categorically stat-
ed that we are opposed to the
war in Vietnam. We have re-
peatedly affirmed the right of all
people throughout the world to
be free of dictates of any foreign
power.” Archer went on to say
that despite the efforts of con-
cerned people everywhere the
Vietnam crisis rages on. He
called upon the labor movement
to appeal to the United States
“to cease its bombing and to
urge Hanoi to accept the invita-
tion to negotiate a settlement in
order that peace can be restored
to that troubled country.”

The attitude of the conven-
tion to the ending of the war in
Vietnam promises to be the sub-
ject of hot debate. There are
two resolutions coming before
the delegates on this question,
one names the U.S. as the ag-
gressor, demands an end to the
bombing, the withdrawal of all
U.S. forces and for Canada to
totally dissociate itself from the
war including the sale of war
materials to the U.S.

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withdrawal of all
South Vietnam ané
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in both North an
nam under the

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