Friday, October 31, 1975

ot. > 48

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15c

VOL. 37, No. 44

:

The two-million-member
Canadian Labor Congress. has
Wired Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau demanding the im-
_ Mediate withdrawal of Bill C-73 —
|} the Liberal government’s wage
|| freeze legislation now before
1) Parliament.
| _ This action came last Friday
following a meeting of the CLC’s
_ €xecutive council in Ottawa which
_ teviewed the proposed legislation
| @nd decided to launch a nation-

: Wide drive to compel the govern-
j, Ment to withdraw it.

(| . The Canadian Labor Congress
laS called a conference of all af-
filiates for Thursday, October 30 in
Ottawa to mobilize national sup-

: “Bi. for labor’s drive against the
i

Branding the legislation as
unjust, Joe Morris, president of the
CLC said at a press conference
following the executive council
meeting, that ‘‘wage controls
without corresponding price and
profit restraints will reduce the
purchasing power of the wage and
salary earners throughout the

country.
“Tt will not be able to control
prices, corporate income,

professional fees, nor does it intend
to control interest rates, but it will
effectively put the lid on wage
increases.

“Simply stated, the wage and
income restraint measures
proposed by the government of
Canada are unfair, inequitable and
unworkable.’’ Morris outlined the

CLC’s 10-point program to fight
inflation as an alternative to the
government’s program.

In addition to announcing its
national drive against the
government’s legislation, the CLC
executive council recommend the
trade union movement should:

e Pursue collective bargaining
objectives with vigor and deter-
mination as if the controls
program did not exist because it is
not yet law.

e Not permit employers to erode
the collective bargaining process
through the use of the prolosed
legislation.

e Organize support for the CLC
10-point program as being the only
fair and equitable method of
resolving Canada’s _ present

—Canadian Tribune photo

Delegates to the Canadian Union of Public Employees convention in Toronto last Friday joined with

Other trade unionists in a huge demonstration at the Ro
§Overnment’s wage freeze legislation. Photo shows a section o
Minister peer Trudeau as he left the hotel after addressing a Rotarian conven

yal York Hotel to protest the federal
f the demonstration which greeted Prime
tion in support of Bill C-73.

Barrett plan welcomed |

Action by the provincial
S0vernment to freeze prices on
“A d, drugs, energy and other

: henna _services. and com-
medities “is a welcome develop-
cht”, the Communist Party said
is week j in a statement following
© announcement of the 68-day

a
i ‘OWever, support for the freeze
Se nothing to do with prime

innister Trudeau’s _ totally
mene @Ptable wage _ control
4sures, Communist Party

OVincial leader Nigel Morgan
™phasized, -
as controls constitute a
aration of war on the working
Ple and premier Barrett must
are rset that,” he stated. ‘‘They
aimed, as the Financial Post

&

pointed out at enhancing produc-
tivity so as to maintain or improve
current profit margins.’

Morgan noted that while premier
Barrett had prefaced his an-
nouncement of the price freeze
with the statement that it was
“implemented to allow Ottawa’s
wage and price control program to

take effect’’, the freeze was very
different.
‘‘Barrett’s price freeze

represents a fundamentally dif-
ferent course to that advanced by
Trudeau,” he emphasized. ‘‘While
there are many additional steps
that could and must be taken, it is
an important action to counter

-wildly inflationary prices.”

Among measures advanced in

sy

he provincial government
en are the following: ~

e Animmediate freeze on prices
of food,drugs and other essential
commodities and including liquor.

e A blanket freeze on all energy
prices including electricity,
gasoline and home heating fuels.

e A ban on increases in transit,
passenger and rail freight rates
and a freeze on truck tariffs on food
and drugs.

e A restriction of eight percent
on rent increases — down from last

year’s 10.6% percent limitation. .

e A $10 increase in Mincome to
$265 per month.
e A graduated increase in the

See BARRETT, pg. 12

economic problems. (The program
was published in last week’s
Tribune.)

The CLC will set up a special
committee to mount the nation-
wide campaign and will set up a
national fund to finance the
campaign. All affiliates are being
asked to contribute money on a
monthly basis.

In reply to questions from
reporters, Morris said that con-
trols have never worked and there
is no indication that they will be
successful in Canada. He said
there is no evidence we are pricing
ourselves out of the world market,
as claimed by finance minister

See CONGRESS, pg. 12

JCE MORRIS

- government’s position.

As negotiations between striking
postal workers and the federal
government resumed this week
CUPW national president Joe
Davidson assured postal workers
in Vancouver that their ‘‘strike is
going well.”

As the Tribune neared press time
there were no indications that
federal officials — now joined by
Mackasey himself as _ head
negotiator — had backed off from

their hard line position that the-

union must accept the govern-
ment’s wage offer’ before
negotiations could continue.

Davidson told CUPW members
that the major demands of the
union are intact, despite the
They in-
clude a 51 per cent wage hike
(although spread over 27 months),
full retroactive pay, a shorter work
week, firm establishment of
seniority rights and pre-retirement
leave.

In Vancouver this week CUPW
volunteers offered their assistance
in getting Mincome and Han-
dicapped allowance cheques out by
sorting the government mail at the
Vancouver Resource Board of-
fices. The cheques will be
delivered to local Board offices but
CUPW members will make house

deliveries to the handicapped and
pensioners unable to get out.

The money issue in the strike has
been used as a basis of attack
against CUPW by the media.
Editorials too numerous to count
have hit the 51 per cent figure as
being not only inflationary but
unpatriotic. The fact is though that
the current wage demand has been
pared down considerably from the
original demand, which in itself
was entirely justifiable.

Postal workers have _ not
received a raise in pay for nearly
two years and with an average
wage of only $4.59 hour they have
felt the squeeze of two years of
inflation. The $2.30 increase that is
demanded, when looked at over 27
months, is really a modest demand
that will bring postal worker’s
wages barely to the average in-
come in B.C.

But wages are not by any means
the only outstanding injustice to be
corrected.. A release from the
CUPW national publicity depart-
ment states unequivocally that the
roots of the problems in the -post
office this year stem from employ-
worker relationships in the first
place and the automation issue in
the second.

The fact that postal workers

See STRIKE, pg. 12

Kashtan here Wednesday

Canadian Communist leader William Kashtan will speak at

a public rally on the Federal government’s wage restraint

program at Vancouver's Conlab Hall, 5 E. 8th Ave., (8th and
Ontario), Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.

The Vancouver rally will open a cross-country speaking

tour by the Communist leader. In announcing the series of

meetings this week, Kashtan said the Trudeau program is

“an attack on working people, their standard of living and

the right to free collective bargaining.”’
Kashtan will outline the Communist Party’s pl echniie
program to fight inflation adopted by a special meeting of the —

party’s central executive and provincial leaders a

- weekend in Toronto, —