Demand referendum

on Board of Control

The Metro Toronto Commun-
ist Party threw up a picket line
at City Hall last week to pro-
test Council’s consideration of
a motion to abolish the elected
Board of Control.

A majority of City Council
had held a secret caucus the
previous Sunday at which time
a decision had been reached to
push a motion through City
Council asking permission from
Queen’s Park to dissolve the

board of Control for the 1969
Civic Elections. It would re-
quire a change in the Municipal
Act as it affects Toronto.

The text of the leaflet dis-
tributed by the Communists at
City Hall follows:

“As you read this leaflet Tor-
onto City Council is meeting to
decide whether or not to seek
permission from Queen’s Park
to abolish the Board of Control.

“What right have 23 men in

Plan community meet

Deep concern and opposition
to the use of court injunctions
and strikebreakers in labor dis-
putes in the community will be
the theme of a meeting for'
workers in the Weston-Mt. Den-
nis area of West Toronto.

The meeting sponsored by a
group of area unions compris-
ing the Mutual Assistance Co-
ordinating Committee will be
held at the Mount Dennis Le-
gion Hall (Branch 31) on Sun-
day, December 1, at 1:30 p.m.
In attendance to participate in
the discussion will be David
Archer, president of the Ontario
_ Federation of Labor; Mayor

- Jack Mould of the Borough of
York and a representative of
Dalton Bales, Minister of Labor
for Ontario.

The Mutual Assistance Co-
ordinating Committee was first
initiated in the early 1950’s to
rally the support and assistance
of area trade unionists for the
UAW strike at the CCM Com-
pany. Over the years this com-

mittee has been actively engag-
ed in supporting striking work-
ers in the area in various plants
and unions.

The call by the committee for
the meeting on December 1
arises from the fiagrant use of
the injunction and strikebreak-
ers in the recent. strike of
Square D workers, members of
UE Local 505.

In announcing this meeting,
Reg Screen, President of UAW
Local 28, at the CCM Company
and chairman of the co-ordinat-
ing committee stated, “Through
this meeting of workers and
residents of this area we intend
to make it clear to governments
and companies that we will not

tolerate attempts to bust our-

union organizations through the
use of injunctions and _strike-
breakers.”

The co-ordinating committee
is composed of representatives
of such unions as UAW, Steel-
workers, Chemical, Food & Al-
lied Workers, UE, and a CLC
direct affiiliate.

City Hall to decide the nature
of government for 900,000 Tor-
onto citizens?

“What arrogance.

“Toronto’s elected representa-
tives were chosen to conduct
the business of this city—not to
arbitrarily change the municipal
structures to please their own
particular aims.

“The proposal to eliminate the
Board of Control and replace it
with an executive is designed to
accommodate the headlong rush
by partisan politicians to intro-
duce political party politics into
Toronto municipal government.

“It is Tammany Hall politics
with a vengeance.

“Any such decision must be
made by the electorate of this
city.

“We insist on a referendum
of the people of this city before
any changes are made in Civic
structure. :

“Failure to carry through this

elementary process will damn

this city council in the eyes of
the entire electorate.

“Already decision making at
the top by Metro has. replaced
the will of the voters of Tor-
onto (the Lakeshore Raceway
scandal). Now City Council it-
self is trying to bypass the dem-
ocratic will of the voters.

“We appeal to Toronto citi-
zens. Phone your alderman, con-
tact the Mayor. Insist on your
right to decide how our city will
be governed.”

No action was taken by the
City Council but they referred
it to the Committee on Structure
for study, so the matter could-
be still very much of a live pol-
itical issue.

Mayor Dennison leads the op-
position at City Hall to the
move,

Brantford unionists packed City Council chambers last week —

where a confrontation between City Council and Canadian
Union of Public Employees, Local 375, highlighted the tenth
week of strike by the 79 city hall employees.
The union, which has the support of local MPP Mac Makar |
chuk, NDP, had scaled its demands down to a {0 percent 1 —
crease effective Jan. 1, 1968, seven percent Jan. 1, 1969, and sik

percent Jan. 1, 1970, to try to break the impasse. When count!
refused to discuss the new union demands (the original dema

nd

was for 27 percent over 30 months) they withdrew the offer.

The strike has spilled over into the election scene where many
of the local candidates for civic office are lining up behind the
strikers and at least one labor aldermanic representatiV®
Charles Ward, who is chairman of the city’s bargaining com
mittee, is carrying the ball for the municipality. 4

Last week’s demonstration at City Council climaxed almost 13

months of fruitless bargaining. Spectators broke into applausé

several times while the union representative presented te —
union's position to the Council. He showed that a clerk typist 7 —
St. Catharines received pay 52.8 percent higher than her Brant:

ford counterpart, Kitchener 23.5 percent higher, Oshawa 62.7
percent, Sault Ste. Marie 42.9 percent and Peterborough 5Ae

percent.

t pot roasts and mortgages

The average industrial wage
continues to climb gradually up-
ward. The upward climb is not
by reason of employer genero-
sity, but through continued and
bitter struggle of the organized
working class in compelling
concessions from the tight-fisted
and profit-hungry bosses. But
the average wage tells us little
of the real and present problems
of the great mass of the work-
ing people.

Most workers face a constant
and losing battle in trying to
maintain a debt-free household
economy. A heavy portion of
the workers’ pay package goes
to the money-lenders, whether
in the form of mortgage and
bank loan interest, or interest
to auto dealers and department
stores. Taxation imposed by all
levels of government takes a
substantial slice of. the weekly
wage, as do the unforeseen
medical, dental and drug costs
which hit all from time to time.

The result is that only a rela-
tively few of the top paid work-
ers have sufficient left in the
pay package to purchase the
essentials of life, as well as a
few of the comforts. There are
few indeed who can push the

_ shopping cart through the aisles

of the supermarket and toss_in
the food without careful thought
as to quality and price. Nine
times out of 10 the desire for a
steak dinner must give way to
the lower price tag of hambur-
ger.

For those who earn below the
average wage, life is grim in-
deed. Countless thousands must
pinch pennies to last out the
period until the next paycheck.
The knock on the door is a
nerve-racking experience, in fear
that it is one or the other of
the many bill collectors who are
momentarily expected.

In most cases comforts are
purchased at the expense of ne-
cessities, and many a. kitchen
table is leaner by reason of the
monthly payments made for the
TV set, or the new refrigerator
or range which had to replace
the one that conked out. Keeping
the car in running order often
means going to church with an
embarrassing shine on the pant
seat, or a dress which has seen
much better days.

But even these problems de-
scribe the more “fortunate”
workers. What of the wage
earners 6n the lowest rung? Or
the now five percent of the
working class who are unem-
ployed? They are faced with the

most desperate conditions each
and every day, foremost of
which, in most instances, is that
of keeping a roof over their
heads, even a leaking roof. A
paper read to the recent Cana-
dian Conference on Housing de-

scribed conditions of life of fa- -

milies dependent on public as-
sistance, as follows:

“The (housing) survey reveals
a depressing and disturbing pic-
ture of the half-world which
large numbers of public assist-
ance households inhabit. It is a
world of the ‘squeeze’ where
half of what little money comes
in goes out immediately on shel-
ter alone, where children cannot
find privacy to do homework,
where there is insufficient space
for sleeping and where bathing
and toilet facilities, where they
exist, must often be shared.”

The worker who does not face
all or some of these problems is
indeed fortunate.

There is another kind of
world in Canadian society. It is
the world of top management,
and the coupon clippers they
represent. This world is describ-
ed in a supplement to the Finan-.
cial Post, October, 1968. The
title of the supplement is,
“Executive living— what the

‘good’ life costs in seven Can-
adian cities.”

The centre spread of the sup-
plement gives the prices being
paid by the rich non-producers
in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmon-
ton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Mont-
real and Halifax, for seven dif-
ferent items of “executive
living.” It lists the items and
gives the price tags as follows:

e@ Here’s what a luxury four-

-to-five bedroom house will cost

in the clearly better part of
town. Price range. from 50 to
100 thousand: dollars.

@ Dinner for two, with two
martinis while trying: to decide

on the menu (it turns out to be.

filet mignon, asparagus tips, a
salad, baked Alaska), and a bot-
tle of French champagne at the
best night club with a floor
show: Price range $27 to $78.

@ Initiation fee and annual
membership dues at the yacht
or tennis club where one finds
only one’s friends. Price range
$200 to $900 initiation, and $75
to $210 annual dues.

e You're off to the theatre.
Only the best seats are worth
the effort. Price range $7.80 to
$14.

@ The children are going to
boarding school. |

_ George Harris,

the best schools. Multiply by th®
number of children you hav®
Price range per child $1,400 ee
$2,585 per school term.
e@ The man of the house
buying another suit, from UY
leading tailor in town. Custom —
of course, with at least two 3
tings. Price range $155 to $
@ A full length mink coat,  —
be worn or trailed behind, is
rigeur for ‘some. The mink
wild, and used to run in Labl@
dor. The best furrier in tow?
will let you have it for—from
$3,250 to $12,500. a4
Of course, if moneybags :
considering a new car, he has
some magnificent choices, pul
will probably settle for a Rolls
or a Bentley. The standard Rolls
or Bentley saloon costs abovr —
$21,000. For a coupe or conveh —
tible the capital investment © —
quired is about $32,000-$34,000
The world of pot roast a —
mortgages is populated by t@
overwhelming majority of OU
people. The world of mink 2%

1S"

300.

_ champagne by a relative pand-

ful. Whatever the propa
camouflage, the real struggle
people is between these two
worlds.

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