y WILLIAM ALLAN

x DETROIT
0 Home” was

some
eres to queries by
they Journal about
pr hought of Walter
‘ ee to end wage

4 cents an hour
ays Canadian

The ien canadian auto
ae VAW members. in
Boing terested in what
dinj 0 try and do at the

this year on ali-

'Ng table

4 is inequities”.
ar 3

pve ote 80ing to do

Will se ;

ghts ae discuss our

|

potiations for our
Will one’ moved up
agreem Pen discussions
ts j, n ent for the entire
lo meric 1
n Many. an work-

Reuther the part

LC raps Sharp

r ery Fea.
We. tat
tq als

b
| we 5 aety
1 State n abo
nO nt j
Donal Set Was eee
a Said: ho

~treasurer
T Congress:
d the night
b the unced, Mac-
; ty 80vern

Min’ *dvanprett has. failed
' the oppor-
CONEY s me ldset to

Stimu-
“fe are con-
"lod of ral:
yi Bro : tela-
agi, Sharp, Then 'S’ admittad
teq ne 80vernment's
~“Mployment fig-

t)

8
} Y Tom Morris
wi

ae
: etermi ass
Mieco

tos

fachers have

aA
* When met warning
fname Doocent ‘of
the “h n favor of

2 Oard ap-
a Showg ace a Show-
Own descend-

The battle is on
for Canadian-U:S.
wage parity

of the WSJ story that said Can-
adian businessmen fear “if Mr.
Reuther has his way, all Cana-
dian wages will be forced up”.
Reuther said, ‘‘what’s wrong
with that, especially when they
are far below what we have for
our workers here.”

We called Reuther’s attention
to the statement of C. M. Drury,
Canada’s. minister of industry,
who was quoted as hinting re-
taliatory action by the govern-
ment.

Reuther replied: “Drury or no
other government official can de-
fend payment of low wages, or
existence of second class Citi-
zenship for workers doing the
same work as_ their fellow
union members in the U.S. The
Canadian brothers and sisters

cent, a marked increase from
the year previous; and Mr. Sharp
is frank in admitting that fur-
ther increases in unemployment
may be expected.

“This is the time for moder-
ate stimulus to shove our rate of
economic growth back to its po-
tential levels. Tonight's budget
fails to provide this and the
omission adds to the serious-
ness of the economic outlook
which concerns the minister.
Certainly the removal of the six
percent tax on production ma-
chinery and apparatus 10 months
earlier than was planned falls
far short of what is needed.

are entitled to the same wages
and working conditions on the
same type of jobs and that’s
what we are going out to get”.

“What about the claim of gov-
ernment and industry that the
reason U.S. workers get 30 per-
cent more money is that they
put out 30 per cent more pro-
duction than Canadians?” we
asked Reuther.

“It's not true that the U.S.
auto workers are putting out 30
percent more production than
their Canadian fellow unionists,”
Reuther replied. “What the in-
dustrialists are doing is using
old figures to make their argu-
ment. If we get an agreement
for one contract covering the
workers on ‘both sides of the
border, that equalizes rates, it

budget

“Action taken with regard to
construction is also inadequate.
It is regrettable that the govern-
ment has once again rejected
proposals for a removal of the
11 percent tax on building ma-
terials and supplies. The con-
tinued acute housing shortage.
with little likelihood that it is
going to be relieved in any ma-
jor degree, points up the urgen-
cy for the removal of this tax.

“The decision to remove the
12 percent tax on drugs will be
welcomed by many Canadians,
though it is difficult to under-
stand why this is not being made

effective until Sept. 1.”

will also cover working condi-
tions, with one date for expira-
tion”,

“What .about this proposal
voted by Chrysler UAW dele-
gates to shut the plants down
the day they ratify a contract,
will that be a practice in General
Motors, Ford, also?” we queried.

“tam in favor of what the
Chrysler workers voted for —
to shut down the plants the day
we vote on ratification. Then
everyone knows what we got
and has a voice in deciding.
Yes, we will do the same in
Canada on ratification,” said
Reuther.

“Why did you put Canadian
UAW members on the Chrysler
national UAW bargaining com-
mittee for the first time in union
history?” was the next question.

“The Canadian brothers will
sit in as observers in the nego-
tiations here. We have had no
replies from General Motors,
Ford, Chrysler concerning. our
request that Canadian contract
negotiations be opened early to
coincide with negotiations here,
which start, as you know, July
10 with General Motors. That
request was made two months
ago,” said Reuther.

Contracts expire here in the
U.S. Sept. 6. In Canada they ex-
pire at GM, Oct. 31, at Chrysler,
Nov. 15 and at Ford, Dec. 1.

Reuther reiterated that in the
negotiations here in Detroit with
the Big 3, the union will demand
a common expiration date for
Canadian and U.S. auto workers.
In UAW-GM negotiations, Leo-
nard Woodcock, UAW vice pre-
sident in charge, said:

“1 don’t know what GM's in-

EDUCATION SYSTEM IN JEOPARDY

ed upon the board with a bang
with a surprising show of teach-
er solidarity.

The teachers claim they do
not have an opportunity to nego-
tiate with the local boards
which hire, fire and set stand-
ards because of a “gentleman's
agreement” between al! Metro
Toronto school boards.

By adopting its “hold fast”
attitude, the board is jeopardiz-
ing the education of the next
crop of students at a time when
every reputable educator is
warning of the need to expand
and improve the educational
process to meet the demands of
a modern society.

There is speculation that in-
struction will be available only

for graduating classes ‘next year.
Another thought is to discon-
tinue English courses for immi-
grants al a time when Canada’s
policy is lo encourage greater
immigration. This latter trend
is shown by the fact that rather
than signing contracts with tem-
porary staff, teachers were laid
off, some with only four days
notice.

This appears to be part of a
plan to effectively turn these
teachers into strikebreakers by
transferring them to the high
school system. The new militan-
cy shown by teachers all across
Canada is also evident in To-

ronto. There is little doubt that

any steps to weaken and break

teachers’ organizations will be

eagerly taken regardless of the
effects upon the education of the
young people.

The education system is in a
crisis in Canada. The present an-
tiquated taxation system drops
the full weight of the rising
costs of education on the small
homeowner and tenants of To-
ronto. The ploy of pitting the
needs of teachers for better
wages against the already over-
taxed citizen is answered neither
by the destruction of the teach-
ing staff nor by higher taxes in
the municipalities. The cost of
education should be assumed by
the provincial government which
has the resources to tax the
large monopolies and compel
them to pay their fair share.

June 16,

tentions are concerning the re-
quest we made for simultaneous.
bargaining in the two countries
but we will have two UAW-GM
workers on our national bargain-

ing team.”’ Ken Bannon, UAW. °

Ford director, said the same pro-
cedure would be followed in
Ford negotiations.

We asked Doug Fraser, UAW-
Chrysler Director, “how are you
going to win that 41 cents an
hour and wipe out the wage dif-
ferential with Canada?”

Fraser replied: “We will start
bargaining here to win it right
while we are negotiating wages
for the U.S. workers. They can’t
be allowed to work people for
41 cents an hour less over there
and use that reduction in costs
to lay people off here. Also as
long as they have a lower wage
scale for the same work over
there, the companies will ‘hav2
an incentive to locate jobs there
because of that”.

The drive for wage parity is
one of the situations that has
come out of the two-year old
Canadian-American auto trade
pact, which allows duty-free
movement of cars and parts
across the border.

The UAW officials say that
the pact has put $50 million
extra a year in profits into the
coffers of the auto Big 3 and
other companies and suppliers.

—Berkeley (Calif.) Post
"Yoo-hoo! Bird! Come zip me up.’

Toronto teachers need citizens” support

School boards, instead of de-
claring an open war on educa-
tion, should take the lead in the
battle for such changes. A for-
ward-looking board would call
on its electors to support it in
this direction. Toronto citizens
will now be called upon to let
their elected boards know that
they demand leadership and re-
ject the current hard-bitten atti-
tude. Their job is to educate.
Competent, well educated teach-
ers are needed to do this job.

Citizens should phone, write
letters and send delegations in-
sisting that the demands of the
teachers are met and that finan-
cial aid from the provincial
government is obtained to cover
the increased costs.

1967—PACIFIC RIBUNE—Page 5