: Government should reverse its union-busting stand and spend time resolving the transit strike instead of breaking it, said labor as Queen’s Park prepared to force the union back to work. _ STEELWORKERS SET TO STRIKE SUDBURY — The INCO opera- tions in Sudbury and Port Col- borne are set to strike, Sept. 15, if they vote to back their bargaining _ Committee’s recommendation to reject the company’s latest con- tract offer. The final company offer included only a 10% increase in wages and a limited cost of living clause. - LAY-OFFS . IN LONDON LONDON — Over 70 workers at the deisel division of General Motors of Canada Ltd. in Lon- don, Ontario are being laid-off temporarily ahd another 120 are -INg reassigned. These moves will take place when GM closes Its Coach assembly plant in Lon- don and moves to St. Eustache, Quebec. Half of the laid-off workers do not qualify for Supplemental unemployment nefits as they have less than a year’s seniority. POSTIES VOTE TO STRIKE OTTAWA — 19,800 postnien will hit the bricks, Sept. 22, if no Contract settlement is reached with the Treasury Board. The postmen, members of the Letter Carrier’s Union of Canada, voted 82% in favor of strike action to back their demands for a decent contract. The union has asked for a 6% in- Crease in wages, while the Treas- ury Board will not budge from its _ latest offer of 3%. Inflation is run- ning at 10%. Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Associate Editor — FRED W Cae Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O CONNOR Published weekly at Suite 101 — 141€ Commercial Drive, ’ Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9 Phone 251-1186 Subscription Rate: Canada, $8.00 one year; $4.50 for six months; Ali other countries, $10.00 one year : Second class mail registration number 1560 95% STRIKE VOTE | AT AMC 3 BRAMPTON — United Auto Workers members at American Motors (AMC) in Brampton, On- tario have voted 95% in favor of strike action to back contract de- mands, according to Terry Gor- man, president of Local 1285. The present contract expires Sep- tember 15. - TRUCK WORKERS WIN INCREASES BURNABY — About 500 workers at the Freightliner of Canada Ltd. truck mantifacturing plant. in Burnaby B.C., have ac- cepted wage increases of between 10 and 21% ina two year contract. The workers represented by the Canadian Association of Indust- rial, Mechanical and Allied Workers, voted 78% to accept the contract. Base hourly rate in the plant is currently $7.79. INDEPENDENCE FOR LABOR SAN FRANCISCO — “‘An in- dependent political course’ is in- evitable for labor, according to John Henning, secretary-treasurer of the California AFL-CIO. Hen- ning in a labor day message charged that anti-labor forces — “the pious preachers of private enterprise’’ and the ‘‘right to work wreckers’’ — have penetrated the political parties. He said, ‘‘There are increasing signs that the na- tion’s two party system has become a one party structure with respect to the needs of the workers. EDITORIAL COMIMIEINT Lies the papers tell us “No jobs for youth: A plague of all developed lands.” Actually, what this report in the To- ronto Star said was: “The job outlook for - young people under the age of 25 has deteriorated in practically every. de- veloped country and seems to be getting worse.” (Trib emphasis) However, that too is a lie. If it had said every capitalist land, yes. But the Soviet Union, which has no unemployment, the German Democratic Republic, Czecho- slovakia and other socialist countries are “developed lands”. They have free edu- cation leading inevitably to jobs and a secure future. The capitalist press ignores the fact that this is not the 20s or 30s, that tens of thousands of Canadians have seen first hand that socialism has solved basic problems capitalism doesn’t want to sol- ve, except for its elite. The article deals, in fact, with youth in. 23 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OEDC) which, it believes, “means ~ most of Europe(!) North America and Australia.” Among these young people unemployment reached 10.7% of the total unemployed. The big business press of Canada is out to show that while 14.6% of persons 15 to 24 are unemployed here, com- pared to the overall figure of 8.5%, “all developed lands” suffer that way, and we have to accept certain hardships. If these gatekeepers of our minds. were to lapse into the truth they'd admit its the capitalist world, with a hefty assist from Canadian monopoly and _ the multi-nationals here, which force our youth onto the unemployment lines. “High minimum wage killing jobs in Quebec, study says.” A similar purpose is in this story in the Globe and Mail. What the article “proves” is that the capitalist system is killing jobs. Having to pay a minimum wage “resulted in companies laying off employees,” invalidating not the minimum wage, but the exploiting sys- tem. The OECD said this month that “Con- sumer prices in the world’s leading non-Communist industrial countries rose 0.7% in June and July ...” but the Toronto. Star headed its story: “World inflation rising.” The article spoke of North America, West Germany, Japan, and others of OECD. If this brainwashing worked it would deliver us to Tory leader Joseph Clark, to monopoly capitalism and to the Liber- als as they lunge far to the political right. They all cry out for incentive for big business, incentive for millionaire inves- tors, and for coupon clippers, but no in- centives for workers. Workers have to “make sacrifices” and settle for “a lower standard of living”. So says investment dealer Jack Lawrence, author of a new economic bible. It’s clear why workers need their own ‘press, defending their day-to-day strug- gles, and carrying insights into an alter- native system — socialism — which has increasing appeal for honest workers everywhere. — No answers at Camp David The news blackout and speculation around the Sadat-Begin-Carter talks at Camp David have become a media event. ' Teams of news reporters and analysts, faced with a total lack of information, have been vying with one another in an orgy of rumor-mongering and guesswork. Tidbits of non-information are offered to the hungry press each day by president Carter’s press secretary Jody Powell. He dances, evades, counteracts, and gener- ally plays it cute. For Carter, who has staked considerable prestige on the out- come of the talks, the obvious lack of progress must’ be troublesome. Behind the somewhat ridiculous antics at Camp David, however, lies the fact that a Mideast settlement which will ans- wer the needs of the region cannot and will not emerge from this series of tri- partite discussions. Neither the road to peace nor the rights of the Palestinian people will be assured at Camp David. The Begin government continues its hard line, refusing to discuss the Palesti- nian question with the legal representa- tives of the Palestinian people, the PLO. It has stepped up its colonization of oc- _cupied Arab lands and has increased its military activites against its neighbors, Mideast and blocking a settlement, is causing severe problems for the U.S.’s Egyptian ally as Sadat tries to ‘‘find especially Lebanon. The Begin hard line, . © In addition to increasing tensions in the peace’’ at. the expense of his Arab neighbors. ; - Behind all these secret talks also, is the refusal of the three states at Camp David to heed the call to return to the Geneva talks where the USA and USSR are co- chairmen and where the PLO would have a Voice. Without this vital ingredient and without Israel’s agreement to bargain seriously on the basis of exiting UN re- solutions on the Mideast, no real solu- tions will be forthcoming. Inco arrogance If, as appears likely, steelworkers are forced to strike the powerful Inco metals corporation for a new contract, theirs will be a further defence of all labor, in the spirit of other recent strikes. In the case of the arrogant Inco, it is sitting On a year’s sEPly of nickel, and using its operations in low-wage coun- tries as a lever to crush Canadian de- mands. It cannot be allowed to boost — profits by using workers abroad as a threat to Canadian jobs and unions, and indeed to the economy of the Sudbury area... Inco’s intransigence emphasizes again the ‘need for workers having a say in all - matters of concern to them, including job protection at all stages. Any strike at ~ Inco should signal all-out support and solidarity of the entire labor movement. : PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 22, 1978—Page 3 |