TORONTO — The opening
Shot of the working people’s
“crusade to. unite and fight
Trudeau’s wage cutting policy”
Was fired by William Kashtan,
Seneral secretary of the Com-
_ Mmunist Party of Canada at a
_ Packed meeting at the Westbury
Hotel, Oct. 23.
In the opening address of a
_ f0ss-country tour the Commun-
| ist leader labelled the federal
S0vernment’s policy “a policy
designed not to cope with infla-
tion but a policy designed to
Cepe with the working class.”
The hard hitting speech dealt
| With a strongly critical exposure
| of the federal
_ white paper entitled “Attack on
“Inflation” whose main emphasis,
the Communist leader said, was
_ to launch “a war on the working
Class to depress wages, and
| freeze wages, to allow profits to
tise and prices to soar.”
__ Kashtan also called on the
New Democratic Party leader-
Ship, to shift from its “policies
of accommodation to capitalism
and of trying to improve -capital-
ism, to instituting policies that
will ‘challenge capitalism.” He
Called on them to “unite with
Other democratic forces includ-

=

ia iia ‘.
" —— , “

Crusade which is now necessary.
. Sharing the brightly decorated
Platform with Kashtan were
Some of the leaders of the par-
ty’s provincial organizations in-
- Cluding Ontario’s William Stew-
art, B.C.’s Nigel Morgan, Alber-
_ ta’s William Tuomi and Sas-

AT FALCONBRIDGE

SUDBURY — Pulling into the
lth week of the strike against
| the giant multi-national Falcon-

bridge Nickle Mines Co., Local
598, Sudbury Mine Mill and
Smelter Workers Union shows
No sign of weakening in its de-
_ termination to secure a decent
‘Settlement from the tight-fisted
and hard nosed corporation.

All has been- silent on the
bargaining front since talks be-
tween the company and the
union broke down for the sec-
Ond time’ on Oct. 3, with the
Company refusing to discuss the
‘Uunion’s 1]-point proposal for a
_ Settlement. :

_. Three main points loom cen-
-trally from the 11-point pro-
'&ram and they include telescop-
ing the three-year contract into
two years, immediate implemen-
tation of the cost-of-living ad-
_ Justment and adjustments in the
_ Pension plan.

_ - A hallmark of the strike has
€n the positive community re-
SPonse to the strike, with many
Unions and private citizens giv-
ng the strikers moral as well
4s financial assistance.

At a recent meeting of the
‘Sudbury and District Labor
Council it was agreed that the
1g a citizen support committee

Workers.

__ This is significant in that Lo-

Cal 598 is not a member of the
_tabor Council because it is not
~8N affiliate of the Canadian La-

r Council.

The feeling in the community
Which prompted the motion at

government’s .

ing the Communist Party in the.

the labor council centered on the |

katchewan’s William Beeching. —

Kashtan lashed out at the fe-

deral government for launching
what he termed “an economic
war measures act against the
Canadian working people then
issuing the cry in the press and
in the speeches of the Prime
Minister and his cabinet that
the people have to tighten their
belts.
“A wage control program has
been foisted on the Canadian
people”, he said, “in the name
of peace, order, and good gov-
ernment whatever that
means.” :

Turning to the government
white paper. imaginatively en-
titled “Attack on Inflation”
Kashtan proceeded to critically
evaluate its proposals.

“The first point that is evident
upon examination of the gov-
ernment plan”, said Kashtan, is
that “the aim of this anti-infla-
tion program is to maintain high
unemployment even to stimulate
it in order to prevent inflation
from getting worse.

“Capitalism has reached a
stage of development where it
has become impossible for it to
function now except through
inflation and unemployment.”

Economy At Low Level

To solve its inflation problems
it has to keep the economy oper-
ating at a low level thus increas-
ing unemployment. He pointed
out that at present the Canadian
people have in fact no choice

at all, with both unemployment |

and inflation.

| Strike in 11th gone.
union holding firm

hardship which the strikers will
now be facing as a result of the
new government wage freeze.

Falconbridge is being regard-
ed by the labor movement in
Sudbury as a test or indicator of
what could happen in future
negotiations at the International
‘Nickle Co., and elsewhere.

The action to help the Falcon-
bridge workers is as much an
act of solidarity with the strik-
ers as of protest against the
Trudeau wage freeze.

Tom Walsh an_ executive
board member of the labor coun-
cil and a member of Local 6500,

United Steelworkers of America

stated: “Let’s show them there’s
at least one local in Canada that
is still holding out against this
Trudeau nonsense.”

Local 598’s reaction to the .

wage freeze was expressed in
a statement by the executive
board and strike committee in the

* Oct. issue of the strike bulletin.

The statement accuses the
Trudeau government of coming
down “squarely ‘on the side of
the big employers and against
the working people of Canada.”
It pledged that Mine-Mill would,
“Join in the rising anger of the
working people and their unions
against thisfraud.”

With respect to the situation
at Falconbridge the statement
declared that they would make
their views known “‘to the gov-
ernment and to the members of
parliament” in the area, keeping
an eye at the same time on the
legislation as it affects the nego-

tiations. -

x

Communists launch ©
, - Canada-wide drive

“The monopoly interests have
come to the conclusion that they
have to find some way of clean-
ing inflation out of the economy
even if it means bringing about
mass unemployment, and even
if it means using the stick
against the working people.”
The communist leader noted
that it was not just a matter of
passing interest that coincident
with the submission of the wage

freeze legislation there are re- |

ports providing for the increase

KASHTAN TOUR DATES
Communist leader William
Kashtan’s tour as part of the
Communist Party’s crusade
against the Trudeau restraints
program will include:
Winnipeg — Tues., Oct. 28;
Regina — Oct. 29, Edmonton
and Calgary — Oct. 30; Mont- |
real — Mon., Nov. 3; and
Vancouver — Nov. 5.

of the police forces.
“The only areas where the

‘government is trying to stimu-

late employment,” he said, “were
in the huge bureaucracy which
will be necessary to police the
legislation and in the growth of
police forces which will be ne-
cessary to suppress the workers
as they struggle to secure de-
cent wages and living conditions
in spite of the freege on their
wages.

The second feature of this
program which working people
should take note of, Kashtan
said, is that the program is dir-
ected to depress wages.

He pointed out ‘that the in-
crease only averaged out to 6%
per year when there was no

guarantee that inflation would

not go beyond 6%.

Elimination of the workers’

right to free collective bargain-
ing was a third feature of the
legislation, he said. He quoted
the Prime Minister when he said
‘recently “that the workers still
have the right, the right to bar-
gain and to strike beyond the
guidelines, but there is no point
in using it because the govern-
ment will not cave in.”
He drew a chuckle from the
audience when he quoted a pas-
sage from the white paper in
reference to prices: “Companies
are expected to refrain from
increasing the price of any
product more frequently than
once every three months — re-
tailers and wholesalers will be
exempted.”

TORONTO — The second an-
nual tenant’s rights conference
held here Oct. 25-26 set out: the
basic demands of tenants in
Toronto and across the country
and planned strategy for press-
ing the current Ontario legisla-
ture to adopt its program.

The conference was organized
by -Toronto’s Federation of Me-
tro Tenants’ . Associations
(FMTA). The organization en-
compasses 50 of the city’s
tenant groups, and has, about
50,000 members. :

The two-day meeting held
workshops. on tenants’ rights,
the report of the City of Toron-
to’s Task Force on the Status of
Tenants, legal aid -and tenants
and housing. _

A plenary session on the sec-
ond day passed resolutions on
strategy and adopted the FMTA
brief on the status of tenants

- Trudeau’s incomes policy is not designed to cope with inflation.
It is designed to cope with the working class, said Communist Party
general secretary William Kashtan. He called on working people to
organize their own crusade against this attack on living standards.

Guidelines create depressed wage area

Strikers balk at restraints

By E. ROGERS

THUNDER BAY — Through-
out northwestern Ontario, work-
ers are rejecting the Trudeau
government wage restraints.
Workers have waged the most

- bitter of strike struggles endeav-
oring to ward off cut-backs in
their living standards caused by
inflation and erosion of their
buying power in the pay enve-
lopes.

The pulp and paper mills
throughout this district stand to
be depressed unduly if the legis-
lation applies to their bargain-
‘ing. They have rejected, long
ago, offers that match or even
exceed what the new bill will
allow them.

In addition Kashtan pointed
out that housing and land cost,
food costs, and energy will be
exempt from the controls.

“In effect the only thing being
controlled is wages,” he said.

Kashtan called on all those
who supported the position that
inflation should be defeated with
working class policies aimed to
protect the interests of the
working people, to join with the
Communist Party in the crusade
to force the government to re-

treat from its position of wage.

‘freeze, and to help create the
conditions whereby a govern-
ment will be elected that will
really represent the interests of
the working people.

submitted to government mem-
bers earlier in October.

The brief outlines basic pro-
posals of the Federation for leg-
islation regarding tenants’
rights, rent control and housing.
It has received the endorsation
-of Toronto’s city council reform
caucus.

The brief makes four. basic
proposals: that tenants be given
security of tenure; rent controls
be implemented and increases in
rent be tied to increased operat-

ing costs; tenants be allowed to .

.bargain collectively with land-
lords; and the government take
responsibility to implement a.
housing program that will sup-
ply Ontarians with quality hous-
‘ing at affordable prices and
rents. (See Tribune, Oct. 22 for
detailed coverage of the propo-
sals.)

The: plenary session passed

|

“It’s ridiculous,” they exclaim.
Three to.four thousand workers
are affected in this industry
alone. Three paper mills in Thun-
der Bay of the Abitibi chain ac-
count for 980 while the Great
Lakes Paper Mill, recently
struck, has another 1,400 hands
out. Special meetings of mem-
berships have been going on for
a week trying to sort out where
they stand now.

The community is beginning
to feel the effects of prolonged
strikes. The mayors of major
centres have met, along with
some political people to try a
hand at getting management
back to bargaining. Thunder
Bay’s mayor attended. His muni-
cipal police beat up picketers on
both the pulp and paper and Port
Arthur Medical centre proper-

» ties.

With the new legislation be-
hind him he strives to put work-
ers back to work at cheap labor
and 10%. Picketers on the Great
Lakes gates ask: “How can they
do it to us? What is 10% on top
of $4.80 existing wages?” There
will be no will to work.

“Prices, not wages need to
be frozen,” was the response of
Frank Mazur, a chief negotiator
for the Grain Elevator Workers
at the Lakehead. The Thunder
Bay and District Labor Council
issued a statement denouncing
restraints on wages and called
for controls on the real culprits

of price gouging.

Tenants set out basic demands

action proposals “to further ten-

ants’ rights in Ontario during the
current legislative session.”
They included: holding formal

meetings with government re- —

presentatives responsible for
housing and tenants’ rights to
present tenants’ rights proposals

arising out of the conference; a ©
phoning and letter writing cam- —

paign by tenants to MPP’s and
the Minister of Housing; a peti-
tion campaign; working with

municipalities to take tenants’

rights legislative. proposals to
the government and securing the
backing of organized labor for
the conference proposals.

The conference, with more
than 100 people registered, em-
phasized the impatience of ten-
ants with the provincial govern-
ment’s stalling tactics and half-

baked proposals for rent control —

and tenants’ rights.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 31, 1975—Page 5 —