Astralite to be prosecuted
for violation of Safety Act

TORONTO — On November
26, 1976, Astralite Limited will be
Prosecuted in Provincial Court for
Violation of the Industrial Safety
Act. On October 29, 1975, Subash
Kalia was killed while operating a
baling machine. This prosecution

__hasresulted not because of a great

concer by the government agen-
Cies involved, but from the con-

_ Certed efforts by a group of people.
angered by the facts of this tragic

Case.

The Ministry of Labor was
Not going to press charges against,

- Astralite Ltd. even though the

Safety Inspector involved in the
Case stated under oath at the

Coroner’s Inquest that the

Machine was operating in flagrant
penton of the Industrial Safety
ct.

The Ministry of Labor was
hot going to prosecute even
though Astralite Ltd. had one of

_ the worst safety records in the

_ The monopolies: and. govern-

_ Ments are stepping up their war
_ On labor. Unemployment is at the

highest rate in 15 years and grow-
ing. All talk of price stability and

_ Tecovery of the economy is pure

Poppycock as long as no steps are
taken to curb the monopolies. It is
they and their. insatiable hunger

__ for profits, and not labor costs,

which are the real cause of in-

~ flation and unemployment.

The only option for the trade
union movement is to combine its
strength in economic and political
Mass struggle to bring pressure to
bear on governments for new
anti-monopoly policies. Such
mass action will of necessity have
to include strikes for both
economic and political demands
along with ordinary parliamen-

_ taryand electoral activities. This

was the course embarked upon by
the Canadian Labor Congress in
fighting wage controls and cul-
minating in the massive political

_ Mass actions on October 14.

It was to be expected that the
big business tycoons would de-
nounce this as an ‘irresponsible
act of lawlessness’. The cry for
“law and order’’ and for ‘‘legiti-

_Macy”’ to this gentry means put-

ting the screws on the working
Class while letting the corpora-
tions do as they please, and sub-

'Sidizing their exploitation of labor

and resources out of the tax-
Payers to boot.

Forces At Work

Unfortunately, there are still
forces within the trade unions and
the working-class movement who
refuse to recognize economic and
Political realities. Some of these

People even try to exorcise the

Class struggle. In a number of re-
cent labor conventfons we have
Seen such forces at work.

In British Columbia, the effort
to defeat a militant and struggle-
Oriented leadership failed to move
the B.C Federation of Labor to

the right. The militant leadership

By BRUCE MAGNUSON

province. The safety record of
Astralite and the Ministry of
Labor’s own damning statistics
in the field of industrial safety
were uncovered by Union of In-
jured Workers research staff.

The «statistics demonstrated
that the Industrial Safety
Branch’s policy of ‘‘self polic-
ing’, with fewer inspections and
very few prosecutions had re-
sulted in a steady increase of in-
dustrial accidents and deaths. Af-
ter the results of the Coroner’s
Inquest were in, and after months
of inaction on the part of the
Ministry of Labor, the Globe
and Mail ran a front-page story on
March 30, 1976 reporting the do
nothing attitude of the Ministry
of Labor.

Questions raised in the legisla-
ture and public pressure resulted
in the appointment of Austin
Cooper, QC, to reconsider the
necessity of a prosecution. Just a

‘Political,
struggle

was given anew mandate to carry

‘on the struggle. At the same time

it did create divisions within the
movement which will take time
and effort to overcome.

In Ontario, where.the situation
was not as clearcut and involved
as in British Columbia, a conven-
tion of the Federation of Labor
has led to a Change in’the top of-
fice of president. This was ac-
complished on the basis of a chal-
lenge to the struggle-oriented pol-
icy of the CLC that led to the Oct-

ber 14 country-wide struggle -

against wage controls. The mo-
tive force behind this-effort came
from right-wing elements 1n the
New Democratic Party and the
trade union movement and origi-
nated at the top and not in the
rank-and-file. It included the spe-
cial transportation of some 500-
odd ‘‘voting”’ delegates, who ap-
peared for a couple of hours on
the second day of the Convention
to vote for the challenger for the
top office of president of the OFL.
They did not stay long enough to
vote for any of the other officers
of the Federation.

The forecast of a “‘new era of
militancy’’ in the OFL has to be
taken with more than one grain of
salt in view of the return of largely
the same leadership as before
with the one exception of the
president and, another being. the
election of a woman vice-

sident. ;
LLG must take Mr. Pilkey’s
words seriously when he speaks

of difficult times ahead and appe- —
‘aling to

every delegate and or-
ganization to join with him in the
struggle that lies ahead. At the
same time that struggle will not be
won by summit ‘consultations

with a Tory premier or by scuttl-
ing the struggle in favor of some
typical right-wing social demo-
cratic accommodation to class
collaboration and bourgeois

parliamentarism. -
Struggle Will Sharpen
The stepped-up attacks on the

economic
for labor

few days before a demonstration

by the UIW demanding prosecu-
tion of Astralite, Mr. Cooper in-
formed UIW legal workers that
charges had been laid. On the day
of the demonstration, June 15, the
Ministry of Labor finally an-
nounced to the’press that charges
had been laid on June 2 (two
weeks earlier).

The refusal of the Ministry of
Labor to prosecute as soon as

the facts were in (at the Coroner’s

Inquest in January) points to the
attitude of the government to in-
dustrial health: and safety. The

government, and especially the’

Minister of Labor, have to be
forced to act. The Union of In-
jured Workers is determined to
continue to exert pressure to
make certain unsafe employers
are prosecuted and given stiff
penalities for violations of the

- Safety Act. This is-the only way

to reduce accidents and deaths
on-the-job.

trade unions by both the federal
and provincial governments

through economic and legislative

measures, will sharpen the polari-

zation of classes and intensify the.
~ class conflict in the country.

The more than 160 resolutions
on economic policy, employment
standards, health and safety on
the job, housing, human rights,
labor relations, .women’s rights,

social services, municipal affairs |
and political action, as well as the

militant memberships of unions
and at the rank-and-file level in
Ontario. This is something the
new president of the OFL and his
executive and administration will
have to take into account.
Judging from the acceptance
speech of Mr. Pilkey, it would ap-
pear that he is well aware of this
fact, and that the majority of the
delegates are committed to and
expect a policy of unity in action

to put an end to wage controls at.
both the federal and provincial

levels of government. This can
only be done on the basis of class
struggle policies. :
The fact is that such policies
require united action between the
trade union movement and the
NDP, as well as the Communist
Party. Only such a left-centre al-
liance can isolate the right.and di-
rect the main fire against the real
enemy of the working class and
the democratic movement the
monopolies and their kept and
servile politicians. .
There are some well-founded
fears about the rights of the mem-
bership: being slowly whittled
away in the matter of determining
policy at large union conventions.
The answer to these fears is eter-
nal vigilance by the rank-and-file
to see that this does not happen.
Such efforts are invariably con-

‘nected with various ingenious.

schemes to keep the left from
leadership positions. But the fact
remains that a stronger left is the
only guarantee that the interests
of the membership will be pro-
tected at all times.

<

IN
ACTION

IF THE AFRICAN POPULATION in general is the victim of
oppression under the apartheid system, the lot of Black women in
South Africa is doubly unenviable, for they are the victims of
discrimination both as Black and as women. Paradoxically, it is
because of this double discrimination that their specific problems
have too often not been accorded sufficient attention in the past.
Since they are women, many of their disabilities are not specific
to African women but apply to women in general; since they are
Africans, many of their problems are not confined to women but
are part of the overall discrimination to which Africans are
subject.

In racist South Africa no one feels the pains of the migratory labor
laws more than the Black woman, who is left alone to till the land,

build the home, educate and bring up the children-single-handed, .

while the father goes to the mines, to the urban areas in search of
food and the means to run his home, which he visits at intervals
when his contract expires. The government does not allow the
wives and children of the contract workers to accompany them to
the areas of employment since this would favor the permanent
settlement of such workers in these areas.

, ate es ¥
EDUCATION FOR A BLACK CHILD is not compulsory.
Even elementary education is not subsidized. A mother may
‘have 10 children, whom she maintains with money earned from
domestic work for whites. If she is in full domestic employment
she is required to look after the white children, while her own
children are left to fend for themselves at a dangerous and tender
age. She is lucky if she is able to spend weekends with them. She
will never know whether they play truant or not, whether they are
part members of the ‘‘twilight family’’, the Black children who
roam the streets hanging around cinemas begging for handouts
from the white ‘‘masters’’ or the fur-coated ‘‘madams’’ who
‘impress their rich boyfriends by throwing cents to these children
with tattered clothes... A '
Then there is the-educated black women. The only difference
between her and the domestic worker is that she has a number of"
certificates, and probably sits behind.a desk at work, earns half
the pay of her white counterpart who may be academically her
junior. She is regarded as a perpetual threat, since the employer
can simply replace the white worker with three Black ones forthe
same salary, resulting in more production and cheap labor.

* x *

THESE ARE THE WOMEN of South Africa who have seen
their husbands whisked away at dead of night. In some cases they _
have been widowed without knowing it, or if they have heard,
they keep hoping that the press reports were a mistake.
Black women in South Africa have been forced to embark on a
struggle that takes them beyond their own specific oppression.
Their struggle for recognition as equal citizens with equal oppor-
tunities is primarily the struggle against apartheid. August 9, 1956
stands out as one of the proudest dates for the women of South

- Africa. Organized by the Federation of South African Women, it

was on this day that more than 20,000 women of all races from all ~

over the republic-gathered at the seat of government at the Union

Buildings in Pretoria to demand the withdrawal of passes for

women and for the repeal of the pass law.

One of their slogans ‘‘Strijdom you have struck a rock, you have

touched the women!’’ The women of South Africa have a song

for their:'day which includes this verse.

Remember all our women in the jails.

Remember all our women in.campaigns.

Remember all our women over the fighting years.

Remember allour women for their Triumphs, and for their Tears.

Nkosi Sikelil’ Free Africa. : ;
Abridged from Women of the Whole World

ie:

Forced to live in conditions such as these, it is no wonder that
the death rate of black South African children is amongst the

highest in the world. —

= =

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 3, 1976—Page 5

2a