By MARION TAGGART HAMILTON — The Hamilton and District Labor Council be- lieves unanimously that the Ca- nadian Labour Congress should initiate action to keep the cur- Tent economic crisis from crush- ing the working people of Can- ada. In a resolution adopted at its Jan. 16 meeting, the Labor Coun- cil urged the CLC “‘to convene a nation-wide conference of lead- ing trade unionists, with guide- Hamilton, Oshawa, Malton LABOR FIGHTS BACK lines of launching a campaign to press the Trudeau Government to implement an effective anti- inflation program based on full employment; a tax policy to re- distribute the national income in favor of working people, in- stead of concessjons to the cor- porations; a price control board with powers to roll back unjusti- fied price increases and interest rates; a national housing pro- gram of publicly owned low-cost _housing as well as low-cost Nuns demonstrating against the Thieu regime in Saigon. Back-to-work law no credit to NDP Special to the Tribune REGINA — In an about face, the Blakeney New Democratic Government of Saskatchewan Passed Bill 28 to force striking Saskatchewan Power Workers back on the job. The only vote against the anti-labor legislation Was cast by John Richards, a Waffler who opénly broke with the NDP. after he was elected. The “present Saskatchewan NDP government received strong By WILLIAM STEWART Ontario Leader Communist Party of Canada _As preparations for the provin- Clal elections are being made, - Davis Government is desper- ately trying to improve its se- Verely damaged image. The latest support from labor in 1971, be- cause it publicly pledged to re- peal Bill 2—The Emergency Ser- vices Act — brought in by the Thatcher Liberal Government in the latter Sixties, which was used to prevent strikes in a num- ber of crown corporations, and to limit wage gains in the prov- ince to 5 or 6%. The new, so-called “one-shot” Continued on Page 10 cabinet shuffle is an attempt in this direction and will do abso- lutely nothing to help the people. The Davis Government re- mains firmly tied to its anti- people and anti-labor policies. It is not new faces that are needed, but new policies, and people loans; tough new anti-combines legislation and a tax on exces- sive profits.” The resolution, introduced by Nancy McDonald (CUPE Local 167), and which had the stated support of two leading members of Steel Local 1005; before be- ing unanimously accepted, close- ly resembled a resolution adopt- ed by the Winnipeg Labor Coun- cil at its final meeting of 1974. Urging adoption of the resolu- tions, Mrs. McDonald emphasiz- ed the need to “take inflation off the backs of the workers, be- cause that’s where governments are putting it.” She expressed concern over the decision of a Windsor local to supposedly “share the misery” by spreading unemployment around. “In my opinion,” she said, “this is shar- ing the poverty.” She said that ‘the trade union movement must give leadership in fighting monopoly,” wants us to bear the burden of which | the’ crisis it has created. “Every local across the coun- try should be putting this kind of resolution before its member- ship,” Mrs. McDonald said. e By RUSS RAK OSHAWA—Members of Local 222 United Auto Workers at a January 16 meeting of the Gene- ral Motors unit, overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling from a program to fight lay-offs. Continued on Page 10 Labor leaders look at inflation, unemployment TORONTO—The figures released by Statistics Canada last week told a grim story. For the month of December, the official jobless rate rose to 6.1%, the first increase in more than two years that surpassed the 6% mark. In the December-to-December rate, the cost of living rose to 12.4%, with food costs rising the fastest. The fig- ures which were labelled “substantial” by the government agency, could spell disaster for the Canadian working peo- _ eemerss Workers are becoming increasingly angry with the news of siil higher prices at the local supermarkets and the pink layoff slips they receive at the plant gates. committed to carrying them out. If one were to remark on the main change made, D’Arcy Mc- Keogh returned as finance min- ister, we would.see the complete insensitivity of Premier Davis to the feelings of the people of On- tario.° McKeogh was forced to resign two years ago as a result of a “conflict of interest” in which he made a personal profit, after a cabinet decision, a deci- sion which McKeogh was a party to. Pork barrel politics has been a feature of the present govern- ment, and the re-appointment of McKeogh can only mean that this is officially recognized and condoned. This should not go un- noticed by the public. ‘Parties of Monopoly The main beneficiaries of the anti-Davis feelings appear to be the Liberals, who, on the latest Opinion polls, got 41% ‘appro- val” as compared to. 33% for the . Tories and 26% for the New Democratic Party. The distinct possibility of defeating the Tory government in the next election is very real. Davis has lost all credibility with numer- ous important sections of so- ciety. Teachers, ~hospital work- Continued on Page 10 ple and those on fixed incomes. After the figures were released, the Tribune interviewed three leading trade unionists, Donald Montgomery, secre- tary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, David Archer, president of the Ontario Federation of Labor and C. S. Jackson, president of the United Electrical Workers Union, for their estimation of the situation and what should be done about it. Montgomery, commenting on the fig- uges, said: “The CLC sees the unemployment rate rising in the next 60-90 days. When you look at this level of unemployment and the two-digit inflation, things: look pretty grim indeed. Our concern, in this whole area of unemployment and inflation, is that the management people, the business community, have - just lost all confidence in them- selves and the system.” Classical Theory “We're in a very difficult situ- ation,” David Archer - said. “Prices continue to rise as well as unemployment. This, of course, is opposed to all classical theory which says that as unem- ployment rises, prices continue Continued on Page 10 12.4% Consumer prices for December were up 12.4°/, over the same month in 1973. For the year, the increases in prices were exceeded only by the in- creases in 1948, when price controls imposed after Second World War War were taken off and prices jumped. In December, food prices again led the in- dex over November with a 1.4%, increase, hous- ing was next with 0.8%), then clothing at 0.6%) and finally transporta- tion at 0.4%). In individual commo- dities, sugar increases were by the highest with a 25°, increase over the month before. — ‘The price of beef rose 4.2, last month after declining during the pre- vious three months. . PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1975—Page 5