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Canada-U.S. wage figures are
not exactly what they appear

By ALYS RICHARDS

In his pamphlet, ‘‘Control
Profits — Not Wages”, William
Kashtan briefly deals with the
Controversy surrounding the
Claim that ‘‘wages of Canadian
Workers are ahead of workers in
the USA (and) that productivity is
lower in Canada than in the USA
-... He very handily exposes
the bankruptcy of such a position;
and some arguments by the Al-
berta Federation of Labor, may

.Instructive in furthering that
€xposure.

In the first three months of

5, Wage settlements in the
United States averaged 712%. In
Canada they averaged 16%.
Standing alone, these figures are
Misleading. They do not include
the fact that in the United States,
Most new contracts also include a
COLA clause. This clause gives

It is difficult to imagine a more

divisive issue than the constitu-

tional amendments now being
Considered for introduction to the
eleventh constitutional conven-
tion of the Canadian Labor Con-
&ress to be held in Quebec City in
the month of May, 1976. These

_ amendments have to do with the

Structure and operation of future
Congress conventions.

The arguments for proposed
Changes in the operation and
Structure of conventions seek to
€stablish that grassroots rep-
resentation from local unions of
affiliates make the conventions
too large and unwieldy. That steps
need to be taken, therefore, to al-
ter the basis of delegate represen-
tation from that based upon local
Unions electing delegates, to a sys-
tem where delegates are selected
Or appointed from above and
based upon the total membership
of an affiliate.

At first sight one may conclude
that, since many local unions find
Ittoo expensive to send delegates
Or for other and varied reasons do
Not now bother to participate in

LC Conventions, selecting de-
legates on the basis of total mem-

ership will be more representa-

tive and, therefore, a better way .

Of doing it.

Indeed, this is one of the fun-

ental arguments advanced by

those who pay lip-service to the
democratic character of CLC
Conventions and structure as pre-
Sently constituted. Their argu-
Ment is that the present grassroots
Structure promises more democ-
Tacy than it can ‘‘possibly de-
as one labor journalist
has placed it.

Bureaucratic Centralization

But the basic question, whether
to expand or restrict democracy,
18 as. vital for the trade union
Movement itself as it is in society
at large, ifnot more so. The aim of

€ proposed constitutional
amendments is to cut the number
Of delegates to CLC conventions,

Make the conventions smaller
and “‘more manageable” through

the American worker, in addition
to the 742% increase, another
yearly pay hike based on any rises
in the cost of living. Using last
year’s figures, this amounts to
another. 10-12% wage increase,
raising the total increase to nearly
20%. In Canada, only 25% of or-
ganized workers have such a
clause. :
Also misleading is the fact that
in the United States, settlement
statistics are based on the average
wage whereas in Canada they are
based on the lowest wage. What
this means is that an identical
wage increase appears as a higher
percentage pay hike in Canada as
compared to the United States.
For example, a 50¢ per hour in-
crease will only be an 8% increase
on an average wage of, say, $6.00
per hour. While in Canada, the
same increase is heralded as a

10% -climb, based on the lowest
wage base of $5.00 per hour. This
results in Canadian statistics
looking higher but not actually be-
ing so in reality.

Another misleading statistic
shows that Canadian wages
moved ahead of those paid in the
United States. But American
hourly earnings are calculated for
an average of all production
workers, in that country. In

-Canada on the other hand, similar

statistics apply only to workers in
firms of 20 employees or more.
Since smaller. firms usually pay
lower wages, average hourly
earnings in Canada appear higher,
as these lower figures are not
taken into account.

Unfortunately, these are the
kinds of statistics that we hear
very little about in the bourgeois
press.

Basic question — expand

or restrict democracy?

bureaucratic centralization.
_. Ed Finn, writing in the Toronto
Star, as usual comes down on
both sides of the question.

**One of the few good aspects
of present representation is that it
ensures that some union dissi-
dents (sic) will get to the conven-
tion. All they have to do now is
win the support of their fellow
members at the local level. If the
selection were made arbitrarily by
the union brass, most such ‘troub-
lemakers’ would never be consi-
dered’’.

But Mr. Finn also writes:
‘From the standpoint of getting
conventions that are more man-
ageable and constnuctive, there is
little to quarrel with in the re-
commended changes. Most other
national labor centres, after all,
confine their delegates to full-time
union officers, denying the rank-

and-file members any participa--

tion. They also make decisions
through bloc voting, with the top
union officer casting the only bal-
lot on behalf of all his members.”
Set-Back for Autonomy

It should be mentioned that the
above matter was referred to the
CLC Executive Council by the
Committee on Constitution and
Structure at the 1974 Vancouver
convention. The Executive
Council has adopted the recom-
mendation contained in Resolu-
tion No. C65, sent in by Mr.
Finn’s own union, the CBRT &
GW, but never dealt with by the
Convention. .

The content of the CBRT &
GW resolution is to advocate
policies now in practice in the
U.S. and Great Britain.

If such methods were adopted
here, we would have the follow-
ing: ‘

(a) An end to election of dele-
gates from local unions, which
could freeze out rank and file
working delegates from mines,
mills, factories, offices and other
places of work; E

(b) The substitution of selected
and/or appointed: delegates, with
the likelihood that officials

employed full time by organiza-
tions affiliated would take prece-
dence over rank and file mem-
bers;

(c) a set-back for Canadian au-
tonomy and strengthening of the
hand of affiliated international
unions and of their officers in
CLC affairs;

(d) censorship of resolutions
going through union head-
quarters and a lessening of mem-
bership input into the process of
determination of union policies;

(e) it could even mean the in-
troduction of a bloc voting system
at some future date, if not now.

Disastrous Course
It is inconceivable that the
Canadian Labor Congress will
embark on such a disastrous

course, precisely at a time when

the government, too, seeks grea-
ter regulation over the trade union
movement, wage control as a
permanent policy of shackling
labor and its fundamental rights to
collective bargaining and to
strike. :

To defeat the monopoly attack
on labor requires mobilization of
the rank and file of labor ona scale
hitherto undreamed of.

Anything that serves to de-
mobilize the rank and file mem-
bership of labor unions will serve
as a stab in the back of the work-
ing people, making the fight-back
against the anti-labor monopoly
offensive that much more
difficult.

The smuggling in of constitu-

tional amendments to fundamen-
tally alter the character of the
democratic structure of the CLC
in the guise of simply measures to
facilitate Convention operations
makes no sense at all. It is an in-
sult to the intelligence of union
members.

This issue should be dropped.
The consideration of such fun-

damental constitutional changes

requires time and consideration
that cannot be adequately de-
bated and resolved'at this 1976
CLC Convention.

WORKERS PROTEST
SECOND OLYMPIC

FATALITY

MONTREAL — About 500 con-
struction workers in the Olympic
Games project walked off the job
March 9 to protest the laxity of
safety precautions on the site which
the unions say led to the deaths of
four workers on March 8, when a
concrete beam fell 150 feet from
the roof of the stadium.

Union officials blamed the long
overtime hours and the pressure
put on the men to finish the project
by the completion deadline as con-
tributing factors to the fatalities.

This incident was the second
fatal one since last August when
one worker was killed and four in-
jured by another falling beam.

=

METRO TEACHERS
HEAR JUDGE’S

DECISION

TORONTO — Metro’s 8,800
secondary school teachers got the
shaft March 4 when provincial ar-
bitrator Mr. Justice Charles Dub-
bin upheld the last offer made to
the teachers by the Metro School
Board prior to the 38-day strike
which was ended by provincial
government back-to-work legisla-
tion Jan. 16.

The teachers were given 39.2%
over two years after asking for an
average 38% over one year, a full
cost-of-living allowance and a
$720 lump sum payment to make
up for the cost-of-living lost in the
last agreement. ;

Teachers greeted the decision
with anger and disappointment.

UE HOLDS CLC
POSITION ON
WESTINGHOUSE

TALKS

HAMILTON — With the pre-
sent agreement expiring April 23
between the United Electrical
Workers (UE), and Westinghouse
Canada Ltd., UE Local 504 has
made it clear to the company that it
is following the position of the
Canadian Labor Congress that the
(AIB) wage-cutting guidelines
should be ignored and that bar-
gaining should go on as usual.

The union submitted its de-
mands to the company Jan. 26 and
UE president John Ball has said
that so far néthing has come out of
the two meetings held between the
union and the company.

Company spokesmen have al-
ready indicated their intention to
offer only 4 to 6% to the union.

LABOR ™ BRIEF

500,000 MORE
WORKERS

IN AIB TRAP

OTTAWA — The insidious
web of the federal government’s
wage-cutting ‘‘anti-inflation”’
legislation has been spread to
cover 500,000 more workers, Fi-
nance Minister Donald Mac-
donald announced March 7.

The wage-cutting program now
extends beyond the original
10,000 companies to cover 51,000,
including the construction,
grain-handling, longshoring and
most of the shipping industries re-
troactively to Dec. 16/75.

CPU APPEALS
TANSLEY RULING

TO CABINET

OTTAWA — The Canadian
Paperworkers Union placed its
appeal of AIB administrator
Donald Tansley’s decision to up- .
hold the AIB’s wage roll-back at
Irving Puip and Paper Co. before
the cabinet March 9.

The union is arguing that
Tansley’s decision should be set
aside on the grounds that the origi-
nal settlement of 23.8% in the first
year of a two-year deal is justified
because of the direct relationship
between the wages in the pulp and
paper industry and the woodlands
in Ontario.

Tansley ruled that the wage
figure be rolled back to 14% and
fined the company $125,000 for fai-
lure to comply with the AIB deci-
sion.

IBEW IS FINED
$15,000 IN
NEW BRUNSWICK

SAINT JOHN N.B. — Local 1733
of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers was fined
$15,000, March 8, for contempt of
court when its members refused to
obey an injunction ordering them
back to work.

The 1,000 unionists, employed by
the New Brunswick Electric Power
Commission walked out Feb. 29 to
protest a fellow employee’s suspen-
sion for violating a company rule
ee the workers regarded as un-
safe.

SASK. PLAYS ALONG

WITH AIB

REGINA — The Finance Minis-
ter of Saskatchewan’s NDP goy-
ernment said March 5 that the fed-
eral government’s wage control
guidelines will be applied to the
province’s public employees.

Finance Minister Walter
Smishek said that Saskatchewan
felt obliged to join the federal
“anti-inflation’”? program even
though it dislikes many of its provi-
sions.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 19, 1976—Pagé 5

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