Pec LMR meh ORES, ce Y iver’. 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. TWINK GF YoUR RESPONSIBILITIES-] AND YoU KNOW- WE MEN ARE + YOUR MASCULINE DIGNITY=: Grey Ub ee We SUPERIOR SEX/ TA) ¥) PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 19, 1976—Pagé 5 Pat > 3S