CANADA Special to the Tribune MONTREAL — Delegates to the annual Quebec Federation of r Convention, which opened - 12, voted to launch a mas- ‘Sive campaign throughout Quebec demanding shorter work- Ing hours. With full employment the theme of this year’s convention, the call for the QFL to launch Such a campaign among its 320,000 members was an attempt to tackle the unemployment crisis Tavaging Canada and hitting Quebec particularly hard. The resolution also called on QFL affiliates to oppose overtime Work, but failed to link the de- Mand for shorter hours with that of maintaining existing wage levels. This reflected the federa- tion leadership’s steady move away from its traditionally mili- tant style to the current ‘‘social ‘Partnership’ approach reflected i the so-called Solidarity Fund. While the campaign will stress the need to meet unemployment With a work week reduced froin 40 and in some cases 44 hours, the Tesolution left it open to the af- filiated unions to link the demand for shorter hours with mainte- nance of wages. Again this reflected the pres- Sure from the: grass roots for _ fundamental answers to the crisis gripping .workers’ lives and the QFL leadership’s failure to come Up with bold, militant strategies that challenge the roots of the crisis — monopoly control. _ This conflict between the Members and the leadership was obviously throughout the conven- tion but was particularly evident during the three-hour debate on __ the federation’s Solidarity Fund. the federation in the wake of the public sector strike last January. QFL affiliates contribute a Monthly per capita to a special _ fund that is to be used to help keep _ ailing companies from collapsing and supposedly save jobs. Special legislation was passed in the Na- tional Assembly making the fund Possible. — Critics oppose the use of work- This scheme was introduced by . PQ support, ‘Solidarity Fund’ _ debate rocks Quebec labor ers’ money to bail out floundering companies, particularly when the workers don’t even get any equity ownership in return for their “investment.” Delegates were evenly split during the debate. Supporters ar- gued that the plan was a way, however feeble, of trying to save : jobs that would be lost when companies collapse. Opponents to the fund ham- mered the proposal as a time- worn employer-inspired “‘share the poverty’’ scam. These dele- gates urged the federation to focus ‘on nationalization as the workers’ answer for job creation. Many delegates noted how the fund was a sharp departure from the federation’s militant fightback traditions, and they said workers ought to reject any notion that they are in any way responsible for the crisis. One Pratt and Whitney worker pointed out that the fund would be _of no use to his members or any others working for transnational corporations whose decisions are made abroad. The convention voted to en- dorse the fund but almost one- third of the delegates voted in op- position. Another heated debate took place over whether the QFL should continue giving electoral support to the Parti Quebecois. The PQ’s treatment of the labor movement during the public sec- tor strike and subsequent anti- labor policies have produced a re- sentment throughout the entire Quebec trade union movement that found its reflection in at least three convention resolutions opposing the QFL support for the PQ. The convention agreed that the question of the federation’s poli- tical support at elections would be determined at a special QFL convention just prior to the next provincial vote, whenever it is called. A resolution on peace, tracking the labor movement’s commit- ment to pressing Ottawa to op- - pose the Cruise, annul the testing agreement and declare Canada a nuclear weapons-free zone never reached the convention floor, though it is expected that it will be endorsed at the QFL’s next gen- eral council meeting. Refuse the Cruise if peace you love ‘cause there’s nowhere to hide , when shove comes to Push. — STRATFORD — In an historic __ breakthrough, auto workers at an _ American Motors Corp., trim _ Plant last week signed a three- _ Year contract that has the com- _Pany agreeing to help fund day Care for the workers’ children. Under the pact, AMC will con- tribute two cents per member for _ €very hour worked in the plant Into a day care fund. Ninety per cent of the 1,400 __ Stratford AMC workers are wo- _ Men. The UAW says acommittee will be struck for a year-long Study of how to set the program - Up. UAW administrative assis- tant to the Canadian director, _ 8uzz Hargrove, who helped _ Regotiate the contract, said the _ 10cal day care committee will be - 80ing to all levels of government for funding and the UAW hopes _ 80vernments will cover the short fall between the company’s con- tribution and the total program costs. Hargrove added that the VAW breakthrough will open the way for other unions in both the public and private sectors to make the same gains. The AMC contract marks the first time a union has been able to get a company to finance a child care program for the workers in the terms of the collective agree- ment. Union day care clause a first — The UAW victory reflects the growing influence of women in the trade union movement and their increased participation in the work force. It also reflects the growing recognition among workers in general that corporate profits can and must be made to — serve social needs like child care. In the 10-year period prior to 1981 statistics Canada shows women’s participation in the work force rose from 2.9 to 4.8 million. CUPW showed 10 cent mail passed OTTAWA — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, in a test carried out in Novem letters it posted with 1 ber last week showed that 98 percent of some 50 0 cent stamps got through the postal service because, CUPW charges, management doesn’t assign enough workers to catch the undervalued postage. CUPW has been conducting a vigor- ous campaign over the pas cuts in service to the publ t two months to warn the public of massive ic being planned by Canada Post, while corporate customers get preferential treatment. UNE} The pleas of the pcor, the jobless, and taxpayers fell on deaf ears, Dec. 13 as the well-healed Tory and Liberal politicians who make up the Toronto Transit Commission said no to the requests for half fares for the unemployed and people on social assistance. * *« * ‘‘They did it to us again’’, said Bill Devine, of the Committee of Progressive Electors, (COPE), after the commissioners unani- mously voted in a five per cent fare hike. COPE in its brief to the TTC noted that fares have risen by 112.5 per cent, (40 cents to 85 cents) between 1976 and 1983. Devine had been part of another deputation to the commission opposing last year’s fare hike and met with the same stone wall of privileged refusal. _ Kirk Roberts of the Toronto Union of Unemployed Workers, a young man in his 20s, literally personifying today’s jobless — the vast majority under the age of 30 — failed to dent the commis- sioners’ smugness with his graphic description of the reality of being out of work. é The average unemployed worker, he said, is left with about $100 a month for essentials like food, clothing, and transporta- tion, after housing has been paid for. ‘‘ Yet you want us to pay $36 of that $100 to go out looking for work, for access to what’s supposed to be a public transit system’’, he told the commissioners. The unemployed, he said, also are demanding transit fares be cut in half for the jobless, welfare recipients and people taking full time job training courses. Like COPE, which endorsed the TUUW’s appeal, the unemployed backed the COPE brief and added their voice to the demand that fares not be increased. In a remark pointed at Metro Council chairman Paul Godfrey but applicable to all of the TTC commissioners Roberts ques- — tioned the board members’ priorities. ‘‘Before we need a dome stadium in this town we have to look at the fact there are more than 250,000 unemployed in Metro Toronto and tens of thousands of people living under the poverty line who can’t even afford to get around their own city because of exorbitant transit rates’’, Roberts said. Godfrey has been a vocal booster of a dome stadium for Toronto. * * * Devine, who had to put up a stubborn fight to be allowed to even read his brief to the commission, placed the reduced fare for the poor and the jobless in the context of an immediate measure toward the ultimate objective of acompletely free transit system. ‘“‘Transit serves a social need, therefore is a social respon- sibility’’, he told the TTC. A main function of the TTC is to move workers, shoppers and consumers to those who directly profit by them . .. Thus we propose a system whereby those who are the main beneficiaries bear a fair share of the cost and, since a social need and a social responsibility are involved, the cost of financing the TTC should be based on ability to pay. Rather than individuals bearing the full weight of financing the transit system, Devine proposed, “‘a levy on corporations and commercial establishments to reflect the benefits accruing to them from the TTC and the remainder of TTC costs to be financed by the more progressive tax base of senior government which can be based on the aforementioned ability to pay.”’ COPE reminded the TTC that the half fare proposal had al- ready been adopted by the Niagara and Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Transit Commissions. Devine said COPE would support the TTC pressuring pro- . Vincial and federal governments to cover Toronto’s transit costs. ‘After all it is senior governments’ policies that produced such widespread unemployment,”’ he said. . He called on the TTC to endorse the half fare proposal in principle and establish a citizens’ committee to help find answers to Toronto’s transit funding problem. * * * Following the TTC’s rebuff, and the commissioners’ detailed excuses for why they wouldn’t go to Queen’s Park to ask for more money for transit, why the fare hike wasn’t exorbitant and why, as Godfrey put it, the TTC was continuing with its policy of annual increases instead of gigantic hikes on a periodical basis, Devine accused the commission of forcing the poor and the jobless to subsidize the transit system. ‘Most fundamentally the TTC insists on approaching the in- creased fares issue within the framework of a status quo that ~ ‘favors corporations and the most wealthy of our society’’, he said. ‘‘Our suggestion to them is that they view things differently and take the position of placing working people ahead of the corporations and the wealthy. — Mike Phillips _ i er | PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 21, 1983—Page 9°