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Communists challenge Trudeau

NICOSIA, Cyprus — A deleg-
ation of the Communist Party of
Greece (KKE), meeting with
leaders of the Progressive Party
Of Working People of Cyprus
(AKEL), has reiterated its sup-
Port for the “tremendous strug-
8leyof the Cypriot people for the
Withdrawal of the Turkish army
of occupation and of all foreign
Bees from the territory of Cyp-

us.” PS é
_ The Greek Communist delega-
tion, in Cyprus at the invitation
of AKEL, expressed its support
_ for efforts by AKEL aimed at
the return of refugees to their
homes, a search for and release
Of the missing, the demilitariza-
tion of Cyprus and a peaceful,
democratic solution” in Cyprus
On the basis of United Nations
Procedures and decisions. Along
With AKEL, the KKE delegation
€xpressed its stand for “an inde-
‘Pendent, sovereign, unaligned’
Cyprus” having territorial integ-
‘Nty,” in which Greeks and Turks
)Will live in harmony and peace.”
__ The visit was arranged by the
Central Committee of AKEL, re-
Presented by A. Fantis, Dinos
-\Onstantinou and G. Katsouridis.
he KKE was represented by
Harilaos Florakis, Nikos Kyria-
Kidis, and Dimitrias Katsanakos.
x a stay lasted from Sept. 1

\

By MIKE PHILLIPS
TORONTO — The organized
abor movement has given its

response to Prime Minister Tru- ‘

deau’s proposed “guide lines”
for wage controls and that re-
SPonse is “no way.” -
The sharpest rejection of the
S0vernment’s “guidelines” came
; from the president of the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine
“Orkers of America (UE), C. S.
Jackson who in a wire to Joe
Orris, president of the Cana-
dian Labor Congress (CLC) sup-
Ported the labor leader’s state-
ment Oct. 13 on national televi-
Sion that labor would not accept
i € so-called incomes policy an-
Ounced by the prime minister.
__In the message, Jackson term-
i the government proposals “a
Tude attack on all wage earners
le ich suspends effective col-
enve bargaining and freezes
“ ages and living standards while
Toviding loop-holes galore for

€ corporations to achieve their.

aximum profit.”
€rming the proposals “vicious
yee prop!
cans ation” the UE_ president
€d for “total mobilization to

‘
*

The CLC response on Oct. 14

enatacterized the proposed gov-

Ment program as “not the

“The two delegations agreed
to co-ordinate the activities of
the two parties on the Cyprus
question and especially the ef-
fort to promote the question on
an international basis until it
meets with a happy solution,”
the parties’ joint statement said.

Examining the identity of in-
terests they held on internatio-
nal problems, the delegations
jointly:

e expressed undivided solid-
arity with the Portuguese Com-
munist Party, the Armed Forces
Movement and other democratic
forces in Portugal in the strug-
gle for consolidation of demo-
cracy and socialist transforma-
tion of the country;

© supported the Arab struggle
and the right of the Palestinians
to form their own independent
state; they condemned the raid-
ing policy of the Israeli Zionists
and their contempt for United
Nations decisions;

e backed the. principle of
working - class. internationalism,
the world-wide unity of workers’
and Communist Parties, conven-
ing of an all-Europe Communist
conference, following the new
developments in Europe and the
world and criticized the policies
of the Chinese leadership, which
damage these possibilities.

type of mechanism required to
solve the problem” of the “‘infla-
tionary spiral to which ‘Cana-
dians have been subjected in the
past few years.”

CLC Criticism

The CLC aimed its criticism of
the government proposals at the
failure of the program to take
action “to provide a_ greater
share of the wealth to those now
on the lower rungs of the eco-
nomic ladder, on fixed incomes,
and those who have no organi-
zation to protect their rights in
the job situation. :

Absence of tax concessions
for those on fixed and low in-
comes, and rejection of the CLC
proposal for regulating income
tax were centered out as two of
the main weaknesses of the gov-
ernment document.

The failure of the prime min-
ister’s statement to mention any
measures to stem the lagging
housing supply also came under
fire from the labor body.

Government employees who
will be among the hardest hit by
the government’s proposals were
also sharp in their rejection of
wage controls.

Claude Edwards, president of
the 168,000-member Public Serv-
ice Alliance of Canada said that

oF

TORONTO — The wages and prices program outlined by Prime Minister Tru-
deau on October 13 has been condemned by the Communist Party of Canada as “a
bi-partisan declaration of war by the Liberal and Conservative Parties against liv-
ing standards and collective bargaining rights.”

In a statement issued the next day, the CPC outlined an economic policy to “ad-
vance the real interests of the country.”

In an interview with the Tribune, Communist Party leader William Kashtan
warned that “what this restraint program will not do is curb inflation. What it
won’t do is create employment... on

“Prime Minister Trudeau has undertaken Stanfield’s program — but it is a
program of monopoly,” Kashtan stated. He noted that “Trudeau cynically states

that the cause of inflation is that ‘Canadians are trying to take too much out of

the economy’ and ‘must live
within their means’.”

By blaming Canada’s people
for inflation and unemployment,
Trudeau “is trying to cover up
for monopoly which is the prime
source of inflation,” he said.

If the government really wants
to tackle inflation, Kashtan said,
it could do the following: (1) Pre-
vent price rises, (2) institute
price controls, (3) enact govern-
ment subsidies on foodstuffs
wherever essential, (4) prosecute
profiteers.

These four measures, he said,
would effectively tackle the in-
flationary price spiral and pro-
tect the living standards of the
working people.

If the government really wants
to solve unemployment it could:
(1) enact legislation to make the
30-hour week for 40 hours pay
compulsory throughout the
country, (2) undertake a vast
program of low-cost low rental
housing of 400,000 starts a year
for five years. “These two mea-
sures combined with extended
trade with the socialist countries
on a mutually satisfactory basis
would eliminate unemployment
overnight. This is the type of

“once again federal public serv-

ants will be the first ones to

shoulder the effects of wage and

price controls” and that they

should “question just how equi-

table these controls will be.”
On Brink of Settling

He expressed concern about
agreements which have been
reached which exceed the 10%
limit but which have not yet
been ratified. In addition he
pointed to the 60,000 members
who have been given notice to
bargain and who are under way
with negctiations. Many of them
are on the brink of settling and
some with increases in excess of
10% because they had fallen
back since the settlement of the
last contract.

Pointing to the Clerical and
Regulatory groups (CR), as an
example, who negotiated their
last contract in 1973 with in-
creases of 8.5% in 1974 and
7.5% in 1975, Edwards said “it
doesn’t take a mathematician to
understand that 10% will in no
way compensaté CR members
for their loss in purchasing pow-
er. Last year alone the rate of
inflation was 12.4%.”

Edwards went on to say that.
there were no guarantees that

-centrols would be imposed on all

‘be allowed

program the working people of
Canada need today.”
Kashtan charged that it is “a

terrible, a criminal act that the

government is perpetrating on
the people of Canada...”

‘He said that the Communist
Party is not against restraints.
“It is for restraints and curbs on
monopoly profits. It is for re-
straints and controls on rents,
on the banks and trust com-
panies, on those forces and fac-
tors in the Canadian economy
that are responsible for the pre-
sent situation.”

Emphasizing the serious view
the Communist Party takes of
the announced government pro-
gram, Kashtan said that, in fact,
although wage increases are al-
lowed to rise 10% with a'2%
productivity factor, with the in-
crease in the cost of living run-
ning at 11-12%, this is “a wage-
cutting proposition.”

Prices will be permitted to rise
only if costs increase, he noted.
“What will be the measurement

of costs?” he asked. “Who will

measure the costs?” He charged
that monopoly had already guar-
enteed itself maximum profits

sectors of the economy and
pointed out that there were no
controls on prices.

He went on, ”companies will

increases without
any maximum being imposed.
Why wasn’t a 10% ceiling ap-
plied to prices as well?”

“Dividends, profits, land sales,
professional fees and rents will
also have to be dealt with be-
fore this program of wage and
price controls can be considered
truly equitable.”

through “the spate of price in-
creases” it effected in expecta-
tion of the government move.

The Communist leader called

for ‘a common front of all trade ©

unions, with the aim of defeat-
ing this wage-cutting drive...”

‘He said that the “new situa-
tion the working class faces re-
quires new tactics, new strategy
and new policy — in the first
place a policy of united action
on the part of all sections of
the working people — the New
Democratic Party, the Commun-
ist Party, the trade unions.
Those who persist in raising the
artificial barriers of anti-com-
munism,” he warned, “are divid-
ing the working class when it
needs to unite itself as never be-

fore to face up to and defeat

this attack upon its standards
_and its rights.”
’ He. saw a special responsibi-
lity to the NDP, with members
in parliament, to speak against
and vote against such an anti-
labor plan.
“I welcome the proposal made
by the United Electrical Work-
ers, by Mr. Jackson, its presi-
dent,” Kashtan said, ‘in which
he called for an emergency
meeting of the Canadian Labor
Congress to discuss the emer-

gency situation. It would be no ©

service to the working people
of Canada,” he added, “if the

CLC, which adopted a nine- ©

point program to deal with in-

flaticn, were now to push it aside

and say that we can’t do any-
thing because this new Act is
now the law of the country.”

Kzshan said that “now is the ©

time for the left wing to unite
its efforts to ensure that the trade
union movement does not retreat
before this onslaught on_ its
rights and standards, but works
out an effective counter-pro-
gram, a genuine alternative to
the monopoly policies of the
government.”

Chilean patriots face

trial—protests urged _

Minister of Public Works and :

' The Chilean Communist Party
has sent an urgent request for
werld-wide pressure to stop the
junta trials of its General Secre-
tary, Luis Corvalan who, along
with cther patriots, is facing
courts-martial.

A partial list of those on trial
includes Corvalan, Anibal Palma,
former Minister of Education
and leader of the Radical Party;
Pedro Felipe Ramirez, former

leader of the Christian Left Par-
ty; Andres Sepulveda, a Socialist
deputy in the National Congress
and Sergio Vuskovitch, former
major of Valparaiso.

The Chilean Communist Party

letter asks for every form of —
protest — marches, demonstra--

tions, appeals to the UN general
secretary, etc., demanding the
Chilean junta release these poli-
tical prisoners.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 17, 1975—Page 5

_ WAGE FREEZE PLAN
ISWARON WORKERS |