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BRITISH COLUMBIA

Privatization conference |
sets tone for Op Sol AGM —

__ Whether privatizing government services
1S a “technique” or a “smokescreen” — or
Whether it is an end in itself by B.C.’s right
wing government — speakers and partici-
pants at a two-day Solidarity conference on
the subject were of one mind that the move
must be opposed.

Economists, trade unionists, social
workers, women’s representatives and sev-
eral others who spoke at the ‘‘Privatization:
the Community at Risk” conference May
3-4 cited either the profit-making aspect of
Privatization or the effects on workers and
recipients of the Socreds’ wholesale dispos-
ing of government and government-funded
S€TVices,

Collectively they covered ground ranging
from Privatizing health services, through
education to community services in order to
lay the groundwork for policy discussions at
the upcoming annual meeting of Operation
Soldiarity. tee!

_ Our goal is to bring together all those
diverse groups that make up Solidarity, to
discuss the problems of privatization and
Prepare a strategy — I think we had a very
g00d range of explanations of the problems
to come from this government,” said con-
ference chairman Larry Kuehn.

Kuehn, retiring president of the B.C.
Teachers Federation, said policy on privati-
zation would be “part of the process” in
building a fightback at the Operation Solid-
arity meeting, set for June 18-19.

The conference, sponsored by Operation
Solidarity, Solidarity Coalition and Capi-
lano College’s Labor Studies Program, did
not examine government sell-outs such as

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the Pacific Coach Lines affair. It did discuss
the ramifications of privatization — user
fees, reduced services, erosion of trade
unions — in the fields of education, the
municipalities, health and welfare services.

A panel discussion on ““The Community
at Risk,” brought out the fact that the
Socreds, in the process of chopping services
and grants for such institutions as Van-
couver’s Transition House, are counting on
charities and volunteer services such as
those run by religious organizations to pick
up the slack.

Such a concept must be resisted by
churches and their charity services, warned
Aziz Khaki, a Solidarity leader and repre-
sentative of the Committee for Racial Jus-
tice and the Interfaith Association.

“Tf the spirit of votunteerism does not
help to build a just society, then there is
some problem with the concept of volun-
teerism,” he asserted.

David Donaldson of the B.C. Economic
Policy Institute listed several recent Socred
privatization moves in the fields of com-
munity and health services, which he said
were “motivated by wage cutting and
union-bashing”’.

_The government defends privatization on

’ the grounds of economizing and increased

efficiency, said Donaldson. But if workers’
wages are lowered while they work the same
hours, no efficiency is gained, he said.

And, if a private firm takes over, it must
be monitored by government employees,
meaning additional costs are incurred,
Donaldson pointed out.

“These cuts are a direct attack on women
and our self-determination,” said Frances
Wasserlein of Women Against the Budget,
noting the financial cutbacks to and transfer
to the private sector of services for women:

Wasserlein pointed out that in the field of
education, several courses have in effect
been “privatized” through the transfer of
secretarial and other trades to private
colleges. ;

On the theme of volunteerism, seniors
activist Josephine Arland noted senior citi-
zens are sometimes asked to perform tasks
when unionized community service staff are
striking or laid off.

Arguing for a program of education to
show the link between wages and pension
payments, she received applause when she
noted, “what this government is trying to do
is turn the old against the young, and we’ve
got to unite together and fight that.”

While conference panelists and speakers
did not openly disagree with each other on

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the motivation behind privatization, some
differences appeared in the emphasis speak-
ers placed on the various aspects of the
privatizing syndrome.

For instance, Noel Shacter of the Hospi-
tal Employees Union, called the term a
“smokescreen,” suggesting the word “‘prof-
itization” was more appropriate.

Comparing figures from the U. S. and -

Canada, Shacter showed the panel, ““Con-
tracting Out: Hazardous Waste?’ that the
increasingly privatized hospital system in
the U.S. costs more while providing less
services at greater personal cost to users.

But Canada’s far more universalized
health care is also in jeopardy, Shacter
noted, citing large hikes in B.C. Medical
premiums and the introduction of user fees.

This themé was furthered by Randy
Sykes, senior research officer with the Can-
adian Union of Public Employees, who
warned of the incursion of large, U.S.-based
private hospital firms into Canada.

“There are plenty of corporations, both
in‘Canada and America, who can’t wait to
get into that market — they’re literally lick-
ing their lips over the profits they’ll make,”
said Sykes. He cited the case of the U.S.
corporation, American Medical Interna-
tional, successfully bidding for a manage-
ment contract at the troubled Hawkesbury
General Hospital near Ottawa following
the intervention of the Ontario government.

Dave Schreck, on the other hand, saw in
privatization a move towards undermining
“individual security.”

The member of the Pacific Group for
Policy Alternatives, in his keynote speech,
“Government for Sale: The Economics of
Privatization,’ called privatization the
“technique” for “personalizing” the cost of
services. ~~

Despite Socred rhetoric about handing
the reins to the private sector, taxpayers
continue to fund costly government mega-
projects, which “puts the lie to the simplified
public-sector, private-sector” argument,

said Schreck.

Whatever the opinion on privatization,
several delegates were adamant that a
renewed effort by Solidarity was necessary
to counter the latest Socred offensive.

“We need action again,” said delegate
John Shields in calling for a new fightback
by Solidarity. :

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 9, 1984 e 11