are

Back telephone workers’ struggle

£500 in ‘March of Concern’

SYDNEY, N.S. — It was a
United front of unions: who
Considered the possibility of
_4 general strike, and warned
Provincial authorities against
any drastic action in the
Strike against Maritime Tel
and Tel.

Along with representatives
of striking Local 1030, Bro-
therhood of Electrical Work-
ers, and Steel Local 1064,
Were reps from Canadian
Union of Public Employees
(CUPE), Canadian Brother-
hood of Railway Transport
and General Workers (CBRT
& GW), Canadian Food and
Allied Workers, Cape Breton

r Council, and the Nova
Scotia Federation of Labor.

OTTAWA — Canadian Labor
Congress president Joe Morris in
@ recent statement blasted the
ederal government for its propa-
Sanda campaign making the la-

or movement the villain in Can-
4da’s worsening economic situa-
tion.
Nobeaking to a meeting of the

va Scotia Federation of Labor
4st week, he described Industry,
renee and Commerce Minister
lastair Gillespie’s charges that
ne wage demands were driv-
Ng Canadian exports out of the
ad markets as “part of an old

Tain which has been going on
or years.”
tn Orris centred out mismanage-
ae of both fiscal and mone-
; TY policies by the federal gov-

ment as the policies which -

“largely responsible for the
Mestic causes of inflation.”
Ice and profit gouging by
business and the effects
‘ the international recession
€te the two main causes of in-
ation in Canada, Morris said.
Dri € have no influence on
a They are set by business
is Ich has decided to get all the
arket can bear.”
S an example of government
Plitude in handling the coun-

big

ihe

Their statement said:.

“It is with serious and de-
liberate consideration ‘that
this request is made, because
today Cape Breton labor was
forcefully and effectively kick-
ed and walked on by scabs
escorted through picket lines
because the law is designed
to defend corporate power
and not the workers.”

By GEORGE MacEACHERN

SYDNEY, N.S. — The massed
pickets in front of Maritime Tel

‘& Tel offices here cheered and

waved each time a police cruiser

passed. The cops waved back.
The pickets were massed, up

to a hundred strong, in violation

of a court injunction that limited
the union to three pickets per
entrance.

The office was full of scabs,

some local and some from Hali-
fax, all “wearing” the white hats
of the supervisory staff. Work
was progressing as usual. Man-
agement had had years of ‘‘har-
monious relations” and took full

advantage of the peaceful period.

to build up a huge strike-break-
ing force.

The strikers could see a
winter of picketing if the scabs
couldn’t be prevented from doing
their jobs. Already three of the
pickets had been beaten up. A

“march of concern” to test the

strength of their support was
held on Saturday, Sept. 6 and

ead blasts Ottawa on inflation o

CLC president Joe Morris.

try’s economic problems Morris

- pointed to the federal govern-

ment’s recently announced in-
creased in interest rates.

Morris told the Nova Scotia
trade unionists that these in-
creases would stimulate further
price increases and slow job
creation through the depressing
effect it would have on the hous-
ing industry.

Referring to housing, Morris
said that because of the state of
world economy, housing could

offer the best way for Canada
to stimulate its economy intern-
ally. He suggested the govern-
ment should implement some
form of mortgage rate subsidy.

Merris’ predictions for the im-
mediate future for the economy
were not optimistic.

“Economic prospects for Can-
ada in 1976 are not bright. The
twin evils of unemployment and
inflation will, in the absence of
economic leadership, continue to
harass us.” ‘

He predicted that unemploy-
ment and inflation would be up
around 8% next year and went
on to say that “the harsh reality
is that the economic situation of
this country is the worst which

we have seen since the grim de-:

pression years of the 1930s.”

He accused the government of
pursuing a “cold, calculated po-
litical doctrine” of curbing infla-
tion by increasing unemploy-
ment. According. to the govern-
ment’s theory, Morris said, that
the government would take mea-
sures to keep the supply of labor
high in relation to the demand
of the employers, thus driving
the cost of labor down and at the
same time cutting down the cost
of production, -

Management personnel cross
Scotia at the struck Maritime Tel

was participated in by at least
1,500.

Realizing that they would
never be in a better position the
strikers decided on a mass pick-
et — keep the scabs out at all
costs.

News of Mobilization

Monday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. the
mass picketing began. Before
long the strikers in New Glas-
gow picketed their place of work
en masse. This too in violation
of the injunction. :

Soon long distance service in
Cape Breton and northern Nova
Scotia was disrupted. Manage-
ment demanded that the injunc-
tion be enforced. ;

The mayor and chief of police
of Sydney called in all off-duty
policemen and there was even
serious talk of mobilizing the
newly formed (and ‘controver-
sial) tactical squad.

The news of this mobilization
was passed on to local labor
leaders by members of the Syd-
ney Police Union and counter-
action was begun.

Gordon Kiley, president of

Local 1064, left his local meet-.
-ing and visited the city police

station where he informed May-
or Tubrett that any attack on
the pickets would be considered
an attack on the steelworkers,
who would be quick to respond.

The Sydney Police Union met
and unanimously adopted a mo-
tion refusing to be used as strike
breakers.

Consider General Strike

Attorney General Sullivan
raged against “anarchy” and
threatened to send in _ the
RCMP.

This was countered by a meet-
ing of union staff men and local
leaders calling on the Nova
Scotia Federation of Labor to
declare a general strike.

the picketline in Syndey, Nova

and Tel.

The “preponderance” of su-

pervisory staff employed by
Maritime Tel & Tel has become
an issue before the Public Utili-
ties Board which is considering

a request from the Corporation

for a raise in rates.

Meetings between civic offi-
cials, police, strikers and other
union leaders resulted in both
parties going back to the bar-
gaining table, during which time
the number of pickets would be
in accordance with the limit set
by the injunction.

On Sept. 13 a march of con-
cern was held in New Glasgow.
At the current Nova Scotia
Federation of Labor’s annual
convention in Halifax, the strike
of Local 1030 will be the focal
point of union interest, as it will
be here, until a satisfactory
agreement is reached.

Soviet unions
back Portugal

MOSCOW — The Central
Council of Soviet Trade Unions
expressed fraternal solidarity
with the struggle of the Portu-
guese working people. The Sov-
iet trade unions declared their
full support for Intersindical in
its struggle against fascism and
reaction for the rights of Portu-
gal’s working people.

In Canada, the urgency for a
united Hands Off Portugal move-
ment, places responsibility on
this country’s trade union leader-
ship, churches, political parties
of the working people, demo-
cratic organizations of the Cana-
dian people, to express solidar-

_ity with the democratic people of
Portugal, and condemnation of
the attempts to restore fascism.

Inflation—a form of wage-cutting

- Chieg

ie Teader asks: “Is it true that wage
€s are the cause of inflation?”
Short answer to this is: No. The
Cause of inflation in our times is
Dra Militarization of the economy of
bly all developed: capitalist
Ntries, i.e. imperialist ‘countries
ae €conomic policies dominate the
Tnfl Capitalist system.
ao, tion, running at approximately
chro annually in Canada, has become
Nic in the capitalist countries. It is
Natio as a method of redistributing the
terest income in the monopolies’ in-
Cutt; S. It'is actually a form of wage-
ing. Inflation leads to price increases
tice ‘Sag the cost of living. In prac-
Of th ‘IS. an extra tax on all sections
las 1, Working people. Rises in wages
Teal hind the rises in prices, so the
tends come of the working people
Work to drop. This means that the
« 1S and other people’s share in
the national income decreases, while
Ret Capitalists’ share grows. The rich
"cher and the poor get poorer.

thei. alist governments draw up
bat» WN particular programs to “com-

Inflation in favor of the mono-

Marxism-Leninism and today's world

polies. Wage restraint either by edict
or practice, higher taxes on the work-
ing people and middle income groups,
“tight money” directed against small
and medium industrialists, cut-backs in
budgets for social, educational and rec-
reational purposes are all typical of
various so-called capitalist anti-infla-
tion measures.

And while capitalist governments
talk incessantly about the need to over-

come inflation, they carry on with the |
arms race which intensifies inflation.

The militarization of the economy,
which is a built in feature of state-
monopoly capitalism, does for a short
time increase the demand for equip-
ment and consumer goods. But it can-
not, in the long run, ensure a steady
growth of production, for the follow-
ing reasons. The arms manufacturers
sell their products to the state at their
own fixed prices which ensure to the
monopolies super-profits, i.e., profits in

addition to the rate of profit consider-
ed normal in business circles. The
state obtains funds for its arms pro-

gram by imposing higher taxes on the’

people, or, by issuing more paper
money, which leads to inflation.

In other words, the state transfers
value from the civilian consumption
sector to the war economy sector. This,
naturally, does not increase the effec-
tive consumer demand for any length
of time. And, in the long run, the mili-
tarization of the economy lowers the
effective demand for civilian produc-
tion which leads to a sharp decline in
the growth rate. This results in a no-
growth production situation along with
inflation, high unemployment along
with a high inflation rate, such as is
the case in Canada at this time.

Arms and war materials are products
designed not for consumption but for
destruction. So they are periodically
scrapped and replaced by more modern
hardware. The arms race puts a heavy
burden on the working people and on

the entire economy of the capitalist
countries, because it wastes enormous

‘material wealth and skilled labor.

All of the foregoing finds expression
in an enormous increase in the state
debt, the drop in the purchasing power
of the dollar, the constant fluctuation
of currency rates, and balance of pay-

ments deficits.
& * *

Compare this with the situation in
the socialist countries. There, there is
no inflation. True, some of the effects
of the capitalist-wide inflation are felt
in the socialist countries as a result
of their purchases (at inflated prices)
from capitalist countries. But, there the
state absorbs these increased costs and

_ does not pass them on to the people

through higher prices. There are no
currency fluctuations in the socialist
countries. The rouble is the world’s
soundest currency. Prices are stable in
the socialist countries and real wages
increase every year. Social and cultural
programs steadily expand. And there is
no unemployment. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 26, 1975—Page 9