LABOR FRONT/tiGw chain stores

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

One of the biggest challenges confronting the trade union
movement is the organization of the unorganized. This
problem ‘has been knocking at the door of the trade union
movement for quite some time but not all unions have given
it the attention it deserves, the assumption being that the job
has been completed in the main, particularly in the mass
production industries and what:remains is a number of small,
isolated pockets of company resistance which can easily be
tackled. ‘This fool’s paradise has been rudely dispelled by

events.

For one. thing, recent. figures. issued by..the Canadian
Labor Congress have made it fairly evident that the industrial
unions have far from completed the task of organizing the
unorganized. This still remains a major task and, although
it is made more difficult by anti-labor legislation and the
misuse of funds for raiding purposes, it is not an insurmount-
able task.

Secondly, it is worthy of note that the trade union move-
ment; which. to.some degree kept.pace with the growth of
the labor force, has over the past-year.or so shown signs of
decline. The figure released. recently of.a 12,000 drop from
the peak of 1960 may be small, but it is the first such decline
since 1945. It would be understandable were the labor force
likewise declining. But such is not the case. The labor force
‘eontinues to grow. Thus what we see is the beginning of a
dangerous trend toward a relative and .absolute decline in
union membership when all the conditions are here. for
continued expansion.

Thirdly, and of great consequence to the future of the
trade union movement, is the fact, as has already been
“pointed out in previous columns, that the composition of the |
© sworking class has changed along with changes in industry |
The number of production workers, the “blue-collar” work-
ers. has declined and will continue to do so as automation

ard technological changes eliminate production jobs. On the}.

othe hand, over the past period the number of white-collar
-avorkers as well as blue-collar workers has grown in the
“agerviee industries, wholesale and retail trade, as well.as

insurance, financial and. other such institutions, which -have}:

been expanding.

lt is in these areas that trade union organization is weak-

“est and in somé cases almost negligible.
e ¥

The problem of the organization of the unorganized is|-

thus more complex than was the case in the 1920’s and 1930’s

when the issue was the organization of the mass production | ;

industries into industrial unions. Yet now, as then, it remains
a matter of ‘life and.death. for the trade. union movement.
,ndeed, for-some unions it: eould mean the hae of their

~yery survival.

There are,-of course, considerable. difficulties in the way
of organizing the white collar workers but these are not
insurmountable. It was difficult to organize the mass pro.
duction workers and took years of effort and sacrifice tc
achieve. But it was achieved. Organization of the white
collar workers can likewise be achieved providing there is
the zeal, ardor and self-sacrifice that built the industrial
unions in the 1930’s. On the other hand, if instead of a united
effort there is squabbling over jurisdiction not much head-
way. can be anticipated.

In such a great undertaking what is a above all
else is coordination of effort and the concentration of all
forces of the trade union movement to ensure an importart
breakthrough on this front.

The conference called by the Canadian Labor Congress
for the early part of February to go into this question wil!
be watched with a great deal of interest. But whatever its
outcome the coming CLC convention ought not only to adopt

a Strong resolution calling. for the organization of the un-
organized, be they blue or white collar workers. It should
also indicate the steps that are needed to implement this
great objective.

A truly united trade union movement could do it; a
divided ‘one, beset -by jurisdictional squabbles and union,

cost

psesaainn will continue: to retreat.

TRADING STAMP GIMMICK:

rook the public

Ingenious are the devices
used by chain stores to tie the
customers to them. But the
of all: the gimmicks
comes out of the consumer’s
pocket.

The big expansion of food
chains “at the expense: of <in-
dependent’ stores. in the
1950’s came by means of so-

called “non-price promotional)

devices.” As the 1959 Report
of the Royal Commission on
Price Spreads of Food Pro-
ducts remarked:

“We believe there is reason
{o be concerned about the
continued increase in prices
to consumers.”

“As the price of the service
enters into the retail price of
the food material, the price
of food appears to have risen
and the cost of living has in-

BCE unions
denied rights

“Three unions representing
5000- employees of the gov
ernment-owned B.C. Electric
face loss of all collective bar-

gaining rights under a re-
cent: official interpretation of
the Act which put the utility
under public ownership.
The Act of the Legislature
expropriating the B.C. Elec-
tric states that other provin-
Gial- acts: are set aside: This
was interpreted by the Labor
Relations Board to include
the Labor Relations Act.

Marshal Malinovsky raps U.S.

MOSCOW: The Soviet
Union will not increase its
rocket forces or weapon
stockpiles any further. They
are sufficient to destroy any
potential aggressor, declared
Defence Minister Marshal
Malinovsky.

Replying to questions put
‘by a correspondent from
‘Pravda, the. Marshal ‘con-
-demned a recent speech “by
the U.S. Secretary of De-
‘fence Robert McNamara
which declared American

forces to be capable of <de-
stroying “selected targets” in
the Soviet Union.

That sort of boasting does
not help to improve Soviet-
U‘S. relations or to ease in-
ternational tension, said the
Marshal. It fans passions,
builds up war hysteria and
speeds up the arms race.

‘What “is needed today, he
went on, are ‘‘solutions which
lead to: peace, not war.” Ma-
linovsky said if the imperial-
ists really want to take the

ters Malinovsky

boasters: '

‘road to war they should first
of ‘all consider the ‘facts.

He added that. the socialist
camp..is now stronger and
that “we are able to wipe
from the face of the earth
by one,nuclear-rocket strike
any targets, all the industrial
and ..administrative . centres
of the U.S.”

Commenting on bomb shel-
said “such
shelters -are nothing but a

ready made coffin or grave.

creased.”

“In many of the briefs, the
Commission was presented
with the argument that, as
a result of certain promotion-
al techniques employed _by.
food merchandisers, the con-
sumer was finding it increas-
ingly difficult to exercise in-
formed choice.

“It would be interesting to
know how much time and
expense are involved in ad-
vertising by competing firms
... The ultimate misconcep-
tion to which people can be
led is that anything in» the

market is ‘free’.”

It generally conceded
that the cost of operating. a
trading stamp plan, design-
ed to tie customers toa
given chain, rums to about 2
per cent of sales.

How do the stores using
this trading stamp gimmick
cover the added cost?

In general, there are only
two. ways to do this. They
either raise their prices or
they cut on some service.
You can be sure they don’t
take it out of their profits.

A comparison of Loblaw

is

jl and’ Dominion’ Stofes finan-

cial. results opens “up some
interesting speculation on this
question. Sales of Loblaws
in the year ended June, 1961,
totalled- $471 millions, and
Dominion Stores sales in the
year ended March, 1961, were
$401 millions. Loblaw had

7 238 stores and Dominion 358,
| SO on the” ‘average | Loblaw

stores were substantially big-

.| ger than Dominion’s. Yet the

average number of employees
per store was about the same.

If we assume that prices
and wages are at about the
same level in both chains, we
could conclude from this com-
parison that Loblaw’s_ cus-
tomers are paying for the
trading stamp plan through
poorer store service than they
get at Dominion.

The latest gimmick to tie
customers to a particular
chain was described in the
Wall Street Journal of No-
vember 27, 1961. In the Pitts-
burgh area Thorofare . Mar-
kets and Philco Corp. have
launched their ‘Instant Div-
idend” plan. It works like
this. A customer selects a
major’ Philco appliance dis-
played in a Thorofare super-
market and contracts with
Philco to pay for it in 12 to
36. monthly instalments, usu-
ally of $10 each. A Philco
dealer delivers and_ installs
the appliance.

register tapes from regular
purchases at the supermar-
ket. The latter gives a ‘‘div-
idend” of 542% of the tape
total, up to a maximum of
$10 a month, towards the in-
stalment payments on the ap-
pliance. Suppose you wish to
acquire a hi-fi set selling for
a total of $300 (including fin-
ance charges). Then all you
have to do is purchase $182

worth of groceries a month

The customer saves . cash

for 30 months and Thorofare
Markets will cover the in- —
stalment payments for you
free. Or do they?

As long as customers are
“tied” to one supermarket;
the chances are. greatly. in-
creased of a little extra being -
added to prices. Officials of
supermarkets where this “‘in--
stant dividend” plan has been :
put into operation say that
it helps them to push up sales
of higher mark-up items. In
other words — watch out for
long-profit items being tout-

ed as “specials.”
Then, too, the appliance
manufacturer .and dealer

save -on selling and promo-
tional effort, so they can af-
ford to lower their price. The
Wall Street Journal article
describes how this angle is
worked in the Phileco-Thoro-
fare Markets. deal, in these
words:

“Philco and participating
firms. refuse to.-disclose. who
foots. the bill for the appli-
ance programs, but a super-
market official familiar with
the workings of the Philco
plan says the cost is split be-
tween the appliance’ maker
and the supermarket. on 2
sliding scale. Reportedly,..if a
customer spends $50 or: less
a month inthe: supermarket,
Philco agrees to. .pay -the full
5.5% credit; the _supermat+
ket pays nothing. If the .cus-

tomer’s monthly.-bill reaches

'$120°the market pays 3%" of
the credit: and. Philco >. 5%;

he adds.” (Wall Street Jour-

nal, Nov. 27/61, page 10). i‘

We don’t know anything
about the quality of. the. ap-
pliances: But we. do know
that consumers. always pay
for anything they get. No-

body in business, but nobody,

gives away anything for

nothing.

Weekly Radio
commentary by

. NIGEL MORGAN
Sponsored by the
. Communist
Party

7:25 p.m,
Every Sunday

cCKWX

1130. Kilocycles

February 2. 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2