EDITORIAL

No place for children

The House of Commons Special Task Force on Child Care spent over
a year and $1-million to consult with Canadians about our collective
vision for a country-wide child care strategy.

Almost 600 individuals, child care activists, women’s, labor, church,
farm and business groups met with the committee. An analysis of the
committee transcripts compiled by researcher Martha Friendly of the
Daycare Resource and Research Unit at the University of Toronto found
that Canadians in their overwhelming majority (76 per cent) wanted
public funding to go directly to providing child care services. Ignoring all
this, the committee recommended tax credits.

It was the opinion of 89 per cent of the respondents that quality child
care outside the home would be beneficial for children. But the committee

showed and obvious bias for stay-at-home mothers, even though 60 per |

cent of women with children under five are in the workforce.

Non-profit child care was the choice of 77 per cent of respondents (half
of those who supported public funds for profit care were commercial
operators). But the committee, ignoring its own research documenting
the low quality of commercial care, recommends both capital and operat-
ing grants for this sector.

An overwhelming 86.5 per cent of Canadians want a universally-
accessible child care system. But the committee comes in with a $700-
million tax credit scheme, which will not create one new day care space.

Ottawa again chose not to listen, leaving the day care movement to
once again — in its own words — “meet, recruit, lobby, push, hound
and badger.”

The findings of the Tory majority committee were completely consist-

ent with the government’s neo-conservative stance. Child care is a com-
modity to be purchased in the market place which, they argue, is
“stimulated” through tax cuts. But Canadians are obviously unwilling to
buy this “free enterprise” scenario around child care.
No one denies that a comprehensive, universal, child care system is
going to be an expensive proposition. Yet despite the Tories’ carefully-
nurtured right wing climate, there is a strong degree of unity among
Canadians in support of this demand.

The federal Conservatives should take note. The battle for adequate,
accessible and affordable child care could well become another important
mobilizing point in the fight against their neo-conservative agenda.

SOCRED —
‘CO-OPERATION:

D-CHKMAM EF

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The response of the B.C. Federation
of Labor to the assault on trade union
rights in the Socred’s new Industrial
Relations Reform Act won’t convince
this government or big business to back
up.

The program of action enunciated at
the emergency meeting of the federa-
tion’s executive council Monday had
four key components: a media campaign
to explain the impact of the legislation; a
round of public meetings with B.C. Fed
officers as speakers; a meeting with the
Business Council to make clear the
implications of business support for the
legislation; and the formation of an
officers’ committee to work out further
plans.

The program pales in comparison to
what was expected, especially after the
comments of Cliff Andstein and John
Shields to the overflow crowd at the
emergency Vancouver Labor Council
meeting Sunday evening. Andstein told
that meeting that the federation officers
had held three meetings to work out a
response, with different levels of action
according to the nature of the legislation.
Shields told the meeting that he had
alerted his union to be “ready for action
this week.”

But before releasing the program the
federation officers were determined to

have the meeting with Premier Vander
Zalm to formally ask him to not proceed

with second reading. “Whatever happens .

will be on his head,” said Andstein.
Vander Zalm’s answer was predictable,
but the lack of an immediate demonstra-
tive response from the labor movement
was not.

The prospect of an escalating action
program should not yet be ruled out,

Fred
Wilson

however. A committee of Ken Georgetti,
Cliff Andstein, Roy Gautier, John
Shields and Angela Schira have another
week to develop an on-going action pro-
gram. Even then it may not be too late to
stop the legislation, although the absence
of action this week may be fatal to any
real effort to stop Bill 19.

Certainly there are objective difficul-
ties before the leadership. They have not
prepared the membership for political
job action, and nothing short of that will

have any chance of forcing the govern-
ment to withdraw Bill 19.

In addition, the labor movement has
been compromised by the strategy that
the federation leadership developed in
extending the hand of co-operation to
the Socreds and business. Many left
trade unionists who criticized that
approach believe that the top leadership
were actually surprised by the legislation,

and in spite of what Andstein said, did
not have a response prepared. “We held
out our hand and they. cut it off,” said
Andstein Sunday. “And now you only
have one hand left,” was the obvious

reply.

Another complication is the percep- -

tion held by a considerable section of the
leadership that it is impossible to stop the
legislation and that attention must be
turned to dealing with the new Industrial
Relations Act and super-cop Ed Peck. A

Next week decisive in fight against Bill 19

boycott of the new Industrial Relations
Council is proposed as an initial step.
Harking back to the four year fight
against the Mediation Commission in
the late 60s is a part of this thinking.

The point is that Bill 19 can be
stopped, and the slogan “Stop the legis-
lation” should become “Change the leg-
islation” when and if it passes. Rather
than remembering the fight against the
Mediation Commission, it would be bet-
ter to remember that the one concrete
accomplishment of Operation Solidarity
was that it forced the Socreds to amend
Bill 3 before it became law.

The key today, as it was in 1983, is to
quickly put masses of people into action
in a way that the government cannot
ignore. That won’t be easy, given the lack
of preparation. But all the experiences of
1983 and since indicate that if the mem-
bership is given the facts, and if the lead-
ership puts faith in the membership, tens
of thousands will move into action.

The fact that 600 people turned out on
short notice to the VDLC meeting indi-
cates that there is a mood for action that
can be tapped.

Faced with the choice of the problems
of stopping Bill 19, or of trying to live
under it, there really is no choice.

Fred Wilson is chair of the labor commit-
tee, B.C. Communist Party

4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 8, 1987