Washington rally demands: ‘End all aid to Thieu! ei WASHINGTON — Thousands of anti-war demonstrators on the Capitol steps, Jan. 28, cheered as Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) de- manded a total cut-off of the $1.6 billion requested. by Presi- dent Ford for Saigon dictator Thieu, and sharp cuts in the “en- emous $105 billion military sudget” the Pentagon is expect- ed to ask from Congress. “Our petition is for peace, our setition is for security for all people,” she told the throng of protesters from 38 states and the District of Columbia, partici- pants in the three-day “Assem- bly to Save the Paris Peace Agreements” on Vietnam. Nine Canadians, including re- aresentatives from the Commit- tee to Free South Vietnamese Political Prisoners and the Can- acian Peace Congress participat- ed as well as peace fighters from Sweden, the German Federal Re- public, Japan and Italy. The demonstration was held on the second anniversary of the signing of the agreement to pro- test a deliberate campaign by Ford and Thieu to sabotage the Paris agreement and deepen U.S. involvement. As Rep. Abzug addressed the crowd, banners and placards de- clared, “End All Aid to Thieu and Lon Nol,” “Spend on U.S. Economy, Not on Vietnam,” and “Thousands More Killed in Indo- china — Stop Funding the War.” Beyond Expectations The outpouring for this assem- bly, backed by a broad array of religious and anti-war groups, Speaking to the Canadian Club in Toronto on January 27, Finance Minister John Turner said the growth of Canadian output will “inevitably fall sig- nificantly below potential, pri- marily because of lagging export sales as a result of economic stagnation abroad and a slow- down in housing construction.” None of the reasons for the downturn mentioned by Mr. Turner to his audience of big executives, such as_ inflation with rising prices, recession with rising unemployment and both compounded by a rise in oil and fuel prices, has anything to do with labor. These evils are fostered by a scandalous policy of monopoly profiteering . aided and abetted in every way by capitalist governments. Yet Mr. Turner had the shameless audacity to declare that “the major driving force” (behind inflation) “is coming rising cost of living.” “What we are confronted by,” said Mr. Turner, “is a structural change in our economy . .. which compels us to absorb re- latively substantial increases in the price of food and energy. earmarked for purchase of these essentials. Ministers Talk “There is no way we can es- cape that burden” said the Min- BY BRUCE MAGNUSON ‘Thieu’s police attack Buddhist monks. - stunned the organizers. ‘ More than 3,000 jammed the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church last night to hear Sen. George McGovern (D-SD) and other speakers. ; Rep. Abzug accused the U.S. administration and Thieu of flouting the 1973 Agreements by providing more than $700-mil- ‘lion to Saigon and $300-million to the Lon Nol regime in Cam- bodia. “The $8-billion squander- ed by the U-S. in Indochina since the 1973 Agreements were sign- ed is enough to create one mil- lion public service jobs. “For the first time in U.S. his- tory, we have a non-elected ‘pre- sident and a non-elected vice president,” she said. “They have a very questionable mandate.” Wakes Curb monopoly profits! Not labor incomes! ister. “The danger is that in try- ing to do so by pushing for excessive increases in wages, salaries and other incomes’ we will only provoke a still more vicious inflationary spiral and undermine the prospects for future growth and prosperity. “This is even more likely to be the outcome if unrestrained pursuit of substantially increas- ed wages and salaries results in widespread industrial strife.” . According to Statistics Cana- da food prices in 1974 rose by 17.4%. Agriculture Minister Eu- “gene Whelan has now warned us that consumers can expect.a 15% increase in food costs this year. The major burden of this will fall on working people’s fami- lies. Yet Jean Chretien, treasury board president, interviewed for the CTV program Question Period, said civil servants’ sala- ries have — over the last six years — always been “far ahead of inflation.” Mr. Chretien knows better... The main thrust here is to curb wages and salaries and make the laboring people pay the cost of the capitalist crisis for which monopolies are res- pessible. Gentlemen. It won't work! Preposterous Idea — Wage gains made by labor in 1974 failed to keep up with in- flation, both in Canada and in the USA even in contracts with cost-of-living clauses. Steelworkers National Direc- tor Bill Mahoney was right when PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1975—Page 6 he made it clear his union will be seeking the maximum pos- sible for its members. Mr. Ma- honey was also right in reject- ing the preposterous idea that. workers should only get enough extra to cover living costs. He called this bad economics at best and thoroughly cynical at worst. The fact is that no matter how much workers try to “catch up” they can never make it, simply because the ruling class has ways and means at its disposal ‘to prevent it from happening. One of these means is layoffs, to pressure workers to accept a cut in living standards through either no wages or a cut in wages, or both. ' Conference of Labor There is no reason for this situation in a rich country like Canada. If the big corporations ‘find themselves unable to keep the economy moving let them get out — take them over and operate them under public own- ership. A nation-wide conference of labor to discuss economic meas- ures to combat inflation and un- employment, as called for by the Winnipeg and Hamilton Labour Councils’ ought to be convened without a moment’s delay by the Canadian Labour Congress. What is needed now is action against profiteering through price roll-backs, refunds to con- sumers for excessive prices, wage increases all along the line, and an immediate morato- rium on layoffs. Stop the drift to depression! Fight for full employment now! CN engineers return to job -TORONTO — Canadian Na- tional Railways operations be- gan to return to normal last week. as 350 striking engineers in Toronto, Ottawa, Belleyille and Niagara Falls returned to work. The engineers in the four On- tario centres were the last to return from the wildcat strikes that tied up rail shipping on CN. for more than ten days. At the peak of the strike, more than two-thirds of the 3,164 members walked off their jobs in protest of a CN decision not to revise the starting date of the present contract. The Toronto local of the Bro- therhood of Locomotive Engin- eers applied to overturn the _re- cently ratified agreement but the Canada Labor Relations Board dismissed the application. As a result of the massive wildcat strikes, the CN manage- ment have agreed to open discus- sions with the BLE— but only on the question of ending the contract early on December 31, 1975, According to CN spokes- men the question of a new 10% COLA component “will not be “discussed.” The fact that the company is willing to talk about a contract ending date of December 31, represents a partial victory for the striking workers. If the BLE is able to achieve a new contract date beginning at the first of January, then all unions repre- senting workers on CN will have joint bargaining dates and nego- tiations will be able to be con- ducted jointly. “The strike was a new experi- ence for us,” one engineer told the Tribune, “it was our. first strike in living memory. And I. think we accomplished at least part of what we set out to do.” TORONTO — A group of wo- _ men artists, writers and enter- tainers from this city have ap- plied to the federal government for a $150,000 International Wo- men’s Year grant to hold a festi- val here this summer. The fes- tival will promote women in the arts, workshops, lectures and cul- tural seminars, events in the per- forming arts and an historical display of women in the arts in Canada. - When announcing their plans Jan. 27, the group had re- ceived no word from the govern- ment concerning their applica- tion. With the recent cancella- tion of the federal government’s plans fer four regional IWY con- ferences, funding for such pro- jects as the festival is more readily available. The group’s idea is to promote professional and non-profession- al women artists to show -wo- men’s cultural contribution to Canada. They want to emphasize the grass roots elements of the lives of people in general, and women in particular. Among the women who ap- plied for the grant are folk sing- er Sylvia Tyson, visual artist Maryon Kantaroff, Doris Ander- son, editor of Chatelain and Margo Lane, television. The fes- tival is planned to begin May 31, and is being coordinated by Glo- ria Heller. Auta newt “be longer and more sev: -will receive the benefit On January 25-26 th dian United Auto Council was’ presented policy statement on the my, ‘prepared by the UA Tariff Committee. ; In the following arti Tribune presents the h of the brief. The full appear in the UAW pap®nte lidcrity. y OVER the years, we come to experience downturns in our econo the present situation than another such eve time, the downturn thre anything since the Great sion, and — unlike eve — it is accompanied ' increases now running 3 12% per year. We are ceflat aware of the internatio ture of this crisis and t plex issues involved, but not agcept this as an ex a do nothing policy. The. things that can be done 4* national level, but our Pi government refuses to do} Obviously, we want thy sent situation improved; Db 9 will not accept the ineqMan; alternatives so far offered My government, Below we préno three-fold program that % as necessary to deal wil present crisis. © Rs AUTO INDUSTRY)" The crisis in the auto in}, stems from the decline U.S. economy (itself part international crisis of ism and now leading to th ening of the Canadian 1 and the past and present P of the auto companies. the following: 3 1. Public scrutiny ov@ porate pricing and al%,;, the price differential | Monopolistic pricing hé been the practice in the dustry as profits are g@ substantially above the | trial average. This price di tial is of such a magnitud?) it alone paid for all of Four’s investments in over the past decade. An end to this differ which no-one seriously as justified—should be &? immediately. 2. Removal of the 12% ral sales tax on auto §) As a measure to. SUP Rigj auto sales, we call upon U7 a ernment to remove the 14 deral tax on autos. To ™ more likely that the com tax reduction, we sug following: rather than th ernment reducing the t# the corporations paid 4 ing that this will be pa to the consumer, the & ment continue collecting “se (so the price of cars wou be changed) but then § each buyer a rebate equ’ to the 12% tax. 4 3. Assurance that C9?