WHEN THE FURNACE CLOSED DOWN By MIKE PHILLIPS Think of a plant closure in Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Sud- bury, or any other mid-sized single-industry town. Canadians have had lots of experience trying to pick up the pieces of a broken community and shattered lives in the wake of a corporate decision, usually made offshore for the sake of the ‘‘bottom line’’, where workers’ lives don’t count for very much. The pattern is very often the same. Rumors abound of a major layoff, management scoffs at the stories purring with promises that all is well. The union, if there is One, can’t get to first base as far as accurate information goes. Suddenly, sometimes within a matter of weeks it’s all over, a press conference at corporate headquarters announces to the world the fateful decision. Work- ers get to read about it in the press or watch their well-heeled bosses announce it on the tube. The workers are the last to know. The struggle for survival in our “‘free enterprise society” takes on a nastier, more perilous character. No one can claim that plant clo- sures are always avoidable, the march of progress sees to that. However, tossing human beings on the junk heap along with the worn out machinery is a feature that’s only peculiar to life in a capitalist economy, where pro- fits, not human needs, are the prime consideration. - Recently an article in GDR Re- view profiled the impact of a plant closure decision on the workers in a steel mill which was phasing out the town of Thale, German Democratic Republic, in the Harz Mountains, close to the West German border. It was one of those unavoidable decisions and author Ursula Feske noted in her article ‘‘it was clear that in this case the interests of the enterprise had to be subor- dinated to national economic considerations.”’ A modern converter steel com- plex had been built in another city just along GDR’s eastern border, improving the output and quality of crude steel much beyond the capacity of the older, obsolete plant in Thale. The new plant was cheaper, faster and used less | energy. But, Thale is a city in the Ger- man Democratic Republic. The GDR is a socialist country, and though the decision to close the outdated plant was irrevocable — it was ‘‘an end for the furnaces but not for the people.” . When it was finally decided that HOTOS — GDR REVIEW a one of the two blast furnaces would be closed for good in the spring of 1983, meetings were cal- led involving the plant manage- ment, the local Socialist Unity Party factory committee and the steelworkers’ union, to discuss the futures of some 60 workers of the 250 who would be the first to be affected by the decision. The 60 would have to move imme- diately, the rest, later on. “‘Acceptable solutions had to be found for them’’, Feske wrote, “but solutions which had been ar- rived at through joint discussions with the men.”’ Immediately four options were put to the workers, and in vivid contrast to a paralle: situation in Canada, being uneinployed was never considered as a possibility. The workers in question could either: transfer to the newly built electrical power and heating sta- tion; the cogging mill train; or the iron powder production depart- ment, all within the existing com- plex at Thale; or move on to the new steel mill some 250 kilo- metres to the east. In some way the impact of the closure might have seemed har- der on the German workers than it would be on Canadians, because lifetime job security leads one to sink roots and develop a complex network of activities, and relationships that take on a sense of permanence that isn’t possible in our society with its frequent dislocations due to chronic unemployment. Thirty-eight year-old Hubert ' Hartwig, a 21-year veteran of the: blast furnace as foundry pit fore- man and deputy section chief spent a good deal of time discuss- ing the situation and the choices facing him with his wife. His wife’s job in Thale and his own precious collection of exotic birds led the Hartwigs to decide that Hubert ought to take a job with corresponding responsibility in the power and heating plant. Hartwig’s decision like most of the others was to grab the other job offers remaining in Thale. But there were some like 43-year old Wolfgang Schnelle who decided to pick up his family and make the move. In arriving at his decision, Schnelle’s attitude was that, “‘T’ve always been for progress’’, and he recognized that the new converter steel works needed good steelworkers with experi- ence, knowledge and ability. 2 The move wouldn’t be an easy one for Schnelle, his wife and ado- * lescent sons. Over the years, in his spare time he’d built a garage and a summer cottage, and had cultivated a beautiful garden; all of his friends and roots were in Thale. Any apprehensions of the wel- come they'd get at the new loca- tion, however, dissolved as the management staff there made every effort to make the move as easy as possible. In short, though it -would mean starting afresh, they could pick up where they left off in Thale right down to the gar- age and garden, if that’s what they wanted. Not all of the moves and ad- justments went this smoothly. There were a few workers who took a bit longer to get used to the decision and the dislocation it has brought to their lives. But through the co-operation of the plant management, the SUP, and the union, new jobs were found for the workers affected by the move, retraining schemes Roland Huta knows the cogging mill train like the back of his hand: He is at odds with events, he would have liked to remain a steelworker all his life. ‘ken. were organized, bonuses Wert established and where needed financial assistance to the work- ers was provided. Everytt went by the book, according 10 the GDR’s advanced labor legis lation and every opportunity 10 give the workers a break was t@ As Ursula Feske pointed out, the management, union and par reps ‘‘even asked them individ- ually in what collective or On which shift they would like to work. The phrase ‘you must’ just did not exist.”’ There remain another 200° workers at the last blast furnace still to be moved, and like Martin Giersch, a 31-year veteran int smelter, they'd be happy to be able to retire right where they are, but they recognize the necessily of their decision for the good of | the economy and their living standards in the longrun. “T'Iljust have to get used toit , Giersch says. ‘‘Mind you, there S no danger of me losing out in the change. There’s no threat of becoming unemployed —- that” could never happen, not here in our state.” : trent - World action won Uruguayans’ release Recent popular victories have freed Dr. J.L. Massera, famous Communist scientist, and General Liber Seregni, head of the politi- cal coalition, Frente Amplio. Uruguayan people celebrate these victories. They, and scientists internationally, greet and support them in their freedom, meanwhile stepping up the struggle to free the host of political prisoners still in the dictatorship’s dungeons. By LEE LORCH Dramatic international and na- tional support continue to protect the famous Uruguayan scientist and Communist Party leader, Dr. Jose Luis Massera, now at home in Montevideo after nearly nine years of brutal imprisonment and torture at the hands of the military dictatorship. This dictatorship was estab- lished in 1973, suppressed parlia- ment, of which Dr. Massera was an elected member, arrested him and thousands of others, subject- ing them to horrible physical and psychological tortures. Unceasing struggle for the re- lease of the thousands of political prisoners began as the democratic forces in Uruguay regrouped themselves and found voice. This was supported on a world-wide scale and resulted in the release two months ago of Massera, fol- lowed shortly by General Liber Seregni, head of the democratic political coalition, Frente Amplio, two of the most promin- ent political prisoners. At least a thousand remain, however, in the dictatorship’s political prisons, including Massera’s fellow 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 30, 1984 mathematician, Ruben Ocampo. The release from prison of Massera and Seregni led to huge carnivals of liberty in Montevideo and headlines in Moscow, Paris and Latin America. It went unre- ported in the New York Times and other ‘‘newspapers of re- cord’’ in the USA, except the Daily World. With! characteristic courage and concern, these long-time prisoners, upon their release, cal- led world-wide attention to those still imprisoned, and asked their supporters to struggle for the re- lease of all and for the restoration of democratic rights to the broad masses of the Uruguyan people. Those released do not have such rights themselves, being re- stricted in their movements and prevented from participation in the political process. Symbol of New Day Scientists everywhere rallied to Massera’s support, deeply aware that their now 69-year-old col- league was one of the first, and remains one of the relatively few, mathematicians. from South America to achieve world-class standing for his research. They are well aware of the con- sequences for science of the cen- turies-long oppression foisted upon that continent. For them Massera is the symbol of a new day for science, as he is the sym- bol of a new day for general social progress for his countrymen and the whole continent. Among those to rally to his side were large numbers of Soviet scientists, in a statement issued by one of the fathers of the Soviet space program, the noted mathetician M. Keldysh, presi- dent of the Soviet Academy of Sciences at the time (since de- ceased), joined, among others, by the late M. Lavrientiev, then vice-president of the Academy and Director of its Siberian divi- sion, and G.I. Marchuk, now chairman of the USSR Commit- tee on Science and Technology and deputy premier of the USSR. Other scientists throughout the — world, individually and through their organizations, participated in this struggle. Subsequent to his release, Massera has received such a huge volume of messages and invita- tions that it is physically im-. possible for him to respond and he has asked that his thanks be ex- pressed publicly. He is not able to make plans at present. Medical care received since his release, frequently denied him during the long years in prison, continues, and he is very optimistic concern ing his health. , Honors Conferred The rest of the world continues to look after him, both through these messages and _ invitations and otherwise. During his long travail, 10 honorary doctorates were conferred upon him by unr versities in Hungary, the German ~ Democratic Republic, Cuba, Mexico, France, Italy, Ecuador, Argentina. On May 4, the rector (president) of the University of Puebla, Mexico, personally pre- sented Massera with the formal diploma for that degree, con- ferred in absentia in August 1982, in public ceremonies in a large theatre in Montevideo itself. The mayor of the historic Ita- lian city of Pisa also journeyed to — Montevideo to convey personally — to Massera in a public ceremony — the keys to that city of which he} has been made an honorary — citizen. | The dictatorship’ is constantly — reminded of the huge support, © domestically and internationally, — at the side of this pioneer of a new day for his country and continent. The Uruguayan people are not si- lent about their own fate or the fate of their progressive leaders. And the rest of the world knows © what is at stake. | Lee Lorch is a professor of — mathematics, York University, To- ronto, and a Fellow of the Royal Soc- iety of Canada.