By KERRY WILSON

HAMILTON — Negotiations
between Stelco and United
Steelworkers Local 1005 have
been painfully slow. This is un-
deniably the company’s fault.

The union presented its de-
mands early in May and the Local
1005 Communications Commit-
tee has done everything in its
power to keep the membership in-
formed.

Stelco, on the other hand, has
been stalling, partly to give the
union membership the feeling of
being kept in the dark, and partly
due to the ineptness of their
negotiators.. This was blatantly
displayed on two separate occa-

sions as Stelco negotiators caved.

in to pressure from their
superiors.

In one instance, July 17, the
company walked out of the talks
after failing to come to terms with
the union over control of the
health insurance plan.

This was followed the next day
by an-incident where a Stelco
negotiator saw fit to start a push-
ing match after allegedly being
‘“*swore”’ at by a union official.

This sort of behaviour, al-

though typical of management in
this country, indicates the total

lack of understanding, by com-
pany negotiators, of the sincerity
of the union’s demands. It also
exposes the negotiators as no-
thing more than company cronies
hired to do a job — and that is to
make the shareholders as much
money as possible.

It is obvious that Stelco is.

backed into a corner. The com-
pany can’t fill all of their orders
and are even at the point of buying
foreign steel to meet the de-
mands. They can’t stockpile and
all steel currently on hand has
been sold.

On the international scene,
Stelco is the most cost-efficient
steel company. While large U.S.
companies are shutting down due
to lack of re-investment to main-
tain efficiency, Stelco is expand-
ing to take up the slack.

All this, and Stelco still has the
gall to pull a “‘cry baby act’’ a-
la-Chrysler, by pleading with the
workers to be lenient in their de-
mands or else the fate of U.S. and
British steelworkers will befall
them.

Statements along these lines
were made by General Works
manager F.A. Hoyle in the com-
pany propaganda sheet Stelco
Flashes. ‘‘To be fair,’ says
Hoyle, ‘‘one must look at other

great corporations who perhaps
tried to do too much, and al-
though strong and vigorous a few
short years ago, are today struggl-
ing for their very existence.”

Reading this would almost
make a Stelco worker forget the
$45.8-million in profits, the com-
pany racked up in the first quarter
of 1981. This was a $6-million in-
crease over the same quarter the
year before.

In the same issue, Stelco
chairman Peter Gordon makes a
lame attempt at pleading poverty
with an impressive display of
graphs which don’t quite twist the
truth far enough. In fact, Gordon
has used statistical terminology in

a poor attempt to make Stelco ap-
pear to be treating the workers
more than fairly.

For example, one graph indi-
cates that ‘“‘employees’ average
weekly earnings have out-
stripped’’ the Consumer Price
Index ever since 1971. What is not
immeditely apparent is the fact

that this term refers to total

employees’ earnings, including
those outside the bargaining unit.
In conjunction with another
pretty graph on the same page in-
dicating the number of employees
has increased in the same period
from slightly more than 21,000 to

Steelworkers not in ‘bluffing’ mood

more than 25,000, it becomes ob-
vious the first graph indicates the
total wages paid out by Stelco

with no regard to whether or not -

the earners are in the bargaining
unit.

A graph which the union pub-
lished with its contra¢t demands
deals with the average worker’s
earnings, and not the workers’
average earnings. This graph in
fact indicates a decline in the
wages of the average bargaining
unit employee of $1.10 an hour
since the last contract was signed
in 1978.

In fact, if interpreted from the
workers’ point of view, Gordon’s
graphs reveal the exact opposite
to the story he’s trying to sell.
About all they really confirm is
Mark Twain’s addage about there
being ‘‘lies, damned lies, and
statistics.”’

Another reason Stelco workers
can’t buy the poverty routine
being pushed by the company is
the fact that the issue of Stelco
Flashes being cited was hand de-
livered to the homes of 20,000
workers, at the company’s ex-
pense.

In short, Stelco is bluffiing and
not doing a very good job at it.
The members of Local 1005,

Stick together in support of the
_ Negotiating committee.

whose labor is creating Stelco’s
massive profits, and who cof
rectly feel entitled to share in the
steel company’s wealth, haven't
got time for bluffs.

They know they must be fully
prepared to back their contract |
demands with strike action. The
93% strike mandate the workers
gave their negotiating committee
indicates their preparedness to

Any compromise in this kind of
solidarity, they know will com:
promise the final . settlement,
while the greater their solidarity
and determination, the greater the
negotiating committee’s power
will be to insist that the union i)
demands are met.

These demands include: 4)
two-year pact with a $2-wage in-
crease in the first year and $1 in »
the. second; significant improve-
ments in shift and weekend pre-
miums; and union control of the
pension and health benefits plans.

Stelco workers see in this kind
of solidarity, the power to call thé |
company’s bluff and win a good
contract in 1981.

Kerry Wilson is a member of
Local 1005, United Steelworkers

of America.

Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears —
1981 Oscar-winner as Best Foreign
Film. The lives and romantic involve-
ments of thrée women who meet in a
Moscow dormitory for women workers
in 1958. Excellently paced entertain-
ment — but more than just diversion —
it offers the staples of life: work, family,
love and friendship and treats them
with humour, humanism and optimism.
The Formula — It’s a formula to tum
coal into oil and the rest is easy to
guess. Critical of big oil interests, but it
implies that they run the entire world
and there’s no way to change things.
Confusing and dull. —,,

Tell Me A Riddle — A moving and con-
Vincing film that portrays the passions,
ideals and struggles of an older couple.
Occasionally sentimental, but generally
understated and revealing.

Elephant Man — Based on the true
story of a monstrously deformed young
man who came to be lionized by high
society in Victorian London. Retold
with an effective mingling of horror,
pity and irony.

Raging Bull — About the life of Jake La
Motta, world middle weight boxing
champ in 1949. Not a typical boxing
movie. Alienated, brutal, oppressive
and demoralizing. —

Outland — Lightweight summer
entertainment. Science fiction with a
dash of anti-Big Business sentiment.
On the plus side there’s Sean Connery;
ye: nadir eet hema ces

Children sth teen ae - A case of in-
teresting ideas and competent scripting
and acting defeated by inexpert produc-
tion. The romantic involvements of
several Jamaicans of different social

of explicit sex.

Stir Crazy — Comedy about prison life
and the criminal justice system that
doesn’t entirely laugh away the
brutalities and injustices. Satire on the
“Sun Belt’? myth as two unemployed
New Yorkers, trying to find jobs, get

framed for robbery. Terrific comic per-

formance by Richard Pryor as one of
the hapless Northerners. Directed by
Sidney Poitier.

GENE WILDER
RICHARD PRYOR

Melvin And Howard — The story of the

gas station owner who is supposed to be
a beneficiary in Howard Hughes’ will.
Sympathetic and lively look at condi-
tions of working people in the U.S. to-
day.
The Life And Times Of Rosie The Rive-
ter — Outstanding documentary about
women workers in industry during
World War II. Fascinating, informa-
tive, incomparable movie.
Breaker Morant — An Australian film
based on historical accounts of Lord
Kitchener’s staging of a ‘‘war crimes”
trial toward the end of the Boer War in
1901 in South Africa. There are no
“‘good guys’’ in this movie but Breaker
Morant demonstrates that any and all
can be sacrificed in the interests of im-
perialism’s insatiable appetite. Pro-
vocative, touching and timely.
Lion Of The Desert — Outstanding cast
in a forthright anti-imperialist film deal-
ing with the armed resistance of Be-
douin tribes to the Italian fascist inva-
tion of Libya in the late 1920s. No Arab
actors in this film (usual Hollywood
practice) but the story of an Arab
people is brought to life with dignity and
understanding.

Cheech And Chong’s Nice Dreams —~*
Pothead humor which will probably be
totally unappreciated by anyone not
perpetrating substance abuse. No plot,
no logic. As C and C say, ‘‘Stupid,

CHEECH & CHONG’S

NICE DINEAMS

Oblomov — Based on the 1858 classic
Russian novel by Ivan Goncharov.
Title character is an absentee estate
owner and retired government
bureaucrat whose current career con-
sits of sleeping around the clock on his

living room sofa. Artistically the film is

a gem. Though the movie moves at a
leisurely pace, it holds our interest
through its thoughtful direction and
splendid acting. -

The Last Metro — A French movie set
in Nazi occupied Paris. A theater
troupe’s problems in staging an innocu-
ous romance, because the owner is

Jewish. A subtly, yet deeply disturbing

recreation of the horrors of fascist
anti-semitism.

Gaijin (Outsiders): Roads to Freedom—
The first feature film by the Japanese-

Brazilian woman director Tizuka

Yamasaki won a top prize at the recent
Havana Film Festival and it’s easy to
see why. It is an anti-racist, pro-
working class portrayal of Japanese
immigrants who came to work on a
Brazilian coffee plantation i in 1908. And
a powerful but sensitive indictment of
= — oppression that women suf-
er

“Nine To Five —~Very fuinny comedy

that exposes the ugly truth about the
exploitation of office employees. Re-
freshing, honest and radical in its depic-
tion of women workers as angry, strong
and resourceful. Although it.does not
pose unionization as a solution, it will
encourage those considering that step. .
Starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and
Lily Tomlin, who are all marvelous.

The Four Seasons — Three upper mid-
dle class-couples take four vacation
trips a year together. On the surface, all
six are petty and self-centered, but ami-
able. The big revelation is that they are
‘only petty and self-centered. A preten-
tious, shallow slice of upper middle
class life.

The Legend Of The Lone Ranger —Gal-
lop, do not walk, to see this film, one of
the best family films to come out in
recent years. It deserves an Oscar for
its anti-racist content alone.

The Competition — Two brilliant
pianists, rival finalists in a prestigious
competition, fall in love. Can love
overcome ambition? Interesting obser-
vations about the difference between
men’s and women’s attitudes on this.
Unfortunately, nothing is said about
why there is so little support for
talented musicians in this society. A
fascinating picture of the concert hall
as an unromantic workplace.

Bustin’ Loose — This is a funny film
that would be for the entire family if
they put a few bleeps in here and there.
Richard Pryor comes through again; as
an actor-comedian, and as storywriter
and producer. In the course of a cross-
country bus trip, Pryor, Cicely: Tyson,

_ iety, and each other.

\ textes

and a group of kids find adventure, =

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 31, 1981—Page 6