Dr. Spock arrested during Washington kneel-in

WASHINGTON — Charging that Reagan’s budget cuts are “‘brutal and outrage-
ous’’, noted pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock and 11 other activists were arrested on the
White House lawn June 3 for conducting a “‘kneel-in’’ for restoration of funds for health
care. The group knelt in prayer for about six minutes before being arrested by police.
Spock told the press he opposes the Reagan budget which will transfer needed funds for
social programs to the arms budget.

- More Canadian aid for Grenada
OTTAWA — The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will con-,
tribute $7.3-million to revitalize Grenada’s cocoa industry in an on-going program to
replace low-yielding trees and bring neglected land back into production. The project
will double the income of the island's 6,000 small cocoa farmers. CIDA also announced a
$1.5-million grant to establish a central auto garage to replace seven seperate ones now
in operation which service government, fire, police, public health, public works and other
- vehicles.

ZAPU sweeps local vote in Zimbabwe
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), easily
captured all 15 local seats in the country’s second largest city. ZAPU, led by Joshua
Nkomo defeated candidates of prime minister Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African
National Union (ZANU), who managed to win only 10% of the 145,000 votes cast.

West blocking Namibia settlement
LONDON — Charging that the western powers were sabotaging Namibia's liberation
process, Sam Nujoma, president of the Southwest African People’s Organization
(SWAPO) told a press conference here that after three years of negotiations on Namibia,
“the governments of the five western powers, above all the Reagan adminstration, are

conspiring to distort the UN plan for the country’s independence."
Nujoma said the western powers (including Canada) *‘want SWAPO to agree to the
preservation of privileges for the racist minority and transnationals . . . and buy time for

Britons march for jobs

- LONDON — 100,000 people gather at Trafalgar Square to protest the economic disaster
Caused by Prime Minister Thatcher’s policies, ending a 30-day march which began in
northern England. The ‘People’s March for Jobs” highlighted the plight of Britain’s 2.5
‘million jobless — over 10% of the country’s workforce. The march was organized by the

Trade Union Council.

continued South African occupation of Namibia.”

Flowers, orchards around a steel plant?

By LIZ ROWLEY

KREMIKOWZI, Bulgaria — The
first thing that struck me on arriving at
this huge steel plant, employing some
25,000 workers was how clean the air
was.

Coming. from. Hamilton, where. the
air stinks 24 hours a day and the pollu-
tion index is always on overload, my

first thought was that the plant must be -

shut down. Yet the environment
around the plant was clean too. To my
surprise there was a big orchard in full
blossom right next to the plant as well
as a vegetable garden complete with
singing birds, and bumble-bees.

This and other agricultural efforts, I
found out later, were the joint property

of both union and management to pro- -

Vide rest and recreation for workers on
disability, at full pay on the one hand,
and free food and a little market for
take-home shopping for in-plant work-
rs, on the- other.

The other thing that struck me was
the total absence of any housing or liv-

ing facilities anywhere near the —

Kemikowzi steel plant. It tumed out
that it’s Bulgarian Government policy
not to build any living accommodation
within 60 kilometers, (36 miles) of the
plant.

The government provides low-cost
transportation to and from the steel
plant and management picks up the en-

tire tab for all workers under the terms ~

of the contract between the union and
Plant management.

Such tough anti-pollution laws and
Controls both inside and outside the
Plant have reduced the incidence of
Cancer to a lower level than among the
8€neral population of Sofia, the capital.
Lung diseases, the number one killer
of ian steelworkers and miners,
are also lower in occurrence among the

“remikowzi steelworkers than among
the general population. This is also due

the shorter work hours of the steel
Plant _Workers, early retirement. and
Superior working conditions.

Wages and Conditions
pl Kremikowzi is a fairly modern steel
ant. Built in 1960 by the Soviet Union,

the last of its three blast furnaces
started up in 1975. The three oxygen
furnaces produce enough steel to meet
80% of the Bulgaria’s total require-
ments, and the plant puts out some
2,700,000 tons of which 60% is sheet
metal and the remaining 40% is bars.

The expansion program over the
next five years will see the plant greatly
modernized with the introduction of
robots, more automation and compu-
terization.

With an iron ore mine just three
kilometers from the steel plant the
whole operation from start to finish is
done almost on the spot.

Wages in the steel industry are —
esate coe eo ea wa ee ee aoe

among the highest in the country, only
miners and workers in the shipbuilding
industry earn more. Working condi-
tions are excellent. In the sinter plant,
blast furnaces and coke ovens, for
example, the workers do six-hour shifts
and four changes during any 24-hour
period.

For these workers the shift pattern is
three day shifts with two days off, three
nights followed by two days off then
three afternoons followed by two days

esofts

All other production workers do

four, eight-hour shifts with two days off -

while non-production workers do five,
eight hour shifts a week.

Low-cost Vacations

Every worker gets a guaranteed
four-week holiday every year, which
they can spend, if they want to, at
summer resorts owned and operated by
the trade unions. For the equivalent of
one week’s pay, for each adult, the
Bulgarian steelworker can buy a 21-day
vacation at such a resort with all the
trimmings included.

Depending on the kind of work being
done, there are different pension ages.
In the heavy mills men retire at age 50
and women at 45, while in the rolling
mills it’s 55 for men and 50 for women.
Workers not in production retire at ages
60 and 55. ;

Under the one-year collective
agreement, women work in the heavy
mills only if it is absolutely needed. Be-

(

cause of the labor shortage in the coun-
try, this clause is hard to enforce, but
the union, management and the Com-
munist Party committee in the plant are
all determined that the 7,200 women
working in the plant will be pro-
tected from work that is physically too
demanding or threatening to their
child-bearing ability.

Pregnant women are guaranteed the
right to move to lighter jobs with no loss
in pay or seniority as well as a shorter

From
Bulgaria

Liz Rowley

work day. When their children are born
the mothers get one year’s maternity
leave at full pay, and can take another
two years off, unpaid, if they wish.
When they return to work they return
to their old jobs with full seniority.

Pre-school aged children and infants
are cared for in 24-hours a day, seven
days a week child and infant care
centres run by management and the
union. The Kremikowzi daycare centre
is located in the city, away from the
plant and production, and the plant
provides special transportation for
women with kids in the centre. :

Health and safety is a high priority in
this plant with the emphasis on preven-
tion. Every new worker has to pass a
seven-day safety training program and
for the first month on the job an exper-
ienced worker *‘sponsors’’ him until
the new worker can get along without
injuring himself or endangering others.
A number of sanitoriums and hospitals
are attached to the plant. Run jointly by
the union and management they treat
injuries, but their main jobis to reguarly
check on the health and well-being of
the workers.

And, unlike workers in any
capitalist-run factory, the Kremikowzi
steelworkers, like workers in every so-
cialist country have the power through
their unions to shut down any mill or

department of the plant if the workers
feel the safety is inadequate.

e

Education and Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship training is well
thought out and planned. In the high
schools, general trades are taught
alongside academic courses and there is
no streaming, as we see in the Canadian
education system.

Apprentices take on-the-job training,
combined with 15-day and three-month

' theoretical courses depending on the

trade they're learning. While taking
these courses, the apprentices get full
pay. Evening courses are offered for
workers who want to become ‘‘medium
qualified specialists’’ and this means
that while they're taking these courses
the workers are put on steady days and
one hour less a day than their normal
shift for the course’s duration.

The steel plant has four technical
schools attached to it, providing both
practical and theoretical training to
apprentices inside and outside the
plant. Management pays the full cost of
the training and the workers collect full
wages while studying or learning their
trades. :

For workers wishing to study at uni-

‘versity, management provides scholar-

ships, and pays the students a living
allowance if they agree to return to the
plant and work for a specified time
period.

All apprenticeship and _ trades
courses are run jointly by management
and the union under the direction of the
Bulgarian department of education.

In all of the discussions with work-
ers, Management and union leaders in
this plant and throughout the rest of the
country, Canadian workers can be im-
pressed by the very real control Bul-
garian workers have over their lives.

That power, the socialist system
from which all social benefits and
superior working conditions spring,
goes well beyond anything workers in
Canada can hope to have as long as the
rights of the multi-nationals and big
corporations are ‘‘God-given’’ and the
rights of workers are attacked and
eroded daily.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— JUNE 19, 1981 — Page 7