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Ottawa Journal workers to hold ©

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_ rally on first year of lockout

OTTAWA —., The remaining 140 locked-out workers at the Ot- tawa Journal intend to celebrate the first anniversary of their plight at the hands of a vicious Union-busting management, by Staging a mass rally outside the Journal Building Oct. 25.

‘The workers are calling on or- ganized labor and other sup- Porters in the capital city to take 1S or 20 minutes of their time to Join the rally’ scheduled from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. and show Management the unions’ fight for

Its members’ rights to a job is not Over,

The Ottawa Journal, on Oct. 25 1976 locked out 160 employees, in Ve unions, rejecting the unions’ demands that workers displaced by a new computerized pro- duction process be either com- Pensated or retrained instead of dumped onto the street.

During the lock-out the Ottawa Journal management has been found guilty of Bad-Faith Bar- 8aining five times by the Ontario

According to a confidential Study by a federal Government _ committee, unemployment is ex- P€cted to rise by 2% annually, with UIC payments rising to $4- billion by 1979. So says a Toronto Globe and Mail Ottawa report, Published October 18th. The re- Port claims “‘about 2.5 million in- dividuals will draw benefits annu- ally over the next two fiscal years.”’

The loss to the economy as a Tesult of escalating unemploy- “Ment will be horrendous, running into tens of billions of dollars. At

© same-time this rich country is NOW going to be so poor that it fannot afford universal social Programs like family allowances and old age pensions. Considera- ton is now reportedly being given © stopping family-allowance Payments to families with only One child living at home.

The fact that the capitalist crisis —©epens was emphasized last Week in a report discussed at a Meeting of the Communist Party

Canada’s Central Committee in

Cronto. The report stated that he much heralded recovery in the Capitalist world seems to have pe- ered out.

It pointed out that the present “nisis is not a transient feature, or Simply a customary cyclical crisis x the capitalist world, but that it S now built into state monopoly “apitalism with its resultant eco- nomic and political instability. -lat the aim of the system of Monopoly capitalism is not the Satisfaction of the needs of the

Ople, but the accumulation of _ Capital by means of increasing the ©Xploitation of the working People and the achievement of Super profits by monopoly and the

Ulti-national corporations.

Enforcer of Impoverishment ‘ he aim of the capitalist state aS S0vernments in this situation: Sto act as the enforcer of a policy

Labor Relations. Board. The Journal is refusing to give sever- ‘ance pay or any compensation to those who will be displaced.

‘When ordered by the labor

board to start negotiating in good faith, the Journal offered 86 locked-out Typographical Union members only 18 of their jobs back.

On the basis of the return to.

work of two of the smaller unions numbering 21 people, manage- ment has been proclaiming the * dispute is over. The union main- tains the fight is certainly not over and in a leafiet announcing plans for the rally urge ‘‘all unions (to) join in and support this demonstration.”

“The Ottawa Typographical Union is not against technological change’, the leaflet stresses, ‘‘but feels throwing people on the street does not solve anything. We want our jobs back.”’

The locked-out workers have been receiving support from some of their fellow typographical union members in other cities. To

of impoverishment of the working people. This fact has been em- phasized over and over again by bourgeois politicians, the mass media and government ministers at both federal and provincial levels. It was most .clearly em- phasized by Prime Minister Trudeau when he urged Cana- dians to discipline themselves and, that if they did not do so ‘‘we will discipline you’’, meaning the government.

This threat exposes the ban- kruptcy of state monopoly capitalism as a system. It points up sharply the contrast between it and the crisis-free socialist world system where the aim is a planned economy to meet and satisfy the needs of the people.

Present signs of another downward turn in the economies of the U.S.A., West Germany and Japan, further points up the fact that the present armaments build-up has not brought jobs and prosperity, but has led to trade wars and increased protectionist measures as the capitalist world

market shrinks, and as each coun- .

try seeks a way out of the crisis at the expense of its rivals and, above all, at the expense of its own working class. Break with Tripartism

To mount an effective fight back, workers and their trade unions have to demand a break with tripartism and policies of class collaboration. However, simply opposing tripartism is not enough. The trade union move-

‘ment needs to.oppose it with an

alternative policy that goes in the direction of curbing monopoly

SOUTH AFRICAN PRODUCTS

No economic recovery in sight as situation deteriorates

date, according to a Local 91 ITU official in Toronto, more than $3200 has been raised at plant gate collections and donations.

The recent convention of The Newspaper Guild (TNG) also col- lected $379 from the delegates on the floor. As reported in the Guild Reporter, organ of the TNG, is- sued Sept. 23, the Ottawa TNG local’s lockout fund has received

a total of $30,431.75 from Guild :

units across Canada and through- out the U.S.

LOCKED

wa OT

Shown here on the picket line in the middle of last winter, Ottawa

Journal workers are planning a mass. rally on October 25, the first

anniversary since the lockout.

Management refusal to negotiate forces Windsor postal walkout

By MIKE McLISTER

WINDSOR — At 11:30 p.m.

Oct. 16, the Windsor local of the Canadian Union of Postal Work- ers (CUPW), walked off their jobs. This took place in the after- math of a demonstration, the pre- vious week which ended with an

power, making it clear that the working people are not against all controls. That they are against wage controls, but in favor of price controls on selected food- stuffs, rents and overall dem- ocratic curbs on the multinational corporations.

The alternative has to include an effective wage policy to win compensation for price rises plus’ current inflation, while at the same time improving living standards.

Wage controls must go, and collective bargaining has to be fully. restored and extended in scope. The economy must be ex- panded to absorb the jobless,

while income must be redistri-—

buted in favor of the working people through a shorter work week, expanded social services, increased pensions and lower taxes on working people. We need a program of low cost housing, a policy of equal pay for work of equal value, for men and women. Back to Work Program

Moreover, a program to put Canada back to work must in- clude public ownership of energy and natural resources and development of secondary indus- try on that basis. A new made- in-Canada Constitution based on an equal voluntary partnership of English- and French-speaking na- tions that make up this country. Expansion of trade with the socialist and newly-liberated countries, a guaranteed annual income, stable markets and prices for the farmers, a 50% cut in arms expenditures, and’ withdrawal from NATO and NORAD.

This kind of program, ad- vanced by the. trade union move- ment and with full support of all anti-monopoly forces, can prom- ote real Canadian unity and pre- serve and extend our country’s independence.

agreement that if workers went back to their jobs management would engage in meaningful conciliation.

Management then proceeded to

show complete disregard for the.

welfare of their employees and the talks broke down. The CUPW executive .went to the member- ship, which voted to strike until postmaster Gagne was ready to negotiate.

Bruce Dickie, president of the local, in a press release, said, “‘if Mr. Gagne is as prepared to deal with the problems we have, as he is prepared for the strike he has caused, then we should be back to work very shortly.”’

There are five major issues in the strike. Noise pollution is at excessive levels due to ‘the machinery. Tests were made a year ago but the results were not released. The union has asked for headphones or ear plugs, and have even offered to pay for them themselves.

Gagne maintains that it is na- tional policy that they are not. al- lowed in the post offices.

The illegal use of casuals is another issue. One half of the manual sorters have been placed on the encoding machines, and management has refused to hire people to replace the displaced, although there is no decrease in the work.

Contract Ignored

The contract provides for a large enough permanent work force including replacements, in- stead casuals are used. It also provides for overtime to be of- fered to full time employees dur- ing times of high volume of mail to be complemented by casuals. This is not being done.

ae

3 CANADIAN UNION OF POSTAL WORKERS - The need for CUPW’s campaign

to expose problems in the.post of- fice, is illustrated by the Windsor walkout.

At a time of high unemploy- ment when Canadians are demanding full time permanent jobs, the government continues to pursue a policy of denying the benefits of union security. It is using these workers essentially as hostages to force speed up upon its workers.

Along with this, the post office has begun the policy of eliminat- ing the day shift over the next five or six years. These jobs are the most coveted. While afternoons leave little or no time for a social life, the midnight shift is univer- sally viewed as having intolerable effects on the physcial and mental well being of those forced to work: it for long periods.

“As it is, it takes an average of at least 8 years seniority to even have a prayer of working days,”’ one worker told the Tribune.

In the post office’s attempt to cut manpower, a policy of hiring two part time workers instead of one full time has been instituted.

Not-so Subtle Hints

There have been many com- plaints of harassment of union of- ficials and workers. Dickie spoke of an incident when he took of- fice, when he was lectured by management on how he should handle union procedures and problems and was left with not- so subtle hints that he might not be there very long if he didn’t fol- low the advice.

Union members have also been subjected to harassment and in- timidation in the efforts to get the workers to take a bigger work load. Another example of Management’s pettiness was shown during the last meeting with the union over working conditions.

Management stated that if the union complained too loudly, the hours of the afternoon-shift would be changed from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

The union has come out in total support of its executive. Techni- cally the strike is illegal, although the national executive has given its support. There is no contract. Striking is prohibited until one month after negotiations have be- gun. ‘‘This show of solidarity is a fine example to the labor move- ment in Windsor,’ a spokesman for the Windsor region of the

Communist Party said. ‘“‘With the slander and abuse that is sure to come from the media, it falls upon communists and progressives to step forward and defend the right of postal workers to strike and to collective bargaining.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 28, 1977—Page 5