year are the burning questions of

eey in the minds of auto work- _ rs? There are many but I would

Ke j F

tt mention what I feel are i. e demanding ones. ~ “conomics— i Dinan How am I going to

ver-rising cost of livi hen w, : g of living Rte fe aren't able to strike or nego- zi, an increase in pay during the er Our contract? fe Fy tthe apa Auto Pact—What are Cations of such a deal? Is it

done. hat Peieet Only going south and MF not eng g2¥otts—tight U.S. dollars Ht're , UB Money to buy the car é © building?

1° Canadi .

bout the a Independence — What :

PS our pl > ame t

Working condi

? What aa tions getting

: have U.S. bosses to Nat dogmatic tone? De- Speed, because “that’s.

2 at’s aye do it back home?” Why aes tell them where to More militant fight to Buys? What about my rights

Ce for the workers? en

4 don’t

iF Prete

IS, but : nd to ha Femma the (’ How » is?

v ve all the an-

am relating to you the

= ea auto worker is

you grapple for .solu-

When

the into weir tee Trade Agreement P "8 on LBJ’s ranch the

\ s 1 enemy ene in other words, Hh pee always Visible.

St Y alloweg ples the Auto Pact not

» But gave the oma a free hand to per- erg 'on. of the Canadian ally, ©MOmically and psycholo- pene fj Reet Canadian independence fite Bs an domination came un- Most immediately. Ameri-

SUpervig; -. isio : trig} relati. trouble shooters—in-

ted a] 'Ons experts—wére im- x the pst as fast as the USS. Rents gZealoy ' was signed, They are vi : Protecting the mono- ing are ck Henry, Ford II but in 4 eng their methods and jthe former ¢.0U. down the throats 0 '9N ang th anadian Ford adminis- a ae Canadian auto employ- Outing mans thought the old {Pate to wee bad, nothing can © BSengey b dogmatic, chauvinistic “OSt of Ys from the south. ; Welcome. Workers would accept PE that the automation, with the the abuc, . Machine would receive Today fe and not they. he i ee “Yankee go home,” Wh the top eerom the workers but ; hosstem He he brass (what’s e Os } pints as ae _Who defended their itt &cho meen are now just a ; Bced to meens They are either (Pecial ~S« in the corner, put

it $ fi fe

as S, or ke eument, doing menial a fireq “"'Y retirement in lieu y

- Of Afding ene Canadian supervisors, s/ehent, a 'n the top level of man- ‘" ene occasign essed this on more We Yan th. and nie factory more efficien-

@ So ang s® ‘abor problems than 1PM so So Yankees . . . Those 08Nd act yy. 80'S invade this coun- if’) 800d-ng © Conquerors rather than PP out ¢, we Neighbors they're , ~ ++. Assitsance is one

A Ford

worker speaks his mind»

thing but rape is something else alto- gether.”

Another personel officer said to me when it was known yet another Can- adian boss was being retired before his time: “If I had his money I would tell them. Yankees where to go and what

to do before retiring but since I[haven’t, -

I'll just have to be more diplomatic and say ‘Yes, sir’ instead of ‘No, sir.’” The rise of certain types among Can- adian supervisors to positions of Gene- ral foreman or superintendent suggests very strongly that the only Canadians to get ahead in Ford must be—and it is a known fact that most of them are —neo-nazis. Anti-Semitism and Hitler- type hate literature have always been freely distributed in the plants, and some of those who have been promot- ed lately were associated with, or friendly to, the known fascist group in the plant. The total disregard for the union

,and its contract has become more

evident. The answer from the boss to a grievance or some other problem now is, “I have a boss, too, and what he says goes, no matter what.” This leaves you with the feeling that this

boss is in Detroit, so there is no use arguing with a computer or a new poli-

‘cy memo from across the river.

Frustrating, to say the least,

The picture presented to the public of what a benevolent employer we have makes your hair curl (if you have any left by now), For instance, they boast to the government health inspec- tor how nice our washroom facilities are. Why, we even have hot and cold running water! They’re half. right. But the water, whenever it happens to be running (which is not too often) is cold in one basin and scalding hot in the other. The washrooms are washed all right, maybe once a week.

The hospital and ambulance service is second to none. But just don’t get hurt on the job. If you do become sick and are forced to lay down, you'r time is deducted from your pay. The sick- ness might be caused by the consump- tion of fumes or lack of good air—but that’s all right, you’re not supposed to breathe in these so called imaginary fumes.

Ambulance service is great. The fire lanes are blocked on numerous occa- sions by dollies and stock. If the am=

and not they.’

"Most of the workers would accept and > welcome automation, with the hope that

the machine would receive all the abuse

bulance can get down the aisles to the spot where you’ve been hurt you’ll find they have sent a 100-pound nurse by herself. She has to drive the ambu- lance stretcher-mobile by herself, hel» you or lift you on the stretcher and drive you back to the ‘hospital. Quite a chore, especially if you’ve broken a bone or are bleeding badly.

During the Christmas season a ter- rible tragedy occurred in which a fel- low worker was sent home by the company during the afternoon shift. The company and first aid officials said he was under the influence of alcohol. This man was killed crossing the high- way in an attempt to hitch-hike a ride home. The policy of Ford when an em- ployee is fired or suspended is to escort him to the parking lot. When you be- come ill and wish to go home the plant protection men give you a ride to the bus depot but in this case the total dis- regard for a human being resulted in death. :

The denial of the right to hand out leaflets or take collections at the plant gales means you must stand out near the highway. Then Ford calls the police in an attempt to blame the union for blocking traffic and causing work- ers to be late for work and subject to disciplinary action by the company. Thus the union gets blamed tor the poor entrance and exit facilities.

The problems created by the impori of a new form of slave labor are many and they’re like a bowl of jelly: eva- sive, slippery and continually moving. If you do resolve one item, you are immediately faced with another new one or an old one breaks out in an- other area. The growing amount of wildcats and sitdowns and the overall contempt of the workers for Ford are the result of these frustrations. They also reveal an acute awareness by the workers that the only thing the boss understands is loss of profit or no pro- duction.

All this has brought about a loss o1 prestige for the union leaders. First the leaders ask the membership to sup- port them in the fight against the boss and at certain times this’ results in a wildcat. Then the workers are told by the union they must return to work either because it’s the decision of the local executive or because the compa- ny has threatened mass firings or sus- pensions if they don’t return.

The cause for the majority of labor disputes in Oakville is the manage- ment’s rights clause in the agreement. These rights management has taken for themselves and imposed on the workers without any negotiations whatsoever. They deny every human right or gain made by organized labor.

These so-called rights must be chal- lenged once and for all. Wage parity must not be allowed to interfere with or take away our rights to live like and be treated like human beings, not pigs or slaves. Negotiations must be put on a democratic and humane level in which workers rights are put into the right perspective.

This battle against management

“rights takes all the time and strength

and money of our local to try and hold our own, let alone keep from slipping backwards.

If union leaders do not become part of the militant forces now growing ‘in the plants and the new left and young people who are willing to take up the banner for Canadian identity and the necessity to fight for economic parity in production and profits, they will, I'm afraid, be swamped by the tidal wave of growing discontent.among the members.

What they have to fight for is: Can- adian independence, a turn-back of U.S. domination, a curb on monopoly control, control of prices and cost of living and last, but not least, a demo- Cratic way of life inside and outside our union.

March 10, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5