Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 26, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press Friday june 26.1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week Al 300 Cartton Street. Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 943-9331 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe Edi Loyial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor editorials labor s contradictory Case whatever anyone else May think about the prospects of an Early provincial election the Manitoba federation of labor is clearly convinced that one is on the Way. How else explain the federation s decision this year to present its annual Brief to the government not to the government but to a Media event the aim no doubt is to provide Aid and Comfort to the Mil s clients in the new democratic party. It is help that Many in the nip might Well feel they could do without. Any party facing an Early election would feel nothing but embarrassment to be associated with the foolishness irrationality and contradictions which make up the most publicized part of the Brief. The tactic in the end is equally damaging to the Mil itself because it serves to draw attention to the idiotic political rhetoric in the Brief and away from the sensible analysis and reasonable suggestions which make up the bulk of the submission. The Brief in fact reads very much As if it were written by two groups of people bulk of it by responsible professionals and the introduction by some fire breathing politicians who let political ambition outweigh Good sense. To the authors of the introduction the private sector and especially the multinational corporations Are worthless As sources of jobs and development for the province. The private it boldly if in dramatically declares has not and will not generate a new economic Dawn in Manitoba the private sector particularly the Large investors is unwilling to venture Forth to create a new Industry and a new Commerce unless they Are Moll coddled and handed at the political by Page 20 of the same Brief however private Industry is beginning to look a lot better. Private Enterprise plays a vital role and will continue to play a vital role in the reshaping of the not Only that it is vitally important that we act resolutely to develop and promote those industries which have the potential to establish them selves in the National and International the industries which tend to have that potential of course ate the Large investors and multinationals which have the capability to sell nationally and internationally. Those Are the very ones the authors of the introduction would drive from Manitoba. Even in the body of the Brief some of the Mil s specific proposals defy logic. The federation for example denounces the present government for seeking markets for the prov Ince s Hydro production before building new dams. It rejects the proposed Power Grid with Saskatchewan and Alberta on the grounds that the Price Manitoba got for its Power would be governed by the Cost of alternative Power production using Coal. It proposes apparently with a straight face that Manitoba s strategy should be to develop All its Power potential and then Start looking for markets. It fails to explain How faced with carrying the Cost of Power dams that were producing no Revenue Manitoba would be in a position to demand that customers pay More for its Power than they would for the available alternatives. In fact of course a vast surplus of unsold Power would simply leave this province naked in the marketplace. Much of the 45-Page Brief Diakes sensible suggestions for encouragement of co operatives tougher workplace health and safety Laws and improvements to the provincial labor code. Unhappily however too much of it demonstrates that the Mil is More interested in discrediting Industrial developments that might bring political benefits to the Lyon government than it is in encouraging developments which could provide productive and Well paying jobs for Manitoba workers. No moderates for Iran with the dismissal and Pursuit of Abolhassan Bani Sadr As president of Iran the last of the moderates who helped to initiate the iranian revolution against the Shah has been removed from a position of Power. The country is now left to the mercies of the mullahs and islamic extremists who have with the backing of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized control of the machinery of both the revolution and the government. Or. Bani Sadr had been fighting a losing Battle against the clergy since his election last year. The death blows to his presidency were probably the failure of the iranian army under his command to make Progress in the War with Iraq and his recent comments criticizing the course of the revolution. Two weeks ago Ayatollah Khomeini fired him As commander in chief of the armed forces and demanded that he apologize for his comments. Last week the iranian parliament voted for his removal from the presidency and now mobs in the Street howl for his blood. The overthrow of the Shah in 1979 was generally welcomed As a blow against tyranny. An overthrown tyrant however is often replaced by one As bad or worse As has happened in Iran where the Freedom and democracy that were hoped for from the revolution have become its casualties. It is Clear now that neither of those concepts had any place in the thinking of Ayatollah Khomeini who was the guiding spirit of the revolution and is now the real ruler of Iran. The relatively moderate Western influenced aides who sur rounded him in exile Are now either in exile themselves in hiding or in disgrace. The coalition of forces Liat gathered together to bring Down the Shah moderates leftists the Middle class and the ethnic minorities who joined forces with islamic fundamentalists has been destroyed. The mullahs who form the revolutionary Council backed by the armed revolutionary committees and the wild Street mobs Rule unopposed. The terror of the Shah has been replaced by the terror of the Ayatollah. The seizure of the american embassy and its staff an act of International out awry that had the approval of Ayatollah Khomeini was Only the most obvious sign of it. The instruments of the revolution Are death torture and mutilation. Hundreds of supporters of the Shah and counter revolutionaries have been executed after absurd trials. Prisoners Are tortured and islamic morality is ruthlessly imposed on the people. Adulterers Are stoned to death criminals shot or mutilated. Religious minorities Are persecuted and War is waged against ethnic minorities such As the kurd. This reign of terror is Only Likely to get worse now that or. Bani Sadr has been removed. His supporters and Mem Bers of other political groups have already been rounded up and executed with the mullahs promising More deaths to come As the iranian revolution continues to feed on the blood of its children. Victoria City of garbage the Case of failing workers Marshall Rothstein who is conducting the province s inquiry on mandatory retirement passed on to his Public hearing in Winnipeg this week a warning he has heard from some personnel managers. If they Are forbidden to retire people automatically at age 65 on grounds of age they have told him they May Start discharging workers in their 50s and 60s who Are no longer pulling their weight. Most Large organizations employ a few people whose Powers have slipped but who cannot decently be let go because retirement would shatter them psychologically and cripple them financially. The employer keeps the failing worker on knowing that the inexorable arrival of his 65th birthday will solve the problem after a fashion without anybody having to make a difficult decision but keeping a failing employee on full time in a Job he is not Able to do is not necessarily the most humane Way. The worker generally knows he is not pulling his weight. His colleagues know it and May resent it. Often the most sensible solution if the organization is Large enough is to reassign the employee to lighter duties or Shorter hours which he can handle. There must be very few workers who really cannot be usefully employed but cannot decently be retired either. They depend on the decency and humanity of their employ ers now and will continue to do so in the absence of mandatory retirement. Mandatory retirement based on age provides a simple though unsatisfactory Way of dealing with those awkward situations or a Way of avoiding dealing with them. But it also does considerable damage. It deprives the labor Market of the skills of the most experienced workers. It deprives All those workers in their late 60s and 70s who Are willing and Able to continue of the Chance to earn income they May need or to do work they May enjoy. Carried out As it normally is with an abrupt transition from full time work to full time unemployment it imposes sudden and often difficult adjust ments on the worker and his family. It takes no account of the worker s needs wishes and abilities. The argument against mandatory retirement asks employ ers to judge their workers to their abilities not just according to their age. The response or. Rothstein reports from personnel managers indicates that they would do that. It also warns that some workers would suffer from being judged on those grounds. But the result should generally be More intelligent assignment of workers to tasks they can handle. It need not be widespread firings. Political plums the plums Are now in season in the various supermarkets. There is an anecdote about a Little boy who asked his dad whether political plums Are raised from the seed. The father replied that political plums Are More often the fruit of Clever grafting. No doubt the Core area initiative program fund is a Bunch of luscious political plums to be allocated to the proposed Logan area Industrial Park the old Market Square renova Tion the East in Yard redevelopment the Central Park Extension the inner City program of increased Job opportunities and housing conditions and the various aids to specified commercial Salter Street Bridge political plums if equitably Distri buted can collectively serve As an instrument to alleviate the needs of the economically disadvantaged groups in society consistent with the spirit of social Justice. Social Justice demands that social and economic programs must be so arranged As to give the greatest Benefit to the least advantaged. The logic of the principle of greatest Benefit to the least advantaged is that because not All persons Are genetically socially or economically equal the More affluent ones have a moral duty to help the least advantaged since in Justice the members of Humankind agree to share one an other s Fate to the end that every individual human being May retain self respect and human dignity which is the Basic foundation of every civilized and just society. Where is social Justice and fairness when almost All of the million Are to be poured South of the Salter Bridge and almost nothing for the Burrows constituency in the North end where is social Justice and right dealings when the workers in the Burrows constituency Are to be denied Job training better housing and recreational conditions simply because they do not reside in the lonely Liberal Ridings in Manitoba i Hope that the provincial and Munici pal counterpart funds in the Core area initiative program be not fully released unless those residents in the North end across the Railroad tracks get their just share of the political plums. Conrad Santos associate professor University of Manitoba letters by Peter Mclintock special to the free press Victoria people Here Pride themselves on living in a City of Gar Dens. But for the past month or so Victoria has been a City of garbage. Almost everywhere one looked along the inner Harbor walk on the seafront in Beacon Hill Park garbage cans spilled their contents Over the streets the grass or the Shore. Only now is the mess slowly being cleaned up. Long hot summer this was the most visible although by no Means the most serious Indica Tion of what was predicted As a Long hot summer in . Labor relations prediction that is regrettably being borne out. To the end of May . Had lost worker Days through strikes. If the trend continues As it seems Likely to 1981 May surpass the worst previous year when worker Days were lost. Victoria s garbage piles were one aspect of a strike by local members of the Canadian Union of Public employees. Other aspects included the non re placement of burned out Street lights non repair of broken traffic lights torn up streets left rough and bumpy All of which left an unfavourable impression on incoming tourists. At times the cupe strike took on an Alice in wonderland air in which agreement by a Union local to a new contract did not mean a return of workers to the Job. Often it meant picket lines being thrown up by work ers elsewhere still on strike blocking those no longer on strike. For example greater Victoria includes the separate municipal entities Stanich Oak Bay and Esqui Mau. After a relatively Brief walkout work ers in Stanich and Oak Bay agreed to a contract giving them a in crease Over two years. But their counterparts in Victoria itself held out for j5. So cupe members from Victoria picketed cupe members in Stanich and Oak Bay closing Down services in those areas. In Victoria Library employees who the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from readers. Writers must give their name and address. The author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing. Constitute a cupe local by themselves voted 65 per cent against a strike. The response of the chief cupe spokesman in the City was Well probably picket them out there was irony in the fact that this gentleman himself was picketed out of his office by his Secretary on strike with her Union against cupe to pro test working conditions and Lack of a contract last week the greater Victoria regional District made the workers an offer but it was contingent on All of the six striking locals accepting it. Five did some unanimously but the sixth inside school employees turned it Down because their wages did not catch up to those of outside employees. The Gard thereupon eased up on its proviso and prepared to sign new contracts with the five agreeable locals. But when workers in the five went Back to work they found them selves picketed sporadically at City Hall at water main repairs by the recalcitrant school employees. So the workers Laid Down their tools or walked off the Job until the picketers took their activities elsewhere. Province wide labor troubles Are not of course confined to Vancouver Island. They show up in a variety of ways right across the province. The eight Day strike of Canadian Pacific rail workers at Revelstoke was settled but Only after it disrupted Grain shipments from the Prairies resulting in a Jam of freighters waiting to Load in Vancouver Harbor. In Vancouver woodwards the giant department store sold its food distribution warehouse in Richmond to a trucking firm and informed its 60 workers they were out of a Job. The workers refused to accept the edict claimed that they by contract had to go with the warehouse. The . Labor relations Board upheld them and or dered the new owners to hire them Back. In Terrace 300 teachers walked out to protest working conditions and the Transfer of two school principals. The threat of a strike by firefighters Hung Over the lower Mainland for weeks. Only after two attempts was agreement finally reached. Doctors dispute even the doctors dispute with the provincial government Hung fire till last week. A majority of doctors 71 per cent voted to accept the govern ment offer giving them a fee increase of 40 per cent Over two years. But Premier Bill Bennett dropped an ill considered remark to the effect that his Treasury Board might feel this too Rich and refuse to approve it. So some of the More bloody minded Medicos in the Interior double billed patients or re fused to sit on Hospital boards thereby thwarting abortions until the new agreement went through which it did last thursday. The worst strike however May be yet to come. . S Economy depends greatly on the Forest Industry and a general strike Here appears unavoidable. The two sides the International woodworkers of America representing the workers and Forest Industrial re lations representing All the lumber firms sparred for weeks Over whether there should be one general agreement As the Iwa wants or three regional agreements As fir now that they Are around to talking Money the fact that the Iwa has said it wants a 25 per cent wage increase in one year bodes Little Good for negotiations. All of which recently caused the con Ference Board of Canada to warn that while . S Economy May look stable this apparent stability disguises underlying the labor unrest is More wonder land ish coming As it does after a year in which despite double digit inflation . Workers came off much better than their colleagues elsewhere. Labor ministry figures show that the average . Wage Rose in 1980 by 2.3 per cent More than did the Cost of living thus putting the . Workers Well ahead of other Canadian workers who barely held their own against inflation. More than one i read with interest the article Wood stove makers hot on Trail of Cha free press May the article raises some Points upon which we would like to comment. It appears from this article that you Are inferring Only one Agency in Canada is certified to test solid fuel burning appliances and further that appliances must be Cha approved to qualify for the Canada Oil substitution program rebate of up to in fact neither is the Case. The program currently allows rebates to homeowners who Purchase suitable appliances tested and certified by three agencies Warnock Hersey underwriters laboratories of Canada and Canadian standards association provincially even More agencies May be recognized. There is also More than one test Standard to which stoves May be certified for inclusion in this program. There is the Cha Standard b366 and also the ulc Standard s627. Warnock Hersey does not write Stan Dards but tests submitted products to currently recognized standards. We then Supply a follow up factory inspection and Label service to our clients. Our service has become accepted by authorities having jurisdiction across both Canada and the United states. Warnock Hersey includes in its Clien Tele Many manufacturers in Manitoba most in the greater Winnipeg area. While there May be some waiting for reports to be finalized our clients Seldom wait More than two to three weeks to Start a test program and sometimes Complete a test program and have Label service within four to five weeks. Howard a. Grisack operations manager fire laboratories division Warnock Hersey professional services Ltd. Vancouver . Child abuse with regard to recent articles in the free press about child abuse these articles May make other families aware of what could be going on in their own Homes. People might know of a family where a child or children Are being abused and Are afraid to report it to the proper authorities. Perhaps they do not know whom to report it to so the abuse continues. Sometimes the environment the Chil Dren Are brought up in has a psychological effect on them. If they were abused As children As adults they think it is right to abuse their children. Hearing about child abuse and seeing the pictures in the newspaper has a devastating effect on us All at least it did for me. L. Goodmanson Winnipeg Low class slobs i feel i must come to the defence of your dining out writer Marion War Haft in response to the Quarter Page and run by Pepper s restaurant june 19. Pepper s criticism that mrs. War Haft s opinions and standards Are much too High for Winnipeg s Public is questionable. Is this to suggest that we in Winnipeg Are merely Low class slobs with no taste after All when people decide to patronize any dining establishment they should be Able to expect Quality food and an enjoyable meal. Frankly i must agree with mrs. Warhaft s assessment of Pepper s. The decor is run of the Mill and the menu limited and unexceptional. I have found mrs. Warhaft s reviews to be consistently very honest and helpful whereas Pepper s accuses your columns Are always filled with i recall several columns in which is. Warhaft favored her subject with a glowing report and justifiably so. Mrs. Warhaft s expert advice is much appreciated. Keep up the Good work Marion Warhaft. Mrs. Kathy Stevenson Winnipeg and have been a frequent visitor to almost All restaurants and find that is. Warhaft s reviews have almost always matched mine Only she has been far More diplomatic in description than i could allow myself to be. We have Only to look at the recent threat by civic and provincial health authorities to disclose unclean restau rants As an indication of the inadequacies Here. I applaud mrs. Warhaft for her sincerity and credibility in reviewing Winnipeg s restaurants. H. Mirochnick Winnipeg birthday Mary d. Cook Virden Manitoba born Glasgow Scotland june 26, 1891. With reference to the local restau rant s remarks of june 19, As a consumer i come to the defence of Marion Warhaft. I wish to commend mrs. War Haft As the first reviewer i have come across in Winnipeg who has told the truth As she sees it regardless of consequences. I have lived in Winnipeg All my life look dad. A Mirage ;