Women in the working class

By MARIA DUBOIS

ft women’s attention from
; pe more: and more wo-
0 call for making a
tn my for International Wo-
id a 2 we — just as
or n September had
Ai aly been set to distract
N workers from May
een can well use both
© Put the heat on govern-
y’ eta bosses for ‘Equal
Wome ; ter all, their own U.S.
Koo oa expert, Mrs. Elizabeth
 ment’s ae their Labor Depart-
| Nounceg Omen’s Bureau, has an-
betwee that the differential
q Wapes + men’s and women’s
aro yi-° Worsening instead of
ave oe In 1955, women’s
no, camings came to 64%
Mm
had a. 8, and by 1970 the rate
°pped to 57% of men’s

“Wy,
omen of the Whole World”

i Tonde de l’amitie”
aMcing for friendship”
PICASSO

ge

. The onl :
Y international

Women’ .
Since =; peal published

* Th En

G glish, Arabic, French,

erm .
an, Russian and Spanish
by the

Women’
: ae s International
| Ocratic Federation

Consult. .
< ative Sta
: UNESCG oe (B)

Initiated

IN
WeERNATIONAL

MEN’S YEAR
1975
"0Claimed b

U y the

for »p N'TED NATIONS

ality,

Development, Peace”

Canada ated quarterly

Bt Rtese Subscriptions to:
| Te ‘anadian Women
tonto, say E,
| Sin tio

© Co
PY 6s¢. A.
NAME ¥5 Annually $2.50

Twice as ha

The militancy of women fighting for demands such as ‘Roll Back

ot sername

Prices’ has charged up the energies of ot hers in the labor move-
ment. The pressure for maximum 8-hour day and 5-day week, with

voluntary overtime,

for the $3-an-hour minimum wage, and for a

Prices Control! Board, with power to roll back food prices, all are as

much benefi! to women as men.

pay. Women with one to three
years college education in the
U.S. had lower incomes in 1971
than men with only Grade 8.

But 1973 saw one big change
— the largest discrimination set-
tlement in United States’ history.
The American Telephone and

-Telegraph Company, with its 24

associated operating companies,
vas forced to cough up $38-
million in a civil rights agree-
ment, providing increased pay
and advancement opportunities
for women and minorities. This

- brought a first victory for the

15,000 workers who got the $15-

million first settlement, plus an-

other $23-million per year in
wage adjustments. Besides, it
brought new open opportunities
for 780,000 employees. :
Canadian women’s pay rates
average about two-thirds of the
men’s rates, and we'll have some
heavy battling to get changes
like our sisters won from AT&T.
Sure, our government ratified
the ILO Convention on “Equal
remuneration for men and wo-
men workers for work of equal
value”: and the regulations of
the Fair Wages and Hours of
Work Act were amended to in-
clude contractors hiring under
federal contract, to cut out “all
discrimination. But what about
the rest of us working in indus-
try, offices, and service trades?
With the spiralling cost of liv-
ing, more and more women are
going out to work, so that now
less than half of Canadian wo-
men call themselves ‘just house-
wives”. ‘And they’re heading for
the unions too, with “union
maids” more than double — the
numbers there were ten years
ago; about 600,000 women now
belong to unions in Canada,
about a fourth of the total.
Fastest growing membership
among women was Quebec, but
Ontario women members 1in-
creased by 80% too, with larg-
est gains noted in white collar
and service trades. ACTRA's re-
cruiting drive had disappointing
results in Ontario, with the first
collective agreement signed with
the Underwriters’ Laboratories
of Canada, giving pay hikes
totalling 25% over three years.
But after six months in Van-
couver, 1,000 members have
signed up with ACTRA in six
units. Another credit to British
Columbia, where legislation now
requires the government to
negotiate beforehand with the
union affected by technological
changes on the impact and the
possibilities of lay-offs. ©
With the vast majority of wo-

men still unorganized, 70% of

them aged 18-25, trade unionists
need to listen to their needs and
recognize their main demands—
for equal pay, for paid mater-
nity leave, and for universal free
day care for children. On the
other hand, we women trade
unionists especially need to help
our unorganized sisters to learn
how the organized labor move-
ment has won basic rights for

all, and how the priorities

chosen for action help women
as well as all workers.

For example, the Ontario Fe-
deration of Labor backed a peti-
tion for 100,000 names to repeal
thé Ontario Hospital Dispute Ar-

- bitration Act. The Catch-up cam-

.

paign of hospital workers won
universal support through union
efforts, of course bringing bene-
fits to hospital workers as well
as nurses. The militancy of these
women in return charged up the
energies of others in the labor
movement. The pressure for the
maximum 8-hour day and 5-day
week, with voluntary overtime,
for the $3-an-hour minimum
wage, and for a Prices Review

and Control Board, with power .

to roll back food prices, all are
of as much benefit to women as
to men.

Sisters who deride the ad-
vantages of joining the union for
their lack of attention to equal-
ity for women, especially among
that 28% of college drop-outs
who lack money to finish univer-
sity, and take any work to eat,
should give second thoughts to
these union gains. Better to join
and find allies within the labor
movement for women’s rights,
than let the monopolies profit
from such divisions.

The Communist Party of Can-
ada puts foremost the issues of
equal pay, and universal day
care in the joint struggles for
1975 — International Women’s

Year. Removal of abortion from -

the Criminal Code is still a cru-
cial question, especially now
that Hon. Otto Lang has reveal-
ed his arrogance, typical of a
party feeling its revival in pow-
er. Other. questions of family
law and relationships will con-
tinue to be fought out, decent
housing at a price families can
afford, and attention to the
growing numbers of “latch-key
kids.”

There’s one good reason why
all these problems are under
control in the Soviet Union and
other socialist countries — there
are no monopolies to reap their
billions in profits nor to control

ple’s lives—it’s ‘people-power
that counts over there!

WORLD NEWS

r DOW-JONES BELOW 700; FIRST TIME SINCE 1970 :
EW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial oppe ed t
700 on the New York Stock eek ee egos
a more Seis fcr eae Exchange Aug. _22 for the first time
e Dow, barometer of blue-chi : ; ,
p stocks, fell to.
after noon, down 11.97 points from the market opeuthg. “Teeter
time the Dow moved below 700 levels was in mid-1970 Pia 22

. . - WHILE IN LONDON, SHARES TAKE BIG DIVE

The Financial Times share index dived
ea 17 to below t
another £900 million was slashed from stock aries lees re cE
A 10.5 point loss on the day took it down to 199.8 — it ins :
level since October 3, 1958. 5 : ee
“The market is feeding on fear,” com ae
depressed by its own depression. ; ee ae

SAIGON REGIME CLEARED OUT OF ANOTHER TOWN

The Saigon regime in South Vietnam admi
mitted Aug. i
forces had been cleared out of another town by the peers =
of oe provisional revolutionary government ae
e command admitted that it had lost control
n of

some 300 miles north-east of the capital in the Ciel aoe aie

Liberation forces attacked the regime base in the small ‘a mo
go i in a final ground assault on Aug. 20. seit es

n the past three weeks two other towns have been li
Neale eet : lave n liberated —
an g anang,- and Minh Long in the central coastal

BRING TROOPS FROM SOUTH KOREA

Thirty-two socialist and non-aligned countri
: : j es havi
to the United Naticns secretary-general Kurt Waldheim poe: See
tegicuce: at eee fabing for the withdrawal of all foreign “Lae
ned in South Korea under th i i
eee e UN flag in the coming General
The message from the 32, who include i
I F the S i
China, charges that, under the cover of the UN flag US. po
other foreign troops have been occupying South Korea since "1950
This interference in the internal affairs of Korea they said,
should be ended as soon as possible as an indispensible conditi :
son on modepentent te peacefully reunified Korea as
Ss year’s eneral Assembly decided to disband th
UN Commission for the Unification and Pcliabititation of cree
The 32 say this is only a first step. oe

ISRAELI HARBOR OFFERED TO U.S. SIXTH FLEET

TEL AVIV — A top Israeli milita ij
: 4 ry officer, Major-Gene i
Herensineen ches a nsinoli intelligence se Ea

‘S. 61 et if it is kicked out of Greec
second U.S. aircraft carrier, the Forrestal, sailed et ee 5
Mediterranean Aug. 20 on Pentagon orders to join the fe
Independence off Cyprus. rsd

Greek longshoremen in Piraeus and othe
. r: Greek

refused to handle U.S. ships bringing. military apni ao
forces in Greece, an action which strongly backs the action take ;
th ew vilian government of Premier Constantine Karatinalie:

Bartel the” ehmonseetion te? see” —s
y some 20,000 J
speuen Es streets of Tokyo this month before the start of magi
others Convention which filled the Nippon Budo-Kan, th bi :
hall in Tokyo. More than 44,000 women attended the tw ‘4 oa
ee ee Siete for an end to the Tanaka government, abicgcticn
.S.-Ja i ne avoliti
cle pan security treaty, and the avolition of nuclear

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1974—PAGE 9