i 
     
    
   
   
    
     . _,§- 
     
     *swraesr: 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Cadre, Feb. 3, I976, Page 6 
     
    
   
   
    
     Extreme Hardship and 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ Human Suffering ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     Corporations RestingonReoord Profits _ 
     
     «While workers Attempt Survival'yon $20/weak 
     
    
   
   
    
     OTTAWA (CUP) ———— Two NDP 
     
     members of parliament and 
     
     one NDP member of the Ontar- 
     
     io Legislature who recently 
     
     toured northern Ontario com- 
     
     munities affected by the se— 
     
     ven—month strike in the.eas— 
     
     tern Canadian pulp and paper 
     
     industry say the picture 
     
     they encountered of human 
     
     suffering was "profoundly / 
     
     disturbing". 
     
    

    
     MP's Cyril Symes and Arn— 
     
     old Peters, and MP Bill Fer- 
     
     rier also charged in their 
     
     interim report that the four 
     
     major pulp and paper compan- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ies have engaged in collusion 
     
     [tactics to break the union 
     
    
   
   
    
     and the strike.- They backed 
     
     up their charge by supplying 
     
     the press with copies of a 
     
     1973 agrrment signed by the 
     
     presidents of E.B. Eddy, 
     
     Domtar, and Rolland Paper 
     
    
   
   
    
     Company. 
     
     For the most part, the 
     
    
   
   
    
     commercial press_ignored the: 
     
    
   
   
    
     document, which outlines a 
     
     Scheme for using the output 
     
     of producing mills to cover 
     
    
   
   
    
     orders placed by customers of 
     
    
   
   
    
     struck mills and sets out 
     
    

    
     secretive billing and deliv— 
     
     ery arrangements. The media 
     
     also failed to cover the th— 
     
    
   
   
    
     ree member's report-of the 
     
     hardships being faced by the 
     
     20 thousand striking workers 
     
     and their families. 
     
    

    
     The hardships they descr— 
     
     ibe are severe: the workers 
     
     in the northern Ontario com; 
     
     munities of Kapuskasing, Sm- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ooth Rock Falls and Iroquois ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     Falls have been on strike 
     
     for over seven months, rece— 
     
     iving only $15 to $20 per 
     
     week in stike pay. 
     
    

    
     Many families\have used 
     
     up their life savings; or, 
     
     have had to take out second 
     
     mortgages on their homes; 
     
     and some have lost their ho- 
     
     mes due to mortgage default. 
     
     Most families have been for— 
     
     ced to go into debt, with 
     
     finance companies charging 
     
     interest rates as high as 
     
     24 percent. 
     
    

    
     Welfare has been denied 
     
     because the needy are invol- 
     
     ved in a labour dispute, many 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘families are now without tr-. 
     
     ransportation in these isola— 
     
    
   
   
    
     ted areas because they can't 
     
     pay auto insurance rates or 
     
     licensing fees, and local 
     
     merchants report_that busin— 
     
     ess is down by over 30 per— 
     
     cent, forcing them to lay 
     
     off staff and borrow money 
     
    
   
   
    
     to restock shelves.‘ ‘ . 
     
     The local doctor in Smoo 
     
     th Rock Falls told the NDP 
     
     members that he has seen a 
     
     general deterioration in the 
     
     health of the townspeople, 
     
     and that ulcers, high blood— 
     
     pressure problems and heart 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ attacks are growing in freq— 
     
    
   
   
    
     uency.l 
     
    

    
     Abitibi paper in Smooth 
     
     Rock has even refused to pr— 
     
     vide separation certificates 
     
    
   
   
    
     r to strikers whose retirement 
     
     ‘date fell during the strike,r 
     
    
   
   
    
     cutting them off from their 
     
     retirement benefits, and ma— 
     
     ny have depleted their reti- 
     
     rement savings trying to ma- 
     
     ke ends meet. 
     
    

    
     Ontario hydro cut off the 
     
     power to some homes in the 
     
     dead of winter, and resumed 
     
     service later, while furnace 
     
     repairman have refused to 
     
     make repairs to household 
     
     heating systems unless paid 
     
     in cash. 
     
    

    
     AdditiOnally, there are 
     
     90 thousand cords of wood 
     
     laying unprocessed in the 
     
    
   
   
    
     river near SmOoth Rock Falls' 
     
    
   
   
    
     which will pose a major pol— 
     
     '1ution problem if they sink’ 
     
     and rot in the river. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     What ' ‘ 
     
     Will _ 
     
     Be 
     
    

    
     First 
     
    
   
   
    
     To Sink 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     " ._:., 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Anti-Inflation Board? 
     
     The Canadian Paperworkers Union? 
     
     Probably the logs. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ._ ,a 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ' ' Result/«of 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
       
     
        
     
         
     
         
     
    
   
   
    
     i:.i’.ii. room. 32“ 
     
     up 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ fé'fi'RiKE 
     
    
   
   
    
     In short, the human eff- 
     
     ect of the strike in the th— 
     
     ree communities visited by 
     
    

    
     the NDP members, communities 
     
     in which 90-cents out of ev— 
     
     ery dollar spent flows from 
     
     the employment and activit- 
     
     ies of the paper companies, 
     
    

    
     is nothing short of disast— 
     
    
   
   
    
     .roust_ 
     
     Abitibi's.plants were shut 
     
    
   
   
    
     down by the Canadian Paper— 
     
     workers Union in mid—July, 
     
     while Spruce Falls Power and 
     
     Paper company was cloSed ea- 
     
     rly in December. These shu— 
     
     tdoWns followed the industr— 
     
     y's outright rejection, at 
     
     every available opportunity, 
     
     of union demands. The comp— 
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
         
     
           
     
    
   
   
    
     kvxln "w 
     
     a; sum 
     
     "sin- 
     
    
   
   
    
     .‘u e. 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
        
     
    
   
   
    
     ." “In! 
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
    
   
   
    
     (lupin V 
     
     unmi- 'y \uum 
     
     ' ;\u=~.\ Li:- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     -an es have not even made a 
     
     counter-offer bid_which cou- 
     
     ld end the strike. ' 
     
     In 1973 the industy had 
     
     made a tidy profit of $320 
     
     milliOn compared with $89" 
     
     million the previous year. 
     
     This trend in increasing in— 
     
     dustry prosperity continued 
     
     in 1974 as net profits dou- 
     
     bled to $685 million. Und— 
     
     erlying this increased pro— 
     
    
   
   
    
     -fitability of the companies 
     
    
   
   
    
     were price increases ranging 
     
     from 52 percent for newspr- 
     
     int and 118 percent for 
     
     ,pulp. , _ ‘ ' 
     
     While'prices and profits 
     
     were climbing for the indus 
     
     stry as a whole, the worker 
     
     was locked into a two year 
     
     contract signed in the spr— 
     
     ing of 1973. In 1973 the 
     
     average wage in the indus- 
     
     try was $192.35, rising 13 
     
     percent to $218.43 in 1974- 
     
     By January 1975 it went UP