February 13, 2000
Volume 30, No. 7
CAW Calls On Government To Appeal WTO Auto Pact Ruling
The challenge to the Auto Pact initiated by Japanese and European auto companies upheld in a final ruling issued from the World Trade Organization (WTO) this month is yet another example of the loss of our nation's ability to act in the best interests of its citizens. The ruling states that the Canada-U.S. Auto Pact is inconsistent with WTO rules. The Auto Pact required carmakers which sold products in Canada to create jobs in this country through production of automobiles. "It provided the foundation for the auto industry in this country in the late sixties and seventies," said Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove. "Without the Auto Pact establishing rules we would not have the dynamic engine of auto assembly plants and related parts production for the economy that we have today." Hargrove is critical of the federal government's suggestion that it may only seek clarification of the ruling. "More and more we are seeing the government hide behind the argument that the WTO prohibits this policy or that law. The federal government must appeal the ruling." Appeal The Ruling Canada has now been directed to end the policies that provided duty-free access to our market based on a company's level of investment and jobs in our country. Currently, the Big Three with its solid record of productivity, quality and profitability, exceeds the investment and jobs requirements needed to import cars without having to pay tariffs. "While the auto industry is extraordinarily healthy today we know from our own history that the market is cyclical, the industry is undergoing tremendous change and without the protection of the Auto Pact tariffs, the industry will suffer in the long-term." Hargrove added that Canada already has one of the most open markets in the world. Open Market For every one dollar of automotive products we export, we import $68 worth of products from Japan and $10 from the European Union. Japanese producers have 24 percent of the Canadian market and exports to Canada from Japan have more than doubled since 1995. With the elimination of the Auto Pact tariffs, imports can be expected to grow negatively impacting on investment and jobs in Canada. "This ruling takes us that much closer to increasing dominance by the WTO in a wide range of decisions that will impact on everything from trade in automobiles to water and indeed our health care system," says Hargrove.
World March of Women - March 21 to April 19, 2000
Workshops are planned across Ontario to help organize and mobilize events for the World March of Women. The workshops, sponsored by the OFL's Women's Committee along with the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice, are scheduled in 20 communities from March 21 to April 19. They are open to labour and community activists. Here is a list of some of the upcoming workshops: - March 21 - Thunder Bay - Labour Centre, 929 Fort William Rd. - March 22 - Dryden - Best Western, Rm. 118, 349 Government Rd. - March 23 - Kenora - Best Western, Cascade Rm, 470 1st Ave. S. - March 27 - Toronto - USWA Hall, 33 Cecil St. - March 28 - Orillia - Highwayman Inn, Hwy 11 & Coldwater - March 28 - Welland - CAW Hall, 16 Steel St. - March 29 - Oshawa - CAW Hall, 1425 Phillip Murray Ave. - March 29 - Cambridge - USWA Hall, 510 Collier-MacMillan Dr. - March 30 - Brantford - Labour Centre, 110 Icomm Dr. (Later workshops will be included in upcoming issues of Contact). The World March of Women will highlight the need to fight against poverty and violence against women. Events will take place around the world between March 8th (International Women's Day) and October 17th, 2000 (International Day for the Elimination of Poverty). A CAW produced poster highlighting the importance of the March will be available at the workshops. The CAW is also highlighting its ongoing childcare campaign as a concrete way to deal with poverty and violence against women. For more information about the OFL World March of Women Workshops contact Sylvia Stewart at (416) 443-7674 or 1-800-668-9138 or e-mail womenmarch@ofl-fto.on.ca.
"Theft Of Free Time"
Frustrated by management's failure to implement the 35-hour week in their workplace, dozens of postal workers in the French city of Besancon marched January 21 to the local police station to lodge a complaint over the "theft of free time." The police commissioner replied, in all seriousness, that he couldn't help them since there was nothing in the criminal code about free time theft. He suggested the local prefect was the one responsible for such matters, according to an English translation of an article in the French daily newspaper Liberation. The 190 postal workers then decided to take work time reduction into their own hands and started working a 35-hour week unilaterally. Source: News From 32 Hours, translation of Liberation article, January 22-23, 2000.
WEB PREVIEW: CAW Web Page
Here's a brief look at just some of the information available on the CAW home page. CAW Video News CAW Joins Tuition Fee Fight dated February 7, 2000 Toronto, Feb. 4, 2000 The CAW has joined Canada's university and college students in their fight against escalating tuition fees. Taking part in the students' national day of protest against both levels of government, CAW National President Buzz Hargrove called for an end to tuition fees... For the full text, go to the CAW web site, www.caw.ca, under What's News - CAW Video News.
