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Friday, February 22, 1985 - North Shore News

Editorial Page.

Naws. Viewpoint

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Part-time future

PQ anada’s biggest union, the

300,000-member Canadian Union of

Public Employees (CUPE), warns that

“employers are turning part-time work into a
weapon against organized tabor. °, I

The country’s 1:7 million part-time workers. “

now make up 15% of the labor force, com-
pared to fess than 4% in the 1950s. As 2
group, says CUPE, they are paid substantially
less than full-time workers, with fewer fringe
benefits. So the union is new calling for equal

-pay and overtime rates for both. categories,

regardless ef hours per week worked. .

In principle, the demand may seem fair
enough, but. it ignores several | of today’s
realities,

: The proportion ef. part-time jobs is “growing
_for. two. reasons. Firstly, computers and
. automation. .ave increasingly taking over work

ns:Secondly, part-time workers.’
“give employers needed flexibility. in’ trimming”

’ their sails to the economic ie winds, » especially | in -

times of recession, -

: “workers are in the small busines seston which.

’

has. always.“been.' difficult “for ‘unions to”
‘organize: because of: ‘the’ high cost:of servicing —
i “compared to big ~
“"Meanwhile; ' . small

OF alll mew |

. future. ‘Obviou: iv, they: must be i sronteed.
equitable. wages | and working conditions. But
al hig ‘fa

righteous tut-tutting’ ‘that’:

nis : ou ~ What's so wrong: about |

pney. from mine Devil to pay: for the °

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North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban
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Member of the B.C. Press Council

‘55,770 faverage. Wednesday

2 SBA) aN Friday & Sunday)

se,
=, 2

THIS PAPER lu RECYCLABLE

- slashing . is

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Nee wee wewewe nner”

The trouble with revolu-
tions is that -you never
know how they’re. going
to turn out until they’ re

already over.

ecoriomic revo:
in. which - the old.

‘induStries, our

economic mainstay for
“generations, are now runn-
: ing’ out’ of steam. There's a
high- tech” ‘vevolution, which

is seeing automation make
“more and more inroads into
our working lives.::

There’s a social revotution
stemming in part’ from the
economic upheaval. With
almost a:quarter of a million

» people out-of jobs, many of

-us are having to rethink our.
basic ideas about the role of
work in a new economy.

But the social revolution
has many roots. Some go
back to the .counter-culture

Of the 1960s which, for all its
- naive slogans, let loose new

ideas about‘‘such: things, as

ecology, human dignity, and:

the need for: people to set
‘their own goals.

‘There’ s a revolution going
on in education. Mostly it
seems to involve the efforts
of largely uneducated cabi-
net ministers to create an
educational system geared to
the 1920s. But the budget
forcing many
educators and parents to
rethink their basic assump-
tions about what to .teach

Dear Editor:

Your recent editorial entitl-
ed “Art Logic’ (Sun Feb. 3,)
and the various articles
revealing the controversy
over the use of Pauline

Johnson School for either the

arts community. or French

/

and how to teach it.

And there’s a quiet’ potiti-
cal. revolution under way.
No one is throwing up bar-
ricades or . storming. the
Bastille, .but ‘some of the

fundamental assumptions of

political life in British Col-
umbia are being tossed onto
history’s ash heap.

The real nature of this po-

. litical revolution is hard to

define. It will probably not
be fully understood: until: it
has worked itself out.
Perhaps, 20 years from now,
the political scientists will be
able to explain in detail ex-
actly how B.C. politics
changed in the 1980s,

Right now, in the middle
of the revolution, all we can
see are the signs of some
kind of. major change. Peo-
ple on both sides of the old
political spectrum are realiz-
ing that what they've been
doing doesn’t

realities.
Socreds _
believe sincerely in the tenets
of..their party now find that
their old beliefs don’t really
fit these new times. Veteran
NDP'’ers who always ac-
cepted the party’s principles
and policies now find: that

the wisdom of the 1960s is .

out of touch with the 1980s.
People all over the pro-

work any.
more, And:they’re walking” ..
~ away from the old political

who, used to

SENT:

TAK
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ASQ i

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theitiselves: z as. “either left
right,
suspect’ that those | “time-"
honored political labels don a
mean very much’any‘more.
There’s a growing feeling
that we need something i new.

‘Not-just a’ new ‘leadér,’or

new set of’ policies, but a
new. approach-. to. the .whole.

question. of politics and gov--

ernment. There's a ‘feeling’
that’ it’s time “for-.a :fun-
damental change: . :

If we break free of the old’’:
left-right system, the: adver-:
sarial paradigm of . politics
we've lived with for so many
years, what do we put, in its
place? :

Obviously, .- there“: is: no
point trying to-create an ar-..
tificial middle: between : the;
two old extremes, The odds .
are, we'd end. up. with the

should, be ‘going.
“We. must’ instead’ create:
new politics, to answer the

‘neéds and goals ‘of British <
. Columbians in a new era,

What would ‘that’ new poli-
tics be like? How would it be
different from the old politi-

‘ cal realities?

No: one should try to pro-
duce an instant manifesto,-
detailing exactly how politics.

NOEL WRIGHT
ON LEAVE

Letter of the day_
Room for arts and language

linguistic needs of our com,
munity would be satisfactori-:
ly. met.

Why ‘not think big (or
paint with a big brush).

Immersion education has
prompted me to ask, **Why
nol construct a major com-
plex on the school property
and consider its use as both
an arts and language
centre?”"

This could be a new and
more modern approach to bi-
culturalism. Employment
would be created’ through
construction, teaching and
administering, and, at the
same time,

Orel
are. . ‘beginning to.

the artistic - and:

\

BN
SSS

SX
SS

WS
SS

We
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SSSA

_ they, very. soon. becom ¢om-.
. pletely: out. of: date. .

“, /But~ some.” basic ground |
-rales” can’ be laid “down. The-
old, politics ‘emphasized rigid

ic’
_ which: never. quit

: “politics-wi
the ‘emphasis ‘on. flexibility

,on ‘systems: that.can’ speedily: .." o
.y adapt to change. Results: will

be". more.” important than’ ©
bureéaicratic processes.. *

The old ‘politics: assumed :
the need for strong, central- ’
ized government:, which ‘im-.

posed its decisions: from the

top down. 7 ros Pane

“The: new: -politiés 's sees ‘the |
need | -for,..a:. décentralized :
government: which . actively
seeks to, distribute: power.'to :

“which encourages people ‘to’
make decisions * for:

“The old: politics was based ; :

on the: clash of opposing in-:
J terests: The new politics will:

-be ‘based on the recognition:
of common needs and goals.

The: old ‘politics’. 1 forced?
‘ politicians to choose between

being pragmatic ‘or: being vi.’ - i

sionary.. The! practitioners of: :
the new politics will have to":

be both pragmatic and vie: :
sionary. E

' They know - it’s s time for: ar
‘change. What: that change.
will be, and what. it will: .
- mean, for British Columbia,, -
is up to all of us to decide. ;;

Denese Izzard, .
West Vancouver