AT - Wednesday, June 20, 1984 - North Shore News HS mailbox | >< | Merchant marine issue vital VV SPCA should ‘be commended’ Dear Editor: “¥ouy editorial, “Winds of Chang®y (May 25, 1984), ac- curately reforts on the cur- rent crisis Nous shipbuilding industry, but unfortunately parrots the sante hackneyed conclusions put fgrward by rightwing employer groups: namely that littl can be done to save the industry, that the building of a Canadian mer- chant marine ts impractical, and (alas) that the workers are to blame for having **priced themselves out of the market’’. Workers, we are Bouquet for bodyshop Dear Editor: This is a letter of apprecia- tion and commendation to a local business that sull takes pride, together with the highest standards of integri- ty, in their guaranteed quality of workmanship. The paint on the hood of my car had dulled right down, and as the Crash Pad people had repaired and re- told, have no choice but to “trim their satls to the winds of change”’ This sounds very similar to Premier Bennett's recipe for the ‘‘new reality’? — a recipe for deeper, more prolonged depression, for more unemployment. The Fraser Institute et al are quite fond of reminding us that corpora- tions can buy goods in other countries at cheaper prices and that if Canadian workers want to become ‘competitive’ they must accept wage cuts, deterioration of their work- ing conditions and an erosion and told me the paint had broken down and would be redone, free of charge. The car was returned to me after just one day and the paint job was to my complete satisfaction. This, surely, 1s ‘‘above and beyond’ the norm. and denotes the ethical plane I’m sure we would all like to see in every Strata of society. We should all take pride of their union rights. What is ignored in_ this simphstic equation is that the lower prices in Third world countries result’ from third world wage rates often as low as $1 an hour, third world poverty and oppression. Canadian workers are ab- sOlutely right in rejecting this ‘“*new reality’? and in stan- ding up in defense of their living standards and_ trade umon rights. Which brings me to the question of a Canadian mer- chant marine. Instead of tell- ing workers what they must accept, it’s high time we Started telling the corpora- ton what to accept. We need new federal laws that would require 50% of all bottoms {ravers Canadian waters be builf NUMBEH GF SEFAD., Koos © Grito. AAT SDE NVE facrw avy ct call 987-2966 he TTS TEE TAT Te. Somos yurs SONA