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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-10-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1988. Editorials United Church's anguish mirrors society's It’s sad to see the controversy that is tearing apart the United Church of Canada, and yet the church members are really just reflecting what has gone on in our society as a whole. For church leaders, the move to welcome all persons regard less of sexual orientation to be full members of the church (including being ordained as ministers) was probably seen as one more in a long series of reforms to make their church a more accepting and loving church. For those who oppose the move, to the point of withholding money or withdrawing their congregations, this may be the final straw in a list of “reforms” that has been going on endlessly for 25 years. There may have been other reforms they resented but this is the one that makes them rebel. Time to think this through Some 200 Huron county workers are without jobs because of the recent move of the Fleck factory from Huron Park to Mexico because the local workers wanted too much for doing their jobs. When the workers, making up to $7.04 per hour, rejected a 22 cent an hour raise (about three per cent) the company brought in the trucks and started loading its equipment to go to Mexican factories and other non-union Canadian plants. Twenty-two centsanhourmightnotseemlikemuch,buttheMexican workers will work for only $1 per hour. The managers of Fleck obviously don’t believe in the thinking of Henry Ford. Ford scandalized his fellow industrialists early this century by paying the unheard-of wage of $5 a day to his workers in Detroit. His thinking wasn’t so stupid. He wanted ordinary working people to be able to buy the cars he was making, and people earning less than $5 a day couldn’t afford a car. Like Ford, Fleck depends on the auto industry. The owners of the company live comfortable lives because millions of people in Canada and the U.S. can afford to drive the cars that Fleck makes components for. But how many Mexican workers earning $40 a week will be able to buy those cars? If we continue to take Canadian jobs and export them to Mexico and other nations where poor people will work for virtually nothing because it’s better than what they’ve got, how long will the auto industry be able to maintain sales in North America? But Canadian companies must remain competitive, the supporters of market place economics say. If, however, Canadian companies can’t afford to pay $7 wages to women, wages that won’t even take them above the poverty line, what hope have people with higher wages got in this free trade world? “The only solution is to get $7-an-hour Canadians out of jobs that can be done by robots or semi-skilled workers in third world nations,” the Exeter Times-Advocate commented editorially after the Fleck move. What jobs? Working for minimum wage in McDonalds, the kind of job most frequently produced by the recent economic boom? But people must be retrained to do better jobs, others say. Some people no doubt can be retrained, and may live more rewarding lives in their new jobs. But if we all think back to our school days, we can all remember people who did not have the ability to cope with complicated tasks. Can these people be trained to w ork computers and robots? What happens to those who can’t and who lose the manual labour jobs they now hold? And these same free trade moves come atatimewhenthe public is becoming increasingly impatient with supporting the kind of social programs we’ll need if there is a massive dislocation through free trade or moves of Canadians companies to take advantage of third world labour. Nobody seems to be taking time to think through the ramifications of the massive disruption to the current economic status quo: not politicians, not businessmen, not ordinary people. The workers at Fleck probably never thought about their company moving to Mexico until it happened. Like them, many other Canadians will happily ignore the problem until it hits them personally. This trend to move jobs to the cheapest available labour will only increase under free trade. It raises many questions about how the country will cope. We all need to put a lot more thought into just where this road will take us. Society in general seems to be going through the same process. We’ve come a long way in the last quarter century in building a more humane society, but no matter how much we reform, there’s always somebody haranguing us that we haven ’ t gone far enough. Tired of the constant pressure, people have rebelled. The word “liberal” has become such a dirty word in the U.S. election that it can be used in the same way “communist” was in the McCarthy era. In Canada the latest polls show that the Conservatives, the party least interested in social reform, are running away with the election. The people, both inside and outside the church, are weary. The church will eventually recover from this wound, just as society will be willing to accept reform again some time in the future, but for now people are saying “enough already.” October redecorating The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. MOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr (S38 00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines Monday, 2pm - Brussels, Monday. 4pm - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs Contents of The Citizen are S Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editors. Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968