HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1991-03-20, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 19. a.
Fairness limited
The agreement between the Ontario Hospital Association and
the Ontario Nurses Association has won praise from experienced
nurses and general agreement from the public that nurses should
be rewarded better for their work.
Most people have been sympathetic to the plight of nurses and
won’t begrudge the senior nurses the nearly 30 per cent increase
in wages they received. The huge increase brings nurses back into
the same range with teachers that they had 25 years ago. In the
name of fairness people applaud the move.
Except that fairness only goes so far. Fairness only can work
within government or huge companies with plenty of resources
and the ability to control their incomes. From this settlement to
pay equity to so many other programs which try to bring
“fairness” to society there’s an insulation from the real world
many people in the private, small business sector have to deal
with.
While senior nurses, for instance, were getting a 30 per cent
increase in pay, Agriculture Canada was predicting a 23 per cent
drop in net farm income, the pay cheque that farm families get.
Many of our local employers have been laying people off.
Businesses on our main streets have been tightening their belts to
the point their circulation is cut off.
There is no fairness for owners or workers in small business
these days. Pay equity? Equal pay for work of equal value? Let’s
face it, no matter how good our doctors and nurses are, no matter
how hard they work, they wouldn’t be able to help many of their
patients if they were starving because they couldn’t get good,
nutritious food. Farmers then, under the rules of government pay
equity legislation, should at least be worth as much as a doctor or
nurse because if they didn’t do their job well, the medical
professions couldn’t keep up with the problems. But farmers have
to live in the cold, hard world of the international marketplace.
Most farmers would be delighted to make the S32.000 starting
salary for nurses that many of the young nurses were complaining
about, let alone the $50,000 salary of experienced nurses or the
much richer income of doctors.
Under fairness and pay equity, many other private sector
workers might also be able to demand equal pay to those in the
government sector. But it doesn’t work that way. There is one set
of rules for government sector and one for non-unionized small
business. The result is exactly what has been seen in the cases of
nurses and farmers: the gap between the incomes of those in the
public and private sector is growing.
We can’t all work for government. Somebody still has to grow
the food and run the shops and bake the bread. Society has to find
someway to properly compensate those people or there soon won’t
be anyone to pay the taxes to allow fairness to function in the civil
service.
Not politically correct
On top of honesty and integrity is political correctness now a
prerequisite of being a cabinet minister in Ontario?
The firing of Peter Kormos as Consumer Minister by Premier
Bob Rae Monday raises some disturbing questions. Mr. Kormos
seems to have shown some rather questionable judgement,in the
last few weeks but his offences hardly seem serious enough
offences to call for his firing.
He first hit the front pages when he appeared as a “Sunshine
boy” in the pages of the Toronto Sun days after calling for an end
to sexism in advertising. He has since been called a “pin-up”
which creates the impression of him lounging in a pair of bikini
underwear but he was fully clothed to the point of having a tie on.
If the same picture had appeared on the business page nobody
would have said a word. It was a silly mistake but it was hardly as
bad as critics have made it out. But many in the women's
movement howled outrage at what they said was a sexist act on
Kormos’ part and Bob Rae seems to have agreed that Mr. Kormos
was insufficiently politically correct to continue.
His second sin was hiring a convicted criminal to work in his
department. If this man had been a convicted murderer who had
served his time, or a former bank robber Mr. Kormos might have
been hailed by party insiders as doing good work to try to help
reform unfortunate criminals. But the aid had been convicted of
assaulting his wife and the added fact he was advising Mr. Kormos
on ridding advertising of sexism set up a howl from the party
faithful.
One would think that under the kind of non-discriminatory
beliefs of the NDP all that should matter was whether or not Mr.
Kormos was doing a good job, not his political correctness. But his
firing seems to indicate a kind of left wing version of the McCarthy
era when all a right winger had to do was accuse someone of being
a communist to destroy him. Do we now have a case that if
someone is accused of not living up to the party dogma he or she
should b£ fired?
Melt down
Looking ckward
ONE YEAR AGO
MARCH 19, 1990
The Board of Directors at the
Blyth Festival selected Peter Smith
as the new artistic director of the
Festival.
Alan Caldwell, 41, of RR 1,
Londesboro along with his two sons
and two neighbours were working
in the sugar bush east of their
house when the accident occurred.
There was a tree leaning on
another tree over the sugar shack
where they make the syrup, and
the men decided they should get it
down before it fell on the building.
While proceeding to cut it down,
the tree unexpectedly split in two,
then jack-knifed, striking Mr. Cald
well on his head and shoulders. He
was transferred to University Hos
pital from Clinton Public Hospital.
At the Good Roads Association
Convention in Toronto, Harry Gil
lis, RR 3, Brussels was honoured
on his retirement after 40 years
service to the road industry in Grey
township. Mr. Gillis received a
certificate for his service.
THREE YEARS AGO
MARCH 16, 1988
Dora Shobbrook, former Londes
boro correspondent for The Citizen
and other area newspapers was
given a plant as a small token for
her 17 years service, when a
gathering of the newspaper’s cor
respondents was held in Blyth
Thursday.
Grey Township council was an
gry over the charred carcass of a
calf which was dumped at the Grey
Township landfill site. It was not
only a violation of landfill site
regulations, but contrary to
Ontario’s Dead Animal Disposal
Act, the carcasses of a chunk hog
and of several lambs were also
dumped off.
Two local boys, Dwayne Evans
and Gerald Knight were with the
Listowel and District School Choir
which sang in St. Peter’s Basidia in
Vatican City. The choir toured Italy
and Greece and was scheduled to
sing at several places.
Bailie Parrott was presented with
the 65-year jewel and a framed
certificate at a ceremony held at the
Lodge of the Independent Order of
Oddfellows Western Star #149 of
Brussels. Retired and living in
Clinton, Mr. Parrott joined the
Lodge in 1923 and has held a
Continued on page 6
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