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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-12-15, Page 5gkes 8 ple ie a to at .ea Ista tha to tim ds o t ne as ject asst ut t it tog and mu pub byp aide eres en page By th ik in atiful in wi I rea !ady ciliti howe )orts ash to se ctures e to s 10 lov r fan) gether elabor some tbea to pag nation ,afters J. verse ilar s Guth. was ra g who Alcoa .al Nos against ;keY g go to Inv C Tsn,.! GO' GG round at a Huron County board of education its elementary school teachers d to term's for the 1977-78 contract the teachers voted ,to accept the board offer, Tuesday night. n Cochrane, director of education, Wednesday that the teachers to a 5.12 percent increase and the versial pupil -teacher ratio had dropped from the contract. hrane said the new pact brings the ge earnings of the 380 elementary teachers in the county to $17,448. of those teachers are just part - and the full-time equivalent is 362.5 rs, miner- in the Sudbury basin n't give you a• plug nickel for bridge Mines. st week it was learned that It was inevitable. I had to join the ranks. At least I am now certain there are three things that are unavoidable in Canada: death,,, taxes .... and of course winter. It seems that we no sooner finish complaining about the heat, mowing the, lawn and the humidity than it is time to start complaining about the plugged driveway and shovelling. But in the pas( I have " braved the elements under the misguided con- ception that if I completely ignored winter it just wouldn't be there. Pretty smart huh? Well it didn't quite work out that way. And the more I tried to ignore it the more January seemed like eternity and the final tally read one to nothing winter. I had hopped through drifts of snow in low boots that could double as tennis shoes in the summer and risked my I, career scraping windshields with gloveless hands. Periodically changing hands only seemed to increase the frostbite problem. But I relented. This year I purchased an $8 pair of gloves and to my own amazement I still have them. Gloves and mitts always forsake me in the dead of winter despite concerted efforts on my part. I was always the kid whose mother made me wear idiot mitts (jnvariably the string broke and I would lose them anyway) or was forced to sew my mitts to my coat. But I solved that problem too. I would lose the coat somewhere and that only compounded the problem. Some people have the same problems with boots, especially at large gatherings. They either leave with the wrong pair or get two lefts that are two sizes too small. I soon learned that my ankle high, "4- GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY", DECEMBtER"15,UM, paper thin boots weren't built to. handle much more than a slight drizzle on a foggy day. And I have quickly surmised those days are few and far between in January and February. But it became extremely difficult to disregard the snow when half of a snowdrift sifted into my boots while pushing a car, or shovelling snow. The worst part is when that snow begins to melt inside the boot and I begin to squirm in boogie -like fashion behind the wheel. And for anyone who is a confirmed winter complainer there is nothing more annoying than watching a ski enthusiast smile as 102 cm. of snow pelts down on the roadways. "Look at all that great snow. Should be a great weekend on the slopes eh?" they usually say, their eyes bulging with delight. Skiers are probably more sensible than me though. They never lase their gloves and have the sense to buy decent. boots. Snow is one of our most abundant natural resources and like anything else. has to have its advantages. Snow means that the Christmas lightsr strung around your eavestrough all summer are not out of place anymore. You finally don't have to make excuses about still having your show tires on from last year and sometimes it makes it impossible for the mother-in-law to come for a two week visit. The only way to tackle winter is to face up to it and prepare. And then convince yourself that winter has its advantages like....uh, well, I'm sure I thought of one before. Anyway just be positive and repeat....l love winter, I love winter, I love win- ter E WEEK ASTER HERE IN R. J. Elliott, Blyth school trustee and chairman of the board's elementary school teacher negotiating committee announced at Monday's board meeting that the board had ratified the teacher agreement and that the teachers had to vote on acceptance of the agreement, Tuesday. He said the contract negotiations, which had bogged down in October and had been turned over to a mediator, had been completed by Monday and that the teachers' vote to accept the ratification would settle the issue. The negotiations broke down due to differences arising from basic pay rates INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION HURON for teachers and pupil -teacher ratios. The settlement removed the pupil - teacher ratio from the contract talks and turns it over to director John Cochrane who has been given the authority to determine the ratio in the future. A committee consisting of Cochrane, three teachers and three board mem- bers will- determine the ratio in the future. Cochrane said ' the pay rates are established in seven categories, depending on the teacher's qualifications and experience. He said four of the categories involve teachers with degrees and the remainder are for teachers not holdiu degrees. The new rate for category D teachers, the lowest category, is from $9,840 to $13,140 after six years' experience; category C ranges from $10,415 to $15,365 after nine years; category B is from $10,990 to $18,490 after 10 years; category Al for . teachers holding degrees is from $12,040 to $19,540 after 10 years; category A2 is $12,590 to $21,0901 after 10 years; category A3 is from $14,170 to $23,670 after 10 years; and category A4 is from $14,290 to $25,040 after 10 years. The rate of pay for vice -principals is the same as tlmt of the teachers, except they receive an allowance for holding the position. Principals are paid at a higher rate and are also defined by category, depending on qualifications and ex- perience, Principals in category D are paid between $13,200 and $15,200 after two years' experience; category C receive from $14;950 to $19,750 after four years; category B receive from $20,500 to $25,400 after four years; categories Al and A2 receive from '$26,250 to $31,050 after four years; and categories A3 and A4 receive from $27,I00 to $31,900 after PROVINCIAL POINTS/ world markets and it is not willing to pay for more stockpiling of nickel when there are already large inventories around the world. But GilleSpie said Ottawa will ask Ontario to help the ailing nickel industry by reducing pollution standards and resource tax rates. The cost of new equipment and other measures to meet pollution standards is too high when the soft world markets are hurting the nickel companies. However, Gillespie did not blame the emission control standards or tax rate on the job cut- backs. Gillespie did say that Ontario's nickel mine pollution standards are too stringent and cited as.an example the $2 billion Inco will have to spend in Sudbury to meet the standards. Even when Inco announced the layoffs they did not mention the pollution standards. Gillespie also believes that Ontario's tax structure on nickel com- panies is disincentive. Ontario levies a corporate tax of 25 per cent (on all companies) and an additional 40 per cent on all profits over $40 million on mining companies. Aside from that the federal government also levies a federal tax on the mines but that isn't likely to be lowered. Gillespie added gloom to the despair in saying that copper production is also threatened by world markets. He said more miners could lose their jobs if the market is not stabilized and to that end Canada has asked other copper - producing countries to cut back output by five per cent to help stabilize the situation. Canadian copper production is to decline by at least six per cent next year. Gillespie agreed with Conservative mines critic Allen Lawrence that the government had notice that the mihe industry was in trouble. Lawrence suggested that the government took no steps to deal with the situation. Gillespie said the Canadian mining industry is facing a difficult time because of the poor world markets. He said it was not a situation.the companies have created and he also indicated that the government has no solution. The Government will attempt to ease the situation in Sudbury through unemployment insurance and by sen- ding special recruiting teams to Sudbury from Crown corporations such as Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. and Syncrude Canada Ltd. Employment Ministry J.S.G. Cullen refused to answer questions from the opposition because four years. Cochrane said most of the county principals are in the top two pay categories, while the majority "of teachers are in categories B, A2 and A3. The contract is for one year and is retroactive to the beginning •of Sep- tember. Cochrane said the settlement is within the amount the board speculated on when it struck the costs for teachers' salaries in its 1977-78 budget. ,The county's secondary school teachers are still negotiating their contract with the board. Those talks are also being handled by a mediator. they referred to 'him as ,the unem- ployment minister. John Rodriguez (NDP Nickel Belt), whose constituents are taking the brunt of the mining layoffs, refused to address his questions to Mr. Gillespie because of his insensitive attitude towards the unemployed miners in Sudbury and rather addressed acting Prime Minister Allen MacEachen. MacEachen said that - Gillespie had answered the questions with sympathy but Rodriguez simply replied that the unemployed in his region can't eat.sympathy. On Tuesday the miners protested their plight in Ottawa. eport in the Globe and Mail said gamble several years ago and a is now paying for that gamble nailing economy. CANADA IN SEVEN The national unemployment rate is 8.4 per cent and is the highest since the depression of the 1930's. Some claim that with seasonally adjusted rates over the winter months the unemployment figure a budget speech in 1974, Canadian could reach 1 million. ce Minister John Turner said that ans had reached a threshold of challenge and great opportunity at the outlook for the Canadian raY was bright. looking at the economy in Canada Turner's words, held little hint of oom and despair that is now nt. Canada in 1977 is much dif- than Turner saw it in 1974. 11 Prime Minister Menachem says his aim at Wednesday's talks in Cairo was to work out nes for agreements with all its ighbors and not just Egypt. 100 said he was optimistic that a tothe Palestinian problem could ecretary of State, Cyrus Vance. as with Begin at a press con - following talks in Jerusalem, thinks there is a chance of forward to peace. But as they tift between Egypt and hard-line Inflation is accelerating at a fast rate and at the end of November reached an all time high of 9.1 per cent in Canada. Opposition critics are now arguing that controls imposed upon Canadians are not keeping pace with the cost of living. Wages during the past year were kept at six per cent while the cost of living rose 9.1 per cent. Wage and price controls, however, will begin to be waived in April 1978. The economy has been sluggish during' the past year with little improvement in_ view for next year. Economists are now claiming that high unemployment figures are just something that Canadians will have to liVe with and there is no real optimism for real growth in our Gross National Product. Real rabor income per worker is declining in Canada and the record high current account deficit on goods and services trade is rising. The Canadian dollar has been devalued by morb than 10 per cent on the ,world markei during the past year. The Canadian dollar has been allowed to float on the world market for a number of years but its- value has remained relatively stable. Canada is now forced to borrow'money abroad just to pay back interest on previous foreign loans. Also the federal government's $8.5 billion financial deficit is at a record level and promises to go even higher this year. Most of that is disturbing enough, but the situation is somewhat distressing when our major natural resource ex- porters such as Inco and Falconbridge, are cutting Canadian production and laying off Canadian workers, Our oil ,reS'erves have also been WORLDVVEEK Arab countries grew wider. Syria's Foreign Minister Abdul Halim K had - dam, said that his country would boycott all peace talks - including the proposed Geneva conference. Khaddam said that as a result of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel, Syria believes any political activity, whether in Cairo or Geneva, would serve capitalist schemes and be a cover up for plots. Saudi Arabia the banker of most Arab countries, is trying hard to heal the split. Crown Prince Fhad said on radio that Arabs should bury their differences and close ranks. He called on all Arab leaders to work toward restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and recovering Jerusalem „ and other occupied But in Jerusalem the Israeli Prime Minister said there was no intention to sign a separate peace deal with Egypt. Principles agreed to ip Cairo will be a sample for the peace treaties to be signed with all of the Middle East neigh- bors. Vance, who is on a six nation tour of the Middle East, said he still had hopes that the other Arab nations will even- tually join the peace negotiations. So far, only Egypt, Israel and representatives of the United States and the United Nations are slated to be in Cairo. There were rumors that King Hussein's Jordan and representatives of the Palestinian Organization are willing to go to Cairo later if the talks show signs of real progress. ,, Vance said he could not predict what future the talks might have but said the sooner unanimity is achieved, the more disappearing which means that Canada is losing her security blanket -natural resources. And those resources were a blanket that politicians and bureaucrats relied on to carry Canada through any trouble in the manufacturing industries or agricultural exports. EconOmists claim that two major decisions by Turner and Trudeau turned the economy around. Those decisions were made in • 1972 and 73. Those decisions although they appeared to achieve the short-term, politically popular goal of creating new jobs, but the three to five year consequences were runaway inflation and deterioration of the economy's competitiveness on the rapid the progress would be towards peace in the Middle East. Vance also met with King Hussein on his six nation tour. Vance said that Ilussein believes his main task is to work as a mediator between the Arabs and to See what Israelis response to President Sadat is going to be. Hussein was adamant about not attending the Cairo talks and said the negotiations would do little more than prepare some of the ground work for a fuller conference eventually in Geheva. But Hussein did call on the United world markets. In 1973 the government cut taxes and increased family allowances and pen- sions. Banks were also ordered to keep interest rates down. The spending,power released by these measures created an inflationary situation since too much money was chasing too few goods. Pricing began to rise. As the economy headed into a recession, taxes were cutc4' again in 1974 and the government held domestic oil prices below the world While other countries slipped into a recession Canada flourished for awhile but then wage and price controls were introduced and the rest is history. States to use its influence to have the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights and the West Bank of the Jordan River In- cluding the old sector of Jerusalem, returned to Arab hands. Hussein's position has been that he would not attend the conference unless a,11 other parties are present, Syria refused and Lebanon, with 30,000 Syrian peacekeeping troops on its soil, also declined. An Israeli airliner carried journalists to the peace conference in Cairo and the landing marked the first commercial flight between the Jewish state and