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UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO volume 13 number 11 friday, September 8, 1972
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Student as.‘ scab la bor
mainly on the basis of overwhelming experience. The only other applicant to apply for the position, created to enable the council to beef up its educational and political program, was David Robertson the current vicepresident. The selection committee also recommended that Robertson’s
The use of scab labour, including UW students has helped to keep a. strike at Ontario Hydro, which began July 21, out of the public eye. The strike, in which collective bargaining was abandoned after two weeks, is still far from settled. The successful use of scabs, with no lapse of hydro facilities for the general public, has meant that few people are even aware of the strike. Union president Bill Vincer explained, “We are striking against the employer. Up to this point we have not taken action against the public, and do not intend to”. delaying bargaining, BY management has put financial pressure on union members, who are presently forced to survive on a weekly $30 strike pay. “I feel it is a matter of staying with it until Hydro is willing to come to the table and negotiate in reasonable conscience,” said Vincer. The issues involve job security and work conditions, rather than drastic contract improvement. The union raised objections to management implementing certain decisions made without consideration of the workers: * A committee, Task Force Hydro, was established by the Ontario Government to study the company’s role within the community and its place within the province as employer; to study the concept of ‘make and buy’, which in fact, is
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Who goes to university? Who pays for it ? Who controls the money? How and why? These are some of the questions to be examined in a series of departmental meetings and seminars set up by the Federation of Students over the next month. The educational program on the financing of post secondary education is designed to provide students with enough information with which to make a decision in the October lo-12 referendum on an Ontario Federation of Students (OFS) fees boycott. The program is part of an intensive educational campaign on OFS-federated campuses across the province to protest increased . tuition fees and decreased student award grants. I In march the provincial government announced an undergraduate tuition fee increase of $100, a graduate increase of $395 and a teachers’ college fee hike of $600. In addition, the loan portion of the student awards program was increased by $200. The announcement received immediate student opposition when 1,000 people marched on the provincial legislature. Summer OFS meetings to discuss possible concerted action in opposition to the increases put forward five demands of the ‘provincial government : l that the grant portion of the student awards program return to its original level-$200 more than the present level. l that the age of student independence (a determining factor in the granting of student aid) be lowered from 25. 0 that part-time students have access to the aid program. l that fee increases be deferred. @ that there be full public and formal consultation with those affected before such changes are made. OFS representatives link government overexpenditure on
With looks of rapt attention fifty per cent of the participants in Wednesday’s general meeting ctim donut dunk eagerly await the next bevy of facts outlining their rol,e in student politix. Political analysts were quick to point to the “cross pollination syndrome”as an explanatioti of the dismal turnout, noting that due to post registration alienation everyone was in the pub getting snaffoed. ‘:* photo by chuck stoody -_ e
education in previous years, declining university enrolment, fading job markets for degreeholders, and the overall level of unemployment and economic inflation with the government demands that students finance more and more of their own education. OFS pamphlets urging students to withhold second-term fee installments pending -a strike decision and an explanatory letter from the Federation were distributed with pre-registration information. Representatives from the federation met with a high degree of success Wednesday in convincing students to pay 60 per cent of their fees now and 40 per cent at a later date. Many students, prior to coming here, were unaware of what the OFS fee strike proposal entailed. After some discussion and reading of the OFS pamphlet, a great number of students were willing to sacrifice the 10 dollar penalty and split their fees. The federation was pleasantly surprised with the many people who had sufficient understanding of the proposals, and who did not hesitate to split their fees. Splitting payment of tuition fees is a commonplace procedure. This action will allow students some leverage if they decide to call a fee strike. A brief meeting attended by 130 students in the campus centre Wednesday afternoon was the kickoff for UW’s pre-referendum campaign. Federation president Terry Moore explained the federation’s hopes and plans for the next month’s learning sessions. Meetings for all students will be publicized at the faculty level with continued
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Man bites dorr In a short-lived meeting, which surprisingly failed to reach the normal rhetorical heights, UW student’s council affirmed the selection committee’s recommendation for the position of executive assistant. Hired is Brian Switzman, a twenty-five year old bon vivant with- a list of studentpolitical achievements as long as council’s collective arm. Switzman, a veteran of three year’s on U of T’s SAC and one year on the executive, was hired
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Daycare moved The Federation of Students day care center will re-locate in the former integrated studies farmhouse in a month opening up spaces for 23 to 25 children ages two to six. The day center will be run on a co-operative basis using ,.parent and student volunteers. A full time co-ordinator, graduate of the .Ryerson day care program, has been hired. The federation presently operates a day care center in room 113 of the campus center but all places have been filled. Applications are being taken for a waiting list for the new center. The integrated studies farmhouse is located off Columbia street on the north campus. Information and applications can be obtained by contacting Pauline Pariser or David Robertson at the federation office in the campus center.
photo by gord moore
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