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PAI ,TIIURSDAY, SEPIJiMBER 28,1972, WHITBY FREE PRESS editorial Where was the LETTER? It depends who you are before you can talk to your eiected representatives at town hall. 1lndeed you may be a prince in plum veivet or a pauper ini tbreaded burlap, but if you want ta exercîse your democratic right by speaking out at a puiblic mieet- ing of cauncii-with the press in attendance-then the success of your intention is contingent uipon just what you hiave to say and how it wili suit the local councii's means at a particular point in time. This was neyer so biatantly obvious as it wvas 8 p.m. Monday nighit ast whien Local 53 Presi- dent Gcrry McPbe îook up thc bat for CUPI' union employees Working in a crowded environ- ment at town hall. Whitby Reeve, NDP Tomi Edwards was in the chair ini the absence of Mayor Des Newrnan. Altbougb apparently sincere in bis advoca- tian for belp for the ernployces hie represcnted, Mr. McPhee left more than the bardline Tories in the roomn wondering whiy a local union grievance would be aired before couincil at Ibis particuilar stage in thie game. Neverthieiess ini speaking of' poor wvorking conditions for office union empioyces aI town hall, McPhee made biis p)resentabion before a svn- pathetic council. He was also able 10 make biis presentalion jllst "before" (preposition being tised to npba- size tirne) the deputation prepared by the Whitby Citizen's Study Group. When Ken MacDonald of the Stuidy Group questioned Mayor Newman about public partici- pation at the special meeting calied by counicil Re-drs - w ite 1, To The Editor of the Whitby Free Press: I attended aur local Town Council meeting an Monday nigbit and was surprised to note that a letter from the Oshawa and District La- bour Couincil appeared on the agenda as re- ceived "îîd filed. with ail of the contra- versy over the seiling of aur town hall, the pro- posed Rossland Road site for 'the new town hall, and police building, and also in view of the fact that a deputation from the Whitby Study Group were on the ag- enda opposing thie pres- cnt council's action and offering a proposaI for couincil to study that this letter was not read in the correspondence. Perhaps our local town whjen it chjose taotlinîle ils intention ta seil town hall to the iibrary. bis warship dutifuiiy pointed out in no uineertain termis that il was customnary for anyonle wis;hing to address the couil ÎIto notif'y it beforeband tI1rouLII the office Of' the town clerk. There wvas no forni ai notification 10 the clerk (accord ing to bimiseif) by the ('U1Pl depu ta- tion. Ralph Straîf'ord as spokesnian of tbe study group made niote of' tbe lack of' letter of' notification hinthe e%,enîing*s cou ncil agenda. Could anyone conidemn i ls suspicion that perhaps a preceecling deplutation (library board) aircd "before" the study grouIps deputation at a previotis coutncil meeting was qLlestiOniable" The couInCil baLs puIt il over the public more than once but judging fromn the nethod cboscn this iast tirne if* everything is as it appears, they eithier consider their electorate prettv naive or are finaily running Out of means t10ool temi. There is onlv one hope Ieft open to the eiec- torate and that being bbce upcom ing mu nicipal election. ThouIgh fice electorabe mav not be able t0 knock bis worship from h is higbly coveted perch. replacements are surely comiiiglfor some of' tiose counicillors wbo only pay hip ser-vice 10 Newmnan's every clemand. Then once again \Vlitby rnay sec at 'ieast some representation \vith open rninds and wîtb the good of the eiectorate at heart. And about the snowjobs such as the one that took place on Manday night? ReaiIy, Mr. Edwards! counicillors and acting mayor Reeve Tom Ed- wards, who was the for- mer President of the Oshawa and District La- bour Council, don't feel that iabour's vaice counts for ail that much. Must tbey be rerninded that the Oshawa and District Labour Couincil is the officiai voice of' labour ini this area'? Muist our couincil also be re- miinded that labour peo- ple (they can be rccog- nized by their Ilunch pails and uinion buttons, usualiy) also pay a gaod- ly sha re of taxes 'in Whitby?' Anyone interested in asking 'the clerk at- the town hall for permission ta read the letter might find it significant that at the last meeting of the Oshawa and District Labour Counicil, a mo- tion was passed to sup- port the petition being circuiated by the Whitby Citizens' Study Group presented ta our local coulncil. 1 feel that a certain town emplôyee frorn C.U.P.E.. local 53. re- presenting thie town em- ployees, was used with- out bis knlowledge or the knowiedge of those lie represents.» Cou Id I be wrong? Yes. but i have been invoived ini labour circles long enloLghl to know that a deputation frorn tdie town empioyees doesn't air tbieir irievances at toWvn COLin cil meetings. Tîte cou ncil lias as far as 1 arn aware, no aLuthoritv, to deal witli these mat- ters. Thiere is a comm it- tee set Up tbiat thie bar- gain ing agent trorn LU.- P.E. meets with. 1 imia- gine it wouict consist of the Mayor Town Cierk and p--robabiy one or two comncil niembers. Thie couInCil as a whole only vote 10 accept or reject tbc' town lempiovees' con tract. \Vhien il cornes up for renewal. and this is after the bargaînîng sessions are cornpieted. Why then did this mnan's deputation appear on the agenda and withi no previous letter stat- ing this request? This is standard procedure. This question was asked of the acting mayor by Mr. Ralph Stratford who presented the brief on behiaif of the Whitby Study Graup, but the question was not an- swered. The C.U.P.E. repre- sentative stated his case very weli and 1 arn sure ail of the taxpayers at tbe meeting are in sympathy with tbhe pres- cnt cramiped working conditions thie inside employees at tble town hall are subject ta work Linder. My question is tis Whiy was the man (invited? and if sa. by whoin? ) anci is it not more thian just a cainci- dence that hie was piaced on the agenda to pre- sent bis brief.just before tbe Whiitby Study G rouLip? It is an old, aid gamne somneone is playing and I could '"snell" it righit awvay. Perblaps somneone who bias biad previous experience with wbat is known in Union circles aist the oid "Grease Board ". thougbit tliis oneC up. i wondcr who? Corne on fellas, let's play' tbe gaine dlean. What coulci be dirtier thian uising som-eone. who 1 lain sure appeared before council wîth the interests of' the town einployees lorem-ost iii biis minci and not at all aware of wbiat youi were puillîing. This is knlown as poor employer Union relations and if they didn't know what was happening at the time of the meeting 1I arn sure they do nlow because that was the topfic of conversation outside of the council chambers by a large graup af citizens for qu ite awhile and they weren't laughing. Remember, people election day is Decem- ber the 4th. Curiausly yours, (Mrs.) Joyce Read, 1022 King Street, l'etter'--s to theedito dit ' jo box,,2.06ýý w h itby