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By Tony Carlson This has been the summ of our discontent. From sea to shining sea, o ganized labor and manag ment have been at loggerheac - trawler operators in New foundland, police in Nov Scotia, garbage collectors, bu and subway drivers in Ontario transit workers in Britis Columbia. There are even rum blings of yet another posta strike. These brushfires pale besid the chaos in Britain's mines but they are all symptomatic of a deeper condition which is troubling, to say the least. We have just spent 20 belt tightening months nursing the economy out of deep reces- sion and many observers say we're on the verge of a re- lapse. Yet unions still use or threaten to resort to their ulti- mate weapon, the strike, with unsettling frequency. To be sure, unions have been accepting lower raises - an average of 3.9 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to 12.8 per cent in 1982. But for thousands of owners of small businesses, there have been no extra dollars in the pay packet re- cently. Indeed, many have made do with less in order to keep the company afloat. There is, in short, a growing concern that organized labor's reluctance to bend is pricing our goods out of the market and thus costing us jobs. A York University study shows that labor costs per unit of production are more than twice as high in Canada as in Japan, and 30 per cent higher than in the United States. In fact, only Britain has a higher labor cost than Canada among our major competitors in man- ufactured goods. We have, it would seem, lost our competitive edge. THE CORPORATIONOF THE TOWN OF WHITBY TOWN OF WHITBY MUNICIPAL OFFICES CLOSED LABOUR DAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1984 WHITBY TRANSIT THE WHITBY TRANSIT SYSTEM WILL NOT BE IN OPERATION ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1984, BECAUSE OF THE LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY. THE TRANSIT SYSTEM WILL RESUME NORMAL OPERATIONS ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4,1984. WE REGRET ANY INCONVENIENCE THAT MAY BE CAUSED BY THIS ACTrON. R.A. KUWAHARA, P. Eng., Director of Public Works. WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1984, PAGE 7 New rate system won't mean increase for customers: Bell Hard truths for labor, management Labor leaders have dismissed er the competition argument, urging instead that manage- r- ment productivity core under e- close scrutiny. There is some ds ment in their concern. y- One can lalso sympathize a with auto workers. who seek is substantial raises after seeing , record profits for the Big Three h and executives voting them- t- selves unconscionable bonuses. i But our lack of competitive- ness will not go away. It is re- e lected every day in our u nem- ployment statistics. - "Union mem bers must real- s ize that with l.3-million un- employed, they're the lucky *ones," says Jim Bennett, Vice- President of Legislative Af- *fairs for the Canadian Feder- jation of Independent Busi- ness. "If we don't address this issue, we will only lose more jobs to offshore firms." Labor and management to- gether must recognize that in a changing world, flexibility is the key to staying alive. CFIB studies show that from 1975 to 1982 in Canada, small manu- facturers, that so-called dying sector, were the largest single source of new jobs. The reasons are clear. First, these companiies realized they could not compete in mass- prodùced, standardized goods created offshore by manufac- turers with lower labor costs. Second, new technologies, which make possible special- ized marketing techniques, have broken down the old mass markets. Consumers are de- manding more individualizcd and durable goods. Successf*ul smaill tirms have seen that and gone after these target markets where thev can compete by concentrahing on quality, not quantity. And the strategy, Lnlike too many unfortunate Canadians, is working. There will be a new way of billing for telephone service star- ting September lin Bell Canada territory. On that day, restrue- tured telephone rates will come into effect for Bell Canada customers, providing separate charges for lines and the rental of telephones and other equipment. Monthly rates for basic local telephone service have traditionally included the rental of the first telephone. Now, customers will have a choice of where they obtain their telephones. Private line business or residen- ce customers can con- tinue to lease sets from Bell or purchase them from Bell or any other supplier. Effects of the new rates on customers' ac- counts will vary. For some, the monthly telephone bill will decrease; for others it will increase. "It all depends.on the type and number of ser- vices and equipment each customer leases from Bell," said Orma Lyttle, Bell's manager for the Whitby ex- change. This new method of paying for your telephone service is a result of a move made by Bell in 1979, when it asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, if the at- tachment of customer- -provided equipment was in the publie in- terest. In August of 1980, Lyt- tle said that the CRTC, r in an interim decision, ruled that Bell Canada customers could pur- chase their own exten- sions and connect them to Bell's network by means of a jack, provided the equipment met the requirements for connection that were established at that time. Following hearings in 1982, the CRTC confir- med the interim decision and also stated that Bell customers no longer had to rent their first set from Bell. At the same time, the CR- TC ordered Bell to break-out the rates it would charge for the line and for the sets. Bell filed these new rates in March of 1983. The CRTC approved the restructured rates last March and ordered Bell to put them into ef- fect on September 1. The approved rates were designed not to result in any revenue increase for Bell. I PERSONALIZED COLOUR CONSULTATION InCIudes: Hair Colours: Make-up Swatches and Wardrobe Advice Cal now for an appointment LA CONTESSA st HAIR SALON 668-9262J WE ARE GOING TO GET I FENNELL PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATI Do you know what your Seasonal Colours Are? LA CONTESSA Now Offers You een , SCOTT o VE authorized by Rene Soetens, official agent I I Private line business or residence customers will pay $1.35. per month less for basic telephone service because it no longer includes the telephone set. "However", Lyttle said, "customers will now be charged for each telephone they rent from us. Also the rates for many of our premium sets have been reduced." Bell will continue to repair all leased sets and equipment without additional charge. Those customers who purchase their own sets will have to make- their own arrangements for maintenance. Lyttle added Bell was not expectidig a significant degree of migration of customers from Bell equipment to their own equipment because the $1.55 rate per set for residence CONT'D ON PG. 1l IN ONTARIO RIDING- RE-ELECT THE COUNTRY WORKING * NEW SOLUTION • NEW LEADER • NEW TEAM WE ARE GOING TO DO IT ALLTOGETHER BY VOTING PC SEPTEMBER 4,1984 1 m 1 1 %it. 668-9262,