The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

F. Some hornsection Members of the Ontario Place Clown Band serenaded 265 of Whitby's General Motor employees last week, at the material plant's th annual toy drive and Christmas luncheon. Proceeds from the event - usuaiiy in the neighborhood of $800 - will go to the Salvation Army. Turkey and gravy were dished out by GM executives and company president John Smith, and retirees some GM employees and past em- ployees who had retîrea as many as 15 and 20 years ago>, shovelied down the fixings with relish. One of the most unikely retirees to attend, was Bill Askew pictured above-centre. The GM empioyee-turned clown recentiy retired after 50 years of service with the company. (Also pictured are "Jocko" (Jack Donaidson), left, and "Georgie" Mcflae, right.) i \IIITBY FREE P>RESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER il, 1985 PAGE 3 Wbitby i ail kitchen staff terminated By SUSAN LESJAK Free Press Staff Less than a month before Christmas, six workers at the Whitby jail - several of tbem iong-time empioyees - find themselves without jobs. The kitchen staff - including supervisor Dorothy Nickerson who has worked at the jail for 15 years - were al terminated iast week when the institution's food service contract changed hands. The employees, angry at the way the jaii management and the new contractor have treated them, are threatening to file a compiaint of discrimination with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. They dlaim that the jail had a responsibiiity to notify them that they were going to lose their jobs, and that the new caterer should have given them a chance to apply for their jobs back. Instead, empioyee Faith Bunn says the jail superintendent and assistant superinten- dent were mum throughout the change- over and'when she ap- proached the new caterer, Canteen of Canada, she was toid: "Sorry lady -you're out of a job. Our client (the ministry of correctionai services) wants a dlean sweep." Arnold Coulton, generai manager of food operations for Canteen of Canada, denies Bunn's charges. He says that whiie three of the former caterer's em- pioyees did speak with him, it was to compiain about losing their old jobs, not to ask for new ones. The labor dispute was brought to the attention of the media by Regionai councilior Tom Edwards, to whomn Bunn turned to for heip. Il'mr not sure what games are being piayed," said Edwards, "but to fire these women three weeks before Christmas is a shabby way of deaiing with people." Asked to specify who he was criticizing, Edwards pointed to the provincial ministry of correctional services. "I'm concer- ned that the government of Ontario would allow its employees to be treated in this fashion. " Contrary to Edwards' comments, however, the women were neyer employees of the On- tario government. They were hired by the jaii's former contractor, Nutra Foods. When the caterer was unsue- cessful in the latest con- tract bid, the womnen were promptiy given notice. Whiie Nutra told them the contract was changing hands, it neyer occurred to the kitchen workers that they wouldn't be re- hired by Canteen of Canada. Accord.ing to Bunn, the contract bas been awarded to numerous companies over the past 15 years, but the former staff bas always been retained. Hearing nothing to the contrary, the women assumed this would again be the case. It came as a rude shock to Bunn when she picked up a copy of a local newspaper, and SEE PG.'27 --110ODUNLOP ST.lE -Open Mon.-Wed. 10-6, Thurs.-Fr FROM PG. i Ashe downplays even numbered councýt-*ilô Concern about the drnent that the province Whitby and Ajax find right that it assume unweiidy nature of an pick up the tab. "It's the themselves in this responsibility for the ex -________________ à-p nm ere oni,i government's fault that position, and it is only tra cost, " he said. I and the expense of holding a speciai by- election, s0 soon after the generai election, prompted the town to pass a resolution not to add the extra seat until the 1988 municipal elec- tions. Until then, the town voted to appoint a ward councillor to sit on both local and regional council. The resolution files in the face of the provin- cels instructions to fi the seat through appoin- tment or a by-election. Whiie Bugeili argued when he introduced the motion, that the provin- ce might well be looking for guidance in the mat- ter, Ashe doubts that. Whitby's proposai 'Iwill neyer be aliowed to happen," he said em- phatically. "1If the province had been looking for anyone's ad- vice, the bill would have been called last sum- mer." Whiie Ashe downplays the cumbersome nature of an even-numbered couneil since the town can re-divide the wards and return to an odd numbered, council in 198), hie says it's unfair that the municipalities are expected to foot the bill for a by-eiection that couid have been avoided had the province acted sooner. When the bill is cailed, Ashe said hie intendsto introduce % an amen- 1 1- ! 0 1 1 m 1 1 1 E WALLPAPER CENTRE IN AJAX 1313 HARWOOD AVE, NORTH IS EXPAýNDING,,.t DONIT àvi.Ç.Ç IrHir 1' 'I. .1 'I. ~VAN BELLE FLORAL SHOPPES, * t ee o . 3 o4Cones 6 So man.,I.e