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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1980, WHITBY FREE PRESS by M.H.M. Publishing and Photography inc. Phone 668-61Il W j s The Free Press Building Voice of the County Town Michaol lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor I 131 Brock Street North, The only Whitbv newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Or Communhity Editor .Mike Knoll Production Manager . Mari Surgla Advertising Manager Karen Thompson "r, ig. nt. Taxpayers are losers in OPSEU dispute The Ontario Public Service Employees Union must think that the public purse is a bottomless pit - they believe that a wage and salary increase of as much as 24.3 per cent is not enough. This increase would give them an average of $3,000 more a year in stipend and we are sorry to in- form them that the taxpayer of Ontario cannot af- ford it. It must appear to many readers that the Whitby Free Press is an anti-union, anti-labour newspaper - we are not. We recognize the right of free-thinking individuals to form a union in which to present their grievances to their employers, however, we also believe that there is only so much that any union can reasonably demand without causing severe consequences to his non-unionized neighbour. Ever since wage and price controls were phased out a couple of years ago - unions have been going crazy with their demands for greater salaries and benefits. The counsellors, child care workers and nursing assistants at both Whitby Psychiatric Hospital and the Durham Centre for the Developmentally Han- dicapped are indeed entitled to reasonable and equitable wage and benefit increases consistant with inflation and the cost of living. Should they, and informed sources say that they will in ail likelihood, reject the latest government offer they are not only being unreasonable, but they are not worthy of the support of the general taxpaying public. They should be reminded that the money that they are seeking belongs to the taxpayers and any increase that they receive will be reflected in the general tax bill. The resources of the taxpayer are fast running out, especially when it is considered that the tax- payer can hardly afford to keep his own home and not have to support the exaggerated and over- blown demands of OPSEU as well. However, on the other side of the argument, the Government of Ontario must be severely criticized for the precedent that it set when it settled the illegal strike by another branch of OPSEU - the jail guards. The settlement that the jail guards received was an inspiration to all other militant unions who now believe that they can get away with anything with the taxpayers' elected representatives. It is time for the government of Premier William Davis to take a stand to protect the interests of ail Ontario taxpayers and force OPSEU to obey the laws of the land and demonstrate that unreasonable demands will not be granted. Should the members of OPSEU reject the ten- tative agreement and walk off the job - the gover- nment should begin to enforce the law immediately by whatever means is necessary to return the situation to normal and protect the interests of the tax paye r. The interests of the taxpayer should not be the government's only concern - it should also lie with the patients (both of psychiatric hospitals and homes for the mentally retarded) entrusted to their care. The wellbeing of these two groups of people must take priority over the unreasonable and even self ish demands of OPSEU. This should also be OPSEU's priority as well, however, they have demonstrated that this is not the case. Their blatant irresponsibility is over- whelming to say the least. The workers have claimed that they are in physcial danger because of the unknown behavior patterns of their charges. This is undoubtedly true, however, the same case can be made for police of- ficers and they accept it as part of the job and do not lament it publicly. In fact, police officers are obviously in a greater amount of danger than are OPSEU members. The arguments in this situation are so great and varied that to explain them ail would probably oc- cupy the entire editorial space of this issue, however, there is one fact that must be seen. OPSEU is taking an unreasonable stand should they reject the government's latest offer and even if they accept it the taxpayer cannot afford it. The public purse is not a bottomless pit and the sooner that OPSEU recognizes this, the easier their relationship with the government shall become. Writerwarns of "Backdoor Bilingualism" Dear Sir: I have recently been reading where millions of Canadians have been signing a well- organized petition urging Quebec to remain within Canada,. The intent of most Canadians in this mat- ter is an honourable one, for we have been taught from birth to look upon Canada as one country. However, perhaps we owe it to ourselves and to our children to try a little harder to see what is going on. In the past 12 years we have seen Canada transformed from an English-speaking coun- try with one bilingual province, to a country which, because of the astute presentation of Expo '67, the '76 Olympics and through direct action by the Trudeau Government; is now recognized of- ficially in the eyes of the world as a primarily French-speaking coun- try. CONT'D ON PG. 6 Thank-you Mr. Henry As our readers are already aware, Mayor James C. Gartshore has proclaimed April 9 to be Heritage Day in the Town of Whitby. This marks the first official act to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Town of Whitby. The Whitby Free Press would like to point out that these off ical acts and special events have been the results of thé labours of Eugene Henry who serves as the chairman of the Local Ar- chitectural Conservation Advisory Committee for Whitby. For the last several months Mr. Henry has also been a regular columnist in the Free Press writing about the town's history especially in the pre-confederation period. We would like to express our sincere thanks for his efforts on our behalf during that time and hope that he will continue writing for our readers in the future. His efforts also produced the heritage page to be found in this edition of the Free Press. Without his efforts both in the research and in the writing of the articles contained in the page, it would never have been possible. Mr. Henry has a deep and profound love not only for the Town of Whitby as it is today but for keeping alive the history of the old County Town. By keeping the town's history alive he has given the residents their roots, their heritage and their culture. We do not believe that we can express our thanks sincerely enough or often enough to Mr. Henry whose untiring and voluntary efforts are reproduced in this issue as a reminder to all Whitby Residents of their history and of their heritage. Again, Mr. Henry, thank-you. ",