WHTLiLIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1978, PAGE 13 Joe Drummfeai unemploymien t The Area Council of the New Democratic Party met in Bowmanville recently to hear local leaders talk about the growing problem of un- employment. Taking part in the panel were Joe Drumm, Whitby councillor; Bruce McArther, Oshawa council- lor; Fred Naish, president of Cobourg Labour Counil; and Fred McLaughlin, NDP candidate for Durham Northumberland. Joe Drumm led off the panel with the observation that "'unemployment-.has its own mean way of making a person less a human being." There are some steps that can be taken to improve the unemployment picture, he said. One of them is the implementation of' an ap- prenticeship program to train skiled workers. Our high school graduates are flot job oriented, he said. "A high school diploma is -a passport to hew wood and draw water." We have an abundance of youth who are not geared to the needs of manufacturers, he said, and we must changea this by starting apprenticeship pro- grams in the shcools. Bruce McArther stressed concern for the growing wel- fare rotes in Durham Re- gion. Some jobs, could be provided for these people, he said, by hiring only local residents for work on muni- cipal or regional contracts., He said that the city of Oshawa already does this, but that the, Region does not. He pointed to $24 million worth 0of contracts approved by Regional 'Council last week which make no men- tion of the fact that local residents be hired. Mr. McArther said that at the next Regional Council meeting lie would introduce a motion that only local residents be hired when new Regional projects are staffed. Mr. McArther deplored the practice of some companies, like General Motors, who place ads in the papers -stat- ing that they are taking on large numbers of new em- ployees. In fact, GM has long waiting lists to draw on, he said, and most of the hiring is done from this pool of names., The effect of the newspaper ads, however, is to draw unemployed people into Oshawa where they stay only to ultimately collect welfare, he said.. "The cor- porations are sadly lacking in giving out such -false hopes,". he said, "and some action should be taken to prevent them doing this." David Naish, president of the Cobourg Labour Council, described a survey done by his office this, year which revealed a high rate of over- time hours being worked by many companies in the area, which are a loss to the unemployed force. "This is a tragedy," he said, "beause unemployment *insurance runs out eventually for the guy ou~t of work and ulti- mately the welfare roles must increase.", .Mr. Naish's office recently started offering a service to help those in the area with problems related to jobs and income. Through this office Mr. Naish is hearing about many employers who are taking advantage of their employees in various ways, because those who already hold the jobs are afraid to complain for fear of losing those jobs. "We must have a change of government," 'mr. 'naish said. "We simply can't don- tured at meeti«ng vince the Lberals and-Con- servatives of these deplor- able conditions. " Mr. Naish told the meeting that he did flot feel the problem of Canadian unity would be so bad if the unem- ployment figures were not s0 high. "It may be a cliche," lie said, "but I believe there is a lot of truth to the slogan 'A Canada that works togeth- er, stays together." Fred McLaughlin, who spoke last on the panel told the meeting that many think the NDP is against small business policy of the Sask- atchewan government is a model for the rest of the country, he said. Mr. Me- Laughlin said that the wel- fare of small business must be of great conccrn as the small business community employs haif of the labâur force of the country. Agriculture is another area that badly needs speci- fic policies on the part of government to make it ap- pealing for people to go into farming. One big problem is that the average age of farmers today is 48-49 years. "Who will be the farmers of the future?'l he asked. Mr. McLaughlin called for the Liberal government to bring down a budget very soon to help deal with the high unemployment figures, and to offer some short-term help through tax cuts. "The lower income groups pay more tax as a group than those whose income figures are high," he said. Fignu& In roerg >w whmig e. 4<< kà -I COI" LINCOLN -MERCI RYS AI FR IIMIFF>D NEW SE RVICES BEGIN APRIL 30 4< 4< le 1MPROVED SERVICE TO PICKERING GO TRAIN -New frequent service via Hwy. 2 to GO Train. -Express 401 rush hours 4< 4< service during 2. 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