PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 1983, WHITBY FREE PRE9S whitby Published every Wednesday Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaperindependently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. What unions really need is dose by W. AOGER WORTH If businesses treated employees the way many union leaders treat their members, governments across the country would be up in arms, and with good reason. Consider what's happening: eln .Quebec, 3,000 of 9,000 textile workers rejec- ted a leadership-approved deal to end a strike. The method used to decide this crucial issue? A show of hands. There's little wonder, then, that union president Gilles Gauthier was quoted as saying "democracy did not play a great role (in the vote)." It boggles the mind to think that anyone could reasonably count hands among an unruly crowd of 3,000. What's worse, there is every indication that Recently, a caller asked me if I was happy to be back on the job after my holiday. I won't say that I cannot tell a lie. That would bé the worst lie of ail. Anyway, I told the caller that I wasn't exactly thrilled about it. The worst thing about having a job like this is discover- ing that everyone knows more about it than you do - relatives, friends, total strangers - ail of therm willing to spend a few minutes of theirValuable time telling you what it is you're doing wrong. I got a letter a few days ago from a man who gave me heil for suggesting that we had something to be proud of in Canada One and the effort we made at Newport, in pursuit of the America's Cup. "It struck me," the man wrote, "that those kinds of words of consolation exemplify what is terribly wrong about this country; we constantly underachieve and then we quickly forgive ourselves by acknowledging that we are still a very young, inex- perienced nation or else that the bloody Americans had the bucks to do it right. When you finish last, you finish last and there is nothing more than that need be said. It seems to me," the letter continued, "that this na- tion is so desperate to find something to be proud about that we will dlutch virtually anything to feel proud about. Eight thousand peoplè welcoming the Oilers home after they had been humiliated by the Islanders is one example. Can you imagine America getting warm and excited about a one-legged runner trying to make it across Route 66?" I won't quote the whole thing to you. There's more in the same vein, but he concludes by suggesting, as usual, that this state of affairs is part- ly the media's fault. "Don't be afraid to call Canada One a miserable failure," he says. "It was a failure and will be again next time uniess we tell them they just didn't get the job done. You only win when you win." I don't agree with the man at ail. What's really wrong with this country is that it's full of knockers like the guy who wrote me. Critics who take to the safety of high ground, who make a living assuming that because it is Canadian, it's got to be rotten. Canada One did not finish last. She finished ahead of three of the most sophisticated boats that money and experience could buy. I can indeed imagine America, or any other coun- try with human beings in it, getting excited about a Terry Fox. Guts is more important than winning, in my book, anytime. It doesn't take courage to maintain a winning streak. It takes other things, granted, which are almost as important. But if I have to choose, l'Il take the courage of a Canada One crew which went out, and sailed to win, titi-- after time in the last few days of the series, despite the fact that mathematically, they were out of it. lIl take a Canada One crew which lost their last race by 19 seconds, fighiting furiously right up to the finish line Give us some more people like that, and we'll have a t.ountry to be proud of. some of those in attendance were not members of the textile union at all, yet apparently participated in the vote. As a result, Gauthier reverted to using a littie common sense, caliing another vote, but this time using a secret ballot where every worker has the right to make a private and thoughtful decision. *Across Canada, settlements between labor and management are either approved or rejected by a small minority of the union members affec- ted. Union leaders claim apathetic members are -t fault. But others argue that devices such as "show of hands" votes and one-sided leadership ex- planation of important issues have turned off so many Individuals that a lot of mermbers have given up hope that crucial meetings will be run fairly and democratically. *Union leaders can be heavy-handed, sometimes more so than their big business coun- terparts. Following Roman Gralewicz's election as the president of thé Seafarers International Union of Canada, for example, union trial committees sought and won membership suspensions from ten years to life against four members charged with varlous offences such as "refusing to obey a Marigold Confusi1on Dear Editor, Whitby's first Marigold Festival has now come to an end and I imagine it was a big success. Certainly the variety show at the Cen- tennial Building was ex- cellent - I thoroughly en- joyedit. I'm sorry I can't report so en- thusiastically on the pancake breakfast. I arrived at Cullen Gardens at 8 a.m. and I believe I was the first paying customer through the door. After a short wait, I got my pancakes, which were delicious --the ladies and gentlemen responsible for producing them are to be complimented!1 However, there was no hothbeverage to go with them. No tea. was being' served and the coffee was not ready. So I ate the pancakes and waited for the coffee and waited and waited! By 8:25, the coffee was still not ready, so I decided to take a stroll , zý£ TIMOTHY BAINES Community Editor ANDY THOMSON Advertising Manager Second Class Mail iegistration No. 5351 j~egisIratoon No. 5351 -'i of d.emocracy union officer" and "refusing to co-operate with a union representative." The four had supported Gralewicz's opponent. The union members, whose sentences were later reduced, have been barred from worklng at their trade for periods of up to nine months, a heavy penalty lndeed. Clearly, there Is a problem when ordinary mem- bers do not feel comfortable when they par- ticipate in union affairs. But there ls also a simple solution. Governments, who have never been shy about intervening in the private sector when they per- ceive problems, should force ail unions to hold secret membership ballots on basic issues such as wage settlements, strîkes, election of leaders, increases'in union dues and the like. What's more, these secret ballots should be held at the place of work. That way, every member would have a real op- portunityto become lnvolved, and the silliness at- tached to accepted policles such as "show of hands" votes would end. Who knows, a heavy dose of democracy in unions might even result in fewer strikes. lt's wor- th considering. in the gardens - accor- the Cullens' quarret ding to the Free Press a should have been with visit to the gardens was the Free Press and/or included in the price of the Festival officials the pancake breakfast not with the unsuspec- up until 12 noon. ting visitors. Imagine my surprise As. it was,' their when I was stopped at ungracious attitude the entrance to the gar- spoiled the occasion for dens by a group of the me, spoiled my day and Gardens staff who in- cast a shadow on any formed me that the item future enjoyment of the in the paper was in- Gardens. correct and that it was Miss Bernice Watts neyer intended that a Whitby free tour f the Gardens Editors Note: The In- would be included with formation was supplied the breakfast, to us by organizers of Now if there was a the Marigold Festival misunderstanding f and was included l nthe this matter, then I feel Festival brochure. Voice of the County Town s by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Fee Press Building, 131 i rock Street North, P.O., Box 206, Whit by, Ont.