"So, this is for the Feds?" "Yeah." "The National Film Board?" "Yup." "Federal government." ""Cotton mill, tread mill"" "The Penman's plant manager" "George Vailliancourt MP-mayor, coaticook ...And someone from head office ...Came to tell me one morning ...That the decision had been made ...To close the Penman's factory." "So..." "I said:" "You're not serious?" "They said." "We're very serious." "We have no choice." "I asked them to prove why they had to close." "So they showed me their figures indicating a deficit For the line of underwear and undershirts they made." "After I'd seen their deficit for myself" "I said, Well, I guess you know what you're doing." "The general manager called each department together." "And told us, just like that." "Everyone clapped." "We were speechless at first, we weren't expecting it." "The manager sent us upstairs." "They want to see you." "That whole night shift, the five of us went upstairs." "What could we say?" "He asked if we had any questions." "I asked him one:" "Why are they closing it?" "We didn't get an answer." "We heard rumors about them closing it before." "It has become routine, we didn't listen." "But when the big bosses told us, we knew." "Came just like a kick in the stomach." "I went back to my seat." "Someone came over to me." "I couldn't talk, I was sobbing." "For ten days I couldn't bring myself to face it." "In an instant, I saw exactly what the future held in store." "A woman alone. 46 years old." "To start at zero after barely scraping by for so long." "I bought this house three years ago" "I still have five kids to raise." "When you start at a plant with no seniority," "You have to take whatever the others ...don't want to do." "For 90c or $1 an hour..." "Don't know if I'll ever get $1." "$40 a week, with 6 people to feed..." "In summer you can eat, but in winter..." "Believe me, its tight." "I don't see any other jobs here in Coaticook that'll allow me ...to raise a family." "As for moving..." "The house is mine." "If I'd known I wouldn't have bought it." "If everyone leaves, its hard to sell," "And even harder to rent, cause we're on the outskirts." "There's a lot to think over." "I'm still thinking." "Not sure what I'll do." "At the Manpower Centre they said they'd do their best ...to find me work." "In Ontario..." "I haven't decided." "I don't speak English." "I'd be homesick." "Its hard to get back when you're broke." "Washing floors again, its not a job that..." "Have to work night 'n day to make ends meet." "It's such hard work." "And I'm getting old." "In the small shops, you don't make enough." "Its OK for a single woman." "She can get by on $40 a week." "But if there's six of you, you can't swing it." "Whatever the rumors, even if we try pressure they're going to close." "He said, "Believe me, its the truth."" "If you want to move its your right." "You can't pressure them." "They're free to do it." "We're not in Russia." "They decided 2 years ago." "It's over." "I remember a factory was going to close in one riding." "Even the prime minister tried to get them to reconsider." "They didn't." "It's their capital." "They can seek their profits wherever they like." "We're a small nation of big families." "Everyone wanted..." "'Til recently kids of 12 or 13 worked in the mills." "Our grandparents often told us how 30 years ago people left for the States." "9 year-olds got jobs." "Entire families worked in the mills." "Textiles was probably" "Quebec's first major manufacturing industry." "It sprang up at the end of the 19th C." "Just as Canada's economy was coming into its own." "Why were there so many mills in Quebec?" "Because labor here was abundant" "Back then, and to some degree today textiles require lots of manpower." "The following charge is laid." "in the month of October 1947, by the Attorney General of H.M. King George VI for the Province of Quebec." "Dame Vladimir, alias Valdimar Bjarsson nee Madeleine Parent." "R. Kent Rowley and Adilus Beaucage all three residents of Montreal did together and with others yet to be identified ...form a seditious conspiracy" "And participate therein in word, deed or otherwise." "in order to undermine the security of the state." "and foment dissatisfaction, discord and hatred of public order and establish laws and institutions and to promote discord and enmity among different classes and his Majesty's subjects thus endangering peace and public order and safety and commit the offence of seditious conspiracy" "...as identified in sections 133 and 134 of the Criminal Code." "Signed Maurice L. Duplessis," "Attorney General for the Province of Quebec." "In '36, '37, the Catholic unions has organized." "There'd been the strike in the cotton mills in '37." "It wasn't really a strike" "It was a church retreat, nothing less." "We'd walk the picket lines, then go to headquarters in the cathedral basement" "The cardinal at the time was Cardinal Villeneuve." "He asked for an agreement so a settlement could be reached." "A settlement was needed cause it had gone on too long." "People had to work." "I won't say that the cardinal..." "The English guys at the mill were even saying "Your cardinal's sold out"." "He sold you out, telling people to go back" "You guys don't have a clue." "But they weren't Catholics." "We'd never have said our cardinal had sold out." "Couldn't have imagined it." "But he wasn't taken in." "He was, though he acted in good faith." "My loom fixer, Seanan Anderson, was Scottish." "Those guys are tough." "He'd go on about the strike." ""Lost my money, all my..." "Up to my ears in debt cause ...The cardinal sold himself like a cow."" "What happened was in '37, Duplessis told" "Monseigneur...the cardinal" ""I'll settle this with my fair wages."" "Stop the strikes." "I'll bring in fair wages"" "He meant his law." "He was preparing it." "It was coming." ""I'll bring in my fair wages bill, no problem"" "Just needs to be passed"" "But when he presented the bill" "It was 2 cents less." "It was lucky the company didn't accept his fair wages" "Or we'd have lost 2¢ an hour." "We'd have lost 2¢ an hour." "When you first worked there you were fine." "After a few years you began to cough." "It started one day and kept getting worse." "I couldn't breathe anymore." "Figure I've had it 15 years." "Well..." "Ain't so bad when you're young." "Comes to 15 years..." "Got worse after they put in air conditoning." "About 11 years before I left." "That was 3 years ago so its been 14 years." "Got a lot worse with the air conditioning." "The dust was much lower." "At a height of about 6 feet when the sun shone in the windows, you saw a line." "It was the dust." "It was so clear." "I told that to Mr..." "He's dead now, a new boss they sent in." "Mr..." "Can't remember." "Good boss." "They'd closed one mill and sent him here." "He asked me, "Can you prove its the dust?"" ""Can't be that much."" "Mr. Matthieu." "We called him in to see the dust." ""There's not so much, it's Ok"" "There are windows on the other side of the mill." "I removed one pane of glass." "At night I removed the window and in the morning, I put it back." "I said to Mr. Matthieu" ""You asked for proof there's dust here?"" ""Yes, do you have any?"." ""Yes!"" "I showed him." "Just from the air blowing out on the window will outside." "there was nearly a 1" layer of dust." "I showed it to Mr. Mattieu." "I had proof." "He asked." "How'd you think of that?" "I said." "You open the window and see the dust pouring out." "He saw it." "He knew it, same as us." "The last 4, 5 years." "I took a taxi home." "It's not far." "But I'd take it from the gate." "I couldn't breathe." "Choked as soon as I hit the fresh air." "Came home by taxi." "A good four years." "When he got here he couldn't talk for an hour." "My mouth..." "Soon as he opened it." "Monday night, still unable to sleep at 5 a.m." "propped up in bed." "There may be worse diseases, but..." "Jonathan Nadeau..." "Albert Henri" "Nelda Lapierre- don't know if he died- he wasn't well." "Don't think he died." "Victor Morissette..." "There was a Bourassa." "Bourassa died." "Everyone who worked there a number of years, they all have it." "Not one of 'em who doesn't." "When they transferred me ...to clearing up the offices." "Mr. Bégin..." "my boss's name was Bégin" "Every night he'd ask." "How you feeling, Lucien?" "He cared about his employees and clerks." ""Not too bad."" "Did my best." "Once I went downstairs..." "When it hits you, its as if your stomach's acting up." "I asked for some bromo in the office downstairs." "This guy, Dumas, was there." "Maybe he noticed something." "When I took the bromo, I began heaving." "Dumas found me there." "They took me to the doctor." "I stayed away 3 days, went back Thursday." "Mr. Begin asked." "Were you sick?" ""Yeah."" ""And now?", I said, "Not bad."" "He said." "Take it easy, stay off your feet." "That's all I did Thursday, Friday." "Monday he asked how I was." ""Haven't started to work yet."" "He said, "Better quit." "You can't do it anymore."" "I said." "You're right." "Came home and never went back." "They paid my union dues for a year." "They don't pay me any pension." "Like they said, they can't, 'cause I'm too young." "The texture of domination ...Has become the texture of reason itself." "That's how it is." "I'm okay." "If the company had come and said "Lucien Gervais has lung disease." "A good worker, we'll give him..."" "His record was good." ""We'll give him maybe..."" "Not asking for much, say $30-35 a week." ""We made him sick"" "They should pass a law." "I'd still be sick." "Ain't much fun." "They called us Communists, accused us of all sorts of extraordinary aberrations." "Awful!" "In Valleyfield I had indigestions for 4 days." "I was so sick I couldn't eat." "But you get used to it." "What did they accuse you of?" "That time?" "Of..." "Whats it called, sodomism?" "Sodomy" "Yes, sodomy" "I was 25, it really got to me." "I was living there" "In a rooming house." "So...we had an interesting time." "It was the same old problem:" "We were afraid because we'd lost in the past." "People had lost their jobs." "We were afraid of the company's power." "and of anti-unionism." "It was hard, but we overcame our fears." "We supported each other, gave each other strength." "We got together and finally we formed our union." "They'd arrest us for obsctructing people's passage when we picketed or had any kind of demonstration." "On top of that, they gathered all the information they could ...on union activists ...and passed it on to the companies." "The municiple police worked with the companies." "For example, the Dominion Textile Co. had trucks." "all covered with canvas sliding and flaps." "They picked people up at their homes ...to drive them to work." "The trucks were escorted front and back by the municipal police." "If you were picketing and went near the trucks..." "There were uniformed guards with heavy chains riding them." "They'd swing the chains at the pickets." "so the trucks could drive into the factory yard." "That's how scabs were brought in." "They'd chase the pickets" "police on horseback or motorcycle or foot- through the streets," "Lot's of people were arrested." "The company spread propaganda saying it'd shut the factories" "and relocate to make everyone think the industry'd disappear if they demanded too much." "Blair Gordon himself declared ...he'd demolish his Quebec factories" "..rather than sign a collective agreement" "That was before the '46 strike." "But the agreement was signed, and the factories stayed." "It was a way of threatening us that capital would pull out." "The first agreement ...in Valleyfield was signed in November 46." "But they got us to back down in 44 with the help of Msgr Léger." "The bishop's assistant at the time." "Cardinal Léger?" "We'd won." "It had been hard but we won, we had a contract." "People were happy." "We had a contract!" "People who'd never been to meetings would speak out" ""I have this problem I don't have that..."" ""What can we do?"" "We'd discuss their grievance." "We didn't lose." "Not often." "We won our grievances." "We had a contract!" "A contract." "Something solid." "We had security." "We had security." "And if you had any doubts ask around, even today." "It's been 20 years." "Ask the old-timers." "Ask them." "People'll tell you." "Those guys!" "We were..." "We were something." "The good old days." "Now..." "Only through those who have no hope are we given hope." "Coaticook, April, 1969" "The joint adjustment committee can be convened ...very quickly as long as..." "(Jacques Girard) ...the union and company agree." "Chairman, lay-off committee" "Then Ottawa and Quebec send representatives." "The company and union are the problem." "Both governments favor these committees because they are very useful." "Their purpose is to find new jobs for people." "Unemployment and welfare rolls automatically go down instead of climbing when a factory closes." "The committee can't do much." "Its made an inventory of employees, their capacities specialities, preferences for when they leave." "That's ready." "But the committee hasn't met because no one's been laid off." "None of the employees know where they'll go." "We're waiting." "Depends when they close, who'll take over..." "If anything will replace it." "Other than that" "We don't know, we can't do anything." "Better not to think." "We have to wait." "I had one job for a week." "When I left, I asked what they paid." "They said." "Come back when you're out of work." "Meaning, they'd hire me as cheaply as possible." "When... there was first talk of closing the other plants were told ...not to hire Penman's employees before the mill shut." "Its true, there was an agreement." "The companies agreed ...not to hire Penman's employees before it closed." "Not fair." "I went to ask at one mill here." "They told me:" "That's the warning we got." "Its so someone working for Penman's can't go somewhere else and ask for a job." "They ask, "You from Penman's?" If it's yes, there's no job." "They say:" ""Finish at Penman's first"" "We'll give you a job but not before. "" "I can't say when we're closing." "Manager, Penman's" "We won't move all at once." "We'll move in stages, as stated and planned." "Do you have contracts for operating until September or..." "We have orders, but as the lines are transferred..." "The orders are, too." "Yes." "Mr. Gignac raised an important question." "Couldn't Penman's give the committee- we'd keep it secret- a timetable to help reclassify people?" "First they said it was going to close in January." "Then it wasn't until June." "They said, "if the workforce is stable." "you'll stay until June." "If it drops off, we may close in January."" "But soon as anyone leaves they replace him." "So the workforce remains stable." "We can't do anything if people want to stay til the end." "and we don't know when that will be." "In 1 month?" "2, 3 ?" "We don't know." "The workers don't want to go." "They'll stay til it closes." "That's the way they are." "Hey, Jean Paul, did they say there's a chance another company may buy it?" "The manager told us there was a possibility of selling to another company with a similar line." "That doesn't mean underwear." "They won't sell to a competitor." "They may ask a low price so the mill can stay in operation to provide jobs for those who've been laid off." "But that..." "We don't know what'll happen" "They don't inform us what will or won't take place." "They won't tell us." "So the committee will have to proceed as if no one's buying the Coaticook mill no other company is moving into the Penman's mill." "Companies won't just hand over their books to us." "We don't have the right." "No law forces a company to show us the balance sheets." "They can explain to us the costs of this or that product, but they'll never let us analyze, say their books in depths." "I'll try other places after it closes." "I don't want to..." "Stay here?" "No." "The pay's too low and there's not much work or room for advancement." "I'll look elsewhere after it closes." "Something in the same line, if possible." "I don't have any plans." "Where would you go?" "A big city, I guess." "Around here, in Magog or Granby, there's just one mill." "If you're laid off you can't change jobs." "But if you're in a city like Montreal..." "Help Wanted Operators with experience." "When I came to Montreal people said:" "You're crazy." "You'll get homesick, lonely bored." "I told myself:" "Can't be worse than Coaticook." "Bertrand Saint-Onge Granby" "See ya, gotta punch in." "We were 11 children." "I was the eldest." "On a very, very fertile farm along the St. Lawrence." "Bertrand Saint-Onge's parents" "I loved that land like a child." "What I regret is that it wasn't more productive, more profitable." "We all know... wth only 4 arpents of arable land" "I couldn't perform miracles." "People used to claim that miracles happen." "But from what I've..." "My children shouldn't hear this." "I've gotten so I don't believe miracles do ...or ever did happen." "Politicians would visit every 3 or 4 years." "They'd say. "We'll do wonderful things for you." "You have an immense resource!" ""The forest, the river..."" "There's only 5 miles of arable land." "They'd say" ""But there may be mines up north too."" "On the St. Lawrence, 45 miles from Montmagny." "It was located..." "I don't know if you near the Maine border." "Along the border of Maine and Canada." "We couldn't find work there so we moved to Coaticook." "My brothers and sisters decided there were no jobs in small towns so they decided to give factories a try." "Like me, when I left Coaticook for Montreal." "My dad..." "We were born on a farm." "I stayed for, what?" "13 years on the farm." "As the farm was small and couldn't support our family, which was big." "Dad decided to sell the entire farm, including the house." "Everything." "The first factory I worked we made deck chairs." "You had to dip them in paint hang them up..." "Don't know if you've ever been in a paint shop." "The fumes!" "You stay 10 or 15 minutes" "After that, with varnish, you're dazed or drunk." "Primer takes about the same." "Enamel takes a little longer before you're drunk." "or turn into a robot with all those chairs above you." "I worked there two months." "After a while, you don't feel like eating." "All right, you're drunk." "You fall asleep...it's crazy." "And true." "There were accidents." "One guy got depressed from intoxication." "He threw himself onto a saw somewhere." "Safety inspectors came." "They'd told us ...to drink a quart of milk a day." ""Tell 'em to drink two." "It'll help detoxicate 'em." "And they should have a period of fresh air"." "Anyway, one Friday I decided I had to do something." "At a certain point you have to choose between suicide and..." "I decided to look elsewhere." "A friend told me" ""Try the Esmond plant, they're hiring."" "They hired me on night shift." "When I first started, the noise there..." "You work 24 hours a day." "You take the factory home to bed with you" "You hear it all night, even sleeping." "Your sleep brings no rest." "The third day, I thought" ""If I can't earn a living some other way than the two experiences I'd just had" "is life worth it?"" "At 17, you ask questions, start to figure things out." "Either drunk without having touched a drink to the point where it was affecting my system or having it affect my head." "I was going deaf." "When I began to work you could start very young as long as you had a government permit." "If you didn't, you had to pay a fine." "When I started I hadn't turned 14." "I began working when I was 13." "I started in August and turned 14 in September." "I showed up, and the boss ...the really big boss... he asked me" ""'Do you have any experience?"" "I said straight out." "No, I can't even thread a needle." "So, why're you here?" "I can learn, I said." "The others had to learn too." "They saw that I needed a job, that I was serious" "And I really wanted to work as a seamstress." "He said:" "I'll teach you." "He sat next to me the whole day without getting up." "From 7-12 and from 1-5" "We worked til 5pm back then." "We had a 9 hour day." "He said, You'll learn." "He went over the machine, part by part." "To me it was so complicated." "I mean, I'd just left school, I had no experience." "I started on an ordinary machine, learning how to sew." "As time went on, work being scarce and job counsellors being scarce too everything was scarce back then." "I was more or less stuck in that kind of industry." "began working at the age of 15 in a Dominion Textile mill in Verdun." "as an office boy." "His father, an employee of the company recommended the job to him." "He soon joined technical services at head office on Victoria Square then was rapidly promoted to sales." "He led development of new synthetic fibers during WWII." "He was named president of Dominion Burlington an afiliated company before becoming CEO of Dominion Textile a few years later." "Today he is chairman of the board." "A good French word magazine." "A kid fresh off the farm..." "bobbin boy magazine..." "You punch your card and then..." "Its all so new." "But you understand" "You're trying hard to keep your job." "You're wet behind the ears." "Said you were 18, but you're only 17." "Always lived at home where Dad was boss." "At the mill they tell you, "fill those four looms."" "You have to hustle, do it just right." "If you have problems, it's the weaver." "...we call him weaver... who'll show you what to do." "I was lucky enough to end up with a foreman one of the kindest foremen I've known." "Maybe I'm partial cause of our names." "He was a Saint-Onge too, but no relation." "He was a good boss." "a good man." "The cream!" "A kind soul who could get anyone to do anything, even the surliest employee." "A good man who showed me the ropes." "so that I could prepare my looms to satisfy the company and the weaver." "I did well." "Made a good bobbin boy." "Then the boss said to me," ""There's an opening for a weaver."" "I'll show you the trick because first you have to learn to tie a weaver's knot." "You'll practise it 50 times." "If you get it, it'll be by fluke at first."" "He showed me how to hold it, what to do." "I figured out the heads, figured out the cards." "I learned how to set up jacquards." "My boss'd tell me, if this part is blocked check if its not because of the head." "I did my apprenticeship." "and there I was, on day shift as a weaver." "Later he taught me the flatlock, the most complicated machine in all the business." "It's very tiring too." "The most complicated and the most tiring." "Everything." "He said." "You're young, you can learn." "I was about 14." "I started on the flatlock." "It killed my back." "I'd come home in tears." "Didn't want to eat or be with people or do anything at all." "I'd slink into my room without saying a word." "I told my parents, its too hard." "I'm quitting." "My sister, who worked with me, said." "Don't give up yet." "I said, OK but if it doesn't improve in a month, I'll quit." "After a while, I thought, You'll get it." "I kept at it for one month, two and gradually, it wasn't as complicated." "In April...an opening" "..fFor a mechanic, needed right away." "Great." "They said." "Here's your section, start Sunday night." "There were 3 shifts." "So, I began." "At first, let me tell you its not easy, you smash your fingers." "But you manage." "I've been a mechanic ever since." "Already been six years." "Now, I clear about..." "They deduct for my savings bond..." "I was given a raise recently." "And my pay's not regular." "I get a shift bonus of 7 cents." "So, when I'm on night shift, I earn $2.80 a week more." "Anyway, $2.03 an hour times 40 hours." "makes about $80..." "Gross?" "That's gross." "I must clear about $72 or $75." "I sew." "Not just for myself, but other's too." "We'd never..." "Aside from my pay" "I probably earn another $20 a week." "from sidelines." "Maybe even more." "Having a sideline's great." "What's a sideline?" "We live about 1 and a half miles from the factory." "You don't really need a car, but I have one." "On my way to work, I pick up friends, co-workers." "There are seven of them." "They each give me $2 a week, so that's $14 right there." "In the summer I also do caretaking." "I do gardening wash windows." "I put up swimming pools..." "Lots of stuff." "Anything to try get ahead." "All kinds of stuff." "I'm sometimes called in when apartments are vacated." "If they've been left a mess." "I clean up." "Almost anything." "Whatever I can." "The problem's our shifts." "We brought it up with the company ...when we discussed overtime." "Two weeks from 7-3 and then two from 3-11." "It alternates all year long." "But if I worked from 7-3" "I could probably find something on the side." "On Friday nights, for example and Saturday mornings in a shoe store." "Lots of possibilities." "But when you alternate shifts, you can't." "Have to try and find something else." "It was kind of by luck." "Last year I heard they needed a helper here at night." "I started at midnight after my shift." "Now you work days?" "I was fed up." "They said "You have experience." "Ýou can work days."" "Three days a week?" "Yeah." "Two, sometimes three." "You start at 8?" "I work 8 to 1." "Sometimes I work til 3, but then I have lunch at 12." "You have lunch at 12." "An hour for lunch." "Then you come back here?" "From 1-3." "I eat at 12." "I work from 1 to 3." "At 3 I go home." "I get changed and head to the plant." "I had to do two jobs to make ends meet." "I washed floors after work." "I did my chores at night, looked after the kids." "Then I began selling eggs." "Started out with 37 hens." "7 years later, I had 2000." "When my oldest girl got married the next was only 13." "I still had 7 kids to raise." "So, with 2000 hens to clean the eggs to wash and sell" "I did the housework, washed on Sunday." "I knew hardship, believe me." "After I'd made what I could from the eggs" "I sold the hens for meat." "But I kept selling eggs." "A big producer with 18,000 hens supplied me." "I earned less, but I worked less thought I spent many a Sunday washing eggs." "I sold 400 dozen a week." "Same tomorrow." "I get up at 7.30, do my chores, eat breakfast go to the slaughterhouse." "I have to gut the pigs, get them ready for weighing." "We start around 9.30." "When do you finish?" "If all goes well, around 1." "I come back here, feed my pigs." "Wash up, eat, then off to the shop." "It's pretty hard to adapt to factories here." "A lot of workers are immigrants." "Italians, for example." "They don't mind working, say 20 hours a day for $1 an hour." "Long as they're earning money." "You'll say." "I'll do this job for $1.50 an hour." "They'll come and do it for $1.25 just so they're working." "And they'll work like crazy for peanuts." "They can live on that." "They can live 3 or 4 families in one apartment, eat spaghetti and cheese weeks on end on $20-25." "They can live on that." "It's not the same mentality." "Go into any factory no one will even look at you unless they're French-Canadians." "French-Canadians'll talk to you." "But the Italians won't bother to look up." "You can walk by 100 times a day, they won't look at you." "It's their mentality." "it's how they are." "So it's hard to adapt." "Because, I dunno..." "Maybe with time..." "What makes them alienated?" "Besides the usual psychological neuroses there's another reason:" "I believe our professors teach this alienation." "There's a cult of alienation among fashionable intellectuals." "Convinced they're infinitely superior, to politicians, businessmen and generals they believe the world is an awful place, that they could govern better." "Hell no knows fury like that of spurned intellectuals." "Let's suppose you're one of them." "A philosophy teacher, or something of that ilk." "You have no power, but you can influence your students." "You use expressions like the one I heard the other day spoken like a San Diego professor:" "the illegitimacy of authority." "If authority is illegitimate, you are morally entitled" "in fact, its your duty- to opposed this force." "Our universities have become hotbeds of sedition and destruction." "Recent events in Quevec confirm these observations." "What holds for the US also holds for Canada and unfortunately even more for Quebec ...where all too many intellectuals nurture feelings of frustration which they pass onto our impressionable young people." "Copies of this editorial are available at CJMS, 1700, Berri St" "Montreal." "¡Caramba!" "Now I'll be just like Che Guevara." "TK Trousers for true revolutionaries!" "Victory, brothers!" "You'll find TKs at Marc Bovet," "Rockland Shopping Centre and Galeries d'Anjou." "What I want, what I most hope for" "Is that one day" "I can have what I want, not deny myself anything." "I don't mean being a millionaire but having lots of money to spend, being able to say" ""I want a new coat" and going out to buy it." "I'd like a house done up in Spanish style or something" "A style of my own something not everyone has." "Being able to say..." "I'll get a stereo made, just sketch it find someone and tell him, "Make this for me." "I'll pay you"." "That's it." "And I'd like." "I dunno a car- especially a sports car!" "Something not everyone has" "I dunno, in groovy colors." "in other words, flashy!" "I can see myself with a car painted silver on the outside maybe black on the inside." "I dunno, something far out!" "You come home tired." "Don't feel like doing much going out, taking off, having fun." "It's work, its a field that ages you prematurely." "What you think about at work?" "You're always thinking." "If you always thought about your job you wouldn't last a week." "Your head would spin, you couldn't take it." "You either gain ground or lose it." "But what have we been taught, what we learn from TV is to accept!" "It's also a fact, we know that we produce as much with far fewer men." "It's a fact we can verify we live it daily." "It's also a fact that, before men could put in 10 hours a day." "Today after 8 hours, they're glad to get out." "We're told it's to better mankind that it's for our well-being." "I can't figure that." "Are we really better off now?" "I get the feeling some men are nearly dead inside." "We have these specialized systems where we're told" ""You have this much personal time." We fight over how much." "But what's personal time?" "It's when your ear itches and you scratch it." "It's measured in milliseconds." "Amazing." "Amazing how smart man's getting." "And the more intelligent he gets the more he resembles a robot." "and the less human he is." "Well, this is the Eastern Townships and in the Townships it's textiles." "So... you have no choice." "That's why I once thought about... talked it over with my wife..." "I'd have liked the idea of, say, working in Baise Comeau or Sept-Iles, where the pay's higher and the work's more interesting." "I used to think... course maybe I was kidding myself... but I was thinking of the kids." "I thought that probably when they enter the job market if I stay here, then probably, like me they'll have no choice but to work in textiles." "There are no mills up north." "That's what went through my mind, but I don't think..." "That's what I told myself." "Here you have the choice between the mills and welfare." "You could leave the country but even then your children would still be limited." "There are no openings." "The Lachute strike started on 10 April 1947" "Madeleine Parent, how he hated her!" "Had nothing to do with salary or the union- they were personal attacks." "They told us it was her, she was dragging us in." "I said, "No, its cause they don't pay us."" ""But without them you'd starve."" "That kind of garbage." "Large numbers of provincial police came to Lachute, about 250 of them- a lot for a town that size." "We were walking along and suddenly they arrived in their cars." "Duplessis's henchmen- cutting us off so we couldn't move." "They came out flailing their nightsticks, hitting people." "They arrested some of us, took them to the station packed them in the few cells." "It was a hard fight." "I asked the cops." "How can you club people like that?" "One woman who was pregnant lost her baby." "She was with 5 or 6 men in one cell, maybe more." "I wasn't there." "She suddenly started to hemorrhage." "They told us, It's our orders." "We have orders." "I asked..."Orders?"" ""What if they ordered you to shoot people?"" ""Orders are orders."" "That really stayed with me, I couldn't understand." "Cause when you think about it you have to trust the police." "But when they attack innocent people..." "Seeing the police treat them like murderers." "I was young." "If I'd been alone" "I'd have cried." "The very act of organizing a union was an act of sedition against the gracious Ayers family who, it seemed has been born to rule the town of Lachute." "So they tried to make union organizing an act of sedition." ""But your strike's illegal"" "I asked." "Is what you're doing legal?" "I didn't like them hitting people." "They always used the name Communist to set us apart." "It got to me." "I don't know why..." "They were the ones who were attacked." "To be honest, I thought communism was a kind of religion." "Not only cathollics got paid." "Silly..." "I couldn't understand why they linked that word with the union and our wage demands." "We were standing there when the police came and began clubbing and arresting people." "When we heard what was said in court we knew it was all phoney." "Noel Darion the crown prosecutor was under direct orders from Maurice Duplessis who called St. Jerome every day to find out how the trial was going." "All that you read in the papers and heard in court... awful how people can lie- Unbelievable!" "You feel like lying too when they're believed and you're not." "Or you see someone released even though you were there when the judge denied bail." "Madeleine, you must remember this." "You'd be in court and, say, a lawyer asked for bail, so you'd be released." "Suddenly, we see Madeleine leaving." "She can't talk to us." "It was weird." "After that you don't trust the law." "They call the shots." "When you see how they protect the powerful and liars..." "After that you're..." "Revolt rebellion, sedition communism, anarchism everything..." "They conjured up for the populace all the good old demons." "to show just what the workers' union in Lachute was." "In the end I was sentenced to 2 years in prison." "We weren't exactly crazy about Duplessis, you know." "Not after his men beat us up." "Still when you see those guys..." "after they die they're all but canonized." "Knowing him, you figure you're sure to go to heaven." "Subsequently, the Court of Appeals quashed the verdict and ordered a new trial." "But year after year Duplessis decided to postpone a new trial." "For seven years." "Finally, in 1954 the judge found us not guilty, and that was that." "But the public never knew because the trial had made all the headlines for weeks and weeks in '47 and '48." "Lachute Dominion Ayers" "In analysing the industry you have to look at the different sectors." "The leading sectors are cotton synthetic fibres hosiery, carpeting." "You can't compare them." "Behind the prosperity of most sectors there is a living hell." "If textiles developed in Quebec its because, around 1870" "Canada's government adopted a national policy of protectionism." "Because of that, industries were introduced which couldn't compete against foreign manufacturers without the import duties levied on those nations' goods." "In other words, it's an artificial industry textiles, that is, like many other Canadian industries" "But much of Canada's manufacturing economy is based on artificial industries- like shoes many sectors in manufacturing and electronics" "Not that we can't produce electronics or manufacture goods, such as cars." "But the way we're organized places us in a position of dependency." "We make everything." "We manufacture a wide range of goods but none of them in sufficient quantity to reach levels of profitability as accepted internationally." "Beacon Manufacturing is part of an industrial empire often called a multinational though they're almost always American." "In this case, its National Distillers  Chemical Corp." "Its gross income ie, its turnover... for 1969 came to a little under $1 billion." "They make bourbon, a drink popular in the southern US gin..." "Gilbey's and they import spirits, such as Vat 69 a scotch that quite popular here aquavit from Scandinavia and tequila, rum, etc." "Of course, spirits are related to chemical industries as National Distillers has branched out into the chemical sector." "It produces polyethylene, resins, alcohol plastics, phosphoric and sulphuric acid, etc." "National Distillers has diversified into metals too and manufactures tins and copper products." "But this complex also owns various subsidiaries." "In the chemical sector it owns factories in Hong Kong" "Formosa, in Asia..." "USI in Europe, Evanite Plastic in the US." "Polymer Dispersion, A.B. Chemical..." "In metal products there's a whole series of subsidiaries..." "Aristocrat" "Bridgeport Brass, Canada" "Bridgeport, Argentina... which shows the international dimension of such companies." "A distillery has nothing in common with insurance but National Distillers owns an insurance company." "Why buy an insurance company?" "For its large cash flow." "It allows a multinational to finance its investments more easily without having to borrow." "There's a third type of company in this empire:" "affiliated companies." "In chemical products for example there's Panhandle Eastern Pipelines which makes helium for the US gov't." "National Petro-Chenicals Corp." "which makes linear polyethylene." "In the area of metals, there's" "Reactime, which makes titanium and titanium by-products used in producing special kinds of steel..." "Indico Argentina, another affiliate based in Argentina and at the bottom of the barrel" "Beacon Manufacturing a company in the textiles sector that owns mills in Nicaragua," "in Ontario, and Granbu, Quebec." "The plant in Granby is of course Esmond Mills and one of the mechanics there is Bertrand Saint-Onge." "Incredible how tiny he is in all that" "I should add that Esmond Mills is not exclusively owned by" "National Distillers." "It's shared 50% by Dominion Textile whose chairman is Mr. Ki..." "The owners of Nat'l Distillers have every reason to dilute their capital." "Meaning that with $1 billion which isn't much they can control productive installations worth about $50 billion." "In Canada, we're up to our necks in this kind of structure because over half our companies belong to these conglomerates these multinationals, which, to repeat" "9 times out of 10 are American corporations." "In 1952, the company delivered an ultimatum" "Valleyfield strike of 1952 about raising the work tempo the 'speed-up', as we call it." "This amounted to doubling the workload." "We negotiated for close to a year to absolutely no avail." "It was his system his new system of piecework, a new tempo." "There was no solution." "Whenever you start timing work there's always a kind of not really negotiating... but they take for granted that workers slow down when they're being timed so they set the rate higher." "If, say, the rate's been set at x... since the base pay's so low, workers try to speed up." "After 6 months, the company increases the rates." "saying, if you're doing 120% that should be the base." "And they raise the tempo." "It's a hellish system." "Finally, we had to strike." "We had all the papers, all the store owners... everyone was against us." "Don't forget the Americans, Paul." "My God!" "What would they say about the protests today" "In the colleges and everywhere?" "What would they say?" "What we did was a joke compared to today." "What we did..." "People thought we were...!" "Communists!" "Called us Communists!" "That's what they called us." "Communists." "Because we showed a little..." "We were a little..." "Because we stood up, wouldn't give in." "But that was nothing compared to today." "It was peanuts compared to what goes on today." "Whar would they say if they were here now?" "They'd say:" "They're worse than communists." "They'd call this Russia!" "In my parish they organized groups of girls -women and girls" "who met on the church steps and were accompanied..." ""Go to work, my children." "The Lord is with you."" "It wasn't very... wasn't very nice." "It wasn't very nice for us." "We were picketing." ""Go to work!" Some were just girls- but they went in." "They went in!" "They went in." "After the strike, the American leaders along with Roger Provost" "signed the collective agreement against the members' wishes." "The strike was broken and we were dislodged." "That's how the International Unions became the shop union." "At around 7 people started to turn up." "Forming groups, milling about..." "The police arrived... the provincial police grabbed me." "Two of them threw me down." "And poor Mrs. Duranceau." "she got it too." "Then the people inside the gate guards came and opened the main gates and began yelling." "Come in!" "Come work!" "No one budged." "No one went in." "They were standing there and there..." "We didn't resist or fight back." "We didn't move in." "But if there'd been more shoving the police and the crowd would've fought." "You could hear people murmuring calling them pigs..." ""Bunch of bastards."" "The crowd was getting restless." "But they didn't move, just stayed there." "Denys Arcand." "CAN?" "ARCAND." "P?" "ARCAND, right." "Where do you work?" "The National Film Board." "What are you shooting?" "A film about the textile industry." "I see." "Did you ask permission from the officials here?" "At Dominion Textile?" "No, we didn't." "Not here." "You might've avoided..." "Because they called to find out what you're doing." "The company called you?" "Yes." "About us?" "Yes." "You were filming near the mill?" "Yeah." "The other side." "Yes." "The guards there hadn't been informed." "Really?" "Maybe you should've told them what you're doing." "They don't want us to shoot?" "They just want to know why." "I see." "They see people walking around the buildings and wonder why." "Are they worried?" "No, its just..." "I mean, it's their right." "It's their property." "Of course..." "May I see the station wagon's papers?" "Sure, I'll get them." "32:55" "Don't till until you're hunted before you hide" "If only we'd got in!" "If only we'd won..." "But with the Americans, there was no way." "Despite everything, despite all we had to fight against" "If it'd been today we d've got in, we'd've creamed'em." "Back then everything was against us, and yet we almost made it." "We missed by so little, despite everything!" "Before 1960, the man to beat was Duplessis." "Duplessis, first of all" "He'd chosen the right place." "He was invited to Mont St. Antoine." "They pinned him with the Order of the Commander." "It came from Rome." "They stuck him with it." ""You're the greatest premiere..."" "He'd named a bridge there after the local bishop." ""The greatest premier Quebec has ever seen."" "That was hard to stomach." "Pretty hard to stomach." ""The greatest premier Quebec has ever seen."" "...RESORT TO BOMBS..." "Investigators with the anti-terrorist squad near Dominion Textile" "...he was blown up while trying to bomb the factory." "...separatist have demonstrated with strikers." "These extremists are now playing with bombs." "You hear that most of the people who're members of the FLQ..." "At the mill we say they're rich kids who're tired of the gravy." "Not me." "My dad's a worker in a paint factory." "Mine's a farmer." "He always just scraped by and will till he dies." "He'll never change, not at age 60." "Society says you have the right to express yourself." "So, you demonstrate, go on strike." "And they let you, as long as it serves their interests." "When it doesn't anymore they do like at the universities and throw out all the professors and students." "Or like in a strike they let it drag on and call out the police." "If they fight for something, its cause it seems possible to attain it." "Wasn't like that for us." "We didn't have that." "Not then." "We were scared." "Besides we're fatalists, so we accepted things." "Sometimes we just said, "Why bother?" "Why try?" ""We'll never get it, there's no point."" "We made do." "But then there were times when we woke up" "Then we thought there might be a chance." "Think of the worker who earns $60 a week." "Someone comes in the name of Quebec's liberation to blow up the plant as well as his machines." "It's his $60 they'll blow up, and he wants $65." "He's on strike for $65." "Quebec's liberation better not cost him his job." "That's what it comes down to for him." "What happened at St. Anna blowing up mail boxes... doesn't touch him." "As if the revolution's happening elsewhere." "I was hungry and he fed me." "I was thirsty, he gave me a drink." "Heard that all our lives." "You're grateful to the boss cause he creates the jobs." "Right." "I don't place much faith in solidarity." "Some people give up because they're scared." "Those who've scrimped and saved to buy a home or bought one with a small inheritence." "Like my parents... inherited a little money, bought a house for $2,500." "Needed so many repairs." "That's why they..." "People like us are caught." "Not earning big salaries, not..." "Hard to explain." "After doing and giving all that we could..." "The government the company... even the clergy weren't really for us." "They kept saying we were..." "That it was communism." "If you don't want to be a Communist you have to eat better'n we do." "A country we're watching and hope will keep on the right track is Cuba." "We hope that despite all the embargoes and obsctacles that the world of the dollar puts in their way we hope they'll make it." "I deeply hope they'll overcome the hindrances that the dollar will try to put in their way." "Because it'll be an example that we can use." "Coaticook, May, 1969" "Many younger employees have their grade 8 or 9." "Some even have grade 10 or 11." "But once you get past 40 or 45 most don't have more than grade 2 or 3." "That means it's a highly unskilled labour force." "Obviously, this low level of education makes workers dependent, hard to place elsewhere." "They don't readapt easily." "It's almost impossible to recycle the older ones." "They started in the mills when they were very young often 15 or 16." "Its all they know." "The company and textiles are their world." "Even they can't imagine how they could work somewhere else." "My husband has a farm near the mill so we can't just get up and leave." "And I have 3 kids in school." "Soon they'll go to high school, but that's another matter." "Our son isn't well." "It all adds up." "I'll wait till the end just to see what happens." "I'm counting on the lay-off committee." "I have to work, so... got to depend on them." "It's hard to pick up and leave." "Anywhere else we'd miss our homes." "Have you filmed in Ontario?" "No." "You'll see." "One of my cousins worked there." "He understands English but he can't speak it." "Awful." "Had to come home." "They made life hell." "There's no sense in moving 600 miles to Brandford, Ontario." "Your family'd be there, but no one else you know." "You move there and set up your family." "Let's say, the job lasts about a year." "Then where do you go?" "Think it over." "A guy who's settled is better off staying where he is." "I hear textiles pays less in Ontario." "Less?" "Why bother?" "In Coaticook, we can only sign up for retraining." "Aren't many factories." "If they pay us to study..." "Just as long as they find my husband a job." "I want to stop working." "He stands in water all day." "Last week he got burned all over with caustic." "The vats were in bad shape." "They leak." "Second time in a while." "People say he gets extra for his work, but... 5 cents an hour more." "Yeah" "Long as he finds a good job." "70 sewing machine operators at Walter Mfg in Richmond." "20 operators at Jack Press Ltd." "in Windsor Mills." "30 operators at Charles Sportswear in" "Drummondville." "2 forewomen, same place." "40 operators at..." "in Waterloo." "3 openings at Gregor in Coaticook." "3 at Shear's in Coaticook." "15 operators at Coaticook Couture." "25 men at the Coaticook sawmill." "3 knitters at... 20 sewers at Kaufman Footwear." "And another 5 at St. Edwige Couture." "So it looks good." "That's the inventory as requested." "So there are 302 openings at those different places?" "Right now." "What about salaries?" "We didn't really enquire much about salaries." "So, people would go and find out for themselves." "To motivate them to look." "We found the openings, it's up to them to ask about pay." "Let's just say in most cases, the salary's pretty good." "Fine, but if they travel there to find out its for $35 a week for 3 months what's the point?" "I plan to go into electronics." "Its a field I've always liked." "Took a course in radios once." "With the committee's help I think." "I've a good chance of succeeding." "We'll wait for the committee, see what jobs they offer us." "We can always try to get visas for the States if there's nothing nteresting here." "A friend went to the States 2 months ago." "Down there he gets $1-$1.25 an hour more in the same field- he's a weaver." "Right now, he's waiting to hear from a building contractor about laying gyproc for $9 an hour." "In Manchester chances are good." "Take a French-Canadian who goes there." "They'll prefer him to an American." "A Quebecer is somebody." "That's how it is." "My cousin told me, "If you want a good job" "I'll get you one easy in a shoe or clothing factory." "They don't want Americans." "My family's in Toronto." "My husband works in the auto industry so it'd be pretty simple to move." "We'd rather move there than try to stay." "There's almost nothing here." "I cannot accept, as a union representative and citizen that a company passes off all its responsibilities to this committee." "Penman's has been here for many years." "Throughout those years" "Penman's must have done good business or you'd have closed long ago." "I'd be tempted to say you've taken what you could and now that things are getting bad, you're closing." "It seems to me..." "An employee who's given his life to a company they could at least offer him some compensation pay to show they're grateful, but they're not." "They made money with him." "Exactly." "It's true, we were paid for our work but without us, the company wouldn't have produced what it did." "An employee with 10, 15, 25 years service obviously deserves something for services rendered, so we'll let them stay to the end." "Whenever that is, but to the end." "Let's just say Penman's feels that the lay-off committee was created to place our employees and that the question of termination pay shouldn't be discussed before this committee." "The company won't offer termination pay." "It strikes me as patently absurd in terms of logic to claim that." "The company is participating in the committee voluntarily." "But the adjustment committee is financed in majority- a large majority by the federal and provincial governments." "They assume, in a proportion of 75% the costs that stem from the problems caused to the workers by the company's unilateral decision to close its doors." "So it is only normal and fair that the company participate financially in the joint adjustment committee" "In no way does this release it from its moral obligations towards those who worked for it all their lives." "What the company's willing to do or not willing to do..." "we don't know." "Termination pay is outside our mandate." "Period." "I think they're afraid of separatists." "I think there are a lot of anglophone ideas behind all the companies moving to Ontario." "Unemployment was high even before separatism." "It may be one reason..." "They blackmailed the Montreal Chamber of Commerce." "The companies only move to Ontario because with their advanced technology they don't need specialized workers." "By moving to London, Hamilton, Toronto ...to that triangle..." "There's a considerable workforce of women recently arrived in Canada but who still live like in Europe:" "in large families with the grandmother, aunt..." "So young women are free to work." "Since the jobs don't require any specialization finding women workers for them is easy." "The quality of textile we produce will have disappeared from Quebec in 10 years." "Seems everything's moving to Ontario." "The textile mills and head offices are already there." "Quebec's textile industry is dying." "Coaticook November 1969" "We have managed to find new jobs for many of them including many of the women." "Some have accepted transfers to St. Hyacinthe or to jobs in other towns." "But of course they're all in textiles or related areas." "I'll try to find something in a different line than textiles or in factory work." "Its not easy." "Take's a lot of training and experience." "My job applications- everything I tried- nothing worked." "In June I had a week's trial period at a wholesaler to try to change lines." "I hated it." "So then I decided to study for a year at the Textiles Institute to stay in the same line." "No idea what'll happen after." "Where can we go?" "Especially at our age." "That's just it." "Staying in textiles isn't too promising" "My husband found a job in Coaticook." "It's ok but he works 7 days a week." "One day off a month" "So..." "He'd prefer to stay in Coaticook to start." "Once he has experience with boilers, we can look elsewhere." "He's happy for now." "It's going alright." "For us, its alright." "This factory's among the biggest in Canada." "In terms of employees, its one of the biggest." "Our shirts aren't the best maybe, but we're not ashamed of what we make." "Proof?" "We make the Mounties' uniforms." "And Mounties are strict." "In 1929, when we started, we had 75 employees." "Them, like everybody, with all the war contracts we grew to 550 employees." "After a period of adjustment we went down to 350-375." "The number stayed about the same for two decades." "Then, as I mentioned, in early... in late '67, early '68 it began to drop off- due to imports, no question." "At the beginning of '68, we paid $15,000 a week in salaries." "By December, it had fallen to $7000." "With cuts that size in a town like St. Hyacinthe, where salaries are spent... it means $350,000 that's not spent in St. Hyacinthe." "The money's lost, week by week." "For me, personally" "I'm not worried." "It'll hurt a while, when... 1969 will be hard, but '70 may be better." "I dunno." "It's tough." "The problem's international trade." "We have to sell our wheat, our iron ore." "Ottawa signed a contract for western coal... one of our biggest ever with Japan." "As I mentioned, textiles are very easy to produce whether you're talking about shirts, pyjamas..." "Give any woman a sewing machine, she can make them." "Doesn't take special skills." "So those countries can make them." "Check the Simpson's catalog- a full page in colour:" "4 white perma-press shirts for $13." "Label says, Made in Hong Kong." "They don't hide it:" "Hong Kong 4 shirts for $13-$3 a shirt." "A box of perma-press shirts as good as ours for $13," "They say Eaton's has a plant there." "I dunno if its true." "but that's what you hear." "Could be true for all I know." "Cause there people work for a bowl of rice." "Quebecers would never accept that." "We have our pride!" "Textiles employs so many people here." "The little guys, like they say." "If all the factories close, it's unemployment for them." "We don't care if westerners sell their wheat." "They spend their winters in Guadeloupe and Acapulco or places." "We save up to go to Montreal." "This year we're making striped shirts with a tie like..." "Did you read that great piece on Japan in Le Devoir?" "Said they can't be stopped, they're fanatics." "And that one of their aims is to ...conquer back what they lost and do anything to become a great power." "That's why they'll work for nothing." "All established industries have lobbies for management and for unions." "Both lobbies are fundamentally conservative." "They don't want things to change." "Both groups are producers... both the workers and factory owners." "They want our governments to tax consumers" "in order to subsidize producers in a given sector." "These taxes represent a tremendous cost to Canada" "$1 billion per year." "Not only in textiles but in all the manufacturing sectors." "What they want are disguised subsidies, that is, trade barriers... usually import duties, but also quota agreements." "A quota agreement is a treaty" "often it's not really official- between the government of Canada, for example and Singapore or Hong Kong whereby the foreign country agrees not to export to Canada textiles worth more than, say" "$50 million a year." "We have 20 of these." "In addition to our high import duties we have these treaties, many with countries in the Third World that needs exports to survive." "We'd feel better if we said, "No more Japanese sandals..."" "no more Italian shoes in Canada!"" "We'd see many companies start to manufacture them and invest large amounts of money only to realize that they can't sell them for 98¢ have to be priced at $2.25- and then people won't buy them." "We complain about Japanese imports." "People find all kinds of ways to make it possible to bring into Canada different imports." "I remember when they lifted the embargo on electronics." "They'd preach to us, Buy Canadian!" "The it became more profitable to Buy Japanese because Japanese tubes cost about 30 or 40% less when you had your TV set fixed." "Same thing in textiles." "They tell you, "Consolidate production." "The greatest thing!" "You'll see, it'll stabilize your jobs."" "But it also stablizes people on unemployment." "Consolidating production stablizes them on the street." "Our guys are very aware of that." "Every time they consolidate production they reduce the number of jobs in the sector involved." "We're subject to market fluctuations." "What about market fluctuations?" "YThe first hit are the poor slobs like us in textiles." "Before that I worked there 8 years in fashioned stockings." "The the production line for fashioned stockings disappeared." "A fashioned stocking has a seam up the back." "Today they manufacture circular stockings." "It's a very different machine." "So... after 8 years, I had to find another job." "For us, this means- its funny here I'm speaking on behalf of our guys- it means a reduction of jobs." "What'll happen to them?" "The local rep asked this." "What has to be done so they can find jobs?" "Stabilize them in lines at Manpower Centres so they can qualify for jobs that will no longer exist when they finish studying for them?" "We've seen it happen." "They send people to school for 2, 3 years and then say" ""Sorry, there's no work."" "You saw all their publicity about car mechanics." "Today a machine cal tell you which parts are broken or need replacing." "Before it took a few specialists several hours." "Today you find lots of mechanics pumping gas." "It's ridiculous." ""Rationalization"- politicians' hype!" "The politicians use those big words!" "But how do the workers downstairs feel?" "We bang out head against the wall take anything that comes up, try desperately." "At the end of the year we take stock." "We ask, Are we any further ahead?" "We try to believe, yes." "Our MP's tell us things look good." "It's December and Japan's agreed to reduce its quota." "In January, a slew of ships'll try to win the Golden Cane." "Want to bet who wins?" "They go on about western farmers." "Just read their white papers and the Commons debates." "You'll see how important the West is." "They grow a lot of wheat." "OK, they can grow it at a lower cost than in most other countries." "We have good land and have good oil, etc." "But all the low-paying stuff goes to the Atlantic provinces." "If Biafra's starving give it the wheat." "They'll tell kids to go to school to get better jobs in textiles!" "What will happen?" "It's like you have a bag on your head and they'll tell you, "Don't press on it." ""You'll suffocate."" "The politicians tell us" ""That's right, keep it up!"" "From tripartite committees to meet with Ottawa and Quebec."" "Quebec says, "Not our business." Ottawa says, "Look... the economic system is so complex."" "Sure is." "I can't understand it." "But I do know one thing:" "When my take-home pay keeps getting smaller and every few years my family grows there's something wrong." "They say, "Tighten your belts on expenses." "And we'll increase your taxes and our pay."" "So they try harder to convince us they act on our behalf." "First, I'm sorry" "I couldn't meet you earlier." "You wrote last November... government management unions" "My health required that I take rest" "it's now much better, which is why I'm pleased we could meet together this morning." "The reason for this meeting is to point out the huge number of textile workers who've lost their jobs in recent years." "The figure comes to 4000 in 2 years across Canada but, of that number, I think 80-90% live in Quebec." "If we extent out study to cover the secondary textile sector- clothing... the figure is also very high." "In our view, responsibility lies with both industry and workers, but also with those who set policy." "If we continue to play Canada's West against the East and if your colleague, Premier Bennett tries to open the doors of Asia and in opening them closes factories in Quebec... you'll understand the importance of this for us all." "Blue collar workers aspire to the values of white collar workers" "Union leaders aspire to the values of factory management" "There are a few questions within your jurisdiction specifically that of recycling labor." "The current situation is highly ambiguous." "Personally, I'm deeply pained and I believe few citizens understand the situation that since there's a double jurisdiction we pay taxes twice for the same services." "Until that's settled, no one will believe you're rationalizing public expenditures." "I can tell you, Mr. Premier that already" "some manufacturers, the most important amog then are reticent" "to make investments not for lack of confidence in the textile industry but because they don't know what will happen here." "Do away with Magog's textiles or Sherbrooke's or St. Hyacinthe's" "or Montmorency's or Valleyfield's..." "They did away with Cornwall's textiles and you can see for yourselves what it meant there." "We can't keep on creating lay-off committees because companies keep closing and other companies keep not moving to Quebec." "It's becoming abdurd." "I should mention that twice during the past year" "I was in touch with Ottawa and once I met Minister Pepin." "We totally disagree on the subject of textiles." "I did my best to represent" "Mr. King, the others and the industry's unions" "And further meetings are planned shortly." "I know treaties are in the works with new countries and I oppose them vehemently." "Not a week goes by that I don't try to meet with Ottawa because I think this problem is growing and must be solved." "We must vigorously condemn federal policy." "It surprises me all the more" "I don't want to get personal- but Mr. Pepin lives in" "Drummondville where the industry is very active." "It's very active in Drummondville and provides jobs for" "I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of people." "The federal Minister of Industry" "Mr. Pepin, must be aware of these problems." "It is his region or very near it." "Almost every day lobbies representing certain industries or trade unions visit Ottawa to present briefs on wheat, corn, flour the aeronautics industry, you name it." "And the first solution they all propose is" "Raise import duties!" "It's always their first idea." "What I try to explain - it is not a very popular argument- what I try to explain is that, if we do that it would amount to erecting around Canada a huge barrier, a huge wall." "Fortress Canada" "Right." "I believe some people want to play the Good Samaritan." "They think that since Canada is rich we must help countries that are less rich." "To do that one must turn a blind eye to our textiles industry." "Also, I think textiles hasn't always had what's known as the best image." "We spoke of sophisticated industries." "I think I can say that the textiles industry isn't as sophisticated as the electronics industry." "But it bears little resemblance to what it was 20 years ago." "I believe certain sectors can be favorably compared in terms of techology and how to say?" "...the sophistication of the means of production and control to the most advanced industries while still using manpower that is not too..." "how to say?" "educated." "Not educated, lets say, not too advanced." "You don't need engineers at every step as in sophisticated industries." "In terms of Quebec's production is there a lot of exportation?" "You can't support free trade and recommend that" "...each country produce what is is best at producing and then propose a list of exceptions for your own country." "Because if you do you invite other countries to do the same." "In recent months I've frequently had the opportunity to discuss the matter in other countries." "Every time I advocate they open their market to Canadian goods they can easily demonstrate that in many instances especially textiles we're more protectionist than they are." "It's clearly federal responsibility." "It's clearly Ottawa's failure if there are situations like that of textiles in Quebec." "First, let me present my colleague the Minister of Industry, Mr. Beaudry..." "Mr. Paul, who's replacing Mr. Bellemare today because during Mr. Bellemare's absence, Mr. Paul is assuming some of the duties held by the flamboyant member for Champlain." "Mr. Masse, who increasingly looks after planning, including at the ODEC- a bright point along the lower St. Lawrence." "And Mr. Maltais, member for Limoilou." "So... your comments brought back memories." "We've not time to write our memoirs but let's at least review our files." "3 December 1953..." "As member of the Legislative Assembly for Missisquoi where we have several textile mills including Bruck Mills..." "Allow me to greet my English-speaking compatriots..." "So, I proposed this motion at the Quebec legislature." "Strangely it resembles the problems you're still facing." "Given that the industry known as the textile industry which comproses many industrial activities is crucial to Quebec's economy and normally employs..."" "back then" ""over 50 000 people... and given that in Quebec there are over 350 mills related to said industry and located in areas across the Province..."" "these are some of the preoccupations you've mentioned, which are still valid" ""we move that this House respectfully request federal authorities to quickly adopt the appropriate means to put an end to the undesirable competition of foreign goods."" "we limited this to:- "in the Province and that the clerk be ordered to send a copy of this resolution to the PM, the Hon. Louis St-Laurent."" "That was in 1953." "The madness of the system as a whole justifies the insanity of its parts" "Nowadays goverments deal first with the most urgent issues because there are so many of them: various strikes... finances-government spending increases by 18% but income by 8% by normal growth." "Every 6 months education is hit by its worst crisis ever." "So governments don't have time for much long-term planning." "It varies but you can see why they focus on current problems." "The fact of being able to freely elect one's masters does not abolish either masters or slaves" "Count on us to do our best to help you because we realize... if everyone does we do, we who are at the helm of business." "My colleague, the minister of industry strives with... patience with perserverance and tenacity to establish new industries in Quebec." "He doesn't make much noise but they say that noise doesn't always produce good and that good doesn't always produce noise." "Thank you for your warm reception, Mr. Premier." "Father Dion Textiles Committee" "I'm sure that the union management committee of the textiles industry was pleased to meet with you." "You can count on us to work for the good of the Province of Quebec and we're counting on you." "Thank you, Mr. Chairman." "Bye, gentlemen." "Good luck." "Attention!" "Please gentlemen step aside." "The private sector isn't dead unless our extreme socializations about the joint management of companies..." "The what?" "Joint management." "The contracts are awarded by submission." "So just let us know when." "With pleasure." "They call it electorial fraud!" "With 4000 votes... a 2000 vote majority- 2000 votes more than his opponent." "With pleasure." "He said, I'm not Mme. Bertrand!" "You can't go in to see Mme Bertrand." "Someone was looking for me." "A lady in pink." "She may have my invitation." "Please ask Miss Demers, Mme Bertrand's press secretary." "She said I was invited." "Is she there?" "It's bloody long." "My riding has 400 miles of shoreline." "The North Shore?" "Yeah Saguenay." "Can we go in?" "No, you can't." "Why not?" "What?" "Why not?" "Do you have a pass?" "Do you have a pass?" "Only those with passes." "What about journalists?" "Only those with passes." "Even for the press galleries." "The happy conscience is tending to predominate" "We're still better off than the unemployed." "Quebec has the most unemployment too." "That's nothing new." "So..." "We're lucky to have the bad luck to work." "I'm privileged." "If you're broke, ok, in a way you're not free." "But if you can't go on a trip say, you can do something else" "You're free to do something else." "If I suddenly have $1 million and I spend it travelling, no one can stop me." "I can spend it the way I want" "I mean, I get by, I'm not starving." "I think I'm pretty lucky" "With the rent I pay here..." "I imagine what it'd be like if I had to pay" "80 or 90 bucks rent." "I find we're really well... myself, anyway..." "I find we're well set up." "There's a yard for the kids." "We have a basement where the kids can play." "I find we're pretty well off." "If I had a million I'd know what to do with it." "I'd know cause I'd allow myself certain luxuries." "But I'd be less happy" "You'll say, its hard, I work like a slave to buy myself a coat or furniture." "But at least I can say I earned it." "It's mine, no one else bought it for me" "I didn't earn it off someone else's back." "That's one satisfaction you have when you're poor." "I'd say they're not so bad off." "They're alive." "To say, I don't like my work..." "No, I like my work." "You even get used to the noise." "I've had good foremen." "Obviously for what textiles pay..." "But here, that's a good salary!" "It's considered about average." "I like a person who's full of life who's optimistic and doesn't see only the bad side." "We gave 'em everything we had." "Everything we could we gave to them." "Believe you me!" "I've worked here 33 years." "If the plant had stayed open" "I'd've kept my job till I was 65." "I like my job." "The machine is the most efficient political instrument."