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PAGE 6 _ WATERLOO WWW. WY. new 28. 1N4 Median male wages fell 12 p.er cent. For non-supervisory work. ers, real weekly wages fell 20 per cent and hourly wages fell 13 per cent. earnings prospects are collapsing for the bottom two-thirds of the workforce Workers in this part of the earnings bracket dont see deficit reduction as their number one need. They want good Or that the pension you've been promised may not be there when you retire? Worried if you're on the bottom rung of the economic ladder that you may never see a tniddle.elagt, lifestyle? You are right. Keep worrymg. The average Canadian worker has a right to express a cry of pam about what's happening to him. Why? To put it bluntly, the C anahan ixrlitical process has lost sight of the econormc well-being of the bottom 60 per cent of its workforce. Consnder thu: horn 1973 to 1992 the per capita Canadian GDP after Correcting for Inflation rose 27 per cent Yet over the same period averagewagesfortlwbottomSOpercentofmaleworken fell 20 per cent in real terms. Canadian and Amencan workers have suffered for two decades from falling wages. They wrongly blame free trade for their losses and thelr frustration is understandable. But they should be look. mg to the real pmblem xfthey want to solve t Are you womed that you‘re falling behind and not living as well as you once did? Or expected to? That the company you have worked for all these years may dump you for a younger person? if trade muons were smart - and they've shown little inclination of that - they'd stop screaming about government cuts and start mixstlng that employers give massive retraining to everybody in the workforce. Because that's exactly what's medal But the umons themselves have been the worst enemy of work- lng people they've opposed trade legislation that will help business and mssted on higher wages for people who don't have enough trauung to ment It Result? Companies leave Canada Thegaplwtween rtchandworisgrowing. Itwillnotstopuntil theCanathan workfome rs better trainedandeduattedsothatpem ple can take on work that is not low-skill. Those jobs will soon be goneforever, Realwageseanonceagainriaeifwerestruetur-erly,ifthe umons smanen up andrealimthatrnanufaaurimrinthiseountry isbaaatllydead,ifpublie-employeeotarttnetingarmttheir demandsandifweteedueatemaet0fourmi. Whilewageehaveteenslippingk_at20orsorars,we still have a chance to fix the problem: if we blow it, the gap lwtweertnchandparwilljustksepongrrtm'ng. Butwehavetoatqtthegimme,gimmeattituktotht Caught between the big unions across the country and the law. makers are the millions, of Canadian workers who have been formdtomoveirmrtjdxsthatoncepaidt18anhourtojthsthat now pay $7, lfthat 13. they arent already the victims ofmass lay- otfs. prxxiuctioru halts. The result hasbeen adwindhng middleclass thatkeepsfetting You’re right to worry What's happened IS that mart of these workers arent adequately trzuned to compete 1n the new global economy and governments haven't done much to help the situation, Money is needed for heavy Investment In skill and training program; Such retraining has often been pronused but seldom sucxessfully done. If the trend continues, some time early in the next century the top four per cent of individuals and families drawing pay cheques wulearnasmuchonthe'rhas60perasntdtherestofCanadian workers smaller every day Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Telephone ”0-2830 New Line see-m1 Fax No. 886-9383 _?,,,,)!),),':,,!,!"'-? Fred Sage] Melodee Mminuk (Spout Editor) Deborah Crandall Tom Bmkelbank Dada Hound Maureen MENab Gerry Mattke MSW Sheri Germ: Darlene qule Heather Mitchel] Flashback to Cuba, 1962: At the time. North Amer. ica was gripped with fear that the Sowet Union was set to use the communist island nation as a launch- pad for What!!! nuclear weapons. World War III wasassumaitobeallbuturxm us. Inretr-t,thereisnoexcuseforthe36yearsof hell the us has put Castro's Cuba through all in the name of keeping hedf out of the hemisphere, But the Cuban Missile Crisis which, for a change, the Amen- cans deemed to have won, was a vital, unavoidable turning point for the entire planet. Unlike most Americans and many Canadians, I like us. President Bill Clinton. His intelligence and understanding of the plight of ordinary people far sur. pass his recent predecessors. This, I believe, is far more important than who he has propositional or slept with Oh, I'm certain he's no Mr. Smith, caring only about the good of the people, but he, like Prime Minister Jean Chretien and unlike most other recent western leaders, is at least not elitist to the bone. But while we all know Dan Quayle was and is no Jack Kennedy, Clinton clearly isn't either. Audio tapes just released of President Kennedy's discussions with his cabinet and members of Congress at the time show the president's view that a blockade of Cuba would force the USSR. to remove the mis. siles won out over the alternate tactic - all.out inva- sion. Indeed. the plan worked. _ . But it sent a chill down my spine to hear Robert McNamara. who was Kennedy’s secretary of defense, on ABC's Nightline last week remind us just how close to disaster things were, According to McNamara. the Soviets had 162 nuclear missiles in Cuba aimed at the US. And Kennedy may have saved us all He's been sidelined by a stroke that', been described " minor. Right now he is undergoing therapy. and the outlook us good Sandy Baird will be back. sandythanesaiithereaiierswaukdtoask what happened to the column Jerry Fiddler Rick Campbell President: Paul Winkler Circulation Supervisor: Andrew Pearen M"! Burma Waterloo Chronicle in publiahed every WM! by Pevieweoureeneiit-ir-o"ttrte-rily mpmemmemolmw. - (iiijii,i,i9iiiiiiiiin" 't_'eito_t_ediM9rrtg_ The Fairway Group 215 Funny Rd. 8., Clinton's lack of a ddinitim, coincident action plan to bring the interminable murder, dues and destruo lion in the former Yugoslavia to an end makes me dilnk.whatifhehadbeenthepruidmtin1962? Judging by his record. [believe Clinton would have chosen blockade over invasion like Kennedy did But wouldhehavehadtheremhetogtiekwithhisplan over the rapidly building 'remtRIN from the Congress to attack? Would any ofthe plaids": since Nixon? How different the next three decades might have been if a lesser man than Kennedy had been in charge! He was ki11edt-rasevrintxrrn,butI1l take this opportunity to thankJohn F. Kennedy any- way. May we all tisasotrrevi-ithastriadt lucidity although he told Kennedy at the time that the CIA counted only 8,000 Soviet soldiers on the island, there were, in fact, 45,000. hm would have been pre ceded by the airborne annihilation of these troops. and It now seems certain that all-out nuclear war would have been the comet such an action. 1lncidentally, a fascinating, entertaining comedy- drama about living through than days in nearby south Florida, Mom, is mll with renting.; Tom Brockelbank Angle, Once over T Ghilv thNtrirtitn men t4srirtritscaaur. ”WWW“ "Ar. Sandy Baird