WIUTBY PUEE PRESS, WEDN SDAY, JUNE 14, 1989, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEýN THlE POLITICS -OF SMALL BUSINESS Canada's political system is split ideologically between the interestsa of labor and capital. Although. ail three major parties dlaim support from:across the board, the financial support for the Liberals and Conservatives is traditionally in big business and for the NDP in organized labor. The popular. assumption that there are. fundamental différences between labor and management is supported every year by several welI publicized, bitter and noisy labor disputes. But the differences are more apparent than real. The supposed animosity between big business and unions - GM and the CAW for example - is largely a charade. They may be very vocal in their disagreements, but each knows that they depend very heavily on the other for the privileged position they hold. The fact is that Canada is not a heavily unionized country with less than 40% of the workforce organized. .In spite of huge wage imbalances between unionized and non-unionized workers, labor continuously fails te make significant inroads into the rest of the economny. The real economic disparity is between big business and smnall business. Governments have tended We regard business as fairly homogeneous, but the interests and manner of oporation of small business are very different from the corporate giants. Althougli most small business aspire to growth and a few may even dream of êupplanting GM, the odds of a small business even surviving, let alone growing into a,'big" business is incredibly small. The bureaucracy of government business policy and the hard lime of Canada's megalithie banks is a daunting challenge",to the budding entrepreneur. Few make it. A. major difference between big business and small is their approach te workers. While a company like GM is dependent on its workforce as a whole, individual workers are no more important than' the raw materials. In comparison, small businesses have a close interdepondence of management with individual employees. Most Canadians work for small businesses, usually at lower salaries, longer hours, fewer benefits and less security than their unionized "brothers". But worker loyalty is strong because of the personal involvement of owners. Cutting costs in big business is the impersonal stroke of a pon that puts a hundred peoplie out of a job, but in small business it is the agonizing personaldecision of someone who knows the people involved and probâbly their wife and ids as well. This is not to say that there is anything sinister or underhanded about GM, or about unions - they've always played by the rules. But those rules were written by governuments under the mistaken impression that the marketplace - supply and demnand - would maintain a balance of prices and wages. It hasn't worked that way. When a business reaches a certain size and controls a simeable percentage of the market, it can pass price increases on te, the market with virtual impunity. The theory that the competition will keep prices down just doesn't happen. The big auto makers control the market through massive promotion rather than competitive pricing. We buy what they want te selI us. Se in addition te competing for staff against huge wage differences, small businesses (and individuals) pay the inflated prices which allows the auto makers te pay their high wages. This increases the costs of small business and reduces the amount available for their own workers. Se the gap gets wider. If the marketplace had been controlling wages and prices, N. America would neyer have lost its world leadership in car manufacturing and postage would stili be twenty-five cents. When governments think of workers they think of unionized workers because they are visible and organized. When governments think of business they think of big business because most business organizations are dominated by executives of large corporations. And so recently'when the Ontario government was setting up a new board te o'versee occupational health and safety (see article in the business news), it proposed te give equal representation te big business and organized labor, thereby excluding the bulk of workers and employers from represen- tation. The new body could impose ail kinds of sweeping bueacrti 'glaios-n-ilwrksiuaios -etu-n *x .~. WILLIAM DAVIDSON' CENTRAL GARAGE, DUNDAS SEREET EAST, C. 1922 This brick garage, now occupied by the Goodyear (formerly Attersley) Tire Centre, was built in 1917 east of the Four Corners belund the Dominion Bank. It was operated as Wlutby Motors for many years by William Davidson and Donald Wilson. WhIUyr ArdiveS photo 10 TEARS ADO from the Wednesday, June 13, 1979 edition of the WITBY FREE PRES " Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Pauline McGibbon addressed the Whitby Chamber of Commerce at a meeting at the Whitby Yacht Club on June il. " A post-graduate course in psychiatrie nursing at Whitby Psychiatric Hospital is the only one of its kind in Ontario. " Parents of students at Florence Heard and E. A. Fairman schools do not want Grade 6 transferred to Whitby Senior Public School. " Construction of a second floor to the Whitby Police Station begins in two or three weeks. 25 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, June 11, 1964 ecition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS " George Brooks lias been elected vice-president of the United Rubber Workers of Canada. " Florence Heard, principal of Dundas Street Public School, will be honored on her retirement after 40Oyears of teaching. " Police Chief George Ranktine is attending a chief constables' convention in Kingston. " Architects Craig, Zeidler and Strong are advertising for tenders for Whitby's new lie hall. 75 YBARS ADO from the Thursday, June 11, 1914edition of the WHITBY GAZETTE AND CHRONICLE " Charles Calder of Brooklin will represent the Conservatives in the provincial election. " Miss Emily McKay will succeed her late father Donald McKay, as treasurer of Ontario County. " The Whitby Brass Band will play at the bandstand in front of the armories on June 14. " The Whitby Horse Show Committee lias asked the Ontario County Council for a grant.