November, 1970
TORONTO, Canada - Until October 16, few Canadians were
aware that the government had at its disposal what one
newspaper described as the most far-reaching emergency
legislation of any western capitalist country. Commentators
looking for parallels could cite only the British emergency
laws employed against the Irish insurrection in 1920.
Accompanying the October 16 proclamation was a regulation banning the Front de Libération du Québec "or any group of persons or association that advocates the use of force or the commission of crime as a means of or aid in accomplishing governmental change in Canada."
The regulations provide that in any prosecution, evidence that a person ever attended a meeting of the banned organization or communicated its statements, is "in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that he is a member of the unlawful association." The regulations also endow police with virtually unlimited powers of arrest without warrant.
Detainees under the act can be held up to twenty-one days after arrest without knowing the charge against them, and up to ninety days without trial.
In a hysterical speech widely played up in the press, Manpower Minister Jean Marchand tried to justify this Draconian legislation to the House of Commons on October 16. He referred to an alleged secret police report which claims that the FLQ, with admittedly slightly over 100 members, "are infiltrated in all the vital places of the province of Quebec, in all the key jobs where all the important decisions are made."
November 3, 1945
TOLEDO, Ohio, Oct. 22 - Three processing plants of the
Libbey-Owens-Ford glass company were quiet today as some
4,000 striking workers remained away from work, their
patience exhausted by two years of fruitless negotiations
with the glass barons.
"We've conceded enough," stated William Akos, president of Local 9, Federation of Flat Glass Workers, CIO. "The 4,000 workers of Toledo together with some 15,000 other workers nationally will remain out until wage demands are met and a contract is signed."
Since 1942 the glass workers have received an increase in hourly rates of 2.3 cents an hour. Since January 1, 1941 they have received the grand total of 9.3 cents increase in hourly rates. All this while the cost of living skyrocketed some 47 per cent!
Akos explained that while the union had made concessions in an earnest attempt to reach a settlement, the company made no concessions from its original counter-proposals. The union asked originally for a flat 20-cent hourly increase together with a 4-cent adjustment for labor and maintenance classifications. The union is now asking for a 10.7-cent hourly increase and a 2-cent adjustment. The company is still holding to its original offer of 8 cents!