Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY: ". Wor 1 -r - ...i1 9 J 'Oki Saturday, November 6, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michiggn Carter 1 s economic policies start off in right direction IT IS ENCOURAGING that the first indications of the plans of Presi- dent-elect Jimmy Carter's future ad- ministration belie a cautious but for- ward - moving philosophy behind its proposed policies. Although nothing very substantial came out of the news conference of the Thursday night, the implide direction shows modera- tion and restraint while providing necessary reform. Of special good cheer is the possi- bility of an income tax cut aimed at stimulating consumption and pro- viding relief for the average wage earner. Unfortunately, President-elect Carter had little specific to say about the matter, it seeming that the ques- loner knew more abou the cut than our future leader. Typical of Carter's post - election confusion was his re- feral to "payroll taxes" which in- Editorial positions represent a consensus of The Daily Editorial staff. Photography Staff Pilne Lubens.............Chief Photographer rad Benjamin...........Staff Photographer Alan Bilinsky............... Staff Photographer Scott eccker................Staff Photographer Andy Freeberg .............. Staff Photogrpher Christina Schneider ..,...... Staff Photographer Business Staff Beth Friedman.............Business Manager Deborah Dreyfuss .........Operations Manager Kathleen Mulhern ... Assistant Adv. Coordinator David Harlan.................Finance Manager Don Simpson ...............:. Sales Manager Pete Peterson .......... Advertising Coordinator Cassie St. Clair ...........Circulation Manager Beth Stratford ............. Circulation Director Sports Stafff Bill Stieg ...................." ... Sports Editor Rich Lerner ........... Executive Sports Editor Andy Glazer ............ Managing Sports Editor Rick Bonino.............Associate Sports Editor NIGHT EDITORS: Tom Cameron, Enid Goldman, Kathy Henneghan, Scott Lewis, Rick Maddock. Bob Miller, John Niemeyer, Mark Whitney. STAFF WRITERS: Leslie Brown, Paul Campbell, Marybeth Dillon, Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel- hardt, Jeff Frank, Cindy Gatzlolis, Don Mac- Lachlan. Rich Ovshinsky, Jim Powers, Pat Rode, John Schwartz. elude Social Security taxes but not income taxes. However, based on the proposals of Lawrence Klein, chief economic advisor to Mr. Carter, and a sampling of opinions of the Univer- sity economics department, it seems that unless the economy picks up a good deal we can expect a tax cut of up to $15 billion in 1977, with an increase in the personal income tax exemption and a decrease iii the mid- dle income tax rates. This is not very surprising, Presi- dent Ford having proposed a similar scheme, though tied to spending de- creases, some time ago. The economy clearly needs stimulus, as a brief look at the unemployment figures will show. At this stage, there is also little need to worry about too much of such stimulus in the short run. A $15 billion cut in taxes would have a substantial impact and,,help speed the recovery. WE APPLAUD the future adminis- tration's, tentative proposal and hope that it carries through when Carter and Congress get down to business in January. Perhaps caution may dic- tate that only tax cuts and not spending increases be instituted; new programs are extremely difficult to get ,rid of in case of overheating. Perhaps tax policies be made to en- courage the expansion of industrial capacity which is rather strained in some vital industries such as steel, paper, and chemicals. Even so, a re- sponsible fiscal stimulus that will create more jobs without substnat- sally fueling inflation or stamped- ing the touchy Federal Reserve into an anti-inflationary panic is desper- ately needed and overdue. TODAY'S STAFF: News: Don DeKett, Lori Carruthers, Stu McConnell, Martha Retallick, Jeff Ristine, Tim Schick, Shelley Wolson Editorial Page: Michael Beckman, Rob Meachum, Jon Pansius, Tom Stevens Arts Page: Lois Josimovich Photo Technician: Scott Eccker By MICHAEL CONTE is no lo 50 per+ THE SITUATION of the ers ma American worker has been year, ar the subject of a great deal of come is debate a7 d discussion in recent $14,000. years. Studs Terkel's interviews WHAT with working people in his book work," "Working" brought home the in it co fact that work is dull and repeti- directio tive - a distasteful experience gone in - for most Americans. Re- particul searchers for the Department commur of Health, Education and Wel- to "hux fare confirmed this in their re- ronmen port on Work in America. One proofing of their findings is that mechan- ameniti ization has required less per- ever, c sonal and imaginative input on lars, an the job, at the same time that than a people are demanding more of wage se an opportunity to realize their rection full potential. Observers from curred all sides insist on the need for issue of fundamental change, not only This in rates of pay and "working nature conditions," but in the nature change of work. worker This is a heady prescription; mation one which unions have general- and not ly avoided since the demise of bank a the I.W.W. Modern labor unions There in America, rather than ad- the que dressing questions about the ers' pa work, itself, have concentrated will ent on bread-and-butter issues: wag- agemen es, fringes, and other benefits decade. that can be measured in dol- (Bluest lars. These issues are, of course, Union ( paramount when the struggle is chinists' for subsistence. That, however, are beg ers press anger the case, for about gree of econ'omic demo cent of American work- These leaders are all, in ke more than $10,000 a tention for the presiden rd the median family in- their unions. Meanwhile s in the neighborhood of Transportation Employees ion in Ann Arbor has m T IS THE "nature of clear that they seek con and what might changes control by employees ov nsist of? There are two operation of the city's bu ns that innovation has vices They argue that s . The most popular (in step would considerably ar, among the business crease the cost to the c nity) have been attempts operating the public trans manize" the work envi- tion network. Movements t by installing sound- ilar to that in the TEL g, air-conditioning, other growing in localities acros es. These changes, how- country. an be measured in dol- A GROWING AWARENE nd reflect nothing more the need for industria new dimension to the mocracy has occurred o ettlement. The other di- organized labor, also. Th that innovation has oc- sociation for Self-Manag in has to do with the (formerly People for Self f decisions and control. agement) was founded in type of change in the for the purpose of pron of work involves a awareness and discussion in the nature of the sues relating to workers' (a change from auto- trol and industrial demo to creativ individual), and to help implement the t only additions to their of its members. Implemen ccounts. is taking place through a is some indication that sociated group called the st for a degree of work- eration for Economic Den articipation and control cy (FED). FED is cur er heavily in union-man- soliciting funds from found t negotiations in the next and governmental agenci Leaders in the UAW create a revolving fund1 one), the Steelworkers' would provide capital toi Sadlowski) and the Ma- prises which would be st Union (Winpisinger) worker-managed. ginning to demand a de- The People's Bicent crary. conr- cy of , the s' Un- ade it mplete er the s ser- uch a de- ity of porta- sim- U are ss the ESS of l de- utside e As- ement -Man- 1972 moting of is- con- cracy, goals tation an as- Fed- xocra- rently ations es to which enter- trictly ennial ror PG Commission has also done much toward promoting economic de- mocracy by focusing attention on the democratic principles of the founding fathers of the Unit- ed States. The message of the PBC (now called the People's Business Committee) is clear: the application of democratic principles to social organization need not stop at the factory gate. PBC's efforts have brought about the publication of educational materials (such as Own Your Job: Economic De- mocracy for Working 'Ameri- cans) and public mobilizaztion around economic issues. THE CLIMATE FOR all these activities is ripe. In the wake of the recession, workers in sev- eral plants have been forced to actually buy their companies in order to retain their jobs. The most well-known cases are those of Vermont Asbestos, the South Bend Lathe company, Saratoga Knitting Mills and In- ternational Group Plans. The power of worker ownership and* control is partially indicated by the fact that these companies, which were considered as liabili- ties to their previous owners, are now turning record profits for the new worker-owners, and workers' attitudes toward their jobs have changed significant- ly. 'wer Members of the Association for Self - Management believe that industrial democracy can only be achieved as a result of a united and informed move- ment; that union efforts to pro- vide a meaningful work life can be aided by the constrictive criticism of interested individu- als, and that constructive work can be done outside the formal bargaining framework. We can participate in this movement in Ann Arbor by educating our- selves and others. Members of the ASM hope to bring promi- nent union leaders to Ann Ar- bor to explain their positions to students and workers here. We hope to recruit participants from the university and the working community. We are al- so trying to influence legisla- tors to work for proposals that would promote democracy in the workplace. IF YOU ARE interested in these or other activities related to workers' control, please come to our meetings or contact one of our members. Our next meet- ing will be on November 10, at 7:30, in Room 3209 of the Michi- gan Union. Michael Conte is a University graduate s fdent in economics and a member of the Association for Self-Management. 1 W6 RIr F 00o FAR 819 tA)HE C. U(0 1: IOG - ( T ? A&u a G. Its. _17 . e 0 474 OP. - ICA LETTERS *f c more than the three linguistic units (Zulu, Sotho, and Xhosa (Scheller had it Zhoso) To The Daily: that he mentions. IT IS OF COURSE appropriate that The FOURTH, THERE IS nothing particular- Daily make its commentary columns avail- ly logical in the emergence of Apartheid able to authors of divergent political orien- (the justifying ideology for racial discrim- tations, including those as little likely to ination), other than that all discriminatory find support in the University community systems develop a claim to moral rectitude. as the apologist for racial discrimination Nor is there anything particularly logical in South Africa (22 October). Yet, I won- in the claim that separating peoples of dif- der why the editors of The Daily permit ferent color reduces tension, especially in the use of commentary columns to per- a society where race is used to deny to petuate the sorts of myths about Africa the majority of the society most of the that distort and devalue the African ex- rights, privileges, and benefits of that so- perience. ciety. A clear case in point is the column My point here has not been to respond by W. L. Scheller, arguing for a gradual to Scheller's argument. I do not think his transition to majority rule in South Africa. claims could stand up to serious chal- But I am less concerned with the naivete lenge. My point here is that it does not and the superficial nature of Scheller's seem to me reasonable that The Daily per- analysis that I am 'with the errors of mit its commentary columns to be used fact included in his column and printed to propagate such distortions and errors, by The Daily. For the rest of your read- even when they serve the political purpose ership, the record ought to be put straight., of the commentator. First, only the South African govern- Joel Samoff ment continues to believe that there was Department of Political Science a simultaneous arrival of Europeans and November 1 Africans in'what is now South Africa. The archeological and linguistic evidence con- Bursley elections vincingly demonstrate that African peoples To The Daily: inhabited all of Southern Africa prior to IN A RECENT ARTICLE appearing on the arrival of the Europeans, and that is the front of Th Dail I d confirmed by the reports of early European sttg ofer hegarkIPa de a travelers. (Simultaneity of arrival would statement concerning Mark Patrosso. who not, of course, excuse racial discrimination, was contesting the Bursley elections. For but that myth is so often repeated by the my statement in wich I labeled Patrosso buttha myh 1 s ofen epetedbytoe an obnoxious and unpopular person, I was South African government, it deserves to subequy acd byltwonletters be deflated.) subsequently attacked by two letters to SECOND, THE COMMUNITY of South the Daily. ACN ,HE COMUNt ITYodfSrguty The letters written by John McHugh, Afri ans whose descent is traced largely G. J. DiGiuseppe, Brian Lasky 'and Jeff from the original -Dutch settlers and otherG.Jompsn peer anted ky adJck immigrant communities, including French Thompson, generally amounted to a pack of blatant .lies. It first then appeared to and German immigrants, has been called me that these individuals have no re- Boer, from the word for farmer (and not spect for the truth and wrote these let- Boor, as your columnist had it).sp re ttand mrote.e Third, Scheller perpetuates another of ters purely of spite and malice. Not only was I attacked concerning the Tarzan-like images of Africa: that Af- my opinions of Patrosso, but also for my rica is organized into something called . , ,; rr_.,A - - . MICHAEL BECKMAN Aftermath NOW THAT THE DUST and smog have cleared and Jimmy Carter has emerged at the top of what many have inferred to be a "scrapheap" of an elec- tion, upon initial analysis, many positive and en- couraging signs can be seen from the results. The foremost of these signs is the large voter turnout, in light of the fact that pollsters and political analysts were - predicting one of the lowest turnouts since women were given the suffrage. This year over 80 million voters cast ballots for or against a presi- dential candidate, the largest turnout in history. While the actual percentage, (about 54 per cent of the eligi- ble voters turned out) is low compared to the high of 62.8 per cent in the 1960 election, or even the 55.4 per cent turnout in the 1972 election, is is signifi- cantly higher than the 40 per cent figure that some analysts were projecting. This comparatively high figure can be attributed to many factors. First of all, over ten million Ameri- cans became eligible to vote for the first time this year because of the lowering of the voting age in 1971. And this large new segment of the voting popu. lation didn't vote as expected. A CBS poll showed that voters between the ages of 18-21 went with Ford, by a small majority. SECONDLY, IT APPEARS that organized labor's massive campaign to turn out the workers was suc- cessful. In major industrial cities across the coun- try, voter turnout was extremely heavy. New York city reported over 77 per cent turnout at the polls, Los Angeles county estimates around 85 per cen those eligible voted, and in Boston, with the f tally not yet in, a whopping 92 per cent is predic The televised debates obviously had a substa effect on the turnout, but there could be other, r intangible reasons why so many people voted. Ma all the experts were wrong. Maybe the people of country really could differentiate between the major candidates, and what seems even more sh ing to cynics like myself, maybe people actually l the candidate they voted for. Maybe it wasn't a "lesser of two evils" election. In addition to the pleasantly surprising voter t out, many staunch and suffocating political tradi endemic to Presidential elections seem to haveI broken. The all-pervading power of the incum suffered a severe short-circuit Tuesday. For only eighth time in history, and the first time since an incumbent President was beaten. Not sinceI and his New Deal defeated Herbert Hoover's s goat for the depression administration has an in bent tumbled. And nine incumbent Senators, five Democrats four Republicans will not be making the trip to W ington after this Janiuary. The voter's decision to out these people is very encouraging. The time once, when an incumbent merely had to go thr the f rmalities of a primary and an election to tinue their solidification of the Apierican ruling{ But now the American people have given these islators notice. Being in office no longer automati entitles someone to stay there, regardless of his tions or in the case of the 94th Congress, inact THE MEN AND WOMEN that will run thisc try for the next 2, 4 or six years will have to duce. They will have to work harder, stay mor tuned to the will of their constituents and com with some workable solutions to the problems fa this country or they will be sent back home toi their memoirs. And this attitude of the people only be a big plus to everyone in this country cept the Machiavellian power-mongers who. hav too longbeen ruling this country. Yet another bright spot that occurred in this tion is the apparent rebirth by and reacceptanc the south. Jimmy Carter is the first man to be 00 06 7)A' ,CAL- t t of ted President from the Deep South since Zachary Tay- final for died in office in 1850. The Civil War ended in 1865, ted. but it has taken over a, century before the northern rtial "liberals" have been able to get over their fear of more a second Confederacy and have seen fit to give the aybe South a chance to truly rise again. this two AND THE HEAVY ; SUPPORT of the moderate ock- candidate, even omitting the fact that he's one of iked the boys, shows how far the South has come in try- just ing to throw off its rebel image. Gone are the days of Huey Long, l)eracy tests for blacks trying to reg- turn- ister to vote and the aura of invincibility surround- tions ing the Ku Klux Klan. And hopefully, gone forever been are the prejudices that cause Rebel flags to be waved bent in Mississippi, and the image of simpletons and hi the y'alls that the playing of "Dixie" inspires in New 1932, Jersey. FDR But the most important and encouraging sign to cape- come out of the election was that Jimmy Carter won, cum- but did not receive the overwhelming popular man- ,date he received. He knows now, that he won the and election by an extremely small majority, in spite Nash- of the seemingly insurmountable lead that he once turn held, in spite of the large voter turnout that histori- was cally has favored the Democrats, and in spite of his ough clearly superior performances in the last two debates. con- Jimmy Carter will take his oath of office on Janu- elite. ary 22' knowing that with a few votes here and there, leg- he might have lost. He has a hard task ahead of cally him in t-ying to bind together a country torn by a s ac- very close election. ions. But he is armed with the knowledge that he could have lost, and that he had better do a damn good coun- job of fulfilling his platform. He knocked off an in- pro- cumbent, and he knows that it could happen to him. e at- With these facts indelibly etched in his mind, it is e up believed that Mr. Carter will put out a concerted ef- acing fort to right this country's wrongs. write can AND MAYBE IN FOUR YEARS, we can look back ex- at the results of this election and smile in the wis- dom of the rightness of our choices and of the en- elec- couraging trends that came out of what was gen- ce 'of erally considered to be a disappointing campaign ele- before the vote came in. RECENTLY, THE BLACK students of South Quad respond- ed through Letters To The Daily asking for an article that would express all sides to the events which have been occur- ing at Bursley. I believe the South Quad Black residents have the right idea. During the two years that I have attended the University of Michigan. I have never doubt- derous and greatly without foun- dation. Evidently McHugh, Di- Guiseppe, Lasky and Thompson have little knowledge of what has actually taken place at Bursley, or at least a correct picture of both sides to the story. ALTHOUGH I AM not claim- ing to have this correct picture, I do feel that it is a shame that opinions such as these peo- no accurate source of informa- tion. They are like so many others that have a need to hear the real story. This being both sides to the story in order that they may make a more ac- curate assessment of the situa- tion. Charles F. Holman, III Former Presiding Officer, Bursley Hall Rnor o m._i -ann the people of the United States. However small the margin of decisive votes - and close elec- tions are by no means unprece- dented in our history a the vote still represents a definite ma- jority. To say that the country is "far from being united" seems inaccurate. The fact that a Southerner has been elected to the Presidency for the first time since before the Civil War, That was what was so signifi- cant about this election. Al- though Jimmy Carter may not have been the candidate that many of us would have more wholeheartedly preferred or had supported during earlier stages lof the campaign (and it is spec- ulative who else could have de- feated Ford); it is reassuring and encouraging to know that as a nation we have taken the