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id es _.Grewsettles with striking workers Fiberglass workers at Grew Boats Limited ended a five day strike on Monday morning voting unanimously to accept management's offer of an immediate 20 cent per hour in- crease to be followed by a five cent per hour increase in Sixty days. A total of $0 non-union fiberglass workers The went on strike last Thursday night calling for an immediate 25 cent an hour increase along with a reduction in their work week from 45 to 40 hours. Monday's agreement leaves the length of the work week at 45 hours but gives the workers their requested 25 cents per hour 15° With 8 Pages Colour Comics Penetanguishene citizen Vol.8 No.5 Wednesday , February 5, 1975 32 pages Working behind the scenes on Winterama Angela North messes around with glue while working on the paper mache flat for the winterama parade. The festival is less than Sid Bergersen is one of the volunteer workers helping to put up the display booths in the old Dominion Store beside the town office. The store will house a crafts display. Manager at Decor three weeks away. Staff photo Denies rumoured recall Rumours that Decor plants in Penetanguishene, Port MeNicoll, and Midland have started to recall some of the roughly 400 to 500 laid off workers were dismissed on Monday as false by Decor's manager of industrial relations and per- sonnel. Michael Tidy said a few workers have been brought back to replace those that are sick or have quit but that a recall program was not in effect. Asked if the rebate program offered by a number of car manufacturers was having a noticeable effect on the situation at the auto related industry Tidy replied that "'there has been no apparent effect...not yet, but let's all hope." Last October Decor announced the layoff of approximately 200 workers at plants in Penetanguishene and Port McNicoll. At the time Tidy claimed that "we are in the midst of a recession" and that our "'only hope is it doesn't turn into a depression." He blamed inflation for the layoff ex- plaining that the reduction in the buying power of the dollar is causing people to put off purchasing a new car. A month after the October layoff Decor announced another one affecting over 100 workers at its Midland plants. RCA lays off another 65 3 Another layoff has hit the RCA plant in Midland. For the third time in four months the plant has been faced with the layoff of a sizable number of the work force. This time, 65 employees will be receiving their notices, to take effect this Friday, February 7. As if that wasn't enough bad news for one day, the company also announced that they will be stopping production for one week, February 17 to February 21. This stop in production will be for inventory adjustment. Dave Turnour, manager of the Industrial Relations Department, said the firm has been putting off the layoff "as long as possible, but we can't wait any longer." He went on to say that things have not turned out as well as had been expected. Turnour said the plant presently employs about 900 people, so the layoff will affect roughly seven per cent of the work force. The layoff is not confined to any specific departments and after bumping rights have been exercised it is expected that people in all departments will be affected. Turnour also said that the proportion of males to females in the laid off group will be about equal. i R RY By dOMM BEAULIED Citizen contents _. TWAS MORE PRACTICAL NIP decision delayed 2 THAN BUILDING A SNOW - MAN ! ee Walk your dog 4 Down by the Marsh 4 The insidious wedding band 5 Sports 11-13 Classifieds 20-22 Entertainment 24 increase at the end of the sixty day period. The increase raises the base pay in the fiberglass section from $3.00 per hour to $3.25 per hour according to spokesmen for the Fiberglass workers. The top pay rate in the Fiberglass section will now reach $4.00 per hour. The strike did not stop work throughout the Grew plant. A total of 83 workers in the fitout department continued to work throughout the strike. However, if the strike had continued longer then a week spokesmen for the fiberglass workers said employees in the fitout department would have run out of work to do. If management had a stake in ending the strike before their remaining employees in the plant ran out of work so did the strikers. Bob Duquette who along with Darwin Barry was chosen to act as a spokesman for the workers said there was no emergency strike fund. One of the workers commented, over the weekend, that the cold weather and absence of any income was beginning to put the strikers on edge. Management and the strikers agreed to call off negotiations over the weekend after an unsuccessful meeting on Friday when workers were offered a 15 cent per hour in- crease. But when company officials presented the revised Monday offer the fiberglass workers called off the strike. Workers originally requested the increase because "we just figured we should get more for the type of job" according to Duquette. He claimed that working conditions in the fiberglass section were tough but added there was nothing management could do to clean it up. According to the workers fiberglass work is dirty, irritating and sticky. "It's not really the job conditions but the money" which the workers are after Duquette said prior to the settlement. Grew Boats Limited is one of the largest manufacturers of runabouts in Canada. But gives $500 gift for Winterama Chamber refuses insurance The Penetanguishene Chamber of Com- merce approved a $500 gift to the Winterama committee last Thursday but at the same meeting also voted not to underwrite the cost of insuring the event. This marks the first time in recent history (at least the last five years) the Chamber of Commerce has not provided insurance coverage of the event. However, according to Peter Shirriff, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and winterama and financial committee chairman, the winterama committee should have sufficient funds to meet the costs of insurance coverage. Shirriff said the Chambers' $500 gift brings the total Winterama finance committee budget up to around the $1,000 mark. That should be enough money to pay for ad- vertising and insurance costs for the winter festival according to Shirriff. The finance committee chairman added that he expects to contact an underwriter later this week for an estimate on the cost of insurance coverage. In explaining the Chambers' decision not to underwrite the costs of insurance for Win- terama Shirriff said the Chamber felt the decision was in the best interests of in- dividuals representing a wider spectrum of the population than just the merchants. In other years the directors of Winterama were involved in setting up the program. This year the Chamber's position is limited with only Shirriff himself representing the Chamber on the Winterama committee. Shirriff added that while he is finance committee chairman he has been too busy to become deeply involved in the program as a whole. K At Thursday's meeting Chamber of Commerce directors advised the winterama committee to obtain adequate public liability and damage insurance. A spokesman for the Winterama Com- mittee said on Monday that the festival will not go ahead without adequate insurance but Phone: 549-7457 indicated that Peter Shirriff would handle the matter. Thursday's vote reversed an an- nouncement made by Hubert Charlebois at a December meeting of the town council. At that time Charlebois said the Chamber of Commerce "'is going to carry on with Win- terama like in the past." The vote seems to indicate that the Chamber is avoiding direct involment in the event although it is still providing financial assistance. Billetting committee ready for calls If you're looking for accommodations for relatives or friends coming to Winterama 1975 (Feb. 21-22) call the winterama billetting committee headquarters at 549-7457. Arrangements to find suitable ac- commodations for out-of-town, guests are being co-ordinated by committee chairman Bob Charette, the owner of the Brule Hotel. Charette says that in most years the hotels are full during the winterama carnival and people end up being turned away. In order to insure that accommodations are available for as many people as possible the committee is compiling a list of all the nearby hotels and motels in the area. The list will detail available rooms and their prices. If additional rooms are needed the com- mittee plans to appeal to private individuals who may have a room which they can rent during the festival. Persons interested in having their name on a list of people offering private rooms for lodgers should also contact the committee at 549-7457. Critics attack Humane Society by Sue de Stein Midland, Penetanguishene, and Tiny Township may not renew their contracts with the Ontario Humane Society. Few people in this area appear to be Satisified with the service of the society in the matter of dog control, least of all the representatives of five area municipalities who gathered in the Midland council chambers Monday night to discuss the problem. Penetanguishene councillor Mary Rogers told the meeting she had received a list of complaints about the animal service "as long as my arm"'. The dogs "'are running like mad in the streets,' she added. Part of the problem, she said, is due to the fact that the society is 'more interested in the protection of animals rather than their control." As an alternative to the Humane Society service, Celestin Bidan of Penetanguishene presented a proposal Monday night to provide a similar animal care and control service for Midland, Penetanguishene, and Tiny Township. In his letter outlining his proposal, Bidan noted several advantages to his plan -- improved local service, faster action on emergency calls, reduced cost to animal owners, no increase in rates for a maximum two year period, and no new diseases coming into the area. Bidan told the meeting he was prepared to service only the three municipalities. At the present time, Victoria Harbour and Port MeNicoll have agreements with the Humane Society, while Tay Township has a contract with an individual. Midland reeve Moreland Lynn expressed his disbelief that the cost of animal control has escalated as much as the society has in- dicated. "It even beats hamburger and sugar," he said. Before any action is taken, Lynn suggested that the municipalities look at the level of service and control they want and expect and the nature of the controls. Others besides Bidan might be interested in providing a service, he added. Lynn said he was impressed with the proposal and complimented Bidan for his "excellent and businesslike presentation." The respective councils will be meeting with Humane Society officials in the near future to discuss the terms of their proposals, and the possibility of signing an agreement with another group or individual. On a lighter note, Lynn told the representatives he hoped "we don't always have to go to the dogs to get together." Lee Ann Cruise, centre, draws the winning ticket last week for a snowmobile, won by Rita Laurin of 38 Jeffery Street in Penetanguishene. The draw was held to raise money for an exchange trip for grade 7 and 8 students from St. Joseph's School to Quebec later this year. Shown with Lee Ann aré St. Joseph's draw 00 ty ER David Brunelle, left, and Sister Angeline Moreau, principal of St. Joseph's. Miss Laurin works at the Mental Health Centre, and when contacted by telephone about her prize, said she had forgotten all about buying the ticket. Staff photo * ae Or EO OTIS a a AC AE ALLL AL ee A passerby points out a striker's sign to his dog while the worker tries to explain the meaning. It's hard to say if the dog got the message but the management at Grew Boats Limited did. On Monday the company gave the workers an immediate 20 cent per hour Going to the dogs increase with an additional five cents per hour to be granted in 60 days. Workers, however, did not receive a reduction in their work week from 45 hours to 40 hours as requested. Staff photo If this town had a citizen of the month, we respectfully submit that Charlie deserves January's award. Of course, Penetanguishene does not have such an award but if it did the Citizen's cartoonist, Dereck Chapelle, thinks it should go to Charlie. And Dereck backs up his thinking with his pen. In case you missed the story, the January 15 edition of the Citizen carried a report of a three-year-old boy who was found wandering around outside the Commodore Hotel on Friday, January 9 at 4:15 a.m. As reported in the Citizen the youngster, named Jo-Jo, got up early in the morning and instead of going for a drink, grabbing something to eat, or going to the washroom; Jo-Jo took it into his head to take a walk while most of the world slept. Asalute to Charlie A woman found him wandering around near the Commodore Hotel and called the police, but when they came Jo-Jo didn't know how to get home. That's where Charlie came in. Charlie was Jo-Jo's dog and in this case lived up to the canine critter's reputation as man's best friend. Charlie had gone along on _ his master's escapade into the darkness and it was Charlie who led police to Jo- Jo's home. It's fitting that Chapelle chose to honour Charlie. Recently dogs have received a bad press, locally, and on the national scene. The negative reports are not the fault of the dogs but of their masters who let them run about at large. Dogs can still be man's best friend. If we take care of them, they'll take care of us, like Charlie. Humane Society seeks fee increase Alexandra Parry, the supervisor of the Orillia Shelter of the Ontario Humane Society Says "'the cost of providing adequate animal control for Midland and the immediate surrounding area would be $37,000 per year."' When asked about the quality of the ser- vices presently being provided, Parry said "we're providing what we can on what we're getting." Inflation has hit everyone hard and the Humane Society she said, is no exception. The income from the contracts with these municipalities ran at approximately $22,000 in 1974. Good news for Penetanguishene home owners...maybe. The federal and provincial governments are throwing a lot of three and four letter words, er...programs at us and what it all means is that the town and private citizens stand to gain thousands of dollars in loans and low interest grants to improve the conditions of designated neighbourhoods and homes. The hitches are firstly, the provincial government has to approve two areas in town as eligible for Neighbourhood Improvement Program grants, in order for home owners within the areas to qualify for Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program grants. Secondly, the town has to pass a minimum standards bylaw so home owners outside of the proposed NIP areas can qualify for assistance under the Ontario Home Renewal Program. 4 letter words spell cash for you What it all adds up to is money for home owners in low to moderate in- come groups who can not realistically afford to improve their homes. If Penetanguishene hits the jackpot by qualifying for all the programs here's what the town and home owners stand to gain. Under NIP: $220,000 in grants and loans for the town to upgrade services in the NIP areas. Under RRAP: $760,000 in grants and low interest loans to home owners in NIP areas who apply for the money to improve the conditions of their dwellings. Under OHRP: $47,500 in loans and grants for home owners outside the NIP areas to repair their dwellings. For a complete rundown on the programs see page 2.