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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1982)
K p s F ra n c e s U n iv e r s it y S choen - “ e w a p a n e r R oca ol ■zrn L i . r c r y i-J j Kulongoski V8. - A tiyeh j T j F erguson " NFL rundow n " heads w • 5 nurses Page 3 Page 5 Page8 MM UJ LU PORTLAND OBSERNER September 15, 1982 Volume XII, Number 49 25C Per Copy Two Sections USPS 959-680-855 Economic crisis dooms third world Castro explains T h ird W o rld crisis ADEL CARTRO Fidel Castro, President o f the Council o f State and o f Ministers o f C uba, has warned that the T hird W o rld nations are in one o f the worst crises they have experienced. “ The capitalist world is going through a deep economic crisis, one o f the biggest in history. This crisis particularly affects the underdevel oped w o rld . . . . ” The sugar m arket, he explained, is going through one o f the worst crises in history. “ T hat crisis, to a large extent, is part o f the broader crisis now afflictin g all basic prod ucts exported by the underdevel oped non-oil-producing countries — foodstuffs, agricultural raw m ateri als and m ineral ores — and is con sidered the worst crisis since the end o f W o rld W a r I I . The crisis affects practically a ll the basic products ex ported by the underdeveloped non- oil-producing countries in Asia, A f rica and L atin Am erica. " W e can even add that o il-p ro ducing countries, which in recent years experienced an income boost unparalleled in history, are now fac ing difficulties due to the contrac tion o f the market caused by the cri sis. “ Tropical foods and drinks like coffee represent about 54 percent o f the total value o f the basic products exported by the underdeveloped countries. The two most im portant commodities in this group are sugar and coffee. C offee is the most im portant basic product exported by Brazil, am ounting to 22 percent o f its total exports; C olum bia, 62 per cent; E l Salvador, 63 percent; G ua temala, 44 percent; Uganda, 93 per cent; E th io p ia, 75 percent; T anzan ia, 41 percent; Madagascar, 48 per cent; Burundi, 98 percent; R w anda, 72 percent, and so fo rth .” The average price o f coffee dropped from $2.56 per pound I f , y ■ • ,- < '* - C (Please turn lo page 4 col. 4 ) Reagan answers 'N o ! The Reagan adm inistration led the fight against increasing aid to T hird W o rld countries in the meet ing o f the U .S .-dom inated W o rld Bank and International M onetary Fund last week. Low payment fo r their products and high cost o f im ports, massive debts with rising interest rates, and a world-wide recession has left many underdeveloped nations in near bankruptcy, their citizens unem ployed and near starvation. U .S . Secretary o f the Treasury, Donald Regan, responded, “ W e cannot be the defender o f the West ern W o rld , as we know we are, and have high defense expenditures and at the same tim e .. .give as much f i nancial aid abroad as we have.” The developing nations — the form er colonies in Asia, A fric a and South A m erica — have 930 m illion people who live in "absolute pover ty .” Per capita income is expected r to fall this year. The T h ird W o rld nations asked the IM F to m ake m ajor increases in the size o f loans, to demand fewer conditions on their loans, and to stop shifting more o f the loans to high-interest commercial banks. The IM F generally demands that na tions receiving loans adopt austerity programs, reducing social services and wages. They also requested lower interest rates and an end to protectional p ol icies that restrict sales o f their pro d ucts in the U .S . and Europe, glut ting the w orld m arket and lowering prices. The U .S . was clear in its opposi tion to increasing its quota to the IM F . B ritain, West G erm any and South A fric a called fo r a 50 percent increase. Canada, France and other western countries recommended doubling the quotas. f Please turn to page 4 c o i 5) RONALD REAGAN Good students drop o u t, to o Poor academic performance is not the prim ary reason for w ith drawal from college, an Oregon State University study o f drop-outs shows. The w ork was undertaken to help students succeed in their university studies. Judith L. Kuipers, dean o f undergraduate studies, chaired the special eight-faculty-m em ber E n rollment and Retention Com m ittee. Nearly 85 percent o f the students who withdrew from Oregon State during the 1980-81 school year had passing grade point averages (C grade average or better), according to a committee report. A nd nearly h a lf o f those who withdrew during spring term had grade point aver ages o f over 2.5 points (m idway be tween C and B). The O S U O ffic e o f Student Ser vices interviews all students who are withdrawing from school to deter mine their reasons and to seek means o f helping them continue in school. The committee report focused on the 634 students who withdrew from school during the 1980-81 school year. The three most-mentioned rea sons for w ithdraw al from school were: “ personal” (a collective term that covers several real but unspeci fied reasons), 118; financial, 86; stu dent illness, 77. Unsatisfactory progress was the fourth most cited reason, 21, fo l lowed by work conflicts, leaving school to accept an employment op portunity, leaving to transfer to an other school, fam ily illness and problems, and indecision about a m ajor field o f study. A ll o f the three m ajor reasons — personal, illness and financial — are somewhat vague but all are “ social ly acceptable” reasons fo r leaving school, the report said. “ Academic reasons for withdraw al are not often cited (less than 10 percent). Findings suggest that academic performance is not a prim ary reason fo r w ith drawal from college.” Sorting out the real reason is d if ficult, it was noted, “ which often includes selecting the wrong institu tion, poor quality teaching or poor academic preparation for college.” There is another perspective, and that is, for some students leaving —I college is a correct choice, whether tem porarily or permanently. E xam ples include personal health, fam ily problems, o: having one’s educa tional goals met before completion o f a degree. Some key factors have been iden tified nationally that contribute to retention (continuation in school) o f students, it was pointed out by Dean Kuipers, committee leader and m a jo r author o f the report. These include: 1. A caring faculty attitude. Stu dents need to know that there is at least one professional (teacher or adviser) who truly cares. This is o f ten cited as the greatest single con tributing factor to retention, K u i pers stressed. 2. Student activities and individ ual student level o f participation in campus groups, that is, direct in volvement in a significant activity. 3. G ood academic advising and counseling. 4. Student’s ability to find work on campus, including part-tim e work opportunities. 5. A vailab ility o f adequate finan- (Please turn to page 5 col. I ) Tha last days of sum mar cama to tha Oregon Dunas near Coos Bay Photo: Richard J. Brown S outh A frican labor unrest shakes apartheid regime D U R H A M , N C — The rising waves o f labor unrest in South Africa, which earlier this year hit the metal industries and mines in the Transvaal Province, have in the last month been beating against the strategic automobile indus try o f eastern Cape Province. Autoworkers are among the best or ganized o f South Africa’s Black work ers, and the current disputes are con sidered a critical tesi of the Black un ion’s strength at a time when employ ers are resisting wage hikes and announcing layoffs because o f a reces sion. In the last two weeks o f July, over 10,000 autoworkers were on strike at Ford, General Motors and Volks wagen plants in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhave. And though work was re sumed by early August, a series of walkouts prompted l ord Motor Com pany to close its four plants Aug. 10 for a KKday period. The action by Ford, which serves as the informal leader o f the companies in the “ industrial council” (an umbrel la body for negotiatious), came after the breakdown o f talks with the Na tional Automobile and Allied W ork ers’ Union (N A A W U ). Ford’s industrial relations director, Fred Ferreira, recently announced the company was laying o ff 507 produc tion workers, approximately one-tenth of the total, because of expected de cline in demand for new cars. The auto industry has been the scene of Black labor activism on a rising scale for several years. In 1978 Ford became the first U.S. company in South Africa to recognize a Black union, the United Auto W o rk ers Union (the predecessor o f N A A W U ). In November 1979 some 700 workers went on strike at Ford after the company dismissed Thozamile Botha, a leader o f the Port Elizabeth Civic Organization. Wafcouta In 1980 a strike o f more than 3,000 workers at Volkswagen was called over wages, resulting in a 25 percent in crease in the minimum wage paid In 1981 some 1,000 autoworkers walked out in sympathy with employees dis missed at a Firestone tire plant. And this year a number o f smaller sporadic walkouts preceded the major action in July. The July 15 N A A W U strike, which hit Ford, G M and Volkswagen simul taneously, came over union demands for an increase in the basic wage for unskilled workers from $1.75 an hour to $3.06 an hour. The employers were offering a far smaller raise, to $1.88 an hour, and they broke o ff further nego tiations until workers resumed produc tion. Talks did resume briefly after strik ers returned to their jobs a week later. Fred SauLs, the N A A W U general sec retary, said the union had offered a compromise o f $2.20 an hour, with a commitment to attain the $3.06 target within 18 months. But when manage ment refused to budge the walkouts began again, and Ford closed its plants. Some 3,000 members o f the rival M otor Assembly and Component Workers’ Union (M A C W U S A ) re fused to support the strike. Govern ment Zini, M A C W L IS A organizing secretary, said they could not support any action which involved acceptance o f the industrial council as a frame work for negotiations. The disagreement between M A C W U S A and N A A W U highlights diver gent views within the Black trade un ion movement as a whole over the proper stance to take towards such government-created labor relations in stitutions as the industrial council sys tem, which imposes industry-wide ne gotiations within an official frame work In early July some I I Black and non-racial trade unions and union fed erations met in Port Elizabeth for a third in a series o f unity "summits,’’ but no agreement was reached. Growth Observers said two camps were ap parent within the gathering. One in cludes the Federation o f South African Trade Unions (P O S A TU ), which in cludes N A A W U , the General Workers Union and the Food and Canning Workers Union. These groups support taking advantage o f what options there may be in new labor regulations, but they have also frequently been militant in supporting strikes. The other grouping, which at the Port Elizabeth meeting included M A C W U S A and the South African Allied Workers’ Union (S A A W U ), has attacked all alliances with unions that accept government registration or membership in industrial councils. The first camp, which has affiliated as many as 120,000 workers, believes that its critics’ uisistence on rigid prin ciples has little support among ordi nary workers, and that it is more im portant to focus on workplace organiz ing than on confronting the South A f rican state directly. Whatever viewpoint wins exit, there is little doubt that the Black trade movement, as well as the incidence of strikes, will continue to grow for the (Please turn to page 4 col 1)