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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)