Complete

energy security for

Canada

Trudeau and the boys
at Energy, Mines, and
Resources, have been
blowing a lot of dough
on ads telling us the
wonders of energy
security

They're getting us
ready for another
round of price hikes
They don’t tell us

that because of the
Trudeau-Lougheed —
multi-oil deal the
average family has
shelled out an additional
850 bucks this year*
That’s security.
Security for the oil
multis that is.
Guaranteed price hikes.

Price hikes don’t heat homes
Let's go for real energy
security.

Let's lay-off profits

and nationalize the

oil industry

*Based on UE report on energy costs.

CANADA

Labor condemns massacre

TORONTO — Labor leaders
expressed shock and outrage over
the massacre Sept. 24-25, by the
Israeli-backed fascist Lebanese
militia at the Sabra and Shatila re-
fugee camps in West Beirut.

In a blistering telegram to

’ Canada’s External Affairs Minis-

ter Allan MacEachen, Sept. 21,
Val Bjarnason on behalf of the
20,000-member United Electrical
workers, (UE), called on the fed-
eral government to demand Israel
‘immediately and uncondition-
ally withdraw its military forces
and equipment from Lebanon’’;
call on the United States to im-
mediately cease its shipments of
armaments to Israel and that all
other forms of aid and assistance
to Israel be contingent on Israel
conforming to recent United Na-
tions directives designed to bring
peace and stability to the Middle
East.

The UE also urged Canada to
recognize the Palestine Libera-
tion Organization, (PLO), as “‘the
legitimate representative of the
Palestinian people and the Pales-
tinians be guaranteed the inalien-
able right to a homeland, full in-
dependence and self determina-
tion.”

Bjarnason, the UE’s secretary
treasurer, noted MacEachen’s
expression of shock and outrage
over the Sabra and Shatila mas-
sacres, but criticized the minister
for neglecting “‘to place the blame
squarely on the Israeli Govern-

Paneots ..4

He pointed out that it was Is-
raeli troops who ‘wantonly shel-
led and bombarded Palestinian re-
fugee camps for some days prior
to the bloodbath (at Sabra and

Shatila) and then stood idly by,
while Christian Phalangist Party
militia men passed easily through
Israeli lines to perpetrate one of
the most unspeakable crimes that
has taken place since the holo-
caust and the extermination of
Jews by the Nazis during World
War II.”’ a

Andy Beauchamp, first vice-
president of the Canadian Union
of Postal Workers, personally
shared the horror and outrage
over the massacres in West
Beirut. ‘I believe the Palestinians
should have their own country, be
the masters in their own home’’,
Beauchamp said. ‘‘The Israelis
more than any other people
should know that what they’re
doing to the Palestinians is
wrong.”

He said he believed Israeli
troops should be withdrawn from
Lebanon and that the U.S. should
halt the shipment of weapons and
aid to Israel. He also agreed that
Canada should give formal recog-
nition to the PLO.

At a Toronto rally, Sept. 21
which saw more than 1,000 pro-
test the massacres in West Beirut,
a message was read from Dave
Patterson, director of the United
Steelworkers in Ontario which
also called for Canadian recogni-
tion of the PLO as the sole repre-
sentative of ~the Palestinian
people. The telegram from Pat-
terson, who was in Atlantic City
at a union conference, expressed
solidarity with the Toronto pro-
test and called the massacres a
direct result of the Israeli invasion
of Lebanon. He called for the re-
moval of Israeli troops from
Lebanon.

East and Lebanon contrast shal?
ly to the positions advanced }
more progressive trade unionis!
. In a statement, which
staff said was issued to lab?
publications Aug. 17, CLC pret
dent Dennis McDermott, wit”
‘‘deploring’’ the loss of life #
Lebanon welcomed the poten —
smashing of the PLO as an ott
come of the Israeli invasion.

“The Israeli invasion of Leb
non may have broken the powd
of the PLO, enabling the Pales!
nian people to secure consti
tive representation, and this oul!
come would be welcomed by %
Canadian Labor Congress!
McDermoit said. He furth?
charged that ‘“‘the PLO hi
brought Israeli retribution 7
Lebanon’’, and while recogni
the need for a national homela®
for the Palestinians, McDerm®
said ‘‘it is the view of the CH
that hatred of the PLO terrom®
organization for Israel is in fac!
major impediment in the way °
creation of a Palestinian hom
land.””

Rather than directing t™
blame to Israel as the root cal
of the suffering of the people
Lebanon including Palestinian ™
fugees expelled from their hom
land by the Israelis, the CLC pr
ident lined up with reaction
Zionism to attack the organ
tion which the Palestinian peop!
and a large number of countt
throughout the world recogni’
as their legitimate representatiV®)

Another side of the auto settlement

An interesting aspect of the auto settlement last week
was the reaction of workers, interviewed by the press at
the gates of the different General Motors plants.

Almost to a person they expressed relief that a settle-
ment had been reached without a strike. At the same
time they assured the interviewers that had a strike been
called by the leadership they were quite prepared to give
it their full support. :

This reaction shows two rather important sides of the
thinking of important sections of the working class. The
first is that they are going to be stuck with at least a part
of the costs of the present crisis, and the question is not
whether, but how much.

This attitude stems from a number of causes. First and
foremost is the relentless propaganda assault by
monopoly, its media and governments, followed by
wage control and restraint legislation, tough resistance at
the bargaining table, demands for concessions, etc. The
second is the compounding plant closures and layoffs
which have now hit literally every significant industry in
Canada, bringing unemployment up to almost two mil-
lion. Lastly, but not least, is the failure of the Canadian
Labor Congress to mount any visible response around
the issues of jobs, wage controls or concessions, leaving
the trade union movement without sufficient substance
at the bargaining table.

Membership Prepared

The second feature of the workers’ attitude was their
sense of discipline and readiness to fight even though
their individual inclination was to settle. This shows a
sense of working-class collectivity and responsibility
which augurs well for the movement. It also is a clear
statement to the leaders of the trade union movement
that if they do their job there is a more than willing
membership prepared to take on the corporations and
governments.

Perhaps above all there is still another side to the auto
settlement which requires much more attention and
careful thought by the entire labor movement. One may

ra Labor in action

William Stewart

question the decision of the GM master bargaining com-
mittee in recommending acceptance of the company
proposals which cost the workers nine personal paid
holidays. Perhaps they should have tapped the discipline
and unity of the membership and taken the company on.
As Bob White said himself on many occasions, the task
of leadership is to lead, not to follow.

However one cannot under any circumstances accuse
the leadership of sell-out and failure to put up a credible
battle. In the end the difference boils down to tactics.
Moreover the question to be answered in any set of tough
negotiations or strike is whether or not the unity of the
union, its capacity to fight and advance has been hurt,
and whether or not the labor movement as a whole has
been set back.

The answer to these questions would seem to be that
the union itself appears united and perhaps even
strengthened by the overall battle against concessions
which brought them out considerably ahead of their U.S.
counterparts for the first time.

Failed to Mobilize

The labor movement as a whole, on the other hand is
somewhat wounded by a major breach in its no con-
cessions front. This responsibility cannot be laid primari-
ly, at the feet of the United Auto Workers, but must be
placed largely on the CLC which did absolutely nothing
since the CLC convention to mobilize its member unions
against concessions. To paraphrase an old adage, the
CLC is going to have to learn that ‘‘one resolution does
not a fight-back make’’.

But getting back to this ‘‘still another side’’. What is
the alternative to concessions and wage controls — high

interest rates and inflation — mass layoffs and
unemployment — cutbacks and misery? ;

The lack of a clear, décisive answer to this question §|
robbing the movement of its elan and preventing it fro™
moving over into the offensive.

One can understand the well meaning partisanship of
workers for a political party they regard as their own, 4
a weapon in the fight against big monopoly and gover™
ments. This is an important part of the gains of Canadia?
workers. But this partisanship must not be allowed 1
stand in the way of their very economic and social needs:

Workers support the New Democratic Party to the
extent they believe it offers an alternative to the old line
parties. Their failure to support it in greater measul@
does not indicate lack of consciousness, but rather thé
failure of the NDP to measure up to its declared respo™ |
sibility as ‘‘the’’ party of the trade union movement.

New Policies — New Governments

The NDP frankly does not have a program to také
Canada out of the present crisis. Such a program mus!
challenge the role played by the big monopoly corpor
tions as the architects of the present crisis and its pe"
petuators. The NDP program does not do this. ;

The trade unions must fashion their own antl
monopoly program to take Canada out of the crisis and
then demand that the NDP support it. F

In a word, the solution does not lie in the election
the NDP. It lies in new policies and new governments ®
administer them. The trade union movement in Can:
must be the catalist for such policies.

If the Conference called by the CLC in January of 1983
can hit out with such an economic charter for jobs and
security for Canadians and become the centre of the figh!
for new anti-monopoly governments in Canada includ?
the NDP, Communists, Native peoples and other i
portant forces which can be-won for such a coalition, ’
will be helping to fill a void which finds the trade unions
fighting at the bargaining table today with one hand tie?

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 1, 1982—Page 8

behind their backs.