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UAW SUSPENDED

What happens now?

By WILLIAM ALLAN
DETROIT

The 1.6 million member Unit-
€d Auto Workers Union is sus-
Pended as an affiliate of the
AFL-CIO because of falling be-
hind three months in payments
Of per capita taxes which were
due May: 1. The recent UAW
Convention authorized the with-
Olding of per capita taxes to
the AFL-CIO and the placing of
Such funds in escrow accounts.

The withholding came about
a part of the long struggle by
auto workers union to get the
AFL-CIO leadership off dead

Center, into a program of organ-.

izing the unorganized, internal
democratic reform and to play a
Progressive, peaceful role in the
Community, national and world
affairs. Also to end the coldwar-
ism, anti-Communist thrust of
AFL-CIO president George

eany and his “foreign affairs”
Minister, Jay Lovestone. To all

Of which Meany and his cohorts

tied to the Johnson Administra-
tion, said “No”.

Here in the center of the
UAW’s strength (750,000 mem-
ers in Michigan) it’s learned
from sources inside the auto
Workers and other unions of
What can happen to the UAW
Now that it is suspended.

One UAW source told this re-
Porter, “We are looking for
friends in the rest of the labor
Movement and will be busy at
that”. Also, “We are starting to
build Community Action Coun-
Cils which will be a place where
all other sections of labor can
J0in with us in community ac-
tion on the UAW’s programs of
helping the poor, organizing the
Unorganized, working on the
Peace issue, joining in the 1968
ieetion .activities, participating
N the black liberation move-
Ment and many other needed
Social needs”.

“What do you expect will be
the next step of Meany?” we
asked

“Possibly a letter to all state
and central labor bodies saying

that UAW members cannot hold
elective posts and that we are
not eligible for membership in
these bodies because of the per
capita situation.

“And after that, any other
moves by Meany?” was the next
question we asked.

“Yes, we think that within 30
to 60 days, Meany will call a
special convention of the Indus-
trial Union Department (IUD)
and order the removal of Walter
Reuther, president of IUD and
the UAW) for the same. reason
that UAW members can’t hold
office in state, county AFL-CIO
Councils”.

“What does the UAW intend
to do on this?”

“Well, we will fight to stay in
the general stream of the labor
movement. Also we will organ-
ize Community Action Councils
so that our members will have a
chance to work with the grass
roots forces. About the IUD,
we'll wait and see what hap-
pens,” said the UAW source.

Meanwhile UAW president,
Walter Reuther, vice-presidents
Leonard Woodcock and Pat
Greathouse, paid a visit to the
president of the International
Brotherhood of
Frank Fitzsimmons in his Wash-
ington office.

The discussions at the histo-
ric meeting, taken at the initi-
ative of Reuther, centered
around continuing cooperation
between the two. giant unions,
the UAW with 1,600,02 and the
Teamsters with 1,992,000 mem-
bers.

Reuther, facing expulsion
from the IUD, and his locals
from state, county AFL-CIO bo-
dies, wants to seek support from
the Teamsters for joint action in
Community Action Councils the
UAW intends to start when
Meany makes his moves.

This could also bring the
powerful Building Trades locals,
close working partners with the
Teamsters, into joint political
and other actions with UAW
and Teamsters. Such a combina-

‘Teamsters, ‘

tion would far outdistance in
power, influence and finances,
the remnants of the AFL-CIO
councils left when UAW locals
are suspended.

Leaving Teamsters headquart-
ers in Washington in a closed
car, Reuther wasn’t spotted by
newsmen who had no inkling of
the historic meeting.

He stepped on a plane then
for Turin, Italy, where he led a
delegation to a sixth world
auto meeting sponsored by the
International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). At
that meeting Reuther will speak
on “New Horizons for World
Auto Labor’.

From that meeting, he will
journey to Frankfort, Germany,
for another meeting with metal
workers. A delegation from
there will go to Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia and Hungary. Vic
Reuther, brother of Walter, will
lead the visitors. Then he, pos-
sibly with ‘others, will visit the
Soviet Union.

OUR SENIOR CITIZENS
_ ARE PAWNS—TLC ~

“The senior citizens in Toron-
to are being given less conside-
ration than the animals in the
zoo,” said Murray Tate, vice-
president of the Labor Council
of Metropolitan Toronto in
speaking to a resolution calling
on Ontario Premier John Robarts
to “stop immediately any move-
ment of old people out of Met-
ropolitan Toronto for financial
reasons.”

Delegates unanimously adopt-
ed the resolution which speaks
of the ‘disgusting, callous action
of the Metro Toronto Welfare
Department in making pawns of
our old people.”

Jim Herdman of the restaur-
ant workers union said the ac-
tion was “deplorable and abomi-
nable” and that the old people
should be allowed to live and
die in the city where they spent
their lives, where their family
can see them, and where they
paid taxes during their working
years.

Nursing home operators are
boosting the rates as of June Ai
and people between the ages of

vantaged minorities.

LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS

In many cases, generations of discrimination and
neglect have produced a level of poverty and inequality
which human rights legislation is not adequate to over-
come. Large numbers of Nova: Scotia Negroes, Prairie
Metis, Northern Eskimos and most of Canada’s Indians
fall into this category. Even if all formal racial discrimina-
tion were to disappear overnight, very few of the tremen-
dous number of unemployed Indians, for example, would
be able to secure employment. The reason for this is that
very few of them have had the background, training, and
education which would. equip them to succeed in the
labor market. Thus what is required is not merely the ab-
sence of discrimination, but also the presence of positive
programs which would help the Indians and other disad-

Organized labor has a role to play in assisting In-
dians, Eskimos and others in achieving their just place in
Canadian life. It must place its experience in legislative
representations, in organizational methods and ir collec-
tive bargaining at their disposal as part of its own contri-
bution toward the development of human rights in Canada.

—From Human Rights Statement
of Canadian Labor Congress

70 and 93 are being threatened
by a move to Bowmanville by

the welfare department since.

the province has refused to pay
anything more.

Clive Ballantyne of the Brick-
layers in also denouncing the
action said that this underlines
the necessity of the homes com-
ing under public rather than
private enterprise.

Turning to the question of
labor political action in relation
to the upcoming federal elec-
tion Council voted $2,000 for
the NDP, put orf a full-time po-
litical co-ordinator and agreed
to all out efforts to mobilize
labor for the campaign.

Stressing the need for issues
not the image (‘‘we are being
asked to vote for a Napoleonic
Haircut,” said one delegate) the
delegates loudly applauded Bal-
lantyne when he said that a
worker who votes for the Tories
or Liberals is as much a scab
as the man who crosses a picket
line.,

Philip Robichaud, delegate
from Local 27 of the Carpenters
Union said that while he did not
often speak in Council meetings,
this time he wanted to stress, as
a French-Canadian, the need to
stop Trudeau who is “selling
disunity right across the coun-
ry.”
The delegates also called for
protests to the CBC over the fir-
ing of Bruce Rogers, NDP can-
didate in Toronto-Parkdale and
to CTV over its refusal to in-
clude NDP leader T. C. Douglas
in the debate. On the latter they
pointed out that “in Toronto,
one of the country’s largest
viewing areas, the Conservative
party is the minority party.”

A more serious approach to
municipal elections was also
projected at this meeting. The
municipal committee report
pointed out the problem of en-
dorsing candidates who later
vote contrary to labor’s views.
The Council agreed to periodic
meetings in the buroughs and
the city to really keep abreast
with the issues at the municipal
level.

alf dewhurst

ne campaign by the B.C.
ishermen’s Defense Committee
or amnesty for the jailed lead-
€ts of the United Fishermen and
lied Workers’ Union is win-
Ning wide support in the labor
Movement. Proof of this was
€ unanimous decision of the
anadian Labor Congress con-
Vention instructing Congress
Officers to work for this goal.
To win a remission of sent-
€nces for President Steve Stav-
€nes and Secretary Homer Stev-
Ns, serving one year terms on

8 injunction conviction, will

Not be easy. For it means buck-
Ng the anti-labor, big employer
~Stablishment which put them
iN jail last November as an ob-
J€ct lesson to the trade union
Movement right across the
Country,

; However, a successful’ fight
Or amnesty would serve as an
Object lesson for the big employ-
Pe and anti-labor courts which
‘fample on the cause of justice
M their haste to serve the inter-
sts of big business.
Th

Amnesty for Fishermen's leaders

€ campaign for amnesty has |

to be seen as part and parcel

of the anti-injunction struggle.
It is, by this token, a fight for
the right to strike which is the
heart and soul of free collective
bargaining. And, free collective
bargaining is a guarantee of de-
mocracy in the work-places of
the land.

Amnesty can be won if the
labor movement across the coun-
try will throw the full weight of
its united determination into the
fight. Wires, letters, resolu-
tions and petitions demanding
amnesty should pour into the
office of Prime Minister Trudeau,
the would-be-architect of a just
society in Canada. They should
pour also onto the desk of the
attorney-general. Let the new
Liberal regime be put to the
test of action before voting day.

Let the new Tory hopeful, Mr.
Stanfield, be put to the test as
well. Ask the leader of the NDP,
Tommy Douglas, to press hard-
er for the unconditional release
of the Fishermen’s leaders. Ask
the leader of the Communist
Party;.:Bill Kashtan,, to. do, the

same. Put every candidate in
every riding on record as to
where they stand on this just
demand.

The biggest assist of all
could come from the officers of
the CLC. They, in the spirit of
the recent convention, could
make this campaign an occasion
to. recommend favorable action
by the executive council on the
application of the Fishermen’s
Union to the CLC. Such an ac-
tion could well be decisive.

The CLC convention wanted
the Fishermen in. There can be
little doubt on this score, even
though the refered resolution on
this question never found its
way back onto the fioor. The
only argument put up against
the convention taking such ac-
tion was that it could harm
merger discussions presently
underway between the Fisher-
men’s Union and the United
Packinghouse Workers. Many
delegates argued otherwise.
They maintained that taking the
Fishermen in would facilitate
the discussions. pyre sips

Reason suggests that the lat-
ter point of view is more sound.
For it is evident that both
unions are interested in streng-
thening the bargaining position
of the workers in the food pro-
cessing. industries which they
represent. Otherwise there would
be no discussions underway. But
both unions have to make sure
that the particular bargaining
interests of their respective
members are taken fully into
account and fused with the
general interest during the pro-
cess of merger.

Because of the complex na-
ture of the fishing industry a
number of sectional interests
have to be taken into account
in processing merger. And this
could be a time-consuming busi-
ness. But, if pursued with
patience, a mutually beneficial
merger can result. From this
standpoint it would be to the
advantage of all parties desiring

merger that both unions stand

on equal ground as affiliates of
the CLC.

This contribution _ the

to

strengthening of the organized
labor movement can be made
only by the CLC. It is to be
hoped that it can be made soon.

The anti-injunction fight, the
affiliation of the Fishermen’s
Union to the CLC, the merger
discussions between the two
unions in the food processing
industry, and the unconditional
release of the Fishermen’s lead-
ers all bear on one another. In
a particular sense, though, the
campaign for amnesty holds at
present the key to advance all
along this line. .

It is the two top officers of
the Fishermen’s Union who
languish in jail. They were
given a year, without any re-
mission of time off for good be-
haviour, as an act of big busi-
ness defiance of the trade union
movement. That defiance can
be given a sharp rebuff with the
unconditional release of Steve
Stavens and Homer Stevens.
This in turn will serve, in a
most dramatic way, the process
of unification of the labor move-
ment. : aoe

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 24, 1968—Page 5”