By RICH ORLANDINI

_ SUDBURY — ‘‘We want
Jobs”, and ‘‘We want to work’’,
Were the chants of more than 100
laid off Inco workers and their
Supporters as they took their de-
Mands to the streets, here, in a
‘demonstration, Feb. 1.

__ The marchers, walking behind
the banners of Local 6500 United
Steelworkers of America, were
warmly received by shoppers and
Merchants who were given stick-
€rs calling on Inco to ‘‘cut pollu-
tion not jobs.”

Rush-hour drivers stopped and

Laid off Inco workers _—
_ get Sudbury’s backing

honked their horns in support of
the marchers and readily rolled
down windows to accept the stic-
kers. The demonstrations took
place on the day that 434 produc-
tion employees received their
layoff notices. Unless the layoffs
are rescinded, the workers will be
out of a job by March 29. -

The protest, which began at the
union hall ended at the downtown
offices of Inco. But the speeches
that followed took place in the
streets because the doors to In-
co’s offices were locked.

One laid off worker after

r

Ceived their layoff notices.

year.

($245-million).

hardest.

Figures tell the story :

The laid off workers’ accusation that Inco’s losses for 1981
Were a result of mismanagement were backed up by the corpora-
tion’s own report released the same morning the workers re-

Inco Metals Co., had a loss of $509.8-million fn the fourth
quarter of 1981 and a consolidated loss of $469.5-million in the

But the huge losses arose from the company’s decision to write
off the Exmibal operations in Guatemala ($219.6-million) and»
the anticipated losses for the sale of the Electro Energy Corp.,

Without the extraordinary items, Inco’s loss for 1981 was
$4.9-million. And much more than $4.9-million was lost in
Inco’s Indonesia operations alone. So the only areas showing a
profit for the corporation were the Canadian operations. And
it’s here that the layoffs are taking place and are hitting the

One of the many slogans seen on last week’s march was ‘‘inco

Ee BS CR

another blasted the corporation
for the layoffs and for the mis-
management that led to the lay-
offs. Keith Lovely, Local 6500
recording secretary, demanded
that ‘‘if the government can order
workers back to work, they can
order Inco to rescind the layoffs.”

Jim Giroux, a member of the
local’s bargaining committee told
the protestators, “‘we'’re here
united against the common
enemy —Inco. And, were’re here
united on several issues. We're
against the layoffs of junior
seniority production workers.
We’re united against the paltry
incentive offered retirees, and
we're united against the cor-
poration’s layoff of disabled
workers.”

Giroux’ last remark referred to
developments in the plant on the
moming of the demonstration.
Workers, with up to 12 years
seniority who had been hurt on
production jobs and had conse-
quently been placed on light duty,
were told when they reported to
work that their jobs had been
‘‘terminated’’.

Earlier the same day, 15 laid off
workers, members of the union’s
Stop the Layoffs Committee went
to the Inco offices for a meeting
with Winston Newman, president
of the company’s Ontario divi-
sion. Instead of Newman, how-
ever, they were met by Albert

- Management’s record loss must not be our job loss. Stop the

=

Magee, director of human rela- .
yy tions and Morry Brown, director !nco workers and their supporters marched Feb. 1, demanding the
of public relations. corporation stop layoffs.

By MIKE PHILLIPS

HAVANA — Just 90 miles off the
Coast of the world’s top imperialist pow-
€r, trade unionists from every continent
of the globe will be making history, Feb.
10-15, as they take part in the 10th con-
8ress of the World Federation of Trade
Unions (w FTU).

The Havana congress is the first
WETU meeting of its kind to take place
natin America as well as on this side of
€ Atlantic. It is an open convention
‘with observers and delegates from
afound the world in attendance, and
trade unionists from both Quebec and
Nglish-speaking Canada will be there.

The WFTU is by far the world’s
argest trade union body, with 250-mil-
10n members and including within its
Tanks trade unions in the developing
Countries, the socialist world and some
Capitalist countries such as France and
Ndia. All of these forces are united by
their belief in class struggle trade
Unionism and the need for a relentless
fight for social change, the end of capital-
St exploitation and a vigorous day-to-
day battle to protect the social and econ-
Omic interests of: its members.

It Originally emerged from the anti-
AScist alliance of the second world war
48 a means of uniting the world’s trade
Union organizations into an international
Working-class force to more effectively
Confront the international power of big
Usiness and imperialism.

_ This unity was destroyed in the late
~S mainly by the U.S. through the ac-
“ities of the Central Intelligence Agen-

cy, (CIA), culminating in the formation
of the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions, (ICFTU). Today
the ICFTU encompasses trade union
organizations of the capitalist world. The
exception is the U.S. which withdrew
from that body in the early 70s because it
wasn't sufficiently tied to U.S. foreign
policy aims, in the eyes of the AFL-CIO,
and because it is largely influenced by the
Socialist (Social Democratic) Inter-
national.

One of the central features of the 10th
WFTU congress, like all of those pre-
ceding it, will continue to be a call for
greater co-operation among all three
world labor bodies, the WFTU, ICFTU
and the World Confederation of Labor,
(WCL) which was set up to unite Christ-
ian trade union organizations.

The draft discussion for the 10th con-
gress, entitled “*Trade Unions and the
Challenge of the 1980s”’, outlines the
crisis of the world capitalist system,
hammering on the transnational corp-
orations and their responsibility for mas-
sive unemployment, the insane arms
race and the ruthless nes la of the

oples fighting for national liberation in
en oe as southern Africa, Latin
America and the Middle East.

It calls forunions throughout the world
to step up the fight for peace and détente
between the socialist and capitalist coun-
tries so the tremendous waste of re-
sources and money spent on bringing
humanity closer to nuclear destruction
can instead be channeled into wiping
hunger from the face of the earth, tackle
the capitalist world’s massive unem-

ployment crisis, and help developing
countries rise out of poverty into full in-
dependence and economic prosperity.

The draft document, also deals with
the challenge presented in the fight
against colonialism, neo-colonialism, ra-
cism and fascism, the need to place the
world’s energy resources back into the
hands of the peoples and not the trans-
nationals; and, it explores the problems,
as well as benefits from the on-going sci-
entific, and technological revolution.

World labor unity is the centrepeice of
the WFTU’s action program for the 80s.
As the draft points out, ‘‘the fact that
differences and disagreements with other
trade union organizations exist does not
mean that the WFTU and its organ-
izations turn inwards on themselves.

“On the contrary’, the draft says,
‘‘being well aware of those differences,
on the one hand they take action to re-
duce them and on the other they state
their willingness to act, and to act in
favor of the expansion of common action
wherever this is possible with regard to
common or similar aims.”

It also points out that while imperial-
ism keeps trying to maintain the historic
split in the world labor movement, ‘‘this
does not prevent points of convergence
being established for the solution of the
big problems of the age nor, in con-
sequence, the need for united action by
all trade union organizations irrespective
of orientation or affiliation as well as by
the international and regional trade union
organizations.”

The WFTU shows how world
imperialism is on the defensive because

World unionists to meet in Havana

of the massive correlation of anti-
imperialist forces the world over. Also it
points out how the “‘the struggle for
peace is aclear meeting point for all trade
unions.

Because of this, the forces of imperial-
ism try to break out of their isolation
through an intense ideological campaign
aimed at discrediting socialism, the na-
tional liberation movement and the
workers’ movement around the world.
Linked to this cold war campaign against
the anti-capitalist forces of the globe is an
all out effort by big business, their
governments and unfortunately even
some trade union leaders to con the
workers of the capitalist countries into
shouldering the burden of the economic
crisis through wage and other con-
cessions, and surrender to unemploy-
ment, inflation and soaring interest rates.

Because of this large-scale effort to
suck the trade union movement into
class collaboration the need for a world
body like the WF TU is highlighted shar-
ply. The WFTU offers its programs to
the workers of the world and “‘suggests
debate to everyone — to all trade union
organizations, so that necessary points
of convergence may be sifted out. It is
also why it suggests and will continue to
suggest united action on these points of
convergence.

Labor in action
William Stewart

returns next week

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 12, 1982—Page 7