als ape titel By WILLIAM ROSS WINNIPEG — The question of unconditional support for the NDP proved to be one of the most _ Contentious issues at last week’s Otherwise routine and rather un- inspiring annual conventions of the Manitoba Federation of | Labor... A résolution submitted by CUPW had called for NDP sup- Port “‘providing that it consis- tently support, defend, publicize and promote the cause of labor in general and workers’ struggles in Particular’. However, the con- Vention delegates were presented with a substitute resolution by the MFL Political Education Com- Mittee which urged unconditional “fullest support’’ for the NDP. This was met by strong protests by many delegates who remem- bered the Schreyer government’s support for wage controls, refusal to enact anti-strikebreaking legis- lation and failure to implement labor’s proposals on many other questions. Peas Schreyer Speech The speech by Ed Schreyer to the convention did little to dispel their doubts. The fact is that, while the NDP government dur- ing its eight years in office had _ consistently appealed at election time for labor’s support at the polls and’financial assistance, be- tween elections’ it had always maintained. it. was not a govern- ment representing labor but the “‘electorate at. large’, whatever that may mean. Furthermore, the number of trade unionists nomi- “mated.as.. NDP candidates had been very limited. The result of the debate was that the convention, by majority Vote, sent the substitute resolu- tion back to the committee with instructions that the proviso of conditional support as contained in the original resolution submit- ted by CUPW be included. How- ever, much to the chagrin of the delegates, the Political Action Committee in the last hours of the convention, flaunted the decision of the convention and brought back their own resolution un- changed. Decision Flaunted A heated debate followed, but Under the pressure of time and a confused procedural wrangle, ef- forts to send back the resolution _ for a second time failed and the _ Committee’s report carried. Attempts to tie the trade union Movement to uncritical support for the NDP are being accom- - Panied by a deliberate policy on the part of the right wing leader- ship to sidetrack labor’s fightback against the offensive of monopoly and its governments in favor of Testricting labor’s role to electoral Support for the NDP. This was Tepeated at the CLC convention Carlier this year. And it was re- flected in the failure of the MFL Convention to react to the federal 80Vvernment’s proposed cutbacks UIC benefits and family allo- Wance payments. Efforts on the Part of some delegates to have an €Mergency resolution brought on the floor calling on the trade union ™Ovement in Manitoba to protest ese cuts were frustrated by _ vention officials on technical 8tounds, Similarly, on the question of Mass unemployment and the fight ~ for jobs. A number of resolutions ‘Manitoba labor’s choice fight back or tail NDP Attempts to tie the trade union movementto uncritical support for the NDP accompany a drive by right-wing leadership to sidetrack labor’s fightback against monopo- ly’s offensive, says Manitoba Communist Party leader William Rossin this look at the recent MFL convention. from locals had called on the MEL to ‘‘adopt a new militant program of action’’, to “‘create union committees uniting employed and laid-off members in the fight against lay-offs’’, and “*- fight for a 30-hour work week with no loss in annual income”’. But no action was adopted by the con- vention on this number one issue. Fightback Needed The latest Manitoba figures show that the unemployment rate in the province is now 7.3%, the highest in years. Following his election as the new MFL presi- dent, Dick Martin indicated that Manitoba labor was going to be on the offensive against the attacks by big business and governments. It will be up to the left and the militants in the trade union movement to ensure that this promise will be translated into a program of fightback which will unite the organized trade union ‘movement and all democratic forces against the crisis policies of monopoly. The big capitalist corporations and multi-national monopolies in the private sector are motivated solely by maximum profits in their operations after meeting costs and provision for expanded capi- tal construction. Wherever this cannot be done, as for example in the case of railway passenger ser- vice, the state has to step in with subsidies or take over total re- sponsibility for the service. _ This is the explanation for the setting up of the Via Rail crown corporation to take over the pas- senger services from the Cana- dian National and the Canadian Pacific. While the services have been deteriorating, charges have increased at a phenomenal rate. In some areas railway lines have been abandoned, leaving many communities without railway transport of any kind. The CN and CP Rail prefer the highly pro- ’ fitable industrial and bulk freight over the less profitable package freight and consumer goods ser- vice, while happily abandoning the passenger service altogether. As Via Rail takes over the 2,800 employees of the CN and CP Rail passenger service have been transferred over to it. We are being told that no immediate re- duction of transcontinental ser- vices are contemplated. But the problems facing the railway workers in the coming negotia- tions for a new contract are for- midable indeed. The ‘‘user pay”’ policy applied by the state in pub- lic utilities will be a threat to both jobs and incomes of railway workers as further rationalization is stepped up along with greater exploitation of both labor and the public. The crisis on the railways has been with us for a long time. But ‘its consequences are taking on a new momentum. Thousands of railway workers have already lost their jobs. Conditions for those remaining are deteriorating all the time. This was the reason why the 17 railway unions split over the ratification of the present contract in February when only 53% of the 95,000 workers involved voted to accept while the membership of eight unions voted against. At the present time it appears as if the two largest unions in the non-operating sector of the rail- ways are becoming the catalyst around which the struggle of the railway workers is developing both in the United States and Canada. These unions are, the\ Canadian Brotherhood of Rail- way, Transport and General Workers (CBRT&GW), and; the American-based Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Ex- press and Station Employees (BRAC). a In the United States a presiden- tial rail emergency board has been set up to deal with a strike of 4,500 BRAC members against the Nor- folk and Western Railway which started July 10, and now involves workers of 70 rail systems whose management have joined in a _ What's facing 7 railway workers security, pensions, health and welfare. The wage proposals are based on the old Hall formula, which means that they are based on the historical relationship between railway labor and other workers ‘in the goods producing industries. In the meantime, the Canadian National Railways has an- nounced it expects to save $80- million over the next 10 years through a _ precedent-setting agreement with the United Transportation Union to reduce crews on freight trains in Western Canada. The bait for this kind ofa deal seems to be that one-quarter of the money saved from the cut- back will be put into a special fund to provide for retirement benefits for laid-off employees. The railways have for many years sought to eliminate one brakeman from a crew of one en- -gineer, two brakmen and one conductor. This at a time when freight trains get heavier and the roadbeds remain in disrepair and with serious defects, making rail- roading a most hazardous opera- tion with an increasing rate of de- railments and fatalities. The UTU has taken CP Rail to court to pre- vent it from arbitrarily eliminating the second brakeman. What is the mutual aid pact against the strik- explanation, if any, of changed ers by giving the N&W over $800,000 a day in aid since the strike began. Here, in Canada, the 56,00u associated non-operating ‘workers have discussed and pre- pared to submit proposals for a new contract to the railways. A statement of the two above men- tioned unions and three others in- volved, reveals that the initial demands include wage increase and indexing against inflation, job Let Whelan eat cake for change TORONTO — “‘Federal Ag- riculture Minister Eugene Whe- Jan should lift his head out of the cabbage patch and take a look at reality,”’ said Mike Carson, pro- vincial coordinator of the Ontario Anti-Poverty Coalition. The Coalition — comprised of labor, church, professions and low-income groups — was re- sponding to Whelan’s speech at a recent (Sept. 20) seminar on world hunger, in Washington, where the minister said Cana- dians don’t have any economic problems, y ment isn’t high and that we don’t know poverty. “Putting down the pape buns’ he was served for Saee ce and bragging about the great breakfasts served in the MPs’ cafeteria in Ottawa, Whelan refused to recognize the fact that millions of Canadians cannot af- ford orange juice, sausages, scrambled eggs and coffee break- fasts. pesnone himselt 26 3 = upposed to eat-bread to Or hich, have no nutrition, Whelan should know that bread, macaroni and powdered . milk make up the main menu for low- income families,” Carson said. “Mr, Whelan totally ignores PACIFIC TRIBUNE—October 20, 1978—Page 5 that our ‘unemploy- the grim situation evident even in Statistics Canada reports: . e one-quarter of our popula- tion is existing at or below the poverty level; e one million Canadians are unemployed with some regions having 30% of the work force idle; e costs of food, clothing, energy and housing are rising, beyond the means of an increas- " ing number of Canadians; e government cuts in social security, health and community programs are driving the poor deeper into poverty — and creat- ing further unemployment in the social services delivery system; e do-nothing government pol- icy is rapidly building a huge de- grading and destructive youth welfare culture — robbing our youth of their right to gainful pro- ductive employment, dignity and responsibility in our society.” . ‘‘Like Prime Minister Trudeau who, it is reported, does not con- sult with his cabinet, Whelan also apparently ignores his fellow ministers, Monique Begin of Health and Welfare and Bud Cul- len of Employment Canada, whose reports support this grim situation.” ‘* Appreciation of the facts, de- sire and willingness to do some- thing constructive, and not least of all the government’s ‘Unity Program’ calling upon all Cana- dians to work together to create a healthy and prosperous society must start at the top. Whelan, along with other government members, should spend less time with the elite in foreign seminars and more in resolving the plight of the unemployed and working poor in Canada,”’ Carson said. position? To be continued. Soviet ships not responsible for jobless Trying to find an out for their lack of action on unemployment among seamen (and the forced exodus from the industry of thou- sands), National Marine Union officials have hit a new lot. They are trying to bury the job question by claiming a Soviet ship carrying a few buses from the Baltic to Gulf ports is responsible for hard times for U.S. seamen. A committee headed by Sen. Cannon of Nevada, spent thou- sands of U.S. dollars investigat- ing alleged unfair competition. with U.S. shipping by the Soviet Merchant Marine. : Shannon Wall, president of the NMU recently testified before Cannon’s committee and failed to mention that the real cause of job- lessness among 700 U.S. seamen is the fact that almost 700 U.S. owned ships are flying foreign flags and carrying crews unor- ganized and underpaid from al- most every country but the U.S. BOYCOTT CHILEAN GOODS!