LABOR

Response ‘fantastic’ |

says NUM delegate

Continued from page 1

But that is only a beginning. The visit is
expected to spur fund-raising efforts
among several unions and the Vancouver
and District Labor council will be consid-
ering the establishment of a committee to
co-ordinate aid for the British miners.

And the tour itself, originally set at
about three weeks duration, has now been
extended to 63 days, Clarke told his
audience Nov. 8, just before he and his
wife set off to visit B.C: miners in Spar-
wood and Cranbrook.

While in this province, the Clarkes have
met with the International Woodworkers,
the United Fishermen and Allied Workers,
the Carpenters, Hospital Employees,
Vancouver Labor Council, Building
Trades and the Canadian Union of Public
Employees. In the Kootenays, there are
meetings with the Steelworkers and the
United Mineworkers, both among the
original sponsors of the tour along with
the Alberta Federation of Labor.

From there, they will go to Saskatoon,
Winnipeg, to Thunder Bay to begin a 15-
day Ontario tour, and from there to
Quebec and the Maritimes.

There is also a possibility that the visit

might be extended to include an appear-
ance at the B.C. Federation of Labor con-
vention, Clarke said Thursday. Tne
convention opens at the PNE Forum Nov.
26.

In Ontario, the most extended part of
the tour, the visit is sponsored by a com-
mittee chaired by Steelworkers District 6
director Dave Patterson and includes an
address to the Ontario Federation of
Labor which will also be considering a
resolution pledging full support to the
NUM strike.

Everywhere they go, the response “has
been fantastic,” the Clarkes said.

But the need is also very great.

“We don’t have a dime,” he told the
public meeting Nov. 8. “They seized our
union’s funds, they’ve made it impossible
to provide legal help for our lads who are
arrested. There are serious problems and
the only way we can alleviate them is
through fantastic aid.”

With that appeal for aid, there is also a
message of militance — that by fighting
back they are setting an example for
workers in this country, the U.S. and else-
where faced with the same government
and corporate policies.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN

“Our people slug their guts out two
miles underground to create wealth that
the Tories squander. There’s no way we’re
going to accept that the first time we don’t
turn a profit that our people will be put on
the scrap heap and their communities
closed,” he declared to applause.

“We're saying this: We havea right toa
job and a right to a community to live in
and more important, our children have a

National Union of Mineworkers representative Frank Clarke (r) with meeting chai §
man, Doug Evans, vice-president of the Vancouver and District Labor Council. —

right to a job when they leave school. We” 1
never accept the Tory philosophy that-
pounds come before people.

“No way — no way will the mine
bend.”

Donations in this province can be sent te
British Miners’ Solidarity, Vancouver and |
District Labor Council, 206 - 33 East 8th |
Avenue, Vancouver, V5T 1R5. .

_‘Revitalized’ B.C. Fed urged

The committee working to elect Van-
couver and District Labor Council presi-
dent Frank Kennedy to the presidency of
the B.C. Federation of Labor has called for
new leadership “to build a united and mil-
itant labor movement” in a program issued
this week. *

_ The program, which will go out to more

than 1,000 delegates to the B.C. convention,
steps up the campaign for the top officers’
position in the federation, currently held by
Art Kube. The elections — for president,
secretary-treasurer and vice-presidents as
well as the executive
council — are sche-
duled for the fourth
day of the week-
long convention
which opens at the
PNE Forum Nov.
26. ;

The Kennedy cam-
paign program notes
that the formation
of Operation Solid-
arity in response to
the Socred budget in
July, 1983 was
“encouraging” but
emphasizes that the
current leadership of
the B.C. Fed “has
not maintained a
strong and united
federation.”

As a result, the
federation which has
been known as “one
of the strongest labor
centrals in the coun-
try” has lost credi-
bility, it says.

To restore the federation’s stature, it calls
for “new co-operative leadership, involving
all the affiliates” around the following pro-

FRANK
KENNEDY

ART
KUBE

gram:

@ A stepped-up campaign to deal with
unemployment;

© Reaffirmation of the sanctity of the
picket line;

® Increased co-ordination both in collec-
tive bargaining and industrial action;

@ Greater involvement of affiliates in
demonstrative actions around major trade
union and social issues;

@ Maintenance and expansion of the
fight for the rights of women workers;

@ Greater involvement of affiliates in
developing federation programs;

@ Development of effective political
action program to make members aware of
the negative effects of provincial and federal
government policies;

@ Continued efforts to maintain working
relationships with non-affiliates and to
bring non-affiliates into the federation.

The program also calls for greater com-
munication among federation leadership
and local union officers, shop stewards and
active membership, emphasizing that their
“full support is essential to make the federa-
tion’s programs effective.”

This year’s elections will be among the
most significant for the 210,000-member
federation in many years, with the differen-
ces over policy direction focused on the
presidential race between Kube and
Kennedy.

Although Kube is credited with having
united the federation behind the campaign
led by Operation Solidarity during the
summer and fall of 1983, the federation has
drifted under his leadership since the
Kelowna accord in November.

The federation officers failed to develop a
program to oppose the amendments to the
Labor Code despite a unanimous demand
for a campaign of action. And there has
been little in the way of co-ordinated
response to further government attacks,
leaving many affiliates frustrated for lack of
action and an overall fightback strategy.

Kennedy has emphasized that the federa-
tion “has the policies but the leadership
hasn’t carried them out.”

The frustration among many affiliates
and Kennedy’s call for a revitalization of the
federation has garnered him substantial
support since he first announced his candi-
dacy — so much so that he is confident that
he can gather enough votes at the conven-
tion to win election.

The unions in the port council —
Kennedy’s own International Longshore-
men and Warehousemen’s Union, Marine-
workers, Fishermen and Seamen’s Local
400 — together with the Telecommunica-
tions Workers Union have already formally
endorsed his candidacy and a number of
others are backing him but have not made

12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 14, 1984

any official'announcement. Thé campaign-
ing for delegates will go on virtually up to
the moment of the election.

The big-delegation IWA and Govern-
ment Employees are likely to back Kube
although not necesarily as a solid bloc. And
in some unions, such as the Canadian
Union of Public Employees, Kube’s candi-
dacy has reportedly created division.

This year’s convention is likely to be
among the largest on record with a potential
in excess of 1,600 delegates as a result of
constitutional changes on representation
adopted in 1980. But because of the cost
involved, the actual number will probably
be considerably less — except for the day
of election when most unions will bring
their delegations as near to full strength as
possible.

Action Caucus to meet

The B.C. Action Caucus has called a
one-day conference on “Strategies for the
fightback” for Sunday, Nov. 25, on the eve
of the B. C. Federation of Labor conven-
tion.

Opening at 10 a.m. in the Fishermen’s
Hall, 138 E. Cordova, the conference will
debate “Labor’s economic policies” in the
morning session and “Strategies and tactics
to win” in the afternoon.

The conference is open to delegates and
alternate delegates to the B.C. Fed conven-
tion. For information or registration, con-
tact Karen Dean, co-ordinator, Action
che 5285 Empire Drive, Burnaby, VSB

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