LABOR

Eaton’s boycott
‘a CLC priority’

OTTAWA — Thetwo-million member
Canadian Labor Congress told Eaton’s
Dec. 13 that the war the company has
declared on its unionized workers is a chal-
lenge the entire trade union movement will
meet head of.

CLC president Dennis McDermott,
accompanied by leaders of the Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store Union,
and about a dozen Eaton’s strikers from
Toronto, officially launched the congress’
| solidarity campaign in support of the
1,500 striking workers at six Ontario loca-
tions.

‘We are determined to prove to the T.
Eaton Co., that the fight is not between a
corporate giant and a few hundred of its
employees,” McDermott told a press con-
ference, launching the CLC boycott.

“By declaring war on its employees,
Eaton’s has in effect-taken on the entire
trade union movement and must now deal
with its employees in a fair and decent
manner or face the consequences of its
actions.” : :

McDermott spelled out some of those
consequences as he unveiled the country-
wide boycott campaign the CLC is launch-
ing under the theme: “Eaton’s on no
account.” ‘ : ;

He said one million leaflets will be dis-
tributed by the CLC along with stickers

and lapel buttons urging Canadian
shoppers to boycott the retail giant.

The congress is giving the boycott cam-
paign its highest priority, by assigning the

entire 12-member CLC executive commit-_

tee, comprising the country’s top trade
union leaders, to co-ordinate its details.

McDermott also told reporters that the
entire CLC staff across Canada has been
alerted to consider this campaign priority
one, and that the Congress will spare no

~effort in assisting affiliates, labor councils

and the provincial federations to mobilize
trade unionists into action around the
boycott and support for the strikers.

In the opening shot of the boycott,
Canadians are being urged not to shop at
Eaton’s, to destroy their Eaton’s cards and
to mail them back to the company along
with the reason for their actions. :

McDermott said there are other tactical
initiatives the congress will detail as the
campaign unfolds, but they wouldn’t be
revealed prematurely in order to maximize
their impact when the time comes.

Part of the CLC drive will be a
thorough investigation by union research-
ers and economists into Eaton’s financial
situation and its corporate links so that
increased pressure can be applied where it
will be the most effective.

The strikers have been out since Nov.

Unionists leaflet shoppers outside Eaton’s main store in downtown Vancouver
Saturday where, B.C. Federation of Labor president Art Kube said, they were
successful “‘in turning many people away.”

30. In more than 25 meetings with the
company since the union was certified,
Eaton’s has refused to make a contract
offer. The offer only came at the very last
conciliation meeting, and was so bad th
vorkers struck. :
The union and the company are cur-
rently before the labor relations board in
Toronto on the RWDSU’s charges’ that
Eaton’s has bargained in bad faith. Those

hearings have revealed that Eaton’s would
only agree to five issues put forth by the
union. Among these were maternity leave,
health and safety provisions and the
employees’ right to use a bulletin board.

Eaton’s refuses to recongize seniority
rights, wants to base layoffs and recall
rights on “employee appearance and cus-
tomer profile,” and won’t even respect the
rights the workers already claim.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEE

UAW sets historic trend for labor

The decision of the United Auto Workers to establish
an independent, sovereign, Canadian union has sent
shock waves through both the labor movement and bus-
iness circles.

This; after all, is not just a pel eyupeer wore s
agitated by ineffective leadership or bureaucratic
Roinecsici tans the other side of the 49th parallel. What
we have here is one of the most powerful and prestigious
unions in Canada making a carefully considered, and
even reluctant decision, that it has become impossible to
properly represent its membership inside the strictures
of the United Automobile Workers of America.

Robert White, Canadian Director of the UAW re-
ferred to it as an historic decision. And that it is. It
represents a qualitative shift in the balance of power in
Canada between ‘‘International’’-based unions and
unions which are Canadian in form and international in
content. . ; ;

There is little doubt that the actions of the Canadian
UAW will stimulate the trend towards full Canadian
autonomy and very soon, ut Canadian independence

ignty for all Canadian unions. ;
Se Soutaiist Party has recently noted that this
trend stems from the economic processes which are in
motion in our two countries. In conditions of growing
- United States domination and control over our econ-
omy, political life and foreign policy, the role of Cana-
dian ‘‘International’’ trade unions is restricted and often
actually blocked by U.S.-based headquarters. This is
especially true where the U.S. headquarters are oc-
cupied by leaders who are more oriented to solving the
problems of big business than those of workers. In the
UAW, the decision to move to a fully independent
Canadian union arose from. the class-collaborationist
policies of the UAW leadership in the United States and
its determination to force similar policies on the Cana-
dian section of the union.
Noise Only Begun

We should hasten to note that the differences do not

arise between the workers of our two countries. Ameri-

can auto workers showed by their votes on the recent .

auto contracts that they would have responded the same
as Canadians had they been given leadership. |
Readers of the Toronto-based mass media will have
Noted a rather significant shift in the press coverage of
Robert White in the past few days. John Crispo, Profes-
sor of Economics at the University of Toronto and an
“expert” on labor affairs referred to White as a ‘militant

nut’’ on the CBC’s ‘‘The Journal.”

Newspaper columns have begun to warn about the

Labor in.action

4 a William Stewart

dire consequences of the Canadian UAW decision. Auto
magnates have repeated their concern about an

“independent stance for Canadian auto workers,”

which could make continued U.S. auto production in
Canada unattractive. And the noise has just begun.
Aside from whatever implications the UAW action
may have for those who make their living off the backs of
auto workers, the wider issue addressed by the Canadian
UAW touches on the whole matter of labor unity and the

~ struggle for one Canadian trade union centre to lead the

fightback of Canadian unionists against the monopoly
offensive. :
Every step towards Canadian autonomy and
sovereignty for the Canadian trade union movement, in
today’s conditions, helps to engender the unity of the
ranks of the workers in their struggles.
Let us cite some examples.

UAW council vote, page 24

Building Trades unions. The oppressive bureaucratic
regimes in the building trades situated in the United
States have removed them in Canada from the main
labor centre and have taken them away from the path of
militant struggles to protect their interests down the road
of concessions. They have pulled them away from inde-
pendent labor political action unto a path of colla-
boration with the parties of big business, and they have
trampled on their democratic rights to a meaningful say
in these matters. They are trying to further divide the

Tanks of labor at a time when its utmost unity is essential.

There is no doubt that the UAW actions will stimulate
the already existing movements in the building trades
unions to get back into the house of labor.

It will also stimulate trends within the United Steel-
workers for autonomy and make its leaders more re-
sponsive to its Canadian members rather than hiding
behind U.S. appointments and constitutions.

It could set the stage for strengthening contacts be-
tween the CLC, Quebec’s CNTU and CEQ as wellas the
Confederation of Canadian Unions which has some
membership across the country. :

_ The number of unionists in Canadian unions in the
wake of the UAW’s action will be 1,125,701 and in
U.S.-based unions 887,349. This balance, we would pre-
dict, will continue to shift away from the U.S.-based
unions.

We should hasten to add that there is no guarantee that
changing unions from international (U.S.-based) to
Canadian, will assure them a progressive character. In-
deed there are many unions which are now Canadian-
controlled which can only be considered right wing in
their orientation.

The character of any union will be determined by the
actions of its own members. What will be guaranteed is
the Canadian membership will find it easier to influence
the policies of their union in Canada, than it was to
influence a union in the United States of which they were
a relatively small part. It will also be natural for their
union to address itself more to issues which are native
and significant to Canada than is the case of an inter-
national union. They will as well have greater input into
wets and control over the leadership and the
s

Reverberations Everywhere

All of the above is conditional on the participation of
the ‘membership, the only sure guarantee against
bureaucracy, right-wing control and business unionism.

It may be somewhat premature to celebrate the
independence of the Canadian auto workers since it is a
process which, as the leaders say, will take some time.
Moreover, we can expect, since the positive impli-
cations for workers are what they are, and the native
implications for the big corporations are what they are,
that significant efforts may well be made by the auto
industry in particular, and on its behalf other weapons of
monopoly, to turn the Canadian UAW’s decision
around.

This requires the maximum of solidarity of auto work-
ers around the recommendations of their leadership and
the full:and unqualified support of the Canadian trade
union movement behind them.

Quoting Robert White’s statement again, ‘‘this is an
historic decision,’’ we should remind ourselves that his-
tory is made by people and it is made not just by chance
but by their deliberate intervention.

Without interfering for one moment in the internal
affairs of the UAW in Canada, all workers should act to
see that this historic decision is carried through with
dispatch and in such a way that its reverberations are felt
everywhere in the Canadian trade union movement.

Semen

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 19, 1984e9

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