[LABOR FRONT By WILLIAM KASHTAN The capitalist press has created the impression that the Canadian Labor Congress convention rejected the inclusion of Mine-Mill, UE, Fishermen’s Union and others into its ranks. Nothing could be further from the truth. By a slick manoeuvre typi- cal of the right wing, debate on this question was avoided. What the delegates were asked to discuss was a pro- posed amendment to the con- stitution which called for el- iminating Section 9, Article 3. This particular section de- clares that “any organization controlled or dominated by communists, fascists or other totalitarians” shall not be permitted as affiliates of Congress.” The Platform chose to have this proposed amendment de- bated instead of the many Teso- lutions from locals in different | paris of the country which | called for strengthening trade | union unity! by bringing in all | unions now outside Congress, | Responsibility for this lies | with the C.C.F. eee Zt was William Mahoney, | Canadian director of the: Unit- | ed Steel Workers and’ chair: | man of the Committee on | Constitution, who brought this proposal to the convention. it was Murray Cotterill; also of the Steelworkers, who was chosen by. the platform to do the job on the floor of con- vention, and it was “Doc” La- ™mourieux, another paid official of the Steelworkers, who mov- ed, the question after only four ‘delegates had spoken. _ All of them are CCFers, More than that, the CCFers dominated this convention and had they so chosen, could have | made a contribution. to labor and trade union unity. Instead, they chose to con- linue their fatal policy of anti- Communism and division and prevented a- discussion on trade union unity. - eae The reason for this is ‘not hard to find, Corterill made it clear, if clarity was necessary, that the issue never was and is not now “Communist” dom- ination of Mine> Mill or any other union. What is involved is the fact that the Steel leadership, which bought Mine Mill’s jur- isdiction is determined to keep a0p:: It and the right-wing CCF are the obstacles to trade union unity. President Jodoin made this clear at.the press confer- ence on the eve of the conven- tion. . ees Cotterill also made it clear that. the Steelworkers leader- ship intends to raid Mine Mill, presumably with the blessings of the CLC leaders. It. is a commentary on the morality of such people that they would become quite indig- nant, or appear to be, when one Congress affiliate raids an- other, Considerable time was spent at this convention on whether the Teamsters should be ex- pelled for allegedly raiding the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, ; Frank Hall made a long speech on the need to uphold the constitution. So did Bill Mahoney. One could appreciate their remarks muCh better were they men of principle who firmly opposed raiding of any kind. But that was not what they were talking about. Hall in his time found it quite easy to do a job on the Canadian Seamen's Union which was an affiliate of the old Trades and Labor Con- gress. These gentlemen are there- fore not opPosed to raiding, What they are concerned ‘with is — who does the raiding. Some delegates may feel that it is wrong to raid unions within Congress but quite al- right to raid those outside it. ° This double standard is wrong and harmful from every point of view, Today, when the trade union movement is under attack, it is positively disastrous. How come raiding has pe- come quite acceptable in some trade union circles At bottom it is nothing else but acceptance of the dog-eat- dog mentality of capitalism, It has nothing to do with work- ing class standards or concepis, How in face of this CCFers who claim to be socialists can either participate or condone it is beyond comprehension. The leaders of the Congress may consider that they won a victory by their cheap man- oeuvers at the convention. In fact however they won noth- ing. : . If the working class and the trade union movement is to ef- fectively combat reactionary monopoly interests, it must unite, s There is no other way. There can be no other way. ' The struggle for trade union unity is far from over. It now needs to be pressed for with renewed vigor where it counts the most — in every union local in Canada. : . Tt is the workers who pay the price of division. It is they who must end it and put a Stop to raiding once and for all, At a meeiing sponsored by the Lake Cowichan PTA May 9, Mrs. Nonie Lyon of the Wo- men’s Committee on Radia- tion Hazards said that by most conservative estimates, sev- eral children in Canada, hund- reds in the U.S., and thousands in other countries will die each year as a result of the Stron- tium 90 now in the atmos- phere. “If the governments support- ing the testing of weapons said that you must sacrifice the life of this child here, and so many children there, all over the country, as we require their lives for our experiments, there would be a tremendous outcry from the people. ¥ feel that this is what we are allow- ing when we allow them to carry on_with this testing.” She urged people to write their government representa- tives letting them know our feelings in this regard. The Duncan PTA also spon- Sored a speaker from the same organization May 9, Mrs. Olive Johnson. Auto union leader hits AFL-ClO meet DETROIT, Mich. — Emil Mazey, secretary-treasurer of United Automobile Workers, told a rally of the Sane_Nuc- lear Policy Committee that a recent conference ‘on world affairs sponsored by AFL-CIO was not objective. He was disappointed with the AFL-CIO meeting, he said, because it presented no balanc- ed program for labor on the eve of the Summit. Mazey reiterated this by Stating that a meeting of labor leaders should best have not- ed the fact that 100,000 peo- ple paraded in England on Easter week-end against nuc- lear explosions and for pban- ning the bomb. Mazey blasted USA foreign policy, which had been under- Pinned by the AFL-CIO con- ference on world affairs. “It’s time for labor to re-evaluate its position on foreign policy,” he stated. Jobless benefits cut off Ottawa says ‘not urgent Tens of thousands of unemployed faced asi this week as supplementary unemployment ins benefits ended May 16. Rejecting the demand for an emergency debate in the House of Commons acting Prime Minister Howard Green said ‘the matter is not urgent.” Attempting to pass the buck the Federal government asked the Senate to “study” unem- ployment. The kind of study it can expect. there is shown by a_ statement of Senator Ralph Horner who said last week “jobless are loafers.” Meanwhile in Vancouver Pat O’Neal, secretary B.C. Federation of Labor said the refusal of the Bennett and Diefenbaker governments to recognize that permanent and | mass unemployment is a pres- ent and growing feature of our economy and is. a_ crime against the people. In the face of the callous government attitude 600 un- employed building trades workers met last week in Van- couver to demand action for jobs. They passed resolutions calling for picketing of UIC offices in. protest against the cancelling of supplementary benefits, establishment of an action committee to protect the homes and chattels of jobless, and called for an all- ‘in meeting of ‘Vancouver Un- employed. The meeting also asked ac. tion from the Canadian gov~ ernment on disarmament, an immediate start on public ie velopment of the ee ‘ preparations for a unite a t for the 35 hour week in 1961. a ee Come again, Senator On the very same day the Vancouver Sun carried the statement of Senator Ralph Horner that the “jobless are loafers” it also reported that thousands applied for 162 jobs on the new Island ferry Ser- vice. WE MUST DO MORE THAN “REVIEW” ~ lores An editorial in the last issue of the C.C.F. None = the flight of a U.S. plane over Soviet territory an e “preventive war” in the U.S. It ends by saying: ‘“‘The weekend madness veer ae strength of the CCF view that our participation in N oft NORAD should be reviewed immediately. The tains * world and Canada’s existence as a free nation is at sta cs But We agree with the CCF that the situation is serio surely if Canada’s very existence is at stake it calls for a more than a NORAD. “review”? of our participation in NATO ee Isn’t it time that Canada does what Canadian cna maintain must be done: that is withdraw from NA NORAD and declare a policy of neutrality?. Why can’t I have that, daddy? | Cone ee May 20, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 8 © core —_—