‘vi pit

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COPE NAMES MAYORALTY CANDIDA r
Tuesday as COPE candidate for mayor. She is show
Qt City Hall where the nomination was announced.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1972

FULL

TE. Angela Dennis, 29 year-old former school teacher was nominated
n here with alderman Harry Rankin at a news conference

— Sean Griffin photo

Labor parley marks advance

By SEAN GRIFFIN

The B.C. Federation of Labor

Wound up its 17th Annual Con- -
Vention Friday with an affirm-
} ation of the convention’s initial
Call for further strengthening of
the trade union movement and
for an independent political
Stance.
Although the elation over the
defeat of the Social Credit
government and the election of
an NDP majority was clearly
€vident in the opening session,
delegates were quick to discard
any idea that the new govern-
Ment was going to ‘‘solve all
their problems.’’ The same
Mood prevailed when the report
0n Political Education was
Presented to the convention.

The report came under heavy
attack for its recommendation
to extend the affiliation to the
NDP among local unions and the

Call for the election of NDP
Candidates at the federal and
Municipal levels. Coming ata
time when the Vancouver Labor
Council as well as several local
Unions had called for the NDP to
Seek a basis of unity with the

| Committees of Progressive

Electors under Ald. Harry

Rankin, it clearly ran contrary

to the wishes of the majority of ,

the delegates.

Pointing to the recom-
mendation in the report which
called for greater trade union
membership in the NDP in
order to make it a ‘‘broadly-
based political force,’’ Dave
Werlin, CUPE 1004, stated that
the NDP ‘‘doesn’t have sole juris-
diction over the labor vote.’ He
charged that the decision of the
Vancouver NDP to field a full
slate in the civic elections was
“clearly divisive.”

Alberni Alderman George Mc-
Knight, IWA 185, criticized the
NDP for their silence on matters
affecting the trade union
movement. ‘‘Both Rankin and I
have fought against compulsory
arbitration at UBCM conven-
tions,’’ he noted, ‘“‘while NDP
members sat on their back-
sides, doing nothing.”

Earlier in the convention,
Dave Sloat of the IWA and Roy
Smith from Local 500 of the Long-
shoremen condemned the NDP
members in the House of
Commons for supporting the
back-to-work legislation in-
itiated by the Trudeau govern
Ment

Debate on the report, unfin-
ished at Wednesday adjourn-

ment, was not continued on
Thursday, indicating a sharp
rebuff to the unpopular recom-
mendations.

Also on Wednesday, delegates
filled the floor in front of the
microphones.’ debating the
question of admission of the
UFAWU as an affiliate to the
Federation. The issue, raised in
every convention since 1967,
almost precipitated an open
split among the delegates when
it was introduced by an IWA
resolution calling for the immed-
iate seating of the UFAWU.

Although the resolution was
ruled unconstitutional by the
officers, considerable dis-
cussion in committees resulted
in a policy statement being intro-
duced which upheld the prin-
ciple of the UFAWU’s right to
admission without the risk of
defeat that the previous resolu-
tion had posed. —

Hailing CLC Secretary Wil-
liam Dodge’s statement that he

‘“got the message loud and -

clear’’ as an indication of
support for the Fishermen, the
policy statement committed the
Federation to make ‘‘the
strongest possible represent-

See LABOR PARLEY, pg. 12

VOL. 33 No. 46

z
te

OTTAWA URGED TO ACT
EMPLOYMENT

Jobs top priority
for new parliament

Full employment is the top priority issue facing the
new parliament says an important post-election
statement issued last week by the Communist Party of

Canada.

The release came almost at
the same time that Statistics
Canada reported that the num-
ber of unemployed increased
in October from 459,000 to
483,000.

Outlining the list of priority
issues on which the new parlia-
ment must act, the statement of
the Central Executive Com-
mittee was released by party
secretary William Kashtan.

Text of the statement reads:

A minority Liberal Govern-
ment opens up opportunities for
the working class and demo-
cratic movement to press for
much needed legislation to
protect and advance their vital
interests. These opportunities
need to be used to the full to
achieve —

e Full employment without infla-

tion. The right to a job or an ade-
quate income for every Cana-
dian. The 32 hour work week
with no reduction in take home
pay.

e Process our natural resources
in Canada by building secondary
industry.

WILLIAM STEWART, Marine
workers Union secretary and
prominent Communist trade
unionist, was elected fifth vice-
president of the BCFL last week.
He is shown here addressing the
convention,

e Increased old-age pensions
and voluntary retirement at 60.
e Action to curb the price

gougers and profiteers in the:

food industry, in land, housing
and rents.

e Tax reductions for all earning
less than $10,000 annually.

e A crash low cost low rental
housing program.

These demands can be won pro-
viding the NDP M.P:s in Parlia-
ment are compelled to fight con-
sistently for them, backed by a
powerful movement of the
working people in city and
countryside.

The organized working class
movement which was the deci-
sive factor in bringing about the
election of a larger NDP group
to Parliament must be at the
centre of this struggle, working
together with the farm move-
ment, the women and youth, the
national and democratic forces
in French Canada for the achieve-
ment of these demands.

RIGHT DANGER

There is no doubt that the reac-
tionary forces in Canada ‘will try
to make use of the inconclusive
results of the election to prevent
the adoption of such progres-
sive legislation. These reac-
tionary forces, using the Con-
servative Party as its vehicle,
are responsible for the back-
lash against the working people,
the unemployed, the poor, the
national and democratic rights
of the French Canadian people.

e Their aim is directed to place
the burden of the crisis on the
backs of the working people,
while pursuing policies to
guarantee maximum profits for
monopoly.

e Their aim is to push the
Liberal minority Government
further to the right and win the
adoption of legislation directed
at watering down the Unem-
ployment Insurance Act, there-
by assuring an ample supply of
cheap labor.

e Their aim is to win legislation
directed at imposing a wage

. See CP STATEMENT, pg. 12