i mt . a } PUBLIC EMPLOYEE } onal Canadian Labor 1956 it. Was formed ia ! Was an historic bor in ee Canadian "Of the ,? SOVereign body. Dby tie dusPectives Benet ing togetne oPment was the lel og her Of unions with ‘J ated jurisdictions. 2 $ fe ¢ mth t q tmed by the joi join- of the National Employees and Nion of Public "05,000 members. | dl R number of trade a oj vil Ser cictions in the 4 Publi Ree united sitting : TVice Alliance, het Anothe Membership of the ue a towards Ose, Nield is the y ConigcBet ae the ; and the Postal the prj ry . , nine eestry sector, N the yy. 2ecr in Canad ptt Arn rice ited Bfeclivork- Union ia the Interna- te vine, Mill and 1S another ex- Fi Sub: ” POSSibilities. Cle eeton of the CUPE lon. Mission on Con- these br tructure deals blems in a most Provocative fa- cup Proposals Test on the bid indus oehized that in Pay ag wal development Rreatee as the trend “tive been putomation, ih nd “Ultural Substantial so- on The C anges in our Ment hag C@8adian labor O effect tot had the po- rithin Aes and influ- " Cae that we Will certain- sok = adjustments if its posit or preferably On, otherwise key Submige; POSals in on nig’ the + Merit the at- ; TOgressive trade Unions ;2€ 10, industrial. | a Canada IN TOm basis, wi » Ona Sp, .t 25, ith member- Beste OP to 300 . nde Trades 1 ined ‘Distributive tt... 100% tle 300,000 loth hj 00,000 duit Oi 25,000 uit ete las ': : 1 taingveeg 50,000 f ; ation a n> Office, Ao 000 pity etchnical 30,000 7% Y Union 2298 CUPE, ; with Jess than Cannot effec- Ployees. Today, bie The CUPE proposals On trade union structure tively operate on an all-Canadian basis.” But what about the problem arising from the -fact that 70 percent of Canada’s trade union membership belong to local unions with headquarters in the United States? : “The Canadian labor move- ment as a whole has reason to be grateful to their fellow work- ers in the USA, and at the same time to be proud of their parti- cipation in and contribution to what is now the AFL-CIO in the USA, and also to the organiza- tions that preceded it. However, we must consider the right of freedom of association within our own national boundaries for the purpose of having in Canada, as they have in the U.S. and other countries, a strong labor -centre with full autonomy and full support and participation by all Canadian . trade unionists, whether they be members of international or national organi- zations.” 2. Unity between CLC and CNTU “It is our opinion that the time has come for renewed ef- forts to find common ground between the two centres with the object of creating one central body. Such unity would have to take account of the special situa- tion in Quebec and of the juris- dictions of the international and national affiliates of the CLC.” 3. Trades departments CUPE calls for the implemen- tation of Article XI of the CLC constitution in order to create Canadian Trade Departments. As a start, it suggests the creation of a Building Trades Department and the Maritime or Transporta- tion Trades Department. “The creation of. such departments and maybe an Industrial Union Department would be a first step in using the constitution to cre- ate a degree of unity on policy and collective bargaining. It would also provide machinery to police some of the differences between different groups unions.” 4. Leadership of Congress The brief proposes that. there shall be only two elected officers, as distinct from the other exec- utive committee members. These two would be the president and financial secretary. They would be the chief executive officer and chief financial officer. The executive vice-presidents (there are two elected at pres- ent) would be appointed by the officers, subject to approval by the executive committee. The existing departments would be reorganized as “services” and placed in two groups, with each group under an executive vice- .president. The executive com- mittee would then be elected at large as general vice-presidents, or on the basis of representation from trades groups. The groups proposed by CUPE are the fol- lowing: Metal Trades Building Trades Food, Drink and Distributive Textile and Clothing Public Employees Railways Mining, Smelting Graphic, Radio, TV and Enter tainment Transport Chemical, Glass, etc. Wood, Pulp and Paper Professional and Technical The executive committe@® would meet 6 to 11 times a year. In order to create closer liai- son between the national’ and provincial leaderships, there would be an executive council made up of the executive com- mittee, plus the elected prest- “~ dents and secretaries of the provincial federations. This council would meet at least ev- ery six months and would have power to recommend to the ex- ecutive. 5. Elimination of duplication It is proposed to ‘ntegrate CLC regional offices and the offices of the federation, particu- larly in. the field of education and other matters which are of provincial concern. 6. Jurisdictional problems An interesting proposal is ad- vanced by CUPE in reSpect to jurisdiction, as an interim ar- rangement pending fundamental changes in structure. A Jurisdiction and Service Committee would have the au- thority to consider complaints from. affiliates’ re-organizing ju- risdictions, and from locals that have complaints about the ser- vice from parent bodies. The committee could not settle juris- ‘dictional disputes, but could refer them to the executive coun- cil with a recommended course of action. The council would have the authority to enforce any decision. Where a local complained about a lack of ser- vice, the committee could issue a “compliance” order, that is, an order to rectify the situation. If there was. no. improvement satisfactory to the committee, it could recommend to the execu- tive council that the local be transferred to a union of .its choice, after a membership vote. The executive council could, if it so decided, take such a course constitutionally. This bold concept will no_ doubt invite much controversy, but it represents a genuine at- tempt to answer the question of where (and how) does a local go when it no longer wishes to remain with its parent body. This procedure could be infinitely bet- ter than the divisive and harm- ful practice of raiding which has plagued us for so long, provided there were the proper balances and checks. 7. Political action In respect to political action, it is proposed that this should be handled by the New Demo- cratic Party and CLC provincial ‘federations, labor councils and affiliates. “This proposal would have the advantage of leaving the CLC to deal with the federal govern- ments of whatever political color as a trade union centre.” There are, of course, two contradictions in this projection. Firstly, a pro- vincial federation in, say Alber- June 9, ta, could advance the same argu- ment against participation in politics. They could claim even more justification than the na- . tional organization (using the same yardstick) by virtue of the fact that there is no NDP repre- sentation in the Alberta provin- cial legislature and that the official opposition is Conserva- tive. Secondly, no federal gov- ernment will consider the CLC national body free of political commitment if that body permits - and encourages its member unions and provincial and local bodies to identify with the New. Democratic Party in political affairs. ; Obviously, labor should inten- sify its support of the NDP at all levels, while maintaining its identity as an independent orga- nization in relation to all govern- ments in Canada. Further, it should play a leading role in projecting policies around which labor, the NDP and all progres- sive and democratic-minded per- sons (inside and outside of parliamentary bodies) can unite. A good portion of the brief deals with the streamlining of conventions (more time for es- sential business and basic policy questions, and better organiza- tion), improvement of services and the organizing of the unor- ganized on a community basis under the leadership of _labor councils. In respect to international affairs, it calls for a permanent delegate to the United Nations office of the International Con- federation of Free Trade Unions and a permanent delegate to the International Labor Organization in Geneva. In short, it projects a more independent international role for the CLC through the ICFTU and its various agencies and regional organizations. In reference to the ICFTU, which has been greatly compro- mised: as a result of recent dis- closures of CIA subsidies, CUPE recommends a compulsory checkoff from CLC per capita, in place of the present voluntary per capital by individual unions. Many unions have refused to pay per capita to the ICFTU because they have little or no confidence ‘in the policies and activities of that body, its trade secretariats and its regional organizations. While CUPE’s ICFTU proposal could cause division, if the CLC moved in that direction, it offers the opportunity to debate on a wider scale the question of unity between the International Con- federation of Free Trade Unions, the World Federation of Trade Unions and independent, nation- al trade union centres. : If unity is desirable nationally, it is even more desirable inter- nationally. All in all, we must credit CUPE with producing a most positive and challenging docu- ment. We are living in the Six- ties, on the threshold of the Seventies, but our internal trade union structure is very little dif- ferent than that of the Forties, except in numbers. New times bring new problems, and require new structure and new policies. That is the main thrust of CUPE’s argument and they have done a service to the entire labor movement by entering into de- bate with such a comprehensive brief. 1067—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3