Hl i ao Be, PH eS “Sa ° £ Fees Ror gs ee te oa a oe Creu raeeregc aerrys : Poco ?, ee iaet. era ea. LETRA TOV ET CST EET TEL ELSE TCT OPT CLT NCES TILETER EET ORS TT ETT TEP EEATGG Labor unity keystone of struggle 4 against Wilson's reactionary policy By JOHN WILLIAMSON Understandably, Mr. Leslie a it i ‘ arg 5 eee z } i se3; i [ : EPROREE gidded te UE eat = Sep. s : tert lies i ; i] ef es z ez Be 5° g This the company stub- refuses. Whatever may the status of the dispute this, is printed, this Ford strike has made history so far. In Parliament, Minister of Labor Barbara Castle moaned about the losses of exports, but in effect supported the compa- ny by saying this “package deal stood together as a whole.” Her department. had endorsed it after “costing” it because it was going to yield savings to the company of 16 percent. This is _ another way of saying the rate eu The Tories are yelling for even sharper anti-union legisla- tion and the newspapers are all in chorus with both the Tories and Mrs. Castle. The Daily ‘Telegraph writes about “honor” and says “the jubilation shown ‘by the leaders of Britain’s two largest unions is shocking.” The Times tries to adopt a more reflective attitude, saying, “few industrial conflicts in our time have been as bitter as this one.” It then continues, “if you look industrial relations as a con- stant battle between employers and workers at all levels, then to weaken the workers power must pe something to be avoided.” Confronted with solid sup- port of: the workers, despite the actions of the two previously referréd to unions, the Times feels “probably the best thing is to wipe the slate clean and Start again on a different agree- ment.” To date, 9 of the 16 unions involyed have endorsed the strike. These include the engi- neers, transport and general, vehicle builders, foundry work- ers, patternmakers, sheetmetal, building trades,- woodcutting, machinists and metal mechan- ics. The first two represent three-fourths of the workers. The TGWU executive has decided that any agreement must go be- fore a delegate conference of their members in Fords before becoming effective. Background to the great dis- content on wages and speedup are the following comparative figures. While Fords pay 12 Shillings an hour ($1.44) for skilled workers, Austin Motors (British Motors Leyland) pay 15/6s ($1.86), Morris Motors (BML) pay 16/ls ($1.93) and Ferguson pay 17/5s (2.09). The position on car pro- per man per month in major companies is: Fords 81 cars, Rootes (Chrysler) .59 cars, Vauxhall 68 cars and BML (British) .41 cars. The magnificent action of the Ford workers, led by their shop stewards and receiving full sup- port of the newly elected left leadership of the engineers and transport unions, is serving as’ an excellent tonic for the entire trade union movement. While the events in Fords have the headlines there is grow- ing recognition by progressive forces, inside and outside the labor movement, of the total re- actionary position of the Wilson government, as it allies itself with the monopolies at home while fawning on the West Ger- man government and displaying sickening servility to Nixon during his visit here. Most significant is the various manifestations of unity of ac- tion of the workers and the labor movement — and the outstand- ing new feature of this is the Official participation of the Com- munist Party and the Morning Star in numerous activities. The broadest response has been in the fight-back against the government’s White Paper introducing anti-trade union legislation and in the Ford strike. This opposition continues to grow. It even found expres- sion in Parliament . when, to quote the Tory Daily Telegraph “the widespread abhorence of Labor’s backbenches” for these proposals “was demonstrated by a massive revolt in the Com- mons.” This refers to nearly 100 Labor MPs defying a 3-line whip (maximum and compulsory Party discipline) with 55 voting no and 40 abstentions. The MPs associated with the Left Socialist weekly “Tribune” were joined by many other trade union MPs, including “a group of customarily loyal Scottish trade unionists”’—to quote The Times. Significantly, Left MPs, with Russell Kerr as_ their spokesman, called the White Paper proposals “a poisoned package” and declared their solidarity with the mass lobby at Croydon on February 27th. Following on numerous local peace demonstrations — out- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 28, 1969—Page 8 standing of which was in Lon- don on March 16 and a Shard- low’s (engineering factory) shop stewards-initiated demonstration in Sheffield with 3,000 present on March lIst—the CND will have its annual Easter 4-day marches. It will have two prongs —one starting in Scotland and the other in Wales. In Scotland they will start from the Polaris submarine base and receive an Official send-off by the Provost of Clydebank. In Wales, they will begin at Caerwent NATO base and be given a civic recep- tion by the leader of the Swan- sea City Council. Touching some of the main cities, the two marches will merge at the American air base at Ruistip, near London and on Easter Monday march through London to Trafalgar Square. The main speaker will be Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh, NLF deputy leader at the Paris talks. She has already been granted a visa for this occasion. She will also speak at Coventry Cathedral on Easter Sunday, at Newcastle on Good Friday and in Southamp- ton on Easter Saturday—coin- ciding in each of these with the Peace March arrival. The streets of London have also seen numerous mass ac- tions by tenants against rent in- creases and a number of empty flats have been occupied by homeless families and- success- fully defended against all ef- forts to evict them. A new deve- lopment among students has been the involvement of second- ary school early teenagers in marches and demonstrations. The London district commit- tee of Vehicle Builders Union, inspired by the strike of its members at Fords last year, has taken the initiative to organize the National Joint Action Com- mittee for Women’s Equal Rights. It includes official repre- sentatives of various unions, trades councils, Labor Party, Co-op Societies, Communist Party and women’s organiza- tions, . But probably most significant of all, as Communist Party Na- tional Organizer Gordon McLen- nan put it recently, were “the political developments ‘place in relation to the possibili- ties of Labor and Communist people getting together, to dis- cuss questions facing the move- ment and to consider some com- mon action they could take.” The first beginning seen re- cently in the Morning Star con- ference were extended when well-known Left Labor MP Michael Foot spoke at the an- nual Morning Star rally and con- cert of 3,000. Even more impor- tant was Foot’s declaration, “I am not proposing a new popu- lar front. But I have sometimes a deep foreboding that if the labor movement does not unite to ward off the dangers, we might have to go through the whole situation of the ’20s and' 30s all over again.” He also emphasized the need to tear down sectarian barriers that divide; called for “towards a common fight” to end the cold war and stop the arms race, defend the trade unions and finish with the “bes- tiality of racialism”; learn that “you can never make a peace- ful settlement in Europe with- out the Soviet Union,” and when referring to his friendship with the late Harry Pollitt said, “it was necessary that in spite of profound disagreements we should be ready to work toge- ther.” There has now been called a national conference of the Left for April 26th-27th where the search for common aims and ac- tions will proceed. It is expect- ed that this will involve among others, the May Day Manifesto Committee—primarily Left Wing Socialist intellectuals, the §p. cialist Charter supporters, the Communist Party and other left wing forces in the Labor Party and labor movement. There are also being organ: ized several regional conferenc. es by the Morning Star under the title “The Socialist Way Forward.” Delegates are a being elected to the one in Scot- land on Mar. 23 by trade unions representing transport workers, engineers, miners, railwaymen, vehicle builders, woodworkers, scientific workers and furniture trades plus shop stewards com. mittees. Chaired by Morning Star editor Geo. Matthews, speakers will include the Scottish Trades - Union Congress president and the heads of the motormens, miners and unions of Scotland plus the CP secretary in Scotland. A just concluded meeting of the Executive Committee of the CPGB, reviewing all these deve- lopments and emphasizing that the anti-trade union legislation could be defeated, said: “We are witnessing a demon- Stration of Parliamentary and extra-Parliamentary action and intervention of workers in the Parliamentary process, a con- ception central to the Commu- nist Party’s program, for which we have been fighting for years. CP General Secretary Gollan says, “the Government’s pro- posals for anti-trade union legis- _ lation are the greatest attack on trade union rights in this cen- tury.” He then calls for “an emergency session of the Trades Union Congress without delay” and for “a 24-hour national stop- page as a demonstration of the determination of the unions” to force the dropping of the legis- lation since “the very future of trade unionism is at stake.” Laberge attacks students By MEL DOIG The two trade union cenres of Quebec continue to withhold their support for the formation of a mass labor political party. Events, however, are increasingly obliging both the Quebec Federa- tion of Labor (QLF) and the Con- federation of National Trade Unions to take positions on questions involving the demo- cratic struggles of the people and monopoly’s resistance to them. For the most part positive and indicative of a growing identity between the trade union move- ment and the people, the declar- ations by Quebec union leaders can nevertheless sometimes completely miss the mark. Louis Laberge, QFL president, recent- ly launched an attack on stud- ents. In his enthusiasm to de- nounce “the wish of certain students to destroy the society of consumers”, he went over- board in his message to the re- cent congress of the Union Gé- nérale des Etudiants du Québec (UGEQ), held at Laval Univer- sity. In a statement read to the delegates in his absence, La- berge said to the students, “You are masters in your own house but we are masters in ours, and I consider that our respective desires diverge more and more. So after a few years, there is a risk that we unfortunately can no longer meet each other ex- cept on a battlefield, which I hope will only be ideological and political.” His statement made no reference to the stu- dents’ movement for the demo: cratization of education. It re- presented his effort to create a gulf between organized workers and the democratic student movements. It will be recalled when the poor and underprivileged in Montreal commenced to organ- ize a couple of years ago, La- berge at that time decried their efforts, and advised the organ- ized workers against giving any support to the organization of the poor, who would, he warned, only undermine the organized labor movement. He had to change his tune later. It may be expected that the QFL, speaking for its members, will again cor- rect Laberge. But in the most positive way, both the QFL and the CNTU have come out together to de- nounce the recent 20 percent Montreal bus fare increase. This latest increase means that Mont- real’s working people and older citizens have had their bus transportation costs increased 66.6 percent since 1967! Popular resentment is mounting. It is to the credit of the trade unions that their leaders have called on other movements of workers and citizens’ associations to join with them to protest and to re- verse the Montreal Transporta- tion Commission’s decision t0 bleed the people again. Both the Montreal Labor Council (QFL) and the Central Council of the CNTU, together with the Quebec Womens League and the Association Tenants took the struggle for rent controls in Montreal direct: ly to the chairman of that city’s executive in a recent joint dele | gation. Sometimes with mincing hesi- — tation and other times with bo initiative, the organized labor movement of Quebec is begin ° ning to enlarge its role together with democratic movements 9 the people.