CPC CENTRAL COMMITTEE Cy 5] 3 o D © c 2 c t 2 c od All-sided struggle A people’s coalition THE ATTACK ON TRADE UNION RIGHTS There is a new level of attack on the organized trade union move- ment. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on April 9, 1987 that the right to strike is not specifically enshrined in the Constitution. Furthermore, the Court stated that since the Charter is silent on the right to strike, the rights of the ‘‘individual’’, i.e. capital, take precedence over the collective rights of workers. This confirms the wisdom of the Communist Party’s campaign, at the time of the patriation of the constitu- tion, for a Bill of Rights for Labor. Labor legislation introduced into the B.C. legislature April 2 is the worst of its kind in North America. Both right-to-work and union-busting in character, Bill 19, the Labor Relations Reform Act, st- rives to replace the old Labor Rela- tions Board and with it the concept of the labor court and ‘‘neutrality”’ in labor relations. Bill 20 singles out teachers, designed to dismantle the 30,000-strong B.C. Teachers’ Fed- eration and imposes a government- controlled College of Teachers. The proposed legislation is not. only openly pro-employer and anti-" union but authoritarian and ultra-right. Its main purpose, its au- thors avow, is to foster a better in- vestment climate for international capital. The rhetoric about pro- tection of the ‘‘public interest’’ and the rights of innocent third parties and individuals is not only consistent with the Supreme Court ruling, but also with the rationale used to justify police state repression in Chile and South Korea. Furthermore, if state monopoly capitalism is successful in establish-— ing a beachhead for the non-union open shop in British Columbia, it could well serve as a pattern for all of Canada. ° mums T/1e legal noose... The Merv Lavigne case (backed by the National Citizens’ Coalition and big business forces in this coun- try), too, is headed for the Supreme Court where the legal noose will be increasingly tightened around the neck of the trade unions. This year, close to one million workers are locked in a sharp strug- gle over new contracts. These nego- tiations are largely centering on job security, wages, and stepped-up employer demands for concessions. Increasingly, negotiations are oc- curring on a backdrop of privatiza- tion and deregulation: A number of critical transportation strikes, among them rail and shipping, are looming. Nowhere is the anti-union agenda more graphically illustrated than in negotiations with Canada Post. The federal government, bent on pri- vatizing large parts of the crown cor- poration, has tabled 52 pages of con- cessions to postal unions, fired Letter Carriers’ Union president Bob McGarry from the Board of Canada Post, started training scabs, and is making other plans for a major show- down with postal unions. The postal negotiations are therefore taking on all of the characteristics of picking up where Gainers left off. Despite the sharpened level of the attack, working people are increas- ingly demonstrating their prepared- ness to fight back. The struggle being mounted by the workers in B.C. against Vander Zalm’s anti-union crusade stands out. So too does the overwhelming re-election of Dave Werlin at the head of the Alberta Federation of Labor and its clear program of united fightback. The sharp rejection by Hamilton steelworkers of a settlement package worked out by their leadership which would trade pensions, with no indexing, for wages is also a sign that the struggle is sharpening. Steelworkers at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, despite massive lay-offs and corporate propaganda about the need for further sacrifices, have compelled the’company to take the concessions off the table, and are demanding major contract adjust- ments involving wages and job se- - curity. The recent actions by auto- workers to save their jobs and their recent militant bargaining con- ference all point to the preparedness of workers to struggle to defend their livelihood, their standard of living and, if necessary, their unions. ems Maximum unity... At such a time, the maximum unity of the trade union movement is paramount. Raiding, and juris- dictional warfare, which pits the trade union movement against itself and not labor’s enemies, must be combatted. The Canadian Labor Congress must defend and extend its minimum guidelines for Canadian autonomy because unity, class struggle poli- cies, autonomy and increased union democracy are all vital to maintain- ing an effective fightback against the attack on labor. The attack on labor cannot be sep- arated from the fight against free trade. The drive by the Mulroney, and other neo-conservative governments and the transnationals for a ‘‘level playing field’’ all aim directly at working people. So, too, does the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord, and so-called tax reform. The trade unions are rapidly con- cluding that their struggles on the economic front must be com- plemented by all-sided political ac- tion, whether in the fight for better laws to protect workers, or for new policies for full employment and against free trade. Trade unions are also rapidly con- cluding that the struggle in defense of basic rights will of necessity develop in many forms. As Bills 19 and 20 in British Columbia indicate, a new era has been ushered in which will re- quire the combination of extra-par- liamentary, parliamentary, eco- nomic and all other forms of struggle which the trade union movement en- gages in. The attack on the trade unions of Canada is related to similar attacks occurring on the trade union move- ment throughout the developed capi- talist world. At its roots is the drive for increased profits for the mono- polies and transnational corpora- tions, a drive to place the burden for the growing crisis of the system onto’ the backs of the people, the working people in particular. The attack is fed by growing corporate rivalries, and attempts to reverse the tendency for } a declining rate of profit. Trade unions are singled out for especially strong attack because } they are the main obstacle to maxi- mization of profit, and because they have the capacity to rally all of the sections of the population against monopoly’s offensive. And it is precisely in the rallying of © all forces opposed to neo-con- servative reaction, to free trade, to war preparations, and _ to union-busting that trade unions can help bring about a change to a more favorable political climate within which to effectively fight back. Trade unions can be instrumental in rallying forces around themselves, including farmers, women, youth, pensioners, environmentalists, peace forces, First Nations and Métis, civil libertarians, the NDP, the Communist Party and all pro- gressives to forge a new political alignment in Canada — a People’s Coalition. A part of this process is the re- placement of the current Mulroney and other neo-conservative gov- ernments with new governments along with new policies of peace, independence, and social progress. The defence of trade union rights is emmmmms Fighting back... not only a concern for trade unionists. Trade union rights are in- separable from basic democratic rights. The Communist Party of Canada pledges to stand firmly and unequi- vocally for the defence and ex- tension of trade union rights in Can- ada. It believes that the following measures are needed in order to suc- cessfully beat back the attack on trade union rights: e Maintain the maximum unity of the trade union movement in face of the corporate attack. No one union can afford to stand alone against the combined state monopoly offensive against labor; e Develop the broadest campaign for a Labor Bill of Rights to guaran- tee for working people the unfettered right to organize, to bargain collec- tively, to strike and to picket. The amending formula, as it stands, makes an amendment to the Charter an exceedingly difficult task. Such a campaign by labor, and its allies, must of necessity, therefore, be linked to all of the other campaigns with which labor is engaged, not the least of which is the struggle on the collective bargaining front; e Establish broadly-based sup- port committees throughout the country in defence of postal work- ers. Such committees to not only raise picket line support, but also to | develop the broadest political cam- paign to compel the Tories to drop — their privatization and union-busting plans; e Step up the campaign against a comprehensive free trade agree- ment, such a campaign to include popularizing labor’s alternative pro- gram. Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, May 16 - 18, 1987