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In the case as
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i etfore Tenants Council,
Benno build support for
ia ina Struggle over
ne an, wed rent hikes is

Upport grows for
itiking tenants

J yg, ene a Court House Supreme Court Chambers on July 19 is
‘lle € next stage of the precedent-establishing struggle of
Op tenants to win the right of collective bargaining

immediately prior to the Court
case, a public Picnic Rally is to
be organized. Details of this will
be made public later.

A special defense fund has
been established to help defray
legal costs and ensure wide-
spread publicity and support for
these tenants. Contributions
from organizations and_ indivi-
duals have already started to
come in.

Cheques or money orders
should be made payable to the
Vancouver Tenants Council,
(W&R Defense Fund) and sent to
their office at Room 4, 199 East
8th, Vancouver 10.

§ er of actions.
r Uday, July 18,

Bu

by oval eaoby Pollution
Bi'8 a jes ciation is distri-
nye ci tlet calling on
J iy ® at Tae to turn out en
lun COUNG;) UY. 12 meeti

her cl Which aGioacct
| ftp; On © applicati
| size» Standarg Oil eae
orth Burnaby

Vicinity of the
th € any further addi-
Plant where dis-
tgjeht a a Its stacks have
Ading smell to the
> have had an
On propert

aa danger. They
il refinery. fire
nti as an exam
al menace hon
fire.

Preole have labelled

“dard Oil expansion

the report given city council by
the Research Council of BG
inadequate, and a whitewash of
what could result from further
extensions to the refinery.

2 maby groups oppose

They are demanding that
council hold a-public hearing on
Chevron’s application, where
company representatives can be
questioned and where citizens
groups and individuals can
express their views.

SPEC vice-president Orest
Moysiuk wants a report that
would deal with all aspects of the
environment, not only air
pollution. Anti-pollutionists
have already presented a 1
name petition to council asking
the application for oil company
expansion be denied.

CLASS OUTLOOK VilAll.

Workers’ fight is with boss,
not one union against another

By OBSERVER

What is the basic contra-
diction in the Canadian trade
union movement? Is it one of
the following:

1. Canadian unionism versus
American unionism?

2. Industrial unionism versus
craft unionism?

3. Political action versus
political ‘‘neutrality’”?

4. Class struggle policies
versus class _ collaboration
policies?

The basic contradiction is
number four, encompassing the
other three, A class conscious
worker will analyse problems
like one, two°and three above
from the viewpoint of finding
answers to advance the class
interests. The question of a
purely Canadian trade union
movement can best be under-
stood from a class rather than a
national viewpoint.

Irrespective of zig-zags and
detours, the objective should be
a united trade union movement
based on class struggle policies.
Our ultimate goal must be to win
the workers for the idea of a
socialist society, not capitalism
with a more human face. In this
connection, the fight for one
trade union congress in Canada
embracing all legitimate trade
unions is of vital importance. A
united trade union movement
could constitute the core and
main base of an effective anti-
monopoly coalition to wrest
power from the old-line political
parties.

Much of the criticism directed
against many American unions
and their conduct in Canada is
valid. For example, American
constitutions, trusteeships,
veto power over collective
agreements, top-level sellouts
and lack of national structure
and self-rule © within Canada.
However, to assume from this
that the answer is to split away
individual locals where possible
and set up purely Canadian
unions is to embark on a
fratricidal war. The invevitable
outcome of escalating such a
policy is to picture the
established trade union move-
ment as the main enemy, instead

of monopoly capital.
FIGHT FOR AUTONOMY

Such facile simplification
overlooks the fact that
members of American unions in
Canada enjoy varying degrees of
autonomy. Some have granted
their Canadian membership
complete self-rule. Others. have
granted a wide autonomy short
of complete sovereignty. The
overall picture indicates that
there is an increasing demand
for autonomy and a greater
willingness to fight for it on the
part of the rank and file. The die-
hard, top level bureaucrats in
the USA and tneir represen-
tatives in Canada cannot afford
to ignore this upsurge and are
more circumscribed than they
used to be in purely Canadian

airs.
a5 short, it is not either black
or white. There are many
shadings between the opposite
poles and the situation 1s
becoming less fixed with each

assing year. at
R Sear aanple; the IWA in

This is the final article in a
series of three by Observer
dealing with crucial issues
facing B.C. labor today.

Canada is large enough within
the International to enjoy a subs-
tantial degree of autonomy.
Another example is the Cana-
dian District of the Inter-
national Longshoremen and
Warehousemen’s Union, which
enjoys complete — self-govern
ment.

One of the main criticisms of
many American unions is the
power of the top brass to
discriminate politically against
Communists and other left mili-
tants. This power, too, has been
greatly reduced by the resis-
tance of Canadian workers. A
constitution is one thing; the
power to use it for reactionary
purposes depends on the overall
relationship of forces.

In speaking of anti-
Communism, -we should never
forget that the establishment of
a purely Canadian trade union
movement would not eliminate
anti-communism which is an
integral part of capitalist and
right wing, reformist ideology.
In the hard period of the cold
war, Canadian trade union
leaders who willingly used anti-
communism for their own selfish
ends, had the backing of the
powerful American bureau-
cracy, which was pre-
dominantly in, the cold war
camp. To cut off this support is
not to eliminate anti-commun-
ism, but rather to isolate the
Canadian anti-communists
from a strong supporting force.

Is the slogan of Canadian auto-

nomy valid today, or should it be
replaced by the slogan of indepen-
dence? If by autonomy we
mean complete self rule in
Canada without the inter-
nationals, and considering all of
the subjective and objective fac-
tors, then the slogan of auto-
nomy is still valid. The end
result of an all-sided, deter-
minded fight for complete auto-
nomy must be an independent
and sovereign trade union move
ment. :

For some time ‘to come,
Canada will see the co-existence
of American and Canadian
unions. There are those who see
this as an antagonistic contra-
diction, which it should not be.
The main contradiction is
between labor and capital, nor
labor and labor.

Left wing militants at every
level must. fight for the unity of
all unions involved in each given
industry, in
bargaining, strikes, lockouts
and opposition to compulsory
arbitration. With the increasing
concentration of ownership
and with the structure of
industry changing much faster
that the structure of the trade
union movement, the need is for
fewer and larger trade unions,
not more unions. With the
growth of state monopoly
capital (fusion of monopolies
and government) central trade
union councils (national, pro-
vincial and local) need to be
more all-embracing and more
authoritative.

All of these considerations are
presented in the hope that they
will assist, however modestly,
in the fight for correct policies.

Halt Amchitka test
demands city rally

Telegrams protesting the Amchitka nuclear tests in October
were sent to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Nixon following
a Saturday afternoon rally in Staley Park.

Prime Minister Trudeau was
urged to pressure the U.S.
government to cancel the tests,
and the American president was
urged to have the Atomic Energy
Commission ban the tests on the
grounds they are a possible
threat to human health, wild life
and world peace.

The rally was sponsored by
Voice of Women, environmental
groups, labor unions, church
groups and others. Chairwoman
Jean Hawkesworth told the
audience gathered in the
Brockton Oval that Amchitka is
everyone’s affair; that no
national purpose could justify
such a dangerous project as the
nuclear test on the Pacific
island.

Jim Bohlen of the Sierra Club,
one of the members of the crew
of the Greenpeace which will
sail into the Amchitka zone while
the tests are to take place, was
the main speaker.

He reported on AKC hearings
he had attended in Juneau and
Anchorage, Alaska. The thing
that comes out clearly, he said,
is that as far as the Atomic

ee a ee

The health officer for the AEC
showed slides pinpointing where
the monitoring stations for
atomic radiation would be
placed and there were none on
the Canadian coast. Therefore
we will have no information as
to radiation leakage if it occurs
as a result of the blast.

No Canadian official has
approached the AEC on this
matter so far as is known. The
Canadian government, he
charged, has done nothing to
protect us. While there is a law in
the US that the impact of nuclear
blast on any portion of US
territory must be determined,
we have no such law and no such
protection in Canada, he said.

He dealt with what the blast
could do to the sea lions, otters,
and other wild life of the
Aleutian chain. There are about
5,000 Aluet Indians on the island
Adayk, he said. A representative
of the tribe showed the AEC
photos of children with rashes,
open sores etc., which have
developed since the time of the
last test on Amchitka. The health
officer, Bohlen said, was visibly
shaken, but said he had no
knowledge of the problem.

collective .

= Searae.

24