No place for RCMP-labor links

The ongoing scandal in connec-
tion with the illegal activities of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police is
receiving too little attention in the
current election campaign.

In an article last month, the Col-
umbian alleged that members of the
RCMP security service have been
involved in a three year old liaison
program with certain leaders of the
trade union movement. According
to some officers of the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor and the New
Westminster and District Labor
Council, ‘‘the integrity of the pro-
gram has been tainted and two
liaison officers who have been
revealed as security service members
should be removed trom the pro-
gram.”’

RCMP Corporals Dennis Lyall
and Andy Johnson, the two security
officers involved, claim that their
membership in both the labor
liaison program and the security
service is merely a coincidence.

Any adult who would believe
that, given the role and record of
the RCMP, would be very naive in-
deed. For example, the Columbian
of March 29 quotes from an inter-
view with solicitor-general Jean-
Jacques Blais as follows: ‘‘...the
only reason security service officers
would be involved in the labor
movement would be _ in
‘surveillance’ and to ‘monitor
subversive activities’...intelligence
gathering of activities that are
against the established order.”’

The very role of the trade union
movement under capitalism is such
that carrying out its basic functions
in collective bargaining and as a
movement of social protest, it in-

- evitably comes into conflict with the
repressive. arm of the state
machinery. A classical example of

that is the bitter struggle of the

Canadian Union of Postal Workers
to exercise the right to free collec-
tive bargaining, as enacted by
Parliament.

The security service of the RCMP
has been accused by many labor
organizations across Canada of
surveillance, espionage and disrup-
uon within the labor movement. A
number of unions in B.C. have
refused to become part of the
liaison program because they
believe it is a cover for intelligence
gathering. These unions include the
Canadian Union of Public
Employees, the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers, the Canadian
Association of Industrial,

the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union.

At this point I want to make it
very clear that as one who spent
many years as a full-time trade
union officer, | am not opposed to
union representatives sitting down
with responsible police officers in
any community from time to time
and working out arrangements for a
parade or a demonstration, or to

minimize any potential conflict bet- ~

ween police and strikers. However,
that is a lot different from becom-
ing social companions of RCMP of-
ficers.

Any labor leader who has an op-
posite viewpoint has rocks in his

head, in my opinion. However, to
establish permanent, ongoing
liaison relationships with the
RCMP, who are responsible for
provincial policing and policing in
the majority of urban areas in B.C.,
is to assist the RCMP security
forces to penetrate the labor move-
ment. The RCMP is a political

_police force with a strong bias

against the labor movement and
any organization seeking a radical
reform of the power structure. This
means that any such ongoing pro-
gram, and any mixing with the
RCMP on a social basis by promi-

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

‘ : * secute
Mechanical and Allied Workers and ~

nent labor leaders, will inevitably be
used by the security service to fur-
ther its objectives.

In its March, 1979 edition, the
Canadian Student, published by the
Student Christian Movement, listed
the following illegal and _anti-
democratic tactics of police (mainly
RCMP) and government:

@ Mail opening, theft, breaking
and entering, arson, bombing, for-
cible detentions, provocateur ac-
tions, infiltration of legal organiza-
tions;

eCompilation of files on per-
sons exercising legal democratic
rights (such as demonstrating and
attending meetings);

@ Intervention with employers to
disrupt employment of persons
under surveillance; organization of
conflict within organizations; coer-
cive recruitment of informers;
threats of deportation or prosecu-
tion;

e@linterference with press
freedom through recruitment of
journalists as spies or informers;
censorship by raids; criminal
charges or removal of privileges at
press conferences;

@Interference with academic
freedom through the use of RCMP
and army intelligence on univer-
sities; informers’ files on students
and lecturers; curtailment of
“dangerous courses’’ in university
curricula;

eGovernment failure to pro-
illegal acts; denial of

MAY DAY GREETINGS

to all our friends

ministerial responsibility; cover-up
of involvement in all of these ac-
tivities. :

The paper went on to list the vic-
tims of this harassment. It included,
in general, anyone who has express-
ed opposition to the government
but specifically universities, unions,
the Parti Quebecois, the NDP, the
Waffle, the National Farmers
Union, Native People’s groups, left
wing ‘‘vanguard parties,’’ the
Union of Injured Workers, Black
rights groups, immigrant groups
and organizations, women’s groups
and others.

All of this inevitably raises one
question: Why have top labor
leaders in B.C. been involved in this
ongoing liaison program, par-
ticularly when it has never been
discussed or voted on at any con-
vention of the B.C. Federation of
Labor? We might also ask why
some labor leaders went out of their
way to invite RCMP officers to
social gatherings of labor leaders,
like office parties at Christmas time
or social events at labor conven-
tions. This patronage tends to put
an official labor stamp on the pro-

gram and to open doors for the,

security service in their attempts to
infiltrate and disrupt the labor
movement.

A special feature in the Toronto
Globe and Mail of April 18, written
by Geoffrey Stevens, makes the

following points in respect to the

RCMP, among others:

“For the past two years we have
witnessed—and are witnessing
still—a stunningly successful
coverup. The question is: did the
coverup stop at the top echelon of
the RCMP, or did it extend to
Cabinet. We know someone has to
be lying. The question is who?

“Two years ago, we were told
that the October 1972 police break-
in at a left wing news agency in
Montreal was. an isolated incident.
Then we were told it wasn’t. The
McDonald Royal Commission was
appointed. We were told not to
question ministers about allegations
of illegal acts because these were
questions for the Royal Commis-
sion. Wait for the commission to
produce the evidence. Now, the
evidence is emerging from the com-
mission. We’ve learned that two
cabinet committees, chaired by Mr.
Trudeau, were informed as early as
1970 of the possibility of the RCMP
breaking the law. Mr. Trudeau’s
response in Saskatoon on March

- gress:

-B.C. Federation of Labor,

from

FEDERATION OF
RUSSIAN CANADIANS

600 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver

MAY DAY GREETINGS

fo our members,
friends, and supporters

in the labor movement

eC

30: ‘‘I don’t remember, nor should
I be expected to remember, why a
particular document nine years ago
was not examined.”’

The closing paragraph of the arti-
cle is sharply to the point:

““Why aren’t Mr. Clark and New
Democratic Party Leader Ed
Broadbent screaming mad? If they
don’t care enough to talk about
civil liberties during the election,
they cértainly won’t care enough to
do anything to protect them after
May 22.’’

Of all the political parties in the
federal election, only the: Com-
munist Party has a clear-cut posi-
tion on the RCMP. It calls for
parliamentary control over the
RCMP and its activities. This will
have to be fought for, because some
of the facts which have come to
light suggest that the cabinet has so
far failed to establish control over
the RCMP, and that individual
cabinet members have, from time to
time, helped to cover up their secs

activities.

A typical comment from a seetri
wing labor leader, as reported in the
Columbian of March 29, was from
Art Kube, regional education direc-
tor of the Canadian Labor Con-
“There is no way that the
leadership of the labor movement is
going to. be part of intelligence
gathering operations. They. (the
security service) should remove
themselves from the labor-liaison
program and be replaced by regular
members of the force.’’

This, I suggest, begs the question.
Who is to guarantee that ‘‘regular
members of the force’’ will not be
part of the security service, or that
they will not cooperate with the
security force?

Jim Kinnaird, president of the
Dave

MacIntyre, secretary-treasurel
the Federation and Bob Donnell
the Telecommunications Wor
have publicly stated they have
knowledge of why they were li
on an ‘‘ad hoc committee”’

with a number of RCMP offi
including members of the sec
force.

Instead of being soft on the}
the labor movement should 4
the clear-cut position endorse
the Vancouver and District

Council earlier this month.
reported in the Tribune, April 6
delegates unanimously endorse
resolution instructing council
ficers to ‘‘write to the B.C. Fed
tion of Labor demanding thi
withdraw from the labor li
program with the RCMP and
upon the Canadian Labor Cong
to establish a clear and unequi¥

. national policy on non-cooperal

with the RCMP whose atl
through the security services. br
have not been in the best interes!
the trade union movement,
members and other workers.”
It is good that Donnelly of
Telecommunications Union —
publicly stated he would ree
mend that trade unionists not
on liaison committees with
RCMP, but what the situation
for is a forthright denunciatior
the program by the Canadian
Congress and every provin
federation of labor. This would
close the door to meeting with I
police officers on issues and I
blems that come up from 4a)
day, but it would serve notice |
the labor movement is not
terested in a buddy-buddy relali
ship with a police force which hi
special role to play in maintaifl
the economic, social and poll
status quo.

Greetings to
the Labor Movement

TRADE UNION RESEARCH

~ 138 E. Cordova St.
Ph. 681-2338

MAY DAY GREETINGS

from

_Marineworkers: and
Boilermakers’ Industrial
Union, Local 1
UNITE IN THE
‘STRUGGLE FOR JOBS

RiBUNE

Naiie:... ices es
‘Address ....

Postal Code pone 4s

City or town ee Ree

lam enclosing:

1 year $10 ] 2 years $18[ ] 6 months $6[ ]
Old[ ] New[] Foreign 1 year $12[ ]
poveson $. See ree

Read the paper that fights for labor

$22