| Labor Front |

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

Very few voices are being raised in the trade union movement
in the United States in support of the sovereign rights of the Cana-
dian trade union movement which the current battle around the Sea-
farers International Union has rather dramatically pushed tothe fore.

Instead the big stick is being used, as it was used against the
Trades and Labor Congress in the 40’s, toimpose U.S. policies on the
Canadian trade union movement.

In words AFL-CIO President George Meany tips his hat to
the Canadian Labor Congress as a fully autonomous body but in
practice the entire machinery of the AFL-
CIO is thrown at the CLC to undermine its
sovereignty and autonomous rights.

* * *

~ Of course times are different today than
they were in the 40’s. The merger of the TLC
and CCL, by strengthening the Canadian trade
union movement, placed it in a far better posi-
tion to stand up to the AFL-CIO. By the same
token, the merger of AFL and CIO has added
elements to the situation in the U.S. which
could, if they exercised their influence, act as a restraining force
on those conservative elements who: still look upon the Canadian
trade union movement as a satellite of the U.S. and want to keep it
that way, even to the extent of forcing a split if they don’t get their
way.

It is high time these forces in the U.S. spoke up and stated:
**Canadian brothers, we are with you in your efforts to protect
your sovereign rights, including the right to decide on all questions
affecting the interests of Canada and Canadian workers.,”?

This is the least that should be done. Unless it is done, the
fraternal relations, the solidarity and equality which must govern
the trade union movement of both countries will be seriously under-
mined. ;

On the other hand, if Meany and his friends persist in their.

irresponsible and reckless course, it will compel a drastic change
in relationships between the American and Canadian trade union
movement, which in any case is long overdue.

Addressing the Canadian Union of Public Employees convention
in Winnipeg recently CLC Vice-President William Dodge, in refer-
ring to the SIU issue and the resultant strained relationship with
the AFL-CIO, stated that the Canadian trade union movement ‘‘was
in trouble.’’

Unfortunately Dodge did not state why the trouble arose. Had he
done so, he would have had to_ state that its origin lay in the cold
~ war, in the earlier decision of some shipping companies, the federal
government, the AFL and the U.S. State Department to destroy the
Canadian Seamen’s Union, in the collusion of the right wing in the
Trades and Labor Congress with the shipowners to smash that mili-
tant union and bring Hal Banks and the SIU into Canada, all in the
name of anti-Communism,

* * *

The CLC is now in ‘‘trouble’’ because of the cold war bias
and anti-Communism which has infected the Canadian trade union
movement. Mistakes have a habit of catching up with people and the
trade union movement is now paying for these mistakes.

Mistakes, however, are useful if we learn from them. For this

reason it is interesting to note that agrowing body of trade unionists z

are beginning to say: ‘*a serious mistake was made when the CSU
was destroyed. It may have had Communists in leadership but it
was a good, a militant union.’ |
The necessary re-examination of the history of this issue has
now placed several questions squarely on the door step of the Cana-
~ dian trade union movement. Is it not clear by now—

* That support of the cold war is no sound basis upon which
to build a united trade union movement and advance the interests of the
working class?

* That anti-Communism leads to Banks and Bankism?

* That relationships between the American and Canadian trade
union movement must now be placed on an entirely different basis,
grounded in Canadian trade union sovereignty and the full autonomy
of all international unions in Canada?

* That the crisis in the maritimes industry will only be resolved
if Canadian seamen regain their full democratic right to decide
which union they wish to belong to? :

* * *

The government - imposed trusteeship does not and cannot
solve these questions. This is a matter for the workers themselves.

The reality of the situation today, with a number of unions
existing in the maritimes industry, woulu suggest theneed for a Fed-
eration of Maritimes Unions as the way out of the impasse created by
the shipowners and by U.S, interference, and asthe way to advance the
best interests of the workers concerned. ;

Another course could be followed — one of raiding and dividing
workers. This course, which has been followed hitherto, is useful only
to the shipowners.

A Federation of Maritimes Unions, which would take into

account the fact of the existence of the SIU on the Great Lakes
and the seamen who are members of it, could lead in the direction
of one Union of Canadian Seamen at a later stage.
At the same time, as part of the buttressing of the sovereignty
of the Canadian trade union movement, the Canadian Labor Congress
ought to establish a Maritimes Trades Department which could, by
the inclusion of all maritimes unions, be in a position to coordin-
ate activity, develop programs and generally strengthen the unity
of action of these unions.

This is an approach that looks ahead, that goes beyond the
trusteeship and begins to tackle the maritimes crisis in a work-
ing-class way, with the direct involvement of the rank and file
seamen,

There can be no going back and no retreat. The lessons of the
capitulation of the old TLC in 1948 should be clear by now. To
stand firm and advance is to open the door to a united, democratic
and fully autonomous Canadian trade union movement.

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Huge U.S. corporations plan grab
of Canada’s ‘Northern Niagara’

By STAN LYNN

When the Liberal government
recently okayed the export of
major blocks of electric power
not required for domestic pur-
poses, it may have also opened
the way to begin the third chapter
in the story of the gigantic give-
away of Canada’s vast Labrador-
Ungava treasure trove of miner-
als, timber and power to the
United States and other foreign
investors,

If the green light is alsoclear-
ed through the governments of
Quebec and Newfoundland, the
Hamilton River, estimated asthe
greatest remaining hydro poten-
tial in the world, may be harness-
_ed by British capital to transmit
electricity to the power-hungry
industries of the United States.

Power export to the U.S. isnot
a bad thing in itself and could
even serve as thecatalyst speed-
ing our own industrial develop-
ment, But the Labrador plan as

it is seen now and as it has
developed so far could predeter-
mine instead that this area will
remain forever an unpopulated
resources hinterland rather than
becoming a base for the fantastic
Canadian industrial growth really
possible.

The.danger in the Labrador
pattern is that the sale of power
to the U.S. may well be the full
and ultimate aim of private inter-
ests developing the area, Likethe
Columbia River sellout on the
west coast, the power hook-up
will be north-south instead of
east-west. :

This is a pattern that can block
forever the possibility of uniting
the vast power potential of this
country into the east-west grid
which could play such an impor-
tant role in industrialization.

The Hamilton River, 300 miles

long, rises on a high plateau in
the Labrador hinterland and emp-
ties into the Sea of Labrador. In
one 12-mile stretch which includ-
es Grand Falls, twice as high as
Niagara, the river drops 760 feet,
creating a power resource of
four to six million horsepower.

Such an output (some claim it
may even be 10 million h.p.)com-
pares with approximately 2.3
million horsepower for Hoover
dam in the U.S., 2.8 million for
the High Aswan dam in Egypt
and 3.4 million h.p. at Volgograd
in the Soviet Union.

The projected development of
Grand Falls and the Hamilton
River with complete subordina-
tion of their power potential to
U.S. needs, completes the full
circle of the sellout in Ungava.
The story began more than a
dozen years ago when Canadian
Hollinger gold mining interests

acquired options to explore and _

develop iron ore and other re-
sources in the wild regions ‘‘God
gave to Cain,”’

In 1949, huge U.S. corporations,
including the Hanna Co., Repub-
lic Steel, Youngstown Sheet and
Tube Co., National Steel, Armco
Steel and Bethlehem Steel woke
up to the potential of Ungava.

In a deal with Hollinger they
formed the Iron Ore Company
of Canada (IOCO), leaving 10
percent of control in Canadian
hands.

The ore would be shipped to
huge U.S. blast furnaces weaned
on the ore-rich Mesabi range be-
low Lake Superior, now practic-
ally exhausted. New blast fur-
naces-would be built in the New
‘England states.

In chapter two, beginning in
the early 1950s and reaching a
climax about 1954, the remain-
ing areas of the fabulous Labra-
dor Trough were taken over by
U.S. and European interests, The
Payne Bay area way up in north-
ern Quebec is controlled by the
Cyrus Eaton interests, which
hope to make a deal with West
German steel producers,

More important at the mo-
ment, however, was the develop-
ment at Wabush, just a few miles
away from the original Ungava
find, Canadian Javelin Ltd., a
firm headed by the controversial
John Doyle, got financial backing
from the Newfoundland govern-

-ment (Labrador is part of that

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‘uranium ore are found on tract ;

province) and also the right tO
explore and develop the Wabus'
area, :

It quickly opened its doors t
foreign investment to form th
Wabush Iron Co., In 1959, Pick
ands Mather and Co., of Cleve
land, Ohio, paid $28,500,000 for
10-percent share in Wabusl
Other investors include Young
stown Sheet and Tube Co., andthe
Steel Company of Canada.

The introduction to the fin?
chapter. also began about a de-—
cade ago, in 1953, when Premie!
Joseph Smallwood of Newfound
land journeyed to Britain to try
to interest foreign capital in th
province, especially in Labrador

As a result, the Rothschild
interests, with assets of $
billion, jumped in, They set UP
the~ British Newfoundland Co!-
poration (Brinco), which was pre
sented by Smallwood’s goverl
ment with the rights to explore |
and stake claims in 50,000 square
miles (half) of Labrador "
10,000 square miles in Newfound —

land, 1,400 square miles of tim=
ber rights in Labrador and the

rights to all unalienated wate! —
power in both sections of the
province,

Companies which make
Brinco, a list which reads like |
a ‘*Who’s Who” of big busines: —
include capital from U.S. ad
apartheid South Africa, the lare”
est insurance company in the
world, the owner of the largest
bank in Europe, and a company
which owns 60 percent of thé
former Belgian Congo. :

Not only is Brinco huge, !
establishment and operations al® |
a fascinating story of big-busi- $5
ness wheeling and dealing. __

Today’s chairman of the board
of directors is Robert H. Wil- |
ters, former “golden boy’? of thé
Liberal Party, for three years #
Liberal minister of resource>
and development, and for fof
years, minister of public works,

After the Liberal ouster °
1957, Winters was almostimme@ — |
diately named chairman of thé
board of the Rio Tinto Mininé
Co., a corporation with an intel”
est in the Brinco syndicate. B@
sides raising eyebrows, Winters |
appointment also raised que>~
tions in Parliament about ura”
ium contracts obtained by Fi.
Tinto, especially as it was a
covered that huge quantities

bee

econ

held by Brinco. mn bp

For nine years beginning Wit? |
Winters’ appointment to the :
ministry of public works in 195%) a.
Parliamentary assistant to the
minister in that office was Maur
ice Bourget (now Senator). Fol
lowing his election to the Brin
post a few weeks ago, winter®
immediately named | ‘s old cf”
ny, Bourget, to the B.inco boat
of directors.

Recently, Brinco set up é
company, the Twin Falls Powe
Corporation, with investme?
from the Iron Ore Company ®

onada and the Wabush Iron Cos
to develop 240,000 h.p. of elee”
tricity on the Unknown Rive
near the Hamilton. a

The project is near comple: ;
tion. It was a pilot for the Ha™
ilton River development and W ‘
also launched on the agreeme’
that IOCO and Wabush Iron Ww
buy the power for use in mi
and in concentrating the ore
their holdings. .

All this leads up to the PF& |
cise sellout now taking place i
Labrador. To spell out that sel
out, you have to examine 2
of the alternatives that exi
(and still exist) to the forele

See GRAB, pg- 8

anew

_ October 25, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—