Strengthen efforts in 69

| “Public recognition that pov-
“ly is prevalant in Canada to
alarming degree is one of
€ Outstanding developments of
68,” Donald MacDonald, Pre-
Hdent of the Canadian Labor
*ongress stated in a New Year’s
Nessage,

Turning to other problems
hich have not been accorded
ch recognition Mr. MacDon-
iid had the following to say:
One of these is unemploy-
‘Rent. It seems to have been
aracteristic of governments
recent years to have become
absorbed with an almost fan-
q ical fear of inflation that they
umost disregard the plight of
€ unemployed. Meantime, the
mber of Canadians in this
‘ategory has grown.
| It is now admitted by many
(Mpetent authorities, if not by
€ 0vernment, that we face a
tious situation with regard to
oe Number of people who are
Without work. The upturn in
€mployment figures had been
Bnificantly above average.
id-October’ figures
at 288,000 men and women in
nada were without jobs.

Onal patterns lead us to ex-

a)

showed

pect that this figure will in-

crease considerably before there.

is any downturn.

The government’s compara-
tive silence in regard to this
situation is hard to understand.
At the same time those who are
at work but who are in the low-
er income groups find them-
selves discriminated against.
These are people who have the
greatest need of expanded so-
cial services; and yet they .are
told that the federal government

proposes withdrawing from its

oft-proclaimed medicare
gram.

Recently introduced tax in-
creases place an unfair burden
on low-income families. And, oh
the heels of this discriminatory
action, came a hint from the
highest authority that further
steps may be planned to favor
higher-income groups.

The report of the Carter Royal
Commission, on which the gov-
ernment has still to act in any
major degree, clearly pointed
out the inequities. which exist
under our present: tax system.
The commission was clear in
its recommendation that the
entire taxation system should

pro-

Power str

be overhauled, relating taxes
more directly to the ability to
pay.

The adoption of such propo-
sals as these would give some
substance to the, idea of a “just

society”. The labor movement ~

in Canada, as in many other
countries, has long struggled to
create a just society and it has
often been—and sometimes con-
tinue to be—a bitter struggle.

In Canada union membership

now stands at an all-time high; -

and, simultaneously, many other
groups are strengthening their
organizations and adopting trade
union methods. :

At the same time strong
forces have come into play- in
an attempt to interfere with the
democratic right of workers to
have their organizations which
can effectively engage in collec-
tive bargaining. Should these
anti-labor forces succeed, demo-:
cracy itself would be most se-
riously weakened.

In the year ahead organized

‘ labor will have to strengthen

and expand its efforts to protect

the interests and gain a better.

‘life for all Canadians.

gle

| grows in AFL-C0

The’, GEORGE MORRIS
€ ruling group in the AFL-
ecutive council is not
pee in terms of mobilizing
Or's strength to meet the new
itical _ difficulties facing the
ade Unions and the “labor re-
rms big business has in mind.
Spécial session of the coun-
1 Washington last week
pine for only a few hours,
v= Steps to heat up a war
ae ne United IN Work.
Bction ne Alliance for Labor
4y the UAW and the Teamsters.
: e , only question on the
sy S agenda was the propo-
‘@! Of George Meany and his in-
Frnational affairs director Jay
Ovestone concerning AFL-CIO
S$ to the International. Con-
€ration of Free Trade Unions.

€ part in its activities nor

ies 515,000 dues annually.

Bac, Meany said the AFL-
epaues are paid up to the
ue this year and there won’
ny more payments until the
Tejects the UAW’s ap-

on. He added that if the
om is admitted, or if an an-
} isn’t forthcoming soon,

© would consid inati
Lah er termi
t affiliation.” nating

© are
€ climax 6

e Meany-Lovestone-Dubinsky

: at conflict was also
€cted in the i
sharpenin
pTUgele between the Reuther
- Seas although it
vi ed an: Only issue that
lot toac*t_i8 the ICFTU does
! E ae the purpose the
ed fo pefone forces plan-

grouping initiated

mNouncing the council’s.

too. much opposition in the
ICFTU against their effort to
turn it into an instrument for
U.S. imperialist policy, because
of both the rivalry of other im-
perialist powers and the world-
wide opposition to the U.S., es-
pecially its Vietnam policy.
The AFL-CIO leaders do not
need the ICFTU anyway. They
have in full swing their own in-
ternational machinery to serve
as a “labor” cover for intellig-
ence with outfits for operations
in Latin America, Africa and
Asia, financed by the US.
Agency for International Devel-
opment, to the tune of many
millions.
. Meany also informed news-
men that the AFL-CIO would
not reply to a letter of the UAW.
and IBT proposing a universal

no-raiding agreement involving

all unions in the U.S. under
which no union could raid the
members of any legitimate

_ union that is certified to repre-

sent .them. The letter of the
heads of those unions suggested
that the labor movement needs
to find ways for unity in action
and its full strength despite the
differences in‘its ranks, to meet
the new conditions, especially
because of the election of Rich-
ard Nixon. =
Apparently the leaders of the
two unions had in mind Meany’s
own frantic warning on the ra-
dio the day before election that
destruction of real collective
bargaining is the objective of the

combination of 35 of the major

employer ..associations and .a
panel of their legal staffs, who
have worked out a bill for turn-
ing over the functions’ of the
National Labor Relations Board
to special “labor courts’ with
their judges appointed by the
president for 20-year terms.

Meany at that time said that

their candidate was Nixon.

€se forces found Meany is far more concerned

. Was

with his power struggle against

, those who, like the ALA seek a
revitalization of the long-stag-
nant labor movement. He an-
nounced not only rejection of
the no-raiding proposal, but
added he would not reply to
the leaders of the two biggest
unions in the U.S., because It
would imply “recognition” of
the ALA.

The AFL-CIO council’s action
on both issues gives some in-
dication of the course these old
men of labor plan to follow in
_the days ahead. Obviously

' Meany’s message to President-

elect Nixon pledging coopera-
tion was meant to be more than
the usual courtesy. And it is
equally obvious that Meany and

_his close associates count on ~

expanding their close involve-
ment with the Central Intel-
ligence Agency, a policy pro-
jected under Nixon when he
vice-president but now
fully in swing and independent
of the ICFTU.. :

What about some of the peo-
ple on the executive council
whose unions do not follow the
Meany course? Among its 29
members are men like Jacob
.Potofsky, head of the clothing
workers; I. W. Abel, whose
steel union was not, as far as
is known, involved in the dirty
operations;
the Meat Cutters, who has often
criticized the Meany-Lovestone
policy, and others.

How can they sit in the coun-
cil and take this factional, split-

ting policy of Meany’s? Con- -

sidering developments in store,
they are sitting on hot seats.
The seats will get all the hotter

if, as ALA declared, it will soon

launch its program for unifying
all and any unions that want to
act for common objectives on
the legislative and organizing

fronts.

| ping

Ralph Helstein of .

. Folklore has it that the Cabots only talk to
the Lowells and the Lowells only talk to God,
or something like that. It is difficult to get the
pecking order straight among the mighty. Any-
way this year one scion of these Boston patri-
cians is going to have to sit down and talk to
the Vietnamese—from the government of the
People’s Republic and from the National Liber-
ation Front. Moreover, he is going to have to
bring his buddy Marshal Ky along.

_ Henry Cabot Lodge is going to replace
Averill Harriman as the chief American nego-
tiator at the stalled Paris peace talks, and he
is going to have to negotiate the Americans out
of South Vietnam. We say he is going to have
to do this, not that he wants to, and not that he
isn’t going to throw every obstacle in the way
‘of a settlement. e

However, the length of time it takes to bring
the peace talks to fruition, and in that sense the
Taner of people that must be murdered and
maimed and land and property destroyed, de-_

ends to a great extent on the force that can
be mustered by the world peace movement.
There should be no mistaking about the distance
that still must be travelled before peace is won
in Vietnam. :

_. The silly antics of Marshal Ky are encourag-
ed—indeed planned—by his employer, the
American government. While this talk goes on
about the table, the American military is step-.
up its campaign of devastation in Viet-
nam. Under the cloak of pretending to find a
formula to open discussions an unprecedented
tonnage of bombs are falling on Vietnam.
Bombs large enough to create “instant helicop-
ter landing areas,” are now employed. Military
forays into the countryside are increasing.

Concurrent with the military activity, the
propaganda machine is cranking out reams of
ridiculous copy about, “the tide of the war
changing.” Along side of the “on the scene”
inventions of the public relation warriors the
prognostications of Nixon’s Vietnam policy
stress anything but peace or a realistic endeav-
our to find a political solution. U.S. News and
World Report has Nixon developing plans that
will push the war, “even more vigorously.” Such
emanations are typical of the American press.

We have all heard such talk for years, The
Americans verbally won the war and “pacified”.
South Vietnam several times over. It is not that
thev -haven’t been- handed manv lessons by the

- Vietnamese, it is just that they haven’t learned
them vet and they are now trying to use the
Paris talks as a means of deluding the Amer-
ican people and lulling the neace movement.

_ Thus as Nixon’s inausuration looms on the

| 20th of Januarv there is a sense of urgency
that the occasion be marked by massive demon-
-strations to force the early end of the war by
the American government. :

“Ah, well, every job has its’ ups’ and downs!”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 10, 1969—Page 3 _