Editorial An employers’ law There were ominous echoes of the this province’s early labour history in the arrest last Monday and Tuesday of IWA-Canada Local 1-367 vice-presidents Lyle Olson and Barry King and president Dave Tones. About 100 members of the local have been on strike for eight months at Leyland Industries, trying to get a first contract with an employer who has used scabs and every weapon given to him by a Socred labour law in an effort to break the union. On May 8, Olson and King were picked up by RCMP, who said they were tailing the van transporting scabs into the company’s plant in Pitt Meadows. They were charged with harassment and held in jail for 14 hours and only released on their own recognizance after they had first appeared in court. Then on May 9, Tones was arrested by police as he was driving home from the picket line about 3:30 in the afternoon. As he related it: “The RCMP car was going the other way. He stopped, did a U-turn and pulled me over. Then he told me I was being arrested for harassment. “They were obviously waiting for me,” he said. He was booked, fingerprinted and held for 1 hours and then released after a phone call came and his guard said: ““We’ve got to get him out of here,” Tones told the Tribune. If it sounds like the scenario from a crime drama, it demonstrates what has happened to labour relations under the Socreds’ law — that an employer can run things like a 19th-Century coal baron, using the police and the courts in his company’s interest to ensure that he operates union-free. It demonstrates, too, how disputes are aggravated and confrontation created when scabs are condoned — even encouraged — under labour legislation. For eight months, Leyland workers have been trying to get a first contract that will give them some decent wages and conditions — which, in their case, means something above the poverty line. But in that eight months, they’ve had their picket line severely restricted, they’ve been under constant scrutiny by security guards and RCMP and they’ve been charged with some offence almost every time they move. One woman was even charged with intimidation for bringing her 11-year-old Labrador retriever down to the picket line. In total, the union has paid some $12,475 in fines — all the result of a sweeping Supreme Court injunction which forbids them from doing just about anything but standing by and watching as the scabs afe wheeled into the plant. So far, it has been small employers like Leyland that have been the instigators of such ugly disputes. But the threat is there for all workers as long as Bill 19 remains on the books — and employers are able to scab with impunity. Perhaps it’s time to recall the strikes in the 1960s — and dust off some of the tactics that were necessary to win them. ve, FREE TRADE _. AIR CONDITIONING TIRIBONE EDITOR Sean Griffin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dan Keeton BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Mike Proniuk GRAPHICS Angela Kenyon Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C., V5K 1Z5 Phone: (604) 251-1186 Fax: (604) 251-4232 Subscription rate: Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35 two years ®@ Foreign $32 one year Second class mail registration number 1560 Glasnost should be affirmation of socialism Recently, I read some of the key policy speeches by the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev going back to 1984. What stands out in these speeches is his affirma- tion and reaffirmation of socialist values. While he does not gloss over the negative features of the Soviet experience in build- ing socialism, he always deals with them in the context of positive achievements. I would suggest that those who reverse the picture and see the achievements in the context of the negative features do a dis- service to socialism, even if their intentions are good. In one of his more recent speeches (January, 1989) Gorbachev told the assembled scientific and cultural workers about the “abnormal relations” among members of the Soviet intellectual com- munity. He stated that certain well- respected comrades had been drawn into the squaring of accounts, into mutual accusations and into using the slightest pretexts to present each other in an unfa- vourable lights. “Moreover,” he said, “this is being splashed on to the pages of papers and magazines — a fact that evokes not only regret and perplexity but also indig- nation among the people. And this is hap- pening at a critical moment when it is essential to accomplish enormous con- structive tasks.” On Feb. 16 of this year, Gorbachev met with a group of industrial workers from many parts of the Soviet Union. While he dealt frankly with shortcomings and serious problems, he did so in his usual, positive fashion, expressing confidence in the future of socialism in his country. To my mind, two points from that speech stand out: @ The Communist Party will resolutely follow the path of democratization of pub- lic life and the state and will extend glas- nost (openness). ““Within the framework of democracy,” he said, “we must defend our values, rebuff those who stand in our way and who stealthily put forward far- fetched, dubious ideas. This is done by irresponsible and theoretically and politi- cally bankrupt people.” As an indication of the problems that exist in furthering the course of peres- troika and glasnost in the Soviet Union, he criticized both leftist and right-wing expressions of opposition to the course of restructuring and democratization adopted by the party. @ In reference to socialist pluralism in the field of ideas, the Soviet leader pointed out that above all it calls for a sense of responsibility in making judgments and, first and foremost, authenticity of facts. “Unfortunately,” he went on, “our mass media displays a tendency to make hasty and far-fetched conclusions and judgments and, in some cases, resorts to downright sensationalism and, to be hon- est, lies.” As a regular reader of many Soviet publications, I have no hesitation in endorsing this statement. While all of us in Canada who have defended the Soviet Union over many years should welcome the new thinking in that country, we should never forget one thing: the goal of the new thinking, the purpose of extending socialist democracy, is to strengthen socialism and to create a better life for the Soviet people in a world at peace. That deserves our full support. When Soviet leaders speak about the limits of glasnost (openness) they have one thing in mind: glasnost must serve the competence and interests of socialism. The country is going forward to a higher level of socialism, not back to capitalism. _ As we seek our own path to socialism in Canada, based on the reality of the Cana- dian scene in a changing world, we can learn a lot from the experiences of other countries, including positive and negative experiences. Above all, in my opinion, we have to learn how to address ourselves to the con- tradictions in Canadian society and how to overcome them. In that connection, the experiences of the socialist countries both positive and negative must be mastered theoretically. Once we do that, once we extract what is universally valid,, it will help us to find our own way to socialism in Canada. There is no universal model for us to follow, but understanding what has taken place elsewhere, and what is taking place now will make it easier for us to find the correct orientation in our own coun- try. Jack Phillips, Vancouver 4 e Pacific Tribune, May 15, 1989