a TA

By OBSERVER

Due 4
hi” Certain unique features

IN the
tines Gevelopment of Canada

aw middle of the 19th

Ba. is the only country in
oe the majority of
trade - Ized workers belong to
ih EDthe. whose main base is
Uhiteg €r country, namely the
States of America.

At :

Re Stages, this Ameri-
Oi la meeion was an asset to
ete hag ee cent. However,
DoW risin Ways been a conflict,
te long 6, Now falling, but in
issu oe Increasing, over the
donee autonomy and inde-
tions for Canadian trade

Toda
treed.” when the issue of

*Conomic from American
ton ig and political domina-
the © pcding in every part of
Wide ay, and when there is a
ilentip, atch for Canadian
Iraq ni € Issue of a sovereign
{hg Wa movement is attain-
Rtn nensions. This is

imbia. Y true in British

Ca] 4:
teagg tically, there is no valid
Union any a national trade
°illion soet with more than
it Brembers cannot stand
Pendent 4 feet as an inde-
lsen fp Ody. This would not
wlidarit aternal association and
hey? With the workers of
You) pend other countries. It
"atig, a a better basis for such
{ion a 'Ps, because our trade
loked °Vement would not be
Ha al M many parts of the
Tetiean an appendage of the
* €deration of Labor
Mong. Sress of Industrial

When ra.

‘na maresentatives of the
str crt Meat Cutters on
ete Bon from Chicago,
va Scop, Cetheart deal in
a 3 US order to freeze
led Worn Fishermen and
ety lit rkers Union, they did
"ation € to advance inter-
were Solidarity. If we had a
mem anadian trade union
med cir, We would be in a
wevent “aaa Position .to
om coe deals and to cope
ace When they did take

Tte :
“ntaryeational union repre-
Mra a in Canada like to
ennaliste selves as true inter-
. ratio S. They point to large
Ides 9 a With plants on both
nee mere and say ‘‘how
} belong t these giants unless
Be Wher © the same unions?”
in’? a Merican companies
i the ie Canadian branches,
yest Test of their major
ay ae in the U.S. and
nly haven the world, they
aye Way, Very little to offer
De tbein ae leadership. After
ity, and the offices are in the
iy hey Paige geo” De in hot water
bee ati © the cry of American
owttent nol and call for inde-

Nadian a in the interest of

rs.

&se :
a in the ciections must be
ahi ity, The vtext of American
‘ne Of the Ae dominant leader-

St Onge “CIO is one of the
lena vative and bureau-

i a :
“nly Wedd nies in the world,
€d to the capitalist

MASTER IN OWN HOUSE

The road to autonomy for
fanadian trade unions

system and a willing agency in
support of reactionary foreign
policy objectives of the U.S.
government.

The more the Canadian labor
movement asserts itself in the
demand for sovereignty, to be
master in its own house, the
more it will strengthen the
position of those in the Ameri-
can trade unions who believe in
true internationalism.

As Americanimperialism
continues to decline as a result of
developments internationally
and sharpening contradictions
at home, the opposition voices
within the American trade union
movement will reach a wide
audience.

In short, the fight for a sover-
eign Canadian trade union
movement, given proper perspec:

tive and without trying to leap
over stages, is a true expression
of working class __ inter-
nationalism.

While statistics can be boring,
they can also be very useful in
showing the relationship of
forces and indicating trends. The
1968 report under the Corpora-
tions and Labor Unions Returns
Act gave the following picture:

e Membership in trade
unions: 2,146,432.

e Of the above, 63 percent
were in 94 International Unions:
1,353,290.

e There were 54 National
Unions, accounting for 26.8
percent of the total: 575,007.

e Union membership in
provincial and federal govern-
ment service amounted to 10.2
percent of the total: 218,135.

The Canadian Labor Congress
had in affiliation a total of 119
unions, with 1,558,898 members,
or 72.6 percent of the Canadian
total. Of this CLC membership,
71.2 percent belonged to Ameri-
can unions affiliated to the AFL-
CIO in the U.S.

Thus, in the major labor
congress in Canada, embracing
72.6 percent of all organized
workers, better than seven out of
ten members belonged to
branches of American unions. In
addition it must be understood

A world-wide demand is growing
for bail for Angela Davis who has
now been imprisoned for six
months without trial. The court
has refused bail and has kept
her locked up under conditions
which threaten her health.
Demands for bail should be sent
to Governor Ronald Reagon,
Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

that the vast majority of the
members in purely Canadian
unions affiliated to the CLC were
government employees. While
representatives of government
employees at conventions of the
CLC and its provincial federa-
tions are increasing in numbers,
they have yet to emerge as a
united and significant force for
Canadian autonomy and
progressive policies.

An important development to
be noted is the rise of the Con-
federation of National trade
unions in Quebec, a purely Cana-
dian trade union center. It had
207,983 members in 1969, as
compared with 145,320 in 1968.

The year 1925 may seem to be

a century ago, particularly to

the under-30 workers. But in that
year. the Communist Party of
Canada projected a program of
trade union activity which has
not lost its validity. Let us
examine the key points in that
program which can, for the
purpose of analysis, be related to
the problems of today:

e Organize the unorganized.

e United independent labor
political action.
e Canadian

autonomy.

e Affiliation of every func-
tioning trade union to the Trades
and Labor Congress of Canada.

e Affiliation of every local
union to the local Trades and
Labor Councils.

trade union

e Amalgamate the craft
unions.
e International trade union
unity.

Thirty-five years later, Com-
munists in provincial
convention in Vancouver
adopted a policy statement on
trade union activity from which
the following quotes are
selected :

“We believe that the trade
union movement must be
independent of foreign control in
order to be master in its own
house. We support every step in
the direction of more autonomy
for the Canadian membership
of American unions.

““Whether our party will
support a particular expression
of the desire for autonomy ata
given time will depend upon our
estimation of how it wil
advance the class interests of the
working people. While we cannot
rule out split-aways from
American unions and the setting
up of purely Canadian unions on
this basis, we cannot agree that
this is the answer to all problems
‘in the trade union movement.”

“At this stage, we must empha-

size the need for unity ona class

basis in opposition to monopoly
capital, while at the same time
fighting for an ever-increasing
degree of autonomy. A
consistent, all-side fight for
autonomy must inevitably
result in complete independence
for the labor movement in
Canada.”

Next week we shall examine
these policy projections in
terms of current developments
in the trade union movement of
British Columbia. We shall also
examine these projections in
relation to what other people in
the labor movement are saying,
writing and doing about this

problem.

aetk Z oe rn

~
Gi

Alc janvey PARK Pe

Yes vote urged to take
over Four Seasons site

Alderman Harry Rankin last
Sunday called on Vancouver
taxpayers to approve the June 23
plebiscite on the Four Seasons
site and then fight to reduce the
false $9 million price to purchase
the property placed in the plebis-
cite.

Speaking to 400 people
gathered at the proposed site at
the entrance to Stanley Park,
Rankin called for a reassess-
ment of the value of the site, and
pointed out that its value for tax
purposes when last assessed was
$3.5 million — less than half the
value given in the plebiscite.

Hitting out at arguments of

supporters of the Four Seasons
sellout, that taxes would be
derived from the development,
Rankin said the city would likely
have to spend $2 million in
services for every $1 million
collected in taxes.

‘

He said the traffic problems
alone caused by the Four
Seasons development would
ensure the go-ahead of an
expensive third crossing of
Burrard Inlet.

Rankin said the fact the
plebiscite is for $9 million
doesn’t mean to say we have to
pay $9 million.

Railroaders pension funds
used for Four Seasons steal

The news that the CNR
Pension Fund is providing most
of the funds to develop the Four
Seasons project, if it is allowed
to develop, will make old-time
railroaders howl with rage. And
with good cause.

CN and CPR pension funds
are, and have been for years the
subject of bitter debate by rail-
roaders who, although they have
paid into the fund all their
working lives, have been paid off
in some cases to the tune of $29 a
month upon retirement. As
many as 8,000 retireees receive
less than $100 a month pension.

The situation is a disgrace,
said one retired engineer
recently. Facts are that the em-
ployers, CN and CPR, have
fallen behind in their payments
into the fund as much as $700
million in the case of the CNR,
and $200 million by the CPR.

The railways constantly
borrow from the pension fund:
the CNR pays a mere 4 percent
interest on the borrowing, and
last year CN brass had the effron-
tery to ask the government to
write off $300 million of its
pension debt. The government
agreed.

Despite this barefaced robbery
there is a pension surplus of
$1,414,744,356, and big business,
instead of the workers who have
paid as much as 5 to 6% percent
of their earnings into the fund,
gets the use of it.

The Fotheringham’s who
worry about potential compe-
tition to the CNR-owned hotel
Vancouver by Four Seasons
should be, in truth, worrying
about railroaders who are being
ripped-off by the two railroad
companies with government
consent. :

u 4

FRANKLY, THE KINO OF EMPLOYEE WE ARE LOOKING FO

WILL WORK FOR LOW PAY, AND BE RESPONSIBLE con
EVERYTHING BUT THE COMPANY Poticy !"

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1971—PAGE 3