By WILLIAM KASHTAN Canadian trade unionists will be awaiting with a great deal of interest the outcome of the meeting between AFL-CIO - President Meany and CLC President Jodoin in Washington. The purpose of that meeting was to clarify a number of ques- tions having to do with the sovereignty of the Canadian Labor Congress and the autonomy of the Canadian trade union movement. These unresolved issues have now - reached somewhat of a boiling point. e It finds expression in the decision i @ume =of the CLC to expel the SIU and support the Canadian Maritime Union (CMU). @ It finds further expression in the refusal of the Car- penters union to pay per capita because the last CLC conven- tion refused to recognize their right to organize the Newfound- land loggers. e It finds expression too in the position of a number of international unions with respect to independent labor polit- ical action and their opposition to the New Democratic Party. @ Not least it finds expression in the threat by some of the international unions, concentrated around the AFL-CIO building trades department and Maritimes department, to pull their unions out of the Canadian Labor Congress and establish another centre in Canada. * * * _ These developments mirror the contradiction between the supposedly sovereign CLC with respect to matters affect- ing the Canadian trade union movement and the ugly fact that real authority lies not with it but with the international unions and with the AFL-CIO. This is spelled out in the AFL- CIO constitution which gives that body full authority to inter- vene in jurisdictional matters both in the USA and in Canada. In effect it puts the Canadian Labor Congress in the posi- tion where its authority is limited to legislative matters. And it places the Canadian trade union movement in the position where decisions to unite and decisions to split are made not by the Canadian workers but by the AFL-CIO and international union headquarters. The Canadian trade union movement has already gone through an unfortunate situation, to put it mildly, where it was split in the 30’s as a result of orders from Washington. Ii can be split again, also as a result of orders from Washing- ton. These developments show how wrong President Jodoin was when he declared some time ago that the “Canadian trade union movement has all the autonomy it needs.’ It also brings home a truth — no matter how some right-wing leaders of the union movement may wriggle — that the facts of life impel the trade union movement of our country to press for and to assert its sgvereign and autonomous rights. * * * Whether President Jodoin has done so as a result of his conversations at Washington remains to be seen. But if he fails to assert these rights, they will be fought for neverthe- less because they are an essential part of the development of the Canadian trade union movement. ; These sovereign and autonomous rights need to be fully spelled out and made part of the program of the CLC and all other* unions. The CLC and all unions must have the demo- cratic right to resolve problems in this country with no inter- ference from outside. The CLC ought to have the authority to establish various departments for particular industries, be it building trades, maritimes and so on. The relationship between the CLC and the AFL-CIO needs to be changed to one of fraternal ties, expressed in the slogan coined by Percy Bengough in the 30's: “cooperation ever, domination never.” If this is not achieved relation- ships between these two bodies will become even more critical. Moreover, it is not enough for the CLU to assert these democratic and sovereign rights. Progressive trade unionists in the USA are called upon to support and help win them. It is worthy of note to see how various forces who are not particularly concerned with the working class and the trade union movement are making use of the issue of auton- omy for their own particular purposes. The last issue of. Saturday night (which is now, it is rumored, owned by Social Credit supporters) had a lead editorial on the issue of Can- adian trade union autonomy with the conclusion being drawn that what is now needed is “aa new Canadian Federation of Labor.” : It should be pointed out that while the old CF of L, when first organized, had a Canadian orientation, it later turned more and more into a company-inspired and com- pany-supported body. Presumably that is what many employ- ers would like and what some of them may be working for. - But this approach has nothing in common with what the working class and the Canadian trade union movement needs — a fully sovereign. a truly autonomous, democratic and united trade union movement. Progressive trade unionists, irrespective of what union they may belong to, need to press with ever greater vigor and determination to achieve this as part of the struggle for LABOR MUST PROVIDE BASE NPA defeat is required for Vancouver new deal By WILLIAM E. STEWART The City of Vancouver has a millionaire Mayor and surround- ing him is one of the most re- actionary NPA councils ever to be elected. This is the main conclusion of the Dec. 12 civic election. Mayor-elect Wm. Rathie, who : celebrated his election by the purchase of a new sea- green 1963 Cadillac, proved that a com bination of the NPA machine plus was enough to buy the mayor’s chair. Rathie rolled up a 17,000 vote majority over Halford Wilson, to whom most civic pundits had given the edge in the contest. Rathie took the city, west of Cambie street, by a three to one margin, while Wilson topped the, east. side polls by a small 5 to 4 margin. In addition to this, the vote from the east side, which froomcocosonmscocnoocononapeisnacanese nent meron: ¥ William G. Rathie, NPA Halford Wilson Albert Dunn Hugh Bird, NPA (x) Earle Adams, NPA (x) Marianne Linnell, NPA Harry Rankin Ted Burnett Rebecca Watson Russell Acton. Mona Morgan Gerald Appleyard Willliam Shenton __.... (x) Ebbie Bowering, NPA (x) R. T. DuMoulin, NPA George _Puil, NPA (x) Margaret Jack, NPA Harry Duker Adam Sutherland Gladys Chong (x) Edythe Quinnell, NPA Vaughan Lyon, NPA (x) Constance Spring, NPA Walter McQuat, NPA Florence Stanton Frederik Hoyme is potentially 70 per cent greater than the west vote, turned out only 36 per cent strong, while the west side vote was over 50 per cent. = The great paradox lies in the fact that the NPA, which has shifted the tax load from big business onto the homeowner steadily since its capture of Van- couver City Hall in 1937, cam- paigned on a program of “save the poor homeowner from further tax increases,” and created the- illusion amongst the voters that a vote for the NPA meant a vote Democracy e e in action One man marked 168 separ- ate ballots in Vancouver’s civic elections on Dec. 12. Walter R. Potter was given 21 sets of eight ballots each, but only one set was his own. He held the others as legal agent for 20 separate corpora- tions owning apartment build- ings in the city. , Complete Civic election resulis MAYOR ALDERMEN (Five elected) (x denotes incumbent) Ernost Broome; NPA 4 8 ts Phillip Lipp, NPA ________.____.. PARKS COMMISSIONERS (Four elected) SCHOOL TRUSTEES (Five elected) ix) Jack Henderson; NPA: 2 22 = 70,268 68,707 61,501 for holding the line on home- owner taxes. : This shows that while, ag the Vancouver press said the day after the election, the election of Rathie and the defeat of Wilson was a protest against higher taxes, there has not developed 2 strong enough alternative to carry such a policy and show the people of Vancouver that it is precisely the NPA and its big business backers who are responsible for this situation and’ that their de feat is the first requirement for a new deal for Vancouver. — In this connection, Wilson’s long record in Vancouver politics ob- viously gravitated against him, in that it was used to associate him with the policies which the people voted against. While, therefore, the main feat ure of the election is the presence of a millionaire mayor and @ reactionary council, its political significance lies in the fact that the NPA only secured this vic” tory by the demagogic trick of running against its; own recor@ What made it possible for the NPA to appear as its own OP posite in the election was thé lack of a broadly based alterna tive with labor as. its anchor. With the exception of, a small group of progressive * independ ents, the field was left open the NPA. It is no credit to the Vancouvel Labor Council that it confined its efforts in the campaign to the formal endorsation of Wilson f0F mayor and Jack Henderson {oF school board and then did nothiné ‘beyond that to ensure their ele tion. - Had labor participated in the Vancouver elections to the extent it did in Burnaby and North Val couver, the results could have been entirely different. __ x The extent of. the popular op- position to the NPA and . policies ig to be seen in the ims pressive votes for those indepen® ent candidates who ran sue". campaigns. = The 32,000 votes polled by Hart Rankin in the face of an Ut principled attack by the dally papers has caused great con sternaton in big business circi€? in Vancouver. Mayor-elect Rat™ has found it necessary to me" reference to this so-called to continued NPA domination ° Vancouver politics in a TV inter view since the election. The fact that Mona Morga”: public Communist spokes™ drew 15,000 votes (one out seven persong going to the voted for her) shows that the Communist. Party,.is not isolate’ from the movements of the peOF: in this city. 4 Likewise, the 22,000 votes ceived by Dusty Greenwell U™ ning as an independent for parks board) and the 36,000 votes polle by Florence Stanton for schoo! board, show mass opposition the NPA. : HALF TON OF PLANS |. The final blueprints and specif cations for the Aswan high aos which the United Arab Rep! is building with Soviet assis have been sent from Moscow ~ Cairo. ; The enormity of the job is & dent from the fact that the weil” of the drawing, and other 4 mentation alone amounts to : 1,000 pounds, Thousands of gineers and technicians and " of research organizations part in preparing. the de “ee