A program
to save the
B.C. fishing

industry

United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union. It is in the union
that working people — fishermen,
shoreworkers, deckhands and
workers in related industries — can
democratically debate and decide
on solutions in the common in-
terest.

To safeguard and enhance union
organization, all industry workers
must step up the fight for bargain-
ing rights for fishermen and an end
to the combines branch attack on
the UFAWU. |

Fishermen are the last major
group of workers to be denied full
trade union bargaining rights.
When they exercise their right to
strike they are subject to injunc-
tion, combines attack and civil suit.
Full bargaining rights for
fishermen is the most pressing task
facing industry workers in their
struggle for a militant, united in-
dustrial union.

The fight for a single, industrial
union is far from won. To achieve
this end, working people, par-
ticularly in the UFAWU, must:

@ Fight for the eventual
organizational unity, on a volun-
tary basis, of all unions represen-
ting workers in the fishing industry:

@ Undertake a campaign to
organize the unorganized both in
production and in processing and
distribution;

@ Develop strong ties with

other unions in the food harvesting -

and processing industries to max-
imize bargaining strength in the
fight to win better wages and work-
ing conditions from the food
monopolies, and;

@ Build the union by stepping
up the campaign to eliminate
racism and sexism in the
workplace.

A key element in the reconstruc-
tion of the fishing industry must be
the recognition of the special rights
of B.C.’s aboriginal people and

their unextinguished title to marine

resources. Throughout most of the
province, no treaty has ever been
signed by the Indian people limiting
or eliminating their ownership of
marine resources. In some _in-
stances, negotiated agreements
guaranteed their right to harvest
fish in recognition of the crucial
economic and cultural role fish
plays in Indian life. The aboriginal
claims of Indian people are just and
based on this acknowledged title to
the resource. Speedy and just
negotiation of those claims is a
precondition to development of the
industry. Co-option of Indian peo-
ple into privatized ocean ranching
programs is no solution.

Unity between Indian people
and all working people will ensure
the interest of all Canadians is serv-
ed. It is the monopolies which stand
in the way of the preservation of
native life and culture and deny
native people self-sufficiency and
control of their destiny. Indian
people will require the unity and
support of the trade union move-
ment, all working people, all anti-
monopoly and democratic forces

to win justice. At the same time, no
reform of the fishing industry is
possible if the just demands of In-
dian people are not taken into ac-
count. A minimum program to ad-
vance the cause of working people
in the industry must include:

@ Prompt negotiation and set-
tlement of Indian claims;

@ Recognition of the central
role Indian people played in the
development of the industry
through publically-funded pro-
grams to rebuild Indian participa-
tion in the fishing fleet and the
wage-earning sector.

These demands can become
reality only when all working peo-
ple in the fishing industry unite to
demand their implementation
through political action. In
essence, they are an anti-monopoly
program, a first step toward a
properly-planned and, stable
fishing industry. The key require-
ment for success is broad unity of
trade unionists, native people, en-
vironmentalists and all working

people. 2

Ry,
Working

people must
lead the fight
for unity and
for change

T he Communist Party, since its
inception some 60 years ago,
has attached great importance to
British Columbia’s fishing in-
dustry. The fishing industry is a
source of great wealth to Canada.
The years have brought with them
an economy and coastal communi-
ty which is unique. The Indians on
British Columbia’s coast have
relied on the harvest from the seas
and live a culture which flows from
it. People from many nations
found a home in the fishing com-
munity. Nothing could repay these
people for the loss of their way of
life. Canada could never be repaid
for the loss of her fish resources. It
is with this in mind that Com-

munists in the fishing industry have
led a relentless fight for the unity of

- all people against monopoly

“ domination of the industry and to-

day against monopoly’s destruc-

~ tion of the industry. Communists

=

strive for unity of working people
in the fishing industry, with other

workers, with the Indian people,

with the New Democratic Party,

with all those who are being ruined
by monopoly domination of the in- —

dustry, with all those who see the ~
value of our resources and put ]
Canada first. Communists unders- —

tand that working people must be 7
in the forefront of the battle for }}

unity and change.
The Communist Party has

played a key role in all major work- © |
ing class organizations of the B.C.
fishing industry. Communists like ~
George Miller, Bill Rigby and ©
. Mickey Beagle were among the

founders and builders of the

UFAWU and fought for the -

policies which made that union a
leader in organizing the industry,
defending the environment and
fighting for fisheries policies in the
public interest. That work must
continue. But an equally-urgent
and decisive task is the preservation
of the resource on which the in-
dustry stands.

This program has _ been
developed by members of the
Communist Party of Canada who
are engaged in B.C. fishing in-
dustry with the assistance of the
British Columbia provincial ex-
ecutive of the Party. The program
has been developed as a means to
clarify the Party’s policy on the
west coast fishing industry, to lay
out the Party’s strategy in preserv-
ing the resource, the industry and
the livelihood we have become ac-
customed to.

The Communist Party extends
its hand in cooperation to all those
who put Canada and the needs of
her people first.

_ The Communist Party of
Canada is the party of socialism in
Canada. A socialist Canada is our
aim. However, the road to
socialism is long, containing many
different stages. This is not a
socialist program, one which
would completely eliminate private
profit from the fishing industry,
but is a program aimed at breaking
the control transnational
monopolies have over our lives and
leading to socialism in the future.

SE ES aah. REY SH

Published by the

B.C. Provincial Committee of the
Communist Party of Canada

102-2747 East Hastings St.,

Vancouver

254-9836