Fed meet ‘lacked sense of direction

Many delegates came away from
the November convention of the
British Columbia Federation of
Labor with a feeling of disappoint-
ment. As one delegate put it to me,
‘it seemed like a very dull, stand-
pat convention, as compared with
previous ones.’

With more than 1,000 delegates
in attendance, the convention was
carefully structured and, in the
main, it was under the firm control
of the administration.

When the executive council
report was delivered, a number of
delegates spoke to it in a critical
fashion, expressing the opinion
that it gave very little direction
respect to the most vital problems
facing organized labor. For exam-
ple, there was no serious treatment
of the fact that the ’80s will be
highlighted by a radical restructur-
ing of industry which will accen-
tuate the issues of technological
change, speed-up and plant
closures.

This shortcoming was
highlighted in the debate when a
number of delegates raised the
question of the contract dispute
between the Telecommunication
Workers Union and B.C.
Telephone Company, urging that
the entire labor movement be
mobilized to guarantee that the
union will not be defeated by the
U.S. multinational corporation
which owns B.C. Tel. Implicit in
what they were saying was a ques-
tioning of whether the tactics being
used by the union at that time were
sufficient to win a good contract.

Bob Donnelly, of the Telecom-
munication Workers, who unsuc-

cessfully opposed Jim Kinnaird for’

the presidency of the Federation in
1978, rose to thank the affiliates for
their support and to thank the
Federation officers for their close
cooperation. This was an obvious
signal that the leadership of the
union and the Federation officers
were in agreement in respect to the
limited strike tactic which had been
devised. As every union in the
Federation is autonomous in such
matters, Donnelly’s statement to
the convention effectively closed
any debate on whether the Federa-
tion should place a greater priority
on this economic struggle because
of its importance for the labor
movement as a whole, in terms of

138 E. Cordova

Season’s Greetings
to the labor |
movement

| TRADE UNION
*RESEARCH BUREAU

681-2338

fighting for labor to have more of a
say on technological change.

If there was not the sense of
urgency about the current
economic crisis in Canada that one
might have expected from this con-
vention, this fact reflected the
specifics of the crisis. For example,
in Ontario, the main manufactur-
ing center of Canada, more than
300 U.S. branch plants have closed
down since 1975, to move back to
the U.S. or to other countries
where labor is cheaper. While
British Columbia has been less
severely hit, due to the demand for
natural gas, lumber, pulp and
paper, coal, minerals, hydro power

~ Labor
Comment
Jack Phillips ~

and whet shipped through Pacific ©

ports, our province cannot escape
from the consequences of the
deepening recession.

However, the fact that it is easier
in B.C. than in Ontario at this time
for labor to win substantial con-
tract gains from the monopolies
and multinational corporations
helped set the subdued tone for the
convention.

On page 32 of the report of the
executive council, there were three

oaag dealing with these mat-

eeeThe continuing sell-out of our
natural resources to foreign in-
terests with little concern for a
return in jobs for British Colum-
bians is the earmark of this govern-
ment. The sellout of our coal fields
in the north east part of the pro-
vince is a perfect example of the
policy of the government that
allows the exploitation of our
resources solely for the benefit of
multinational corporations.

‘Just prior to the last provincial
election, the B.C. Resources In-
vestment Corporation was formed
as an election giveaway to the peo-
ple of the province and Social
Credit became a party of
‘hucksters’ trying to con the people
into believing they were getting
something for ‘free’. —

“‘We continue to watch B.C.

Hydro run wild without any

For progress in I 981 Cae
¢@_ Provincially legislated bargaining rights for

fishermen

@ Full employment

@ Canadian controlled fishing industry

| Season’ s Greetings from

officers and membership
UNITED FISHERMEN & ALLIED

WORKERS UNION

: PACIFIC TRIBUNE— DEC. 19, 1980— Sane

obligation to either the government
or the people. Like other major
corporations they contine to
destroy our environment with the
approval of Social Credit.”’

The report concluded with a
denunciation of the Socred govern-
ment and a call for unity and
militancy. The last sentence seems
somewhat ironic, in retrospect:
‘‘We must listen to the voice of our
memberships and draw from that
voice the direction we should move
in :

As stated earlier, the convention
was carefully structured to give
priority to committee reports over
resolutions from local unions and
labor councils, and the officers ef-
fectively determined, in most cases,
what would come to the floor, and
when. Add to this the feeling that a
provincial election within the next
year is not ruled out and the firm
determination of the leadership to
avoid if it can, taking any position
that could embarrass the Barrett
leadership of the NDP, and the
overall picture starts to come into
sharp focus. The report of the
political education committee
spelled out the relationship bet-
ween the Federation and the NDP
in these terms: ‘Your committee
believes that relations between the
Federation and the NDP have

never been better. We are pleased

that this is the case.”’

From where I sat as an observer,
it was obvious to me that the over-
whelming majority of the delegates
were convinced that the Socreds are
pro-big business and anti-labor and
that an NDP government would be
preferable. However, if an NDP

government which follows right-

wing social democratic policies
takes over from the Socreds, it will
inevitably come into conflict with
the trade union movement, as was
the case when the NDP formed the
government from 1972-75.

When Ed Broadbent, federal

leader of the NDP. spoke to the

delegates, he strongly defended his
party’s position of qualified sup-
port to the Liberal proposal to
patriate the constitution. This
would mean imposing an act on
Canadians which denies the right to
self determination of the French
Canadian people.

_At the 1978 Federation conven-
tion, a resolution was adopted
which called for a made-in-Canada
constitution to ‘‘cement the volun-
tary union of English and French
Canada.’’ Another resolution
adopted called upon the member-
ship to defend and repect Quebec’s

right to self-determination, while ©

promoting cooperation and
understanding between French and
English workers against common
exploiters. Similar resolutions sent
to the convention this year were
never brought to the floor. From
what I can gather, the executive
council intended to bring in a state-

£
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®

ment on the constitutional crisis,
but their advisors were not able to
come up with a finished statement
in good time. Obviously, the 1980
convention marked a retreat on this
vital issue.

It is also significant that no
resolutions on international affairs
come to the floor. To mymind, this
must be seen in the context of the
differences within the NDP,
reaching into the top leadership, on
whether to reverse a policy that
Canada should withdraw from
NATO and NORAD, a policy
which the Federation has endorsed.

Another example of what
moderation means in terms of the
current leadership is the report of
the human rights committee. While
no delegate could quarrel with
what was in the report, anumber of
delegates were sharply critical of
the fact tht it made no mention of
the Ku Kiux Klan and their racist
activities.

However, every delegate had a
Federation publication titled “The
Conspiracy of Hate’’ which was a
good exposure of the evil role of the
Klan, written by Tom Fawkes, a
federation staff member. Some of
them took issue with this conclu-
sion by Fawkes:

“‘The Klan: has every much a
right to exist and function in our
community as labor does; that is
the way our system works andif itis
to continue to work, it must work
equally for all. To make exceptions
would be doing exactly what the
Klan is doing, singling out specific
minorities for action because they
do not like the color of their skin,
their religion, or their race.

‘Tt is not likely that the Klan will
disappear, but certainly many of
those things which give rise to it can
be removed. The long term solu-
tion is, of course, to improve the
economy, something which only
government can do.

United Auto Workers Local

303, a CLC affiliate, recently made
this statement: ‘‘They have clearly
crossed the line of ‘free speech’. We
believe the KKK must be outlawed
and strongly urge such legislation
in Parliament.”’

While the officers of the Federa-

tion are to be commended for ex- .

aes NANAIMO, DUNCAN & DISTRICT
$8 LABOR COUNCIL

RiBUNE

- SEASON’ S GREETINGS

to all workers,brother and sister
§ trade unionists and their families |

posing the KKK, itis regettable that
they have a weak position in terms
of combatting this organization. I
have no doubt that if a resolution
on the Klan had been brought to
the floor, the overwhelming ma-
jority would have expressed
themselves in favor of such action
by parliament.,

Some good resolutions on
energy, resources, the shorter work

- week, trade union rights, ICBC

rates, environmental questions, OC-
cupational health, women’s rights
and other important issues were
adopted. But, taken as a whole,
this was not one of the better con-
ventions of the Federation. If
anything, it lacked a sense of direc-
tion and a selection of priorities on
trade union issues.

However, the strong feeling for
democratic procedures came
through sharply when the consti-
tutional committee proposed to
amend the constitution to provide
for two more vice-presidents and |
four more executive council mem-
bers.’ Such amendments, when
adopted, take effect only after ap-
proval by the executive council of
the Canadian Labor Congress. In
response to a strong demand from
the floor, president Kinnaird
agreed that there would be no ex-
ecutive appointments to fill these
vacant positions before the next
scheduled elections in 1982.

Although the admininistration
slate won all down the line, with a,
minimum of opposition, i it is obvi-
ous that there is strong feeling for
maintaining a wide degree of mem-
bership participation and control.
In the long run, the more this feel-
ing asserts itself, the more difficult
it will be to transform the Federa-
tion into a bureaucratic apparatus
run from the top and subordinated
to the political aspirations of right-
wing social democratic politicians.

The current leadership will, in.
my opinion, give a much better ac-
count of itself if local unions and
labor councils assert themselves or
every vital issue affecting the inter-
ests of their membership, andif the
membership consistently calls ,

__upon the Federation leadership to/

take positive action on every matte1
of vital concern to Pe aes labor.

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