SYNCRUDE IS A STEAL!

@ International News @

‘Labor protests Carabanchel trial

PRAGUE — The 156-million-member World Feder-
ation of Trade Unions (WF TU) has called upon the interna-
tional trade union movement to step up its struggle in de-
fense of the Carabanchel 10 — Spanish trade union mili-

_tants imprisoned by the fascist regime in Spain. In a Thurs-
day statement issued in: Prague, the WFTU noted that in
1973, the 10 were sentenced to a total of 162 years in prison
for the ‘“‘crimes”’ of holding a trade union meeting and for

allegedly being Communists

: poet
bor Jmmediate Keies

1d
gn deah oe age

TORONTO — The 750,000-
member Ontario Federation of
Labor has announced it will
seek a common front with
teachers, civil servants, nurses
and other groups to push for
needed changes in Ontario labor
laws.

OFL President David Archer
said the federation ‘will use the
coming provincial election cam-

eo
e syncru le oO tions gonalSs ign k f han i
a snocking aS Corpor? go teasers tor meee Enemy oie ae so OTE SOb Caanpes. 78
another S10 i -natione Sete 2 Sagan tion | no SkeRoes cet for th abor legislation and hoped for
to the g to saYe ae pillion"? rough the “to add a united front with other orga-
wc. Howe USES says seen people Wit corporations” _products+ nizations to put pressure on the
pavis 3 soe ehe e Cane iiiion oe pig end eS _ legislators and candidates for
particular ce giving tO iil pay more % labor’s demands.
ilege © Be ae
priv injury» One objective of the co-oper-
insult se idties : i r
swin el ite ative effort with groups outside
This deal 35 a Pariiament cance crown ks the federati 2 “ ill b
1a aemand ; yo ede ai governmen e Tederation, he sal aes: e
ba featems SUED should be por provinc?4 a mass demonstration—planned
Lee, Tenceeny whe Federé sabe for March — in support of de-
ne nan? ated Jo lower prore mands to end restrictive laws
fe) s Oe ile < * A °
corporat tablishe an. £08 pourd prev 3 which obstruct union organiza-
shou ce wo Pr tre world pr Se ee cane tion and deprive thousands of
qgnere ae , for ports sahassere Om applies fo people of union protection.
Canadas anok tne athabasc? | sure adede ’ The OFL and organizations of
er unt so 6 : 11 not teachers, nurses and civil ser-
MoreOVe™. ve nedule® - nada. ne paren: eoplee : d “bill of
of pil SHOUTS Cnsumers ene o1d 23 Canadian PEK yee vants have drawn up a “bill o
cary an tha fend ; = rights” for collective ‘bargaining
industry s agat or de tions ergy g g :
J trate : erest m 1% £ ¢ A t
syncrud amen ee zt a nts Oke ™ salar on aime Employee groups now banned
nole koe aon ae WDePe wet essity eat s, 2 new “sin public under existing legislation from
upmortunately “repped NE Teed new Pacnce st baie es striking want that right as well
have es nT esOuUr Be naak -f depcurces- Se ork, as the right to negotiate on all
a i ene i
oad 4 shies eas canadi@ ever Y= 10pme bro ee : :
aa ip of © cerned d ee “Ontario labor law is the most
ownersh ° : con eal rships : ss Se
rge coalition the Sync® ~ publi ne repressive and oppressive in the
ne ancell ion i the bas+ ipree western industrialized world,”
Or Gea ee ae pyecutive scour nda said Mr. Archer. “This is the
Braet centrat ., Part eae opinion of not only organized
sox tan, 2&9 labor, but of teachers, civil ser-
< vants and other workers in the
public sector.
: ; e e e re)
POSTAL CODE Strugg e for secession in Ethiopia.
BOYCOTT ON fine

TORONTO — “The boycott
of the postal code is still on,”
Arnold Gould, National Dir-
€ctor for the Ontario Region
of the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers, told the Tri-
bune, “It’s still on. because
we haven’t won all the points
Needed to protect the jobs
of many postal workers.”

Last week there were re-
Ports in the daily press claim-
tng that the boycott had been
Called off. One union repres-
€nting postal workers, the
Letter Carriers Union of Can-
ada, did call off their support
of the boycott but the Cana-
dian Union of Postal Workers
Which originally began the
boycott and which represents
those most directly affected

automation has asked all
People using the mails to
Continue boycotting the pos-
tal code.

a

. demand for

As fighting continues around
Asmara in Eritrea the military

government in Addis Ababa has

restated its opposition to grant-
ing independence to the northern
province. It also announced the-
nationalization of more than 60
foreign-owned companies includ-
ing oil firms and such U.S. con-
cerns as Pepsi Cola and Coca

- Cola. It is the latest step in the
government’s stated intention of —

making Ethiopia a socialist state.
On Jan. 1 nationalization of all
private banks and insurance
companies was announced. The
biggest 10 insurance firms, pre-
viously controlled by foreign in-
terests used to transfer 80% of
their profits abroad. :
Eritrea, with its population of
1.9 million became Ethiopia’s
14th province in 1962. This gave
rise to growing. resentment and
cpposition sentiment and the
the formation of a
separate state. Their spokesmen

argued that the fact that Erit-
rea’s population was largely
Moslem while Ethiopia’s religion
was Christian was sufficient
‘cause for separation. Consequ-
ently, secessionist activity in

Eritrea initially bore a religious
character. Bes
The new Ethiopian govern-

Tigid customs

ment which overthrew the cor-
rupt government of Emperor
Haile Sellasie, as well as proc-
laiming itself determined to car-

ry out massive economic and-

agricultural reforms in Ethiopia
has stated that the serious situa-
tion in Eritrea province ‘is due
to injustice and mismanagement
by the old regime.”

In the decade of the federa-
tion’s existence the former rul-
ers of Ethiopia followed a policy
of gradually restricting and then
providing Eritrea of its economic
and political independence. The
feudal monarchist authorities
deliberately created economic
difficulties for its population, in-
troducing high federal taxes,
measures, etc.
This was done to convince the
Eritreans that complete incorpo-
ration: in Ethiopia was better
than the existing federation. The
Eritreans also suffered religious
and. national discrimination.

Urge mass protests

OTTAWA — A high-level delegation
of the Communist Party of Canada de-
manded at a press conference here on
Feb. 6 the cancellation of the Syncrude
tar sands deal, owned and controlled by
a consortium of multi-national oil cor-
porations, to which the federal govern-
ment has guaranteed a minimum of
$300-million of public money.

William Kashtan, leader of the Com-

munist Party, told the media that he
and Communist Party leaders of five
provinces had come to Ottawa “to call
‘upon Parliament to cancel the Syncrude
oil deal, which is better named the Syn-
‘crude oil steal, because it gave the multi-
_ national oil corporations a $1,400,000,-
000 grant, according to the Ottawa press.

“This was in the form of $300-million
from the federal government, $100-mil-

lion from the Ontario govern-
ment, $200-million. from the

. Alberta government, which, in

addition has made a $200-million
loan to the oil corporations, and
has agreed to underwrite — to
pay for — the infrastructure,
that is, pipelines, roadways, and
everything: else, amounting to
$600-million.

“Thus the Alberta government
has already given, or agreed to
give, close to $1-billion to the
multi-national oil corporations,
as a free grant,” Kashtan said.

“But in addition to that, as
is known by the Canadian peo-
ple, the agreement with the
multi-national oil, corporations
includes the elimination of the
royalty tax, and the raising of
the price of oil to the world
level.

World Oil Price

“This means that when Syn-
crude oil comes on stream, Ca-
nadians — Canadian industry
and the Canadian consumer —
will have to pay the world price
which could be anywhere from
$11.to $15 a barrel. They will
be soaked to. ensure maximum
profits for the multi-national oil
corporations.”

The visit to Ottawa, the Com-
munist leader said, was “to pro-
test this deal and to call for
cancellation of the agreement.”
Members of the delegation
were, in additon to William
Kashtan, Nigel Morgan (B.C.),
Wm. Tuomi- (Alta), W. C.
Beeching (Sask.), W. C. Ross
(Man.), and Wm. Stewart (Ont.).

At the press conference,
where Mr. Kashtan replied to
questions by television, radio

Continued on page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment for
January was 6.7°/, — up
from 6.1% in December.
Official number of job-
less is 660,000; actual
number is estimated 817,-
000. Last year at this

. time the unemployment
rate was 5.4%. In Onta-
rio the jobless rate jump-
ed by 54,000 last month.

“COST OF LIVING

Prices rose by 0.5%, in
January to total a 12.1°/>
increase over January
1974. Milk, eggs, bread,
home heating fuel, elec-
tricity, and building ma-
terials all rose. Food
costs are now 16.3%
higher than a year ago.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1975—Page 5