BRITISH COLUMBIA

The following statement was issued April 16
by the B.C. provincial executive of the
Communist Party.

he massive assault on the democratic
freedoms of B.C.’s working people,
trade unions and teachers contained in
Bills 19 and 20 tears the mask off Bill
Vander Zalm and the Socred government.

All British Columbians are challenged
by this legislation which threatens the
basis of our democracy.

The “new man” with populist rhetoric
who secured election on the promise of “a
new beginning” is now revealed for what
he is: the reactionary leader of an an ultra

- tight wing government which has strong

tendencies towards an authoritarian state.

The anti-labor legislation introduced by
the Vander Zalm government attacks the
very foundation of trade union rights. It
eliminates the right to strike and makes all
strikes at the sufferance of the government
and its “super-cop” of labor relations, the
Industrial Relations Commissioner. It
eliminates the closed shop and introduces
a form of “right to work” legislation to
undermine union security. It provides for
legalized union busting through simple
corporate re-organization. It seeks to out-
law the solidarity of the picket line by
banning hot declarations and secondary
picketing.

Bills 19 and 20 involve more than “trade
union rights” alone. Union security and
the right to strike are inseparable from the
tight to free association. Bound up in the
right to picket is the right to free speech.
Significantly, it is authoritarian neo-fascist
regimes in today’s world which set out to
destroy trade unionism, and when they are
Successful, the rights of all those in oppos!-
tion to those regimes suffer the same
repression.

The stated intention of the Socred
government spelled out in its Throne
Speech is to “take government off the
backs of the private sector.” Therein lies
the real motive behind Bill 19 and Bill 20.
Vander Zalm’s attack on labor is at the
behest of big business which seeks to res-
tructure the economy according to the pol-
icies of privatization, deregulation and free
trade. It is utter hypocrisy and deception
for the president of the Business Council
to pretend concern over the anti-labor fea-
tures of Bill 19. Everything in Bill 19 was
demanded by the major employers to
drive down wages for B.C. employers, and
to attract new investment by the lure of
higher profits,

Big business and the Socreds have sub-
Stituted authoritarianism and union bust-
ng for an economic strategy to renew our
battered economy and provide jobs for the
Unemployed. “Taking the government off
the backs of the private sector” means

Bills 19 and 20:
Socred legislation

‘attack on basic
democratic rights’

breaking the backs of labor and crushing
democratic rights under the weight of state

power.

If proof were needed that the govern-
ment’s actions have nothing to do with
genuine economic renewal, Bill 20, which
seeks to smash the B.C. Teachers’ Federa-
tion, exposes completely the partisanship
of the Socred legislation. Bill 20 attempts
to declare civil war in B.C.’s education
system between the government and
teachers, administrators and teachers. It is
vindictive legislation that will harm educa-
tion and further injure the economy. The
truly pernicious feature of the bill is its
attempt to impose the total control of the
state over the professional lives of teachers
and the content of education.

Vander Zalm has not abandoned the
policies of Bill Bennett. He is continuing
those policies and carrying them further.
This was vividly illustrated by the provin-
cial budget which continues the ravages of

restraint on the people, especially seniors

and the poor, while extending the han-
douts to big business.

The sellout of British Columbia to for-
eign interests has been raised by Vander
Zalm to the ultimate with the declaration
that “everything in B.C. is for sale” and by
the leading role played by Vander Zalm in
the drive towards free trade with the U.S.

Vander Zalm and the Social Credit
government are in the front ranks of the
fundamentalist crusade against the right
of women to abortion services. The
government’s phoney association with
Christian fundamentalism reeks of chauv-
inism and denies the multi-racial and reli-
gious diversity of the province.

Vander Zalm has shown through his
support for apartheid in South Africa and
by his adamant opposition to granting
constitutional rights for Canada’s Native
peoples that he is the country’s foremost
racist and bigot.

There is a growing realization in B.C. of

the need for exceptional action to stop the
Vander Zalm government’s ultra right
program. Seniors, environmentalists,
Native peoples, students, women’s organi-
zations, anti-poverty groups and many
others are alarmed over the course of the
government and are ready to stand up
against the Social Credit and big business
zealots.

The trade union movement, which is
the main opposition to the ultra-right
designs of the government and business,
has been slow in developing the fightback
because of the mistaken policy of the lead-
ership which pursued a policy of “‘co-
operation” with the employers and
government. It was hoped that this stra-
tegy would influence the government to be
likewise “moderate” in the legislation it
would bring down. The scope of the pres-
ent attack on trade union and democratic
rights shows the folly of that approach.
The only general course capable of turning
back the attack on democracy is mobiliza-
tion of the membership around class
struggle policies and broad unity between
labor and all democratic forces in a con-
certed fightback program.

Bill 19 and Bill 20 must be defeated. But
to accomplish this they must be linked to
the defence of democracy for all British
Columbians. All of the social forces
opposed to the ultra right wing program of
the Vander Zalm government must be
brought together and united.

The experiences of Solidarity showed
that a broad coalition of labor and com-
munity organizations can create a power-
ful opposition to the government, and
when it is mobilized in mass action the will
of the people can be forcefully expressed.
Solidarity also demonstrated the need for
democratic decision making, and the
danger of cutting short the struggle by
futile compromise.

However, the coalition urgently required
today must arise on the basis of the present
challenge to democratic rights, and find
today’s most effective form for united
action.

There can be no underestimation of the
struggle required to stay the government’s
hand. Only an escalating program of polit-
ical and economic action, involving tens of
thousands of people in mass action, can
force the Socreds and big business to
abandon their anti-democratic program.

The Communist Party commits itself
unequivocally to the fightback against Bill
19 and Bill 20, We believe that democracy
itself has been challenged by the ultra-right
wing designs of the Vander Zalm govern-
ment, and we stand prepared to work co-
operatively with all democratic British
Columbians to meet this challenge.

—_

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 22, 1987 e 5

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