i ia psa cata APONTE GSU es CE a Increased strike help — labor centrals urged ST. CATHARINES — The labor council which raised more than $35,000 for the Inco strikers during the Christmas appeal, cal- led on the top leaders of organized labor in Canada last month, to step up aid to the strikers. The St. Catharines and District Labor Council, March 9 unanim- ously called on the Canadian Labor Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labor to appeal to their affiliates in their respective jurisdictions to donate one dollar per member per month to Steel- workers’ Local 6500 strike fund for the duration. In separate letters to CLC pres- ident Dennis McDermott, and the -OFL’s Cliff Pilkey, the St. Catha- rines council called on the top of- ficers and executive committees of both labor bodies to personally visit their affiliated locals to make the financial appeal. At time of writing we have en- tered the second week Of the fed- eral election campaign. The biggest single issue confronting labor in this election is the total inability of parties dominated by monopoly capital to come to grips with the crisis of state-monopoly Capitalism and the urgent need of greater participation of the work- ing class in the government of the country. The people who presently dic- tate the policies of government are the multi-national corpora- tions. One such corporation is Exxon, parent of Imperial Oil in Canada. Exxon as pointed out by Geoffrey Stevens of the Globe and Mail: “‘operates on the same scale (1977 sales: $47.5-billion) as the Government of Canada (1979-80 spending $52.6-billion), a company which distributes 160 brands of oil in 65 countries, a company which has more tankers than Canada had ships in the Sec- ond World War.”’ What such monopolies fear most of all is nationalization under pressure from the working-class movement. They see the working class as the main enemy, which does not own the means of production and which, on winning political power, could turn state property into public property. Consequently they go to every length to pressure governments to adopt laws that help corporations to retain their dominant -positions and that obstruct any and every effort of the working class to challenge that domination. Such obstructionist tactics are clearly in evidence in the laws that presently govern the electoral process in Canada. Their gener- ally undemocratic features find a crystal clear reflection in the Canada Elections Act. Chief Electoral officer Jean-Marc Hamel’s statement that some as- pects of the unions’ (CLC) sup port for the NDP fall into a grey legal area under provisions of this Act is evidence of this fact. Labor council president Gor- don Lambert, in the letter, high- lighted the importance a victory - by the Inco strikers would have for the entire labor movement. “Inco, the multi-national cor- poration which has plundered and exploited the natural wealth for all Canadians, must not be allowed to win this strike’’, he said. The Inco strikers, Lambert said, “have faced tremendous odds and are fighting the battle for the whole labor movement and must now receive the increased support of the whole trade union movement if they are to win. “*This strike has become politi- cal and the labor movement’s' leadership going to. the local unions can combine political ac- tion as well as financial support for the strikers.”’ History will record how the Inco workers won their strike, The spemiitie celine: set by the Act for each political party is ap- proximately $4.5-million dollars. However if the big parties buy all the time allotted it would come to roughly $25-million for all three of . them. Even with CLC support the NDP will probably find it difficult if not impossible to exceed the limit. As for the Communist Par- y, it cannot buy any advertising ‘In prime time at rates quoted for either TV or radio. It is therefore limited to four minutes of free time for TV and two minutes on ‘radio. Mr: Hamel’s problem is to as- certain that political parties do not pad expenses by getting free campaign work, equipment, office. space or other contri- butions from supporters. He has to allow anyone who wishes to participate in the election cam- paign freedom to propagate his or her views. But this ‘‘freedom’’ is severely circumscribed by the prohibitive costs of media adver- tising, particularly on TV prime time. Commenting on Mr. Hamel’s statement, Mr. Broadbent said he hoped the Chief Electoral Officer “‘shows the same-zest and deter- mination in watching the parallel A Vas FITCH PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 13, 1979—Page 4 Tories, Liberals must be replaced Labor council president Gord Lambert highlighted the Impor- tance to the entire labor move- ment of a victory for the Inco strik- ers against the multi-national. Lambert told the CLC and OFL leaders. He predicted that history would also record that the labor leadership in Ontario and Canada “responded by increasing their support to lead a massive cam- paign among the entire labor movement that included each and every union member in Canada committed to the winning of this strike.” campaigns between corporations like IBM, Exxon and Gulf and the Conservative and Liberal parties.”’ As everyone knows the Liber- als and Tories are the kept parties of monopoly capital in Canada. In’ this case, as in so many other as- pects of law enforcement, it is ob- vious in whose interest the laws are made and on who’s behalf they are enforced or by-passed, as the case may be. For all the evidence that has been given about RCMP il- legalities over many years no one has ever heard of any prosecu- tions initiated. The prime minister himself has more than once al- luded to the need of making it legal for law enforcement au- thorities to break the law. The Tory leader, Mr. Clark, said on his campaign trail in Kitchener, that the RCMP should be able to break the law provided such ac- tion was approved by a Cabinet minister. The crimes allegedly commit: ted by the RCMP to date have included such items as arson, burglary, theft of the membership list of a political party, break-ins to place illegal wiretaps, massive - illegal openings of private mail, forgery, fraud and intimidation. What all this means is that the ruling class is determined to main- tain the status quo. That it is out to prevent any meaningful change in this country’s policies by any and every means, legal or illegal. Equally obvious is the fact that - if real change is to be brought ab- ~ out, the traditional capitalist par- ties have to be thrown out of of- fice. In their place a progressive majority including Communists must be elected to begin the pro- . cess of house cleaning and the in- stitution of basic economic and political reforms in the interest of the great majority of working- ’ class and democratic-minded citi- zens of this country. This election can be made the first step in that much needed_ process. TORONTO — A delegation from the United Electrical (UE) workers, accompanied by On- tario Federation of Labor presi- dent Cliff Pilkey, called on Pre- mier William Davis to stop the layoffs of 700 Hamilton Westing- house workers. The delegation met Davis and other cabinet members April 3 demanding legislation from Queen’s Park to prevent the U.S. multi-national from laying off the 700 switchgear and control divi- sion workers in its Hamilton- based Canadian subsidiary. The UE presented a hard hit- ting brief showing ‘‘the un- checked: destruction of the electrical-electronics industry in Canada by foreign, mainly U.S.- based, multi-nationals has meant the loss of 8,238 jobs to Canadian workers in 1977 alone, and 18,074 in the years 1974-77.” In addition to the Westing- house tragedy, the union also learned last week that Canadian General Electric (CGE) is phasing out its Ward St. (Toronto) plant before the end of the year, throw- ing 90 wones on the streets. Over the past five years, CGE ha dumped 1,600 workers onto th unemployment lines. C.S. Jackson, president of tit 20,000-member UE called on tht Davis government to intercede i! the Ward Street situation as We as the Westinghouse layoffs. OFL president Pilkey told Davis the federation stro’ supported the UE brief and thé demand that the Hamilton jo’ not be destroyed. He said government should focus on job retention programs rather thal simply paying milligns to corport tions like Ford. C.S. Jackson answered Davis defence of the recent sonia grant to Ford by telling the pre mier the 2 500 jobs to be cre reatel are ‘‘a drop in the bucket colt pared to the 18,000 jobs lost in th? electrical industry alone — m0 of them in Ontario — by decisions made by multi-national corpol tions in the USA.”’ Jackson told Davis, ‘‘the bot tom line for you is the maximiZ* tion of profits. We look at the i” terests of the people and not bottom line of profits as the mos! important thing.”’ : ; 600 at Ottawa meet hack postal workers By DOUG COUPAR ; OTTAWA — Over 600 people attended a rally here on Saturday to demonstrate their solidarity with postal workers who now face - a stepped-up attack from Post Office management and the fed- eral government. The defence rally, which was held two days before CUPW pres- ident Jean-Claude Parrot pleadea not guilty to charges of ‘‘under- mining federal -back-to-work legislation,” was a visible indica- tion that public support for the union is building. Parrot told the crowd that “‘the government can use the RCMP and the injunctions, they can put the leaders in jail, but they’ll never be able to take away the heart of the workers. “Let’s make sure — with the help of the labor movement — that we win back our rights.” Bill Doherty, vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, announced that his membership plans to give financial support to CUPW. “‘Every worker in Canada stands to lose if.the Postal work- ers lose — we are going to put our money where our mouth is.”’ Doherty also called for lab? unity in the face of gove attacks on public and private se” tor workers. “‘There have been differencé between us in the past, but this # not the time. to worry about ° wounds.”’ Doherty said. Lofty MacMillan, Canadi#l Union of Public Employees’ di rector of organization, told Tally he had a special message fo! the Supreme Court of Ontario: “To the judges: who are goisl to try Jean-Claude Parrot, I wail ‘to say that the workers of , country are watching. Our peo?! will not be jailed by political hac of political parties.”’ MacMillan also stated that “ge are under attack and the attack! i not just directed at the pu employee’’. He went on to w workers to ‘‘stick together” aa defeat both Liberals and Conse! vatives in the May 22 federal ele” tion. Another. speaker, Jean-Mati Bedard of the Internatio# Woodworkers of America, his union’s support and turnéé over $1,000 to help defray cuPw legal fee. cUPW président Parrot (centre) at solidarity rally.