E ol a Labour What about jobs threatened by M-B? By GARY SWANN It was ironic to attend the Nov. 5 dem- onstration at the Nanaimo courthouse, where over 1,000 IWA-Canada members protested the granting of an injunction against logging in the Tsitika Valley, and then retum to Port Alberni and MacMillan- Bloedel’s announcement of the closure of Alberni Plywood division with the loss of 350 jobs. Port Alberni IWA-Canada Local 1-85 has been noticeably quiet on the announce- ment, not backing up their earlier demands that a portion of MacMillan Bloedel’s Tree Farm Licence 44 be withdrawn if Alply was Closed. That demand has been left up to local NDP MLA Gerard Janssen. This closure places before the TWA- Canada a sharp question. What is the cause of job loss in the forest industry, and what, if any, will be the IWA-Canada’s response? The IWA-Canada has been a partner in Share group and forest transnational en- dorsed and practically financed (transpor- tation provided) demonstrations in Vic- toria and now at Nanaimo where it seems to be in support of current forest practices and against any erosion of the forest land Certainly TWA-Canada members ex- pect and deserve to have their jobs pre- served but there is a double standard in the IWA-Canada’s fight to defend jobs. They have mounted those large protests against Native land claims and environmentalists efforts to protect some of the last remaining old-growth timber. In South Moresby, one half of Carmanah, and temporarily (pend- ing a Supreme Court ruling) on Meares Island, some forest land has been removed Labour Forum from the land base. That has probably caused a reduction of 200-300 jobs in B.C. On the other hand, the decade of the 1980s has seen over 26,000 jobs lost to automation, mechanization and an increasing abandonment of solid wood manufacturing in favour of pulp. That job loss took place while more timber was harvested. Many are at a loss to understand why the IWA-Canada is less aggressive in chal- lenging the forest transnational’s right to close down mills or do away with thousands of jobs through automation than it is with the demands of the Native and environmental movements. That is espe- cially so when those movements take a stand against the unchecked environmen- tal destruction and waste which is ypical of today’s industry and which must be _ Stopped if the industry and forest workers jobs are going to survive. The IWA-Canada leadership’s position can be explained by the development of our economy from the end of World War Il. It has been based on what has been called the “great compromise” or the social contract — whereby big business agreed to increasing workers’ income based on con- tinuous and substantial economic growth. In the forest industry that compromise was based on extensive expansion of the in- _ dustry and on costs unsustainably imposed on nature. Still, it is a social contract to which the IWA-Canada leadership has been committed. But that social contract has now been broken in several important ways. First, it is impossible, given the current commodity-based nature of the forest in- dustry, to have any additional expansion. The resource base is already significantly over-committed and probably has only 10- 15 years of old growth logging left (thus the growing public concern over its liqui- dation). There is not enough second growth wood available to maintain the in- dustry and employment even at today’s considerably reduced levels. The only pos- sible way to maintain jobs is to change the character of industry — one which is in- tensive, with more jobs in growing wood and more jobs in manufacturing finished products from wood. One could ask: where are the TWA- Canada’s lobbies and protests around those demands? Would the forest transnational pay or give leave of absences to their employees to go to Victoria ina mass lobby of the forests minister and call for TFL holders being legally obligated to provide jobs in secondary manufacturing and in- tensive silviculture as part of their rights to public timber? Second, driven by theirneed to increase corporate profits, the forest transnationals tore up the social contract, as evidenced by the six-month-long 1986 ITWA-Canada strike where the forest transnational tried to impose the right to contract out work on the TWA-Canada. While IWA-Canada membership mobilization and militant struggle prevented contracting out, the forest transnationals have succeed in sys- tematically reducing their relative wage bills over the decade of the 1980s. Using automation and inflation they have brought industrial wages down to 15 per cent of their cash flow, a level which they haven’t achieved since the late 1950s. Ithas been over 40 years since there was any reduction in the work week. It is now overdue for a militant struggle to redis- tribute the wealth created in the forest in- dustry. Achieving shorter work time with the same take home pay could win back many of the jobs lost, protect current jobs and future pensions and is absolutely nec- essary in today’s high tech economy. Finally, the days are over that the IWA- Canada and its members can remain silent partners with the forest transnationals who are engaged in the systematic environmen- tal destruction of our forests for corporate profits. ['WA-Canada members individual- ly and collectively have a responsibility to put an end to washouts, watershed destruc- tion, waste, thoughtless old growth liqui- dation and other environmentally destruc- tive practices common in the forest industry today. To a growing number of concerned citizens, current forest practices are no longer acceptable and they will be changed. IWA-Canada members if they are able to translate their forest policy into militant struggle, can be agents of that change. If not, they could well be victims, as have 26,000 of their former sisters and brothers. — Gary Swann is an environmental ac- tivist in Port Alberni. Congress could be historic crossroad for WFTU | John MacLennan LABOUR IN ACTION Last Sunday, the World Federation of Trade Unions opened its 12th Congress in Moscow. The last WFTU convention was held in East Berlin four years ago. To say a lot has happened since then would be a gross understatement. Some people are even wondering if this will be the WFTU’s last congress. There has been, throughout the course of the Cold War, a rivalry between the two main world trade union centres, the WFTU and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). This rivalry has been sharply political and ideological, with the WFTU seen as a bastion of communism and the ICFTU a centre of social democracy. Until now, the latter organization had most of its membership in North America and Western Europe, while maintaining lit- tle support in Latin America and Africa. Part of the reason for that is that while the U.S. AFL-CIO was a member of the ICFTU, the State department and the Central Intelli- gence Agency were able to work openly under the protective banner of the Confed- eration to defeat workers’ struggles in developing countries. The WFTU had all the unions in the 8 * Pacific Tribune, November 19, 1990 socialist countries, sections of the French, Italian (who pulled out a few years ago) movements and most unions in Africa, and Latin and Central America. It was certainly influenced by unions under socialism, and in the first place by the union movement in the Soviet Union. Recent events in Europe have changed that. The end of bureaucratic socialism and the dictatorship of the communist parties open some new possibilities for the forces trying to address the economic and demo- cratic aspirations of millions of East Europeans. ; Those events have also created upheaval in the respective trade union movements in the different countries. The Czechoslovak unions, for example, have resigned from the WFTU and applied to join the ICFTU. The WFTU, which is headquartered in Prague, Czechoslovakia has been asked to vacate and move its office by the end of 1990. Its most likely destination is Moscow, although recently a WFTU spokesperson told me the WFTU intends to stay in Prague in other rented premises. Poland remains unpredictable. Accord- ing to a June 1990 International Metal- workers Federation (IMF) central commit- tee report, Metalworkers in Eastern Europe, Solidarnosc has 1.9 million members. The Communist-led OPZZ has six mil- lion members and is gained some new pres- tige from its opposition to the harsh privatization and economic policies under- taken by the Solidarnosc government. In an interesting development, the Polish steelworkers have applied to join the IMF, which is part of the ICFTU. The IMF has resisted the application up to now, suggest- ing that Solidarnosc has to make up its mind whether it is a political party or a trade union movement. The Soviet movement itself is changing rapidly, with the old All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions recently disband- ing in favour of the new General Confedera- tion of Trade Unions, whose particular orientation, beyond a commitment to more grassroots democracy and determination to defend members in the transformation to a market economy, we can’t as yet predict. The WFTU congress will have a number of guest observers from English and French Canada. Unfortunately there will be no one representing the CLC in attendance — al- though I hear there will soon be a tour of Eastern Europe countries led by CLC presi- dent Shirley Carr. CLC absence is too bad, since this WFTU congress, to be held under the slogan “Dialogue and Action,” will most likely be a watershed. It offers a unique opportunity to have lam enclosing: 1 year: $20 C0 2 years: $35 3 years $50 CiForeign 1 year $32 fey Ss a [mt l=1 Oly / = : ia i Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street bs Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone: 251-1186 . NAMC 8s a oe EE pe ce ee ee ee ” Addressrecs cat ey See, os apa ec Ses . ns uae «ae ss « POStalCode: 32. ee 8 BS Ss 4 dialogue on how to fight the transnational corporations and their big business govern- ments. At the same time, it occurs at a time when trade union leaders from capitalist countries can deflate some of the “free market” ideas that are being offered as economic salvation for the states of Eastern Europe. The important question that most likely won’t be answered at this congress has to do with unity. But is it possible that the next few years will see more joint activity, and per- haps a coming together of the WFTU and the ICFTU? That should start with projects, perhaps on such issues as peace and the environment and women’s equality, in which there has been some co-operation in the past between the WFTU and ICFTU. Both Tribune reporter Marc Young and I are in Moscow for the convention and in the next few weeks will cover the various ses- sions and try to offer some insights into what will surely be an exciting event.