AUTONOMY NOT A HOAX

in muddy waters

Sy RAE MURPHY

The last meeting to the To-
ronto Labor Council unanimous-
ly passed a resolution which has
implications that go far beyond
the labor movement in this city.

The resolution speaks for it-
self:

“WHEREAS a small group
of political opportunists from
Hamilton, Ontario, are con-
vening a meeting at Massey
Hall, on May 9th, the real
purpose of which is to split
the labor movement,

“AND WHEREAS this group
of dissidents is using the old
hoax about Canadian autono-
my in the labor movement to
conceal its real purpose, which
is to promote the Liberal
party,

“AND WHEREAS the Lib-
eral party and CNTU must be
held responsible for this des-
picable manoeuvre to divide-
organized labor.”

The resolution then went on
to “condemn” in the strongest
possible terms the obvious at-
tempts of' these Hamilton “dis-
sidents” to confuse and divide
the labor movement. The reso-

lution also condemned the “Lib-
eral Party ... in its obvious at-
tempts to promote the Confede-
ration of National Trade Unions
in this province.” :

On the face of it, the idea of
trade unionists joining forces
with the Liberal Party to. fight
for Canadian autonomy makes
as much sense as vegetarians
joining a cooperative food plan
with cannibals.

With all due respect to Walter
Gordon, and the erstwhile friend
of labor, Jean Marchand, the re-
cord of the Liberal Party, both
in relation to the rights of labor
and on continentalism makes it
difficult to grasp the line of
reasoning of any Canadian trade
unionist who would wind up in
their camp. : : ;

‘The evidence of collusion be-
tween the Liberals. and the
CNTU in Ontario is overpower-
ing. Eve if one were to ignore
the family ties between the fed-
eral Liberals and the CNTU and
the background of: Liberal Man-
power Minister Jean Marchand,
the tie in is pretty clear.

Now Ted Hammond, one of
the leaders of the “autonomy
group” within the giant Stelco
local of the United Steel Work-

Proposal to CLC:

100 unions
into 10

Consolidation of the existing
110 unions into-10 unions is one
of the main principles for re-
organization of the trade union
movement by the Canadian
Union of Public Employees. The
series of mergers that is pro-
posed is to effect a long-term
plan for the eventual elimina-
tion of “ineffective small
unions.”

This proposal is contained in
the brief submitted by CUPE to
the Canadian Labor Congress’
commission studying reorgan-
ization. It had been agreed that
hearings of and submissions to
the commission would not be
made public, but CUPE disre-
garded the decision.

The 10 unions suggested by
CUPE are: building trades; food
and drink, distributive and

allied; metal, mines and electri-—

cal; transport; textile, clothing
and allied; wood, pulp and
paper; graphic and printing;
chemical, oil, glass, rubber; pub-
lic employees; “ entertainment,

office, professional and tech-
nical.

“Without some positive ef-
fort to create greater unity and
reduce the number of affiliates,
there can be no possibility of
supplying anything like adequate
services,” the brief says.

CUPE has also proposed the
strengthening of Congress, even
at the expense of some of the
autonomy of affiliates, and
makes a strong case for autono-
my for Canadian members of in-
ternational unions.

Calling for a more friendly
working relation with the Con-
federation of National Trade
Unions, the brief says: ‘The
time has come for renewed ef-
forts to-find common ground
between the two centres, with
the object of creating one cen-
tral labor body.”

The Congress commission ex-
pects to submit a report to the
CLC executive this coming fall.
The final proposals are to go be-
fore the congress convention in
1968.

ers, is running as a “Liberal
Labor” candidate against a sit-
ting New Democrat member in
Hamilton. In Sudbury, Tony
Soden, one of the charter mem-

~ bers of the nutty club and presi-

dent of the Steelworkers’ INCO
local, fronting for Marchand and
Mike Solski, former president of
Mine Mill local, surfaces as a
Liberal candidate.

Into this situation rides Wal-
ter Gordon with a speech in
Hamilton about the menace of.
International unions, and the
forthcoming public rally in Mas-
sey Hall in which one of the

-questions for discussion will be

whether’ Gordon’ should be em-_

- powered to investigate interna-

tional unions as part of his in-
vestigation of American ‘pene-
tration in Canada.

Meanwhile in the Ontario leg-
islature, NDPer Ken Bryden, in
a witless outburst, calls Mike
Solski a Communist and in the
Toronto Labor Council meeting.
Max Federman gets into a glo-
rious lather on the general
miserableness-of the CNTU. A
resolution is also passed unani-
mously which calls Canadian au-
tonomy ‘an old hoax.”

This cavalier dismissal of a
real and serious problem in the
Canadian labor movement will
not only further inflame and!
confuse affairs, but it is the ele-
ment of tragedy in the situation.

There are a number of serious
structural problems facing the
Jabor movement in Canada to-
day. One of the most important
of these is the question of auto-
nomy, or the actual control of
trade union affeirs in Canada by
Canadians.

This question is the touch-
stone in removing insane. juris-
dictional disputes that sap the
Vitality of the trade union move-
ment in Canada, only to please
the archaic craft set-up in the
AFL, and over which Canadian
workers have no say. Canadian
control over the policies and
structures of the trade union
movement is a necessary pre-
requisite to. the establishment
of constructive and friendly re-
lations between the CLC and
the CNTU.

It may well be that in unions
such as Steel and Auto this
question does not arise to the
same degree as it does in some
of the craft unions, where the
democratic rights of Canadian
workers can be abrogated al-
most by whim or whimsy by the
American brass, but even in
these unions a lot of the deci-
sion making goes on outside of
Canada. American laws are
made to apply, Canadian funds
are vested in international head-
quarters, and in the case of the
disciplinary action against the

.to the goal of true international

corrected we will alw®
nerable to secession ™
Today, the Liberal Pat
own ends, has the P’y
capitalizing on this ee
nerability. It is not
confemn the role @
and the Liberals, all
naturally has to its
thought must be give?
solution to the te
that_give rise to this.

There is nothing ‘In
the labor moverent
that the Liberal Paty
to cure—there Ca? =
taking that—bul, ole
token, the fact fsb
evidently able 10 ld
muddy waters shou
more than simple 1°

unionists in Stelco, judgment
came from the International
after the local membership re-
jected the charges. :

To recognize these problems
does not imply an immediate
split at the border. Nor does it
mitigate against mutual solidar-
ity and help. The natural pull of
the labor movement is toward
unity not separatism, and this
is true internationally. But unity
requires the recognition of na-
tional rights. A fully sovereign
trade union movement is a ne-
cessity to unite workers in Can-
ada just as it is a prerequisite

unity.
Until the present situation in
the trade union movement is

a

0
WORKERS at Canadian Westinghouse have 20M,

The 3,300 members of the Local 504 of the United: ee
and Machine Workers walked out of three Westingh)”
Tuesday May 9, after protracted negotiations with
The strike, the first one in 2] years,:came after W en af
the last company offer of wage increase of 41 to 64 rude! i
over a three year period. The company offer also ine ing
changes, a layoff assistance clause and cost of ble
clause. The workers have been demanding a comP@l’ ied
with General Electric. A strike this year at General ©
settled with a wage package of 65 cents an hour.

* * * ca
ABOUT 500 seasonal agricultural workers from a
will work in Ontario this summer. The first contingent
ers arrived last week in Toronto from Jamaica. of
workers to arrive will be employed by Canadian Ca
neries and farms operated by the company. The "~~
the workers will be $1.30 an hour.

According to the Manpower and Immigration Dre
average earnings of immigrant farm labor in Canada
$940 for farm workers and $893 for cannery employ‘
the crop harvested was $1,216,000 or $9,143 4 mane
bargain for the cannery owners!

* * *

STRUCTURAL and reinforcing steelworkers ™ t
authorized their union leadership to take strike ac ‘tl
wage and hours of work demands. The members tal
tional Association of Bridge, Structural and Orname?
ers are demanding a $1.27 increase over a two YO"
a reduction in hours of work to 37!4 by 1969.

The union is expected to call a selective strike jou
try but it is expected that the contractors W! yeti
workers in the industry. Earlier the Toronto Constt he
tion and the Steel Erector’s Association of Ontari |,
associations, had circulated employers outside : “ate
that they not employ striking workers, They WE
from doing this by injunction.

0

IC riBuné :

May 19, 1967—PACIF