LABOR SS Labor in action WFTU and unity The eleventh world trade union congress, sponsored by the World Federation of Trade Unions opens this week in Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic. Delegates representing close to 210 million workers will pon- der the burning questions facing the trade unions of the world and plan effective strategies to cover the next four years. Sixteen leading Canadian trade unionists will be attending with full voice, representing a significant shift in the composition of Canada’s previous delegations. The 16 will carry the majority sentiment of Canadian trade unionists about the need for international unity to preserve world peace, to meet the challenge of the transnationals, and to provide support for the peoples struggling for self-determination such as in Nicaragua and South Africa. Questions which are discussed in Canadian Labor Congress, provincial federations of labor, and other central labor con- ventions will be reflected in the contributions of-delegations from nearly 100 countries, all sharing similar concerns and experiences to Canadians’. Transnational Blackmail Of considerable interest to us will be how others in the world trade union movement are reacting to the global offensive against the transnational and runaway corporations; about how to con- duct collective bargaining in the face of transnationa! blackmail; and how to unite labor across national boundaries. Technological change and its impact on the working class will receive a large share of the attention as it passes big new chal- lenges to the working class of the world — opening up, not only new opportunities, but also new difficulties for the world’s trade unions. Many problems of special interest to unions in the advanced capitalist countries will be reviewed to develop needed analysis - and to work out effective solutions. Not the least of these problems to be addressed will be the impact of mass unemployment in a chronic and growing form. _ What can unions do to minimize the adverse effects on the working class as a whole. Canadian delegates will no doubt be sharing their most recent experiences battling neo-conservative governments and the sud- den rise of groups like the Fraser Institute and the National Citizens Coalition. Unity is Needed They will report the recent sudden appearance of riot police on workers’ picket lines across the country, often brutalizing work- ers. And they will talk about the employer offensive in general. Full support for Gainers Strike essential for vic The heat seems to be getting to Peter ‘“‘the Pork”’ : Pocklington. at That’s what was evident last week by two events — namely, the phony return to negotiations en- gineered by a Tory radio hot line jockey, and Pock- lington’s full page ad, Sept. 7 in the anti-labor Edmonton Sun. The talks, a blatant set up by Ron Collister, a media manipulator with deep Tory connections amounted to nothing more than a gambit to throw a wet blanket on the burgeoning solidarity move- ment spreading like wildfire throughout the coun- try on behalf of the strikers. With ‘‘the Pork’’ cuddled expectantly by his phone, Collister manoeuvred a minor official as- sociated with the strike into agreeing to face-to- face talks with the ‘‘King of Gainers’’. Right on cue, the Tory tycoon picked up the - phone, and faster than you can say ‘‘Pocklington’s — diarrhea”’ the electronic media and wire services were humming with the news of a “‘possible break- through’’ in what even Pocklington admits is ‘“‘one of the most difficult labor disputes in recent Cana- dian history.” : The charade was played out for about a day, until real negotiators for the United Food and Commercial Workers, who'd been in Prince-Ed- ward Island at a union staff conference, showed up and cut through the sham with a single penetrating question: Would the scabs be fired and the strikers re-instated? _ 4 Nope, came Pocklington’s reply. In fact, ‘the Pork’s’’ conditions for settlement, using the term loosely, was a reduction of the wage rate to $8 an hour from the $12.66 and $13.09 most of the work- ers were making when the strike began June 1, and he would decide on who would be called back from among the strikers. ‘‘We certainly aren’t going to agree to any settlement that leaves the scabs in and slowly re- calls only 400-500 of the 1,100 members we repre- sent’’, UFCW rep Kip Connelly said after the show was over. Pocklington immediately followed up the conjob with a full page ad in the Edmonton Sun, (a paper which Collister once edited, by the way), laying out his sob story “‘For the Record.” Stripped to its bare bones this expensive and self-serving rationale for denying his workers the same benefits and wages as workers in the rest of tively led by the Alberta Federation of Labo! tory Backgrounder Mike Phillips the industry amounted to aclear declaration ee ] wasn’t about to seriously improve the substam ‘hve wages and conditions that have made him filt v4 rich. Py It was a signal that concesisons remain firmly 0" his agenda, at a time when Alberta labor, a is . waging a counter attack against them. aaa The AFL has been exemplary in living UP oe | mandate as a provincial labor federation int qi struggle and in mobilizing around the fightback . i) q against the neo-conservative agenda proclaim’ by the last Canadian Labor Congress convention This local fight against concession is now. di ] fight of all labor to stem the neo-conservative 4 ‘ie Undoubtedly, despite Pocklington’s heated fa | nials, the boycott speeding right across ink | with the help of the CLC and its affiliates, is hu™ the Tory tycoon. : at But, equally certain, the capitalist establishm™™ in Alberta and throughout the rest of the count his j more than willing to back the Pocklingtons of te : world — to the hilt. ae Winter is coming, and nobody's kidding WHS)” : ; i at | they contemplate life on the Gainers picket lim@y 40 below zero, and under the sullen glare of POC lington’s police with their repressive injunctions hand. aie Any crack in the solidarity behind the strikers © sure to be exploited completely by the oe government and Gainers. fi The AFL’s efforts have to continue to be que cated in every province and the solidarity i ment and boycott buttressed from St. John> 7) Victoria. Every CLC affiliate, labor council, loce union, and other labor organizations must get board with the strikers now, ifthey haven't done § already. Anything less could prove costly indee workers in this country. d to all They'll refer to the growing solidarity of Canadian workers from coast to coast, and the development of popular coalitions allied to labor to fight such initiatives as free trade. They will be asking for international support for the struggles of Canadian workers. Yes, most of the issues to be discussed in Berlin are issues talked about regularly in the Canadian trade union movement. It’s regrettable that the CLC, as Canada’s largest labor central is not officially represented. The congress leadership takes the position that it can best work through the International Con- federation of Free Trade Unions (a Cold War breakaway from the WFTU in 1949). : If the top CLC leadership uses its influence to bring the two organizations close together in unity, then that is well and good. However, it would still be in the interests of Canadian workers for sister Shirley Carr and others to pick up the “standing invite”’ to send observers to watch either these proceedings, and/or the many affiliated subsidiary ‘‘internationals’’ of specific industries. They could then report back to the congress and the ICFTU about the overwhelming desire of WFTU affiliates and other world wide trade union bodies around all the basic questions, not the least of which is the matter of human survival and the threat of a thermonuclear holocaust. AUUEDUENLEGUEOUOOUEEAUAUEQUEUGEAUUUUEGUUEQUGUOOQEAUEAUORUEGTEOUCGUOOTEGUOGTERUEOUOOOOUUADHEOOGUOUAUAUUEUOOOOOGEOUEAUEOEOO NOU EHH ET SFL blasts free trade REGINA — Saskatchewan Federation of Labor president ~ ~ Nadine Hunt told the provincial Trade Negotiations Secretariat, Aug. 29, that Canadian workers will shoulder most of the burden and pay most of the price if Canada’s economy is opened to the enormous power of American enterprise. In a brief to the Tory government’s hearings on free trade, Hunt said labor’s position and that of the SFL were well-known on the issue. ““We favor expanded trade with the U.S. and other trading partners .. . But we do not support the current attempt to ‘negotiate a comprehensive, bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S.” HNUULAUAONUUENUUUNAUUELLUEQUUOLOUEGGUEGAUUONEUENGUEOQQUENUUELOUEGQLUNGUUOCOUEOOUOOQUCOQUUOOQUUOOUEOUUEOGOEOOAOOOOOOOGOOOOAUOCOOUONL 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 17, 1986 By KIMBAL CARIOU REGINA — Hoping to get a ringing endorsation of its pro- free trade stance, Saskatche- wan’s Tory government set up a three-person commission last month to hear from concerned groups. Instead, nearly half of the submissions were deeply criti- cal of the free trade sell out. The experience proves that Premier Grant Devine and his Tories have no public mandate for their frantic attempts to push the issue. One of the most comprehen- sive briefs came from the Canadian Union of Public Employees whose 50-page presentation dealt in detail with the background of free trade, its relation to the neo- conservative push for privatization and deregulation, and the effects it will have on culture, farming, women, labor, jobs and every aspect of Canadian life. Other labor groups. briefing the commission included the Saskatchewan Federation of Labor, the Saskatchewan Government Employees Un- ion, the United Steelworkers, the Canadian Paperworkers Union and ACTRA, all pre- senting a loud chorus of op- position to free trade and de-: tailing the. disastrous con- sequences for working people. Citizens Against Free Trade, a Saskatoon group, dashed Tory hopes that the government would mainly hear from supportive business organizations. Not surprisingly, Boyd Robertson, president of the province’s Chamber of Com- merce, and an executive for the Royal Bank came out 100 per cent for free trade, saying: ‘“‘T’m a patriotic Canadian but I’m not afraid to say God Bless America!’ Along with a chorus of busi- ness groups from mining, potash, implements manufac- turers and others, Robertson sang the cortorate refrain about freeing enterprise to create a business boom, or open up the U.S. market to a handful of industries. Yet none were able to say that free trade would lead to more jobs in their sector. Meanwhile opposition to fre€ trade encompassed a bro@ array of groups from smé@ business bodies in agriculture, food processing and forest products. f Clearly hundreds 9% thousands of the province 4 one million citizens voice their opposition to free trade 0 Devine’s three commissio®™ | ers, showing that support f07 the sell out is limited to aC! | tain circle of business 4 wealthy farmers. on It’s doubtful the commis” sioners will reflect this sent! ment in their report to the PIC” mier, due before Devine tends the next First Ministe! Conference Sept. 17. All threé made their pro-free trade biases obvious throughout t hearings to the point of badeet Devine will call an election ap fall, shortly after the F minister meeting, and he nes 4 the backing of his hand-picke commissioners to vindicate —— : No to free trade in Sask. | free trade stance during ibe i campaign.