DAY OF PROTEST... “an unprecedented and successful political demonstration.”

LABOR COMMENT

By BRUCE MAGNUSON

The National Day of Protest
October 14 was indeed an un-
precedented and ‘successful
political demonstration. As stated
by Jehn Simonds, CLC executive
secretary and _ protest co-
ordinator: “Stack it up in a
realistic sense against everything
that has happened in the history of
this country and there is no way
you can come to any other con-
clusion than it is a success.”

It was indeed a day like no other
in the history of Canada. But more
than that, it was the first political
strike of its kind and of such great
dimension in North America. It
was aday, as stated by Joe Morris,
president of the CLC, which: ‘‘will

-1 Control Prices and

be renembered as a watershed in
the history of our country and will
be regarded as the coming of age of
Canadian labor under the
leadership of the Canadian Labor
Congress.”’

In his speech on: the steps of the
Ontario Legislature in Toronto,
Morris answered those who
prattled so much about democracy
and that labor should demonstrate
its opposition to wage controls at
the ballot box. He reminded
Canadians that this is exactly what
the Canadian people did two years
ago, in 1974. ‘‘Working people
flocked to the polls,’’ said Morris,
“to elect a party that had cam-
paigned on a platform of direct
opposition to wage controls. It was

Shipyard crews face
unemployment crisis

cont'd from pg. 1

situation is at this time in the
shipyards."’

As well, some shipyards have
also been pressing the federal
government to launch a massive
shipbuilding program due to the
lack of work at this time, Power
said. He cited the case of Bel-Aire
-Shipyards in North Vancouver
which wrote Trudeau over the
problem. ‘“‘But they haven’t
received any real response to their
letter either.”’

Power explained that Bel-Aire
was one of the hardest hit of all
shipyards as their current work-
force stands at somewhat less than
30 men. Normally that yard em-
ploys a crew of more than 250.

Though Bel Aire has had to cut
back more than 80 percent of its
erew, other yards have laid off as
much as 90 percent, Power said.

He reiterated his earlier claim
that the federal government could
solvethe crisis any time it chose to,
simply by initiating a program to
build a Canadian merchant
marine, and starting a program to
build more coastal patrol vessels
that will be needed with the ex-

pansion of the territorial waters
limit to 200 miles.

“Part of our campaign will be a

meeting with all of B.C.’s members
of Parliament’’ Power said.
“We're going to try and set up such
a meeting with them all, no matter
which party they belong to,
because we think that it is essential
that they all become aware of just
how desperate the situation is in
this industry.”’ °

In addition to pressing the
government on the construction of
Canadian merchant marine,
Power said that his federation is
concerned that the ships servicing
Canadian ports be under Canadian
flag and be operated by Canadian
crews.

“In that regard, we are in sup-
port of Bill C41 (a proposed
maritime code) which calls for all
Canadian coastal shipping to be
carried out by Canadian vessels,”’
Power explained. ‘‘Even though it
is primarily the seamen’s unions
who will benefit from this, there
are certainly some advantages in
this bill for us, particularly the fact
that Canadian registered vessels
will probably be either built or
serviced by our members.”’

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 29, 1976—Page 12

a

elected not to implement controls,
but to make sure that such a
program would never come into
being. .. He then went on to say:

“When government betrays the
trust which people have given it
through the electoral process, and
when it turns a deaf ear to logic
and reason, then the only recourse
... 18 dissent on a massive scale.

*“*.. .We cannot and will not wait
until the next election to show our
opposition. The preservation of our
democratic freedoms is at stake;
this is doubly so in a province
where the provincial labor
relations board has chosen to fly in
the face of workers’ right to voice
political dissent.

“Let me make it clear that the
Canadian Labor~ Congress is
prepared to continue its campaign
of political opposition. Let me lay
to rest any ideas that today marks
the end of the CLC’s opposition to
controls.”’

It was the firm mandate given
CLC leaders at the Quebec City
Convention last May of the CLC
and the firm adherence to that
mandate, which saw over one
million workers across Canada
stay off their jobs to protest
against government-big business
connivance to control wages, thus
making labor the scapegoat for
monopoly-induced inflation.

The main significance of all this
is that a process of politizication
among the basic section of in-
dustrial workers is taking place in
Canada.

The workers in our basic in-
dustries may have been slow in the
past to recognize their place, their
role and their tremendous political
power in our society. They were
the core of the protest on October
14. They organized and began to

- wield that power in a massive way.

Once that process has gotten under
way it is bound to grow and
develop. It is this that the Canadian
bourgeoisie and their foreign
monopoly partners are frightened
stiff about.

The: workers are quickly lear-
ning that the struggle extends
beyond their own place of work, far
beyond the individual employer or
each corporate entity. They begin
to see the need for country-wide

—Sean Griffin photo

~

solidarity, and that lessons can be
learned from the anti-monopoly
struggles in other capitalist
countries where the same
problems face the capitalist
system as in Canada.

The struggle. here has barely
begun. It will not end with October
14, which was no simple one day
do-or-die event, as the pundits of
the capitalist press would have it.

The antagonistic contradiction
between capital and labor is a fact
of life in a class society of ex-
ploiters and exploited. It cannot
ever be transformed into a ‘‘social
partnership.’’ Tripartism in such
circumstances becomes a betrayal
of working-class interests. The
lesson of success on October 14 is
an inspiration as well as a warning
to remain on guard. The struggle is
theonly answer. It must go on until
the enemy is conquered, Bill C-73 is
withdrawn and the right to dissent,
upheld without reprisals of any
kind.

REPRISALS

cont'd from pg. 1
to the Day of Protest, workers if
other parts of Canada face mass
suspensions and dismissals.

One of the most “‘callous”’ acts of
reprisal took place in Tabel,
Alberta, CLC president Jor Morris
said. The town council in the
Alberta centre dismissed all 3
civic workers,all of whom are
unorganized, 12 for taking part iM
the Day of Protest and the
remaining 21 for supporting thell
fellow workers the next day.

Morris pledged the full support
of the CLC to the Taber workers:
“We want them (the dismiss
workers) to know that they are not
alone to face the council’s. vill
dictiveness. They can count on the
CLC and the more than two milliol) i
workers it represents to take uP
their fight against such arbitrary) 1
injustice.”’ by

Another 37 civic workers, thiS; —
time members of Local 56 o
CUPE, were dismissed in Camp |
bellton, N.B. for taking part in the
October 14 protest, but they to?
were reinstated following a threal
by the provincial division of CUPE
to pull all 17,000 CUPE members 10) —
New Brunswick off the job. The
city council is still insisting thal
extra penalties be imposed upol
the Campbellton workers .

Even some of the major it
dustrial companies have resort
to petty actions against workel®
and tHeir unions in the wake of the
Day of Protest. Both the Sted
Company of Canada and the J
ternational Nickel Company have
announced their intentions ?
bringing legal action against the
Steelworkers for ‘‘lost production |
on October 14. As well, Inco has
issued some 40 stewards will
warning letters which indicate thal)
any further disciplinary actions 9)
the next two years will result 1)
dismissal. j

As in other industrial operation?”
where warning letters ane)
suspensions have been. issued, thé) ~
unions involved have launche®)~
grievance procedures to have thé)
actions rescinded. - :

Morris warned all employe!
that the CLC is not going to sit back
and allow workers to be victimize@
for their actions on October 14, and
said that employer actions agains!
workers were being condemn
‘‘not only by trade unionists, but bY
other reasonable people
everywhere. ea

“We urge all employers to think ;
twice before resorting to arbitral) —

measures. The CLC is determin :

Pot ete EGR PSE er ee anes Bae Ca ee Men ae NY

to defend workers agains
irresponsible acts by their eM) |
ployers and any sueh measure
will meet with combined cou!
teraction by the labor moyemneua

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