The Vancouver-New West- minster Newspaper Guild step- ped up a campaign to win a first contract for some 20 émployees at the weekly Delta Optimist fol- lowing four months of frustra- tion in which the publisher, Er- nest Bexley, has yet to make an appearance at the bargaining table. Guild members leafleted in downtown Ladner and Tsaw- wassen Saturday and hung a banner with the words, ‘‘Let’s Bargain, Mr. Bexley”’ across the street from the newspaper’s of- fices in Ladner. Certified Oct. 10, the Op- timist staff has been seeking to negotiate the first contract but Bexley has so far refused to come to the bargaining table even though two bargaining meetings have been set up and a eae mediator appoint- “He didn’t even respond to our letters,’’ Guild administra- tive officer Patty Lane said Sat- urday. But Bexley had earlier sought to block the union organization, Lane said, calling a staff meet- ing on one occasion to warn that “the didn’t know what might - happen’”’ if the paper was union- ized. One employee, Jacqueline Davidson, was also fired for her union activity. \. Guild members Kathy Ford Ulett) and Nola Bowling hang ban- ner on building opposite Delta Optimist offices. ‘Start bargaining’, Guild tells Optimist - union’s side of the dispute last . year between the municipality - public has of finding our in- paper Guild contracts. BUNE PHOTO—SEAN An unfair labor practice charge has been laid before the Labor Relations Board and is currently being heard. The weekly Optimist is pub- lished by Dunning Press, a small firm .owned by Bexley, Alex Dunning and Delta mayor Ernie Burnett. ; Significantly, the news editor of the Optimist testified during LRB hearings that Bexley had ~ instructed her not to report the of Delta and Local 454 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees which represents Delta civic workers. __ Bexley’s refusal. to bargain has similarly been hidden from public view since, as Lane . noted, “‘The only method the formation is through the Delta Optimist and they’ll never print this story.”’ The Guild has asked sup- porters to write letters to the editor at the Optimist calling on Bexley to sit down at the bar- gaining table and negotiate a first contract. A number of Lower Main- land local newspapers, in- cluding the Coquitlam Herald, the Fraser Valley Record and the twice-weekly Richmond Re- view have negotiated News- y UFAWU demands gov't spurn Carter doctrine The United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union has called on the federal government to ‘‘re- pudiate the Carter doctrine’? and to develop an independent foreign policy for Canada ‘‘based on the “ needs of its people.”’ The policy stand, unanimously endorsed by the union’s annual convention last week, warned that there was ‘‘an increased threat of third world war’ and a danger “that Canada will be dragged into war against the wishes of its people by government leaders supporting the hawkish Carter doctrine.” The resolution passed by the convention called for: @ Support of the demand for a United Nations-sponsored dis- armament conference; @ Pressure on the U.S. to ratify. the SALT II treaty; @ Withdrawal from NATO and Norad; @ Repudiation. of the Carter doctrine; @ An independent Canadian foreign policy based on the needs of the Canadian people; @ Cancellation of the $4.3 bil- lion fighter plane acquisition pro- gram; e@ A 50 per cent reduction in arms spending and allocation of the funds to ‘‘socially-useful pro- duction’’ including housing and upgrading of coast guard facilities; @ Condemnation of the con- struction of the Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor, Wash. In the union’s elections, com- pleted during Thursday’s conven- tion session, president Jack Nichol, secretary George Hewison and business agent Bill Procopation were all returned by acclamation. Five vice-presidents were elected: Ken Robinson, tendermen; Bill Jarvie, shoreworkers; Henry Van der Wiel, northern vice-president; Nick Carr, big boat fleet; and Wal- ter Tickson, small boat fleet. Elected with them were 22 exec- utive board members representing various sections of the industry. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 15, 1980—Page 12 _ Labor cold war advocates: | out of step with the 80s 5 ' Is the Canadian trade union movement going to suffer a cold war purge, as it did in the late for- ties and fifties? That is a question from a reader who also sent me an editorial from the January, 1980 issue of The Chipper, official organ of New Westminster Local 1-357, International Woodworkers of America. My opinion is that the situation today is much different from it was in 1946 when Winston. Churchill made his iron curtain speech in Ful- ton, Missouri. I believe it would be very difficult for right wing leaders in the Canadian trade union move- ment to launch an internal cold war drive as they did in the forties and fifties, with expulsions of individ- ual leaders and whole unions, along with official sanction from CLC leadership to raid unions which are in opposition to cold war policies. However, this does not mean that there will be no more cold war propaganda in the trade union movement, as well as attempts to use the current situation in Afghan- istan to isolate the left and to strengthen the position of right wing forces. The heading of the Chipper editorial, for example, de- clares: ‘‘Soviet invasion threatens world peace.’’ The editorial itself contains all the false propaganda of U.S. president Jimmy Carter and- the state department: ‘‘Blatantly aggressive action; Soviet army in- vaded Afghanistan; Soviet inter- ference in internal affairs of Af- ghanistan; aggressive intentions of Soviet rulers.” - Then, in what reads like a repeat from one of Carter’s speeches we are told this: ‘Any instability or in- ternal problems in Iran and Pakis- tan will be used by the Soviets to gain bigger prizes: a warm-water port in South Asia and oil from the Middle East.” I don’t know who is responsible for this malicious editorial, but let us have a look at the official direct- ory of officers listed on the editorial page. Gerry Stoney is named as president of the local. He is also president of the New Westminster Labor Council and provincial pres- ident and Canadian vice-president of the New Democratic Party. Listed as the editor is one Henry Mahil, who recently withdrew from the Stoney caucus which dominates the New Westminster local of the IWA. In his letter of resignation he complained about the tactics used by the caucus to run the affairs of the local union. However, it would appear to me that on the issue of anti-Sovietism, there is very little difference be- tween Stoney and Mahil, between a right wing social democrat and a Maoist. The fact remains that the policy -advanced by Carter is aimed at scrapping detente, returning to the cold war and extending both the U.S. and ‘NATO’s political juris- diction into the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East area. Canada has nothing to gain from becoming a junior partner of American imperialism under the new Carter doctrine. That doctrine calls for the use of force anywhere in the world to advance the interests of the American corporations — and the oil corporations in par- ticular. Our trade union movement in British Columbia has consistently condemned the military junta in Chile since the Allende government was overthrown by force in 1973, and it is widely accepted in union circles that the CIA played a key role in that military*coup. Let us suppose that Argentina, which borders on Chile, had been led by, say, a socialist, pro-Allende government at that time, and that president Allende had appealed to Argentina for military aid on the basis of an existing treaty of friend- ship and mutual assistance. And let LABOR COMMENT BY JACK PHILLIPS us suppose that such aid had been freely given, leading to the defeat of the military rebels and the consoli- dation of the Allende regime. Would that have been good or bad for the people of Chile? Good or bad for the international trade un- ion movement? Obviously, if such a solution could have been applied to that sit- uation, it would have been in the best interests of the people in that part of the world and in the best in- terest of the cause of democracy, social progress and peace in every part of the world. Now, people like Stoney and Mahil, find themselves in the same camp as the military junta in Chile. They condemn the Soviet Union for coming to the aid of a revolu- tionary government in Afghanis- tan, one that is fighting to defend itself against internal and external foes seeking to destroy the revolu- tion and its progressive policies in favor of workers, farmers and the overwhelming majority of the peo- ple. While the right wing leadership of the New Westminster Labor Council was able to ram through a resolution condemning the Soviet Union over the events in Afghanis- ‘tan at a recent council meeting, I am told that a substantial minority chose not to vote because they were uncertain as to the facts. If you add those delegates to ‘the _ones who opposed the resolution, then it is obvious that the Stoney forces achieved no more than a paper victory. The fact that the much larger Vancouver Labor Council, representing more than 60,000 members, took noaction on a letter calling for a condemnation of the Soviet Union, should prove that the cold warriors in the labor movement will have a hard time if they try to duplicate the cold war purges that took place in the labor movement during the forties and fifties. These: two cannes to the - events in Afghanistan should. throw some light on why certain right wing forces in the New West- minster Labor Council are pushing RiBUNE Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186 Read the paper that fights for labor. Address City or town f Postal Code NEN SN ANG CIN SCNT Donation $ ‘relation to the Middle East. This} -tanks, more planes and more guns” : 1 am enclosing: 1 year $10) 2years $18) 6 months $6 Old New Foreign 1 year $12 (3 we je) < 5 i?) ® aE es ee ee OS ES ee ee ae ae ee ae ee at ee hard for a merger between thal council and the Vancouver Council. These people know fa well that such a merged cO’ Me would be an organizational moma strosity in terms of servicing membership over a very large geo" | graphical area taking in Vancov- ver, its big suburbs and the Fraset Valley on both sides of the rivet down to Ho et What the Tight wing NDP lead- ' ers of the New Westminster La Council have in mind is to join their counterparts in the large Vancouver Labor Council in ofS to negate the influence of the onal the Vancouver Council. That leftit” Vancouver includes members ant supporters of the NDP. The objective, of course, would be to tie the merged council t0 the tail of right wing social democracy> for example, to Broadbent’s policy - of supporting U.S. imperialism 2 extend right wing influence in th B.C. Federation of Labor, to bul a right wing machine that woul GERRY STONEY .. U.S. cold war policy. dominate the Federation by she numbers. In the forties and fifties, it w: possible to carry such cold war pol icies by jumping on the American, | anti-Communist bandwagon. However, the lessons of Vietnam and Chile (to mention only two) have not been lost on our trade ull | ion movement. 4 Neither is the labor serena unaware of the favt that if the Am: erican war hysteria takes over in Canada, military expenditures will | increase sharply to the detriment of social needs, like higher pensions, — affordable housing, improved health care and assistance to the — handicapped. Instead of more sub- sidized housing, we will have more — and more inflation. It’s as sim ple as that! Frankly, I don’t believe: that Broadbent will get very much sup-- port for his anti-Soviet, pro-wat — policies in the B.C. trade union movement. : echoing ;