NEWLY-ELECTED CLC president Dennis McDermott and retiring president Joe Morris raise éach other’s hands to cheers from the twelfth biennial CLC convention. McDermott has pledged to carry on Morris’ work to build a sirond) national labour centre. Vol. XLVI No. 4 (CPA photo — Murray Mosher) VANCOUVER, B.C. _ ON ECONOMIC ISSUES | CLC TO FIGHT GOVERNMENT 1 Recast 52 By COLLIN GRIBBONS. QUEBEC (CPA) — With a unified Canadian Labour Con- gress, a dynamic new pre- sident and a renewed and strenghthened commitment to the New Democratic Party, the labour movementis girding for a fight to turf the federal Liberals out of office. Delegates to the twelfth biennial convention of the Canadian Labour Congress committed themselves to a unified fight against the eco- nomic policies of the Trudeau government and vowed to stand as one against attacks on public sector workers. The commitment to the New Democratic Party came in an overwhelming vote to adopt a report from the political edu- cation committee which said that efore NDP. members must be elected in the next election if we are to progress to building labour’s political goal — a social democratic govern- ment.” Newly-elected CLC president Dennis McDermott told cheer- ing delegates that “the alliance is forged’”’ between labour and the party and vowed to commit “total support” to the NDP’s “close alliance with labour.”’ Federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent, whose speech to the convention was constantly interrupted by applause and no fewer than four standing ova- tions, received his loudest sup- port when he told the conven- tion that ‘“‘if there has to be one more unemployed Canadian, let that person be Pierre Elliot Trudeau.” McDermott, te 55-year old : Canadian director of the United: Auto Workers, was unanimously elected to take over the reins of leadership from the retiring president Joe Morris. McDermott vowed that “with teamwork in the leader- ship and solidarity in the ranks, . . . the working class in this country will no longer be taking a back seat,’”’ as dele- gates rose to their feet in a standing ovation. The convention also paid. tribute to retiring president Joe Morris in a_ resolution which thanked him for ‘his considerable achievements . and devotion (to) the interests of working people everywhere See “CLC’’ — page 2 APRIL-MAY, 1978 “Officers of Local 1 1-424 IWA, Prince George, report that the membership has grown from 5,390 in 1976, to 5,747 at the pre- sent time. This is a remarkable increase considering that the Local transferred 1,300 of its members to Local 1-425 in Wil- liams Lake last year. The report was made at the Local’s 33rd Annual Meeting held April 22-23, in Prince George. The two-day meet was attended by approximately 170 delegates, officers and visitors. A vast amount of business was conducted and included PERMIT No. 2075 VANCOUVER, B.C, | LOCAL 1-424 SHOWS FINE MEMBERSHIP I INCREASE approving the Officers’ and fi- nancial reports, dealing with a number of resolutions, electing delegates to the various con- ventions and hearing from the guest speakers. Guest speakers were Inter- national President Keith John- son, Regional 2nd Vice-Presi- dent Bob Blanchard; Local 1- 217 President Syd Thompson; Local 1-357 President Gerry Stoney and Bill King, NDP- MLA. Blanchard, the first speaker, informed the delegates that there was a real danger of “right to work” laws being en- acted in B.C, He stated that a number of Socred_ back- benchers and organizations were pressuring the govern- ment to bring in this restrictive legislation. He warned that if this were to happen it would be a sorry day for organized labour and all workers in the province. He suggested to the delegates that they study literature put out by unions on “right to work’’ 7a fight to keep it out of B.C. Thompson was given a standing ovation from the dele- gates at the conclusion of his address. He stated in his re- marks that the IWA must press for one collective agreement in British Columbia and fight for further improvements to the Union’s Pension Plan. ‘Because it is his last term in office before retiring, he gave the meeting a brief history of his life starting from the de- yee tes ecama anaaaae freights across the country seeking work up to the time he joined the IWA and got in- volved in union activity. Johnson suggested to the delegates that IWA members must start viewing matters re- lated to the forest industry on an international basis. He was bitterly critical of both Canadian and American gov- ernments for failing to legislate stringent reforestat- ion programmes. He stated that if the present conditions are allowed to continue, the forests would be _ depleted and thousands of jobs would go down the drain. He was also critical of the laws which allow the export of raw logs to Japan and other countries. He stated that last year alone, the number of raw logs exported could have pro- vided jobs for 12,000-sawmill workers in the Pacific North- west. Both Bill King and Gerry Stoney confined their remarks to the coming federal election and the need for more people to support the NDP in British Columbia. They pointed out that as long as parties such as See ‘‘“LOCAL 1-424 page 2 IWA PENSION NOTICE KERSSEN ELECTED PRESIDENT Jack Kerssen, 1st Vice- President of Local 1-417 IWA, Kamloops, has been elected President of the Kamloops & District Labour Council. Local Financial Secretary Kevin Kelly was elected the Council’s 2nd Vice-President. Following the elections held April 15th, the new Executive issued a press release which stated that the Council would endeavour .to end the mis- understanding that had existed in that body for the past number of months. “The most serious issue in Kamloops is-high unemploy- ment. The Council will con- tinue its efforts to assist the un- employed. 'SOCRED MLA | | SLAMS | [CANADIANS | How would you like to be re- presented in Victoria by an MLA who thinks you are un- productive and a poor second | to Americans. Well the voters in Dewdney have that dubious honour. Their MLA, George Mussal- lem, Social Credit whip and member of the all-party com- mittee set up to find a suitable candidate for ombudsman, publicly expressed his views on Canadians generally. He stated that they were twenty percent less productive than Americans, who could out-perform and_ out-do Canadians in almost every- thing including sports, busi- ness or anything else. As Regional President Jack Munro stated, ‘‘Mussalem’s remarks were so. outlandish they really deserved no response. However, the fact ‘that he was representing Canadians in the B.C. legisla- ture, he should be taken to task. “Unless Mussallem’s views are shared by members of the Social Credit cabinet, Premier Bennett should fire him im- mediately,”’ Munro said. The IWA-Forest Industry Pension office moved to new premises May 1, 1978. The new address is Suite 501, 1755 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J4S5. Phone: 731-2161.