ey,

Behind today’s strikes

Battle for the dignity of labor

Several months back, in a
background article on the Que-
bec labor movement, Evelyn
Dumas Gagnon described for
readers of the Montreal Star the
reasons for the turmoil and up-
surge of the Quebec trade union
movement: :

“After seeing dozens of mass
meetings and strike votes and
talking to great numbers of peo-
ple, a labor reporter comes to
the conclusion that human dig-
nity is at stake in many of the
current conflicts. We know that

North America — of which Que-
bec is a part, of course — is an
affluent society. We have been
told that it does not recognize
class barriers and that anyone
smart enough to do so can be-
come president of General Mo-
tors or prime minister of Can-
ada. But, in effect, class lines
have been hardening and no
matter how hard the textile
worker in a small Eastern Town-
ship community works, he will
never be able to get out of the
rut.”

The factor of human dignity
which Miss Gagnon speaks of
links the workers’ movement
from coast to coast. “The cup
runneth over,” so to speak.

It was the order of a shift boss
to a worker to surface after the
man had dared to open his lunch
box in the mine before starting
his shift that became the spark
that ignited the wildcat strike
in Sudbury.

The bitterness of the struggle
between the packinghouse work-
ers and the bosses of Canada

Packers is a reflection of the ar-
rogance displayed by the com-
pany toward the union over the
past period of time.

The dignity of the workers is
not only, or even mainly, a case
of simple etiquette but a reflec-
tion of the uneasiness with
which the workers see the prob-
lems of the future in our tech-
nological society as they are
being grappled with today. Court
injunctions, jail sentences for
demonstrating unionists, com-
pulsory arbitration are the ac-
tions of today which speak a
lot louder than the soothing
words and platitudes.

Dignity is also a case of
money and security.

How does the affluent society
look to a non-professional hos-
pital worker in Quebec who
must raise his family on wages
which average $65 a week?
What of the textile workers who
have so long suffered poverty
and inhuman working condi-
tions?

What is new is that in Que-
bec the workers have decided
that “the long night is over’ and
a wave of militant struggles is

_ taking place of which the hospi-

tal strike is an example.

In many cases, such as the
hospital and textile workers, the
workers are organized in unions
affiliated with the Confederation
of National Trade Unions
(CNTU). The evolvement of the
CNTU over the past six years is
perhaps indicative of this new
mood in Quebec.

In 1960 the Canadian and
Catholic Confederation of Labor
broke its ties with the church,

renamed itself the Confederation
of National Trade Unions and
transformed itself into a dyna-
mic centre of struggle and orga-
nization. In the _ intervening
period it has doubled its mem-
bership to over 200,000.

Describing the president of the
CNTU, Marcel Pepin, Miss
Gagnon states:

“Whereas most of the leaders
and technocrats of the ‘quiet
revolution’ share with the clergy-
men and lawyers who preceded
them the conviction that they
alone know what is best for the
people, Mr. Pepin has an almost
religious respect for the wishes
of his organization’s member-
ship.” ;

The wishes of the CNTU’s
membership are being expressed
clearly these days. As the lead-
ership increasingly answers the
needs of its members, the labor
movement in Quebec, of which
the CNTU plays such a vital
part, will come more to the fore-
front of the “quiet revolution.”

Miss Gagnon concludes her
article:

“The CNTU did not invent the
problems it is currently dealing
with. They exist all over the con-
tinent. But the CNTU is struc-
turally equipped to face them.
And instead of using these struc-
tures to tame down its mem-
bers, it is trying to use them in
a way that will make rank-and-
file protests more effective.

“All this could lead to a new
expression of the principle of
‘government by the people’ that
is supposed to inspire our so-
ciety.”

Labor must lead independence battle

T= NEWS that the Cana-
dian Labor Congress has
called for a probe into

Canada-United States economic

relations has not received the

headlines and attention it de-

Serves. It is big news, and good

news. It could, in the present

Circumstances of a_ patriotic

awakening, signalize a new di-

rection of policy and orientation

im the trade union movement in

this country. When taken to-

gether with policy pronounce-
ments on the state of the Cana-
dian economy and international
affairs at the recent CLC con-
vention, it begins to make sense

8S a coherent program in the di-

rection of economic democracy,

peace and independence.

: Having said this, however, it
JS also necessary to point out
that the labor leadership, far
from being out in the forefront
and giving leadership on this is-
Sue, has until now lagged far
behind. True, Socialists and
Communists for as long as 15 or
0 years now have been fighting
and exposing the policy of deli-
berate sabotage of Canada’s na-
onal interests by a corporate

structure of big business whose
patriotism and loyalty are meas-
ured solely in terms of super
profits.

During these years capital
mergers in our manufacturing
industries have increased by
more than 600 percent, and
profits by nearly 600 percent.
Huge takeovers have resulted in
selective control by foreign
monopolies of many of our key
industries and resources. Today
our foreign debt amounts to al-
most one-half of our national
product. The most crucial deci-
sions concerning capital invest-
ments, employment, marketing,
production techniques and new
methods of manufacturing and
processing are no longer made
in Canada but in the private
board-rooms of foreign corpora-
tions, mainly in New York and
Chicago, and in the White House
in Washington.

Moreover, this is no chance
development resulting from the
recently announced United
States economic guidelines coun-
tered by a feeble play of words
by Liberal cabinet ministers at
Ottawa following the public out-

cry of protest. On the contrary,
these guidelines and U.S. inter-
ference in Canadian affairs are
the result of a deliberate policy
inaugurated nearly 20 years ago
by the Abbott Plan of 1947. This
plan coincided with the start of

LABOR SCENE
by
BRUCE MAGNUSON

the Cold War and tied Canada’s

economy firmly to U.S. imperial-.

ist aims of economic and politi-
cal conquest. It should be re-
membered that it was precisely
in the struggle over this kind of
policy that our trade union
movement became divided when
foreign monopoly interests de-
manded abject surrender by the
working class and absolute con-
formity with its aims and objec-
tives,

During 1965, United States in-

vestors increased their stake in
the Canadian economy by near-
ly $2.5 billion without using a
single penny of their own money.
The fact is that most of the in-
vestment by U.S. firms in new
Canadian assets is being financ-
ed from Canadian sources, At
this rate, within 10 years the
United States will have doubled
its already large holdings in Can-
ada purely from Canadian
sources. Putting it another way,
for every million the U.S. in-
vests in Canada it can gain four
times as much in assets within
30 to 40 years and at the same
time remit dividends and inter-
est worth far more than the ori-
ginal capital.

As Edward Carrigan wrote in
the Toronto Star, July 12: ‘‘We
pay, and we pay, and we pay.”
Even if we do not import an-
other dollar from the United
States, the deficit will grow be-
cause it is the result of the cost
of foreign capital already here.
As Carrigan puts it: “We thus
run deficits, import capital to
pay for them, and run more defi-
cits paying for the capital we
have imported.” Truly a vicious
circle.

At the same time assets of
our chartered banks amount to
$26 billion; insurance companies
hold some $12 billion; personal
savings bonds amount to $5 bil-
lion; pension fund reserves an-
‘other $6 billion; for a total of
nearly $50 billion. On top of this,
we have plenty of labor and
abundant resources.

The time has come to reverse
our policies and to reclaim
ownership and control; in short,
to be masters in our own house.

If this is to be accomplished,
the working class has to come
forward as the main force for
democratic progress. This calls
for unity in economic and poli-
tical action by the organized
sections of the working people,
not in separate units acting in-
dependently of one another but
together in unison for realistic
objectives.

Judging by the development
of the struggles now arising on
all fronts, there is more reason
for optimism as to prospects for
united action around broad na-
tional objectives in Canada than
there has been for a long time.

July 29, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3