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Stronger Canada-Caribbean
trade union links urged

By NORMAN FARIA :
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The present links -
From the

between the Anglophone Caribbean and Canadian
trade union movements need to go deeper than the = :

Caribbean
Norman Faria

andinavian unions
Plan work stoppages
to mark Peace Year

By BRUCE MAGNUSON

¢ Struggle for putting an end to the accumulation of arma-

"its in the world and the danger inherent in the escalation of

Car armaments, has long been a matter of grave concern in
r and progressive organizations and movements of the

le of the Scandinavian countries of Northern Europe.

This concern has now penetrated the workplace in Norway
ae -nmark, as exemplified in a decision to carry through witha
etnute work stoppage October 24, 1986, designated by the
Fe Nations as a day of world-wide actions to mark this Year
&
The Finnish trade union federation has not yet made a decision
this question. But its four central organizations are part-
ts in a committee whose task it is to organize the work.
al€d to the campaign-week for disarmament. The UN day is
full Of that week and the committee mentioned has expressed its
agreement with the contemplated work stoppage.

deverVthing, therefore, points in the direction of a favorable

occasional presence of officials at congresses.

According to a Barbadian-Canadian who leads
the United Steelworkers local at the Alcan
aluminum plant in Toronto, such meaningful soli-
darity could make it easier if co-ordinated activity
is needed on a particular issue. :

““Canadian and Caribbean workers have much in
common,” Sinclair Wharton, a 38-year-old former
_ Bridgetown resident told the Tribune during a re-
cent vacation to his birth place. Wharton is presi-
dent of USWA Local 2858.

“In many cases they face the exploitation of the
same branch plants of U.S. transnationals. The
strengthening of meaningful links can only be in the
interests of all the workers concerned,” he said.

Wharton, who emigrated to Canada in 1969, sees
the need for more sharing of skills including those
relating to safety measures.

“In Canada, sections of the trade union move-
ment are well-versed on safety procedures, and
given the opportunity would be willing to share
their knowledge with those Caribbean comrades
who need it,”” he said.

Wharton added that he was disappointed at the
sloppy disposal of chemicals at a couple of indus-
trial plants he visited while on the island.

“There is also a need for a cleanup at certain
plants in Canada but due to the pressure over the
years from the trade union movement, some laws
have been enacted to force the proper disposal of
such chemicals,’’ he pointed out.

While in Barbados, Wharton paid a courtesy call
to the Bridgetown head office of the Caribbean
Labor Congress, the umbrella group which unites
the bulk of the trade unions in the region.

During talks with trade unionists here, Wharton
discussed issues of mutual concern including the
continuing threat to peace by increasing U.S.

‘military exercises both in Canada and in and
around the Caribbean islands.

‘In this type of atmosphere the present gains of
the trade union movements cannot be extended or
in some cases even preserved,’ he pointed out.
‘The continuing struggle for peace is therefore an
integral part of the overall movement for such
benefits as job security and healthy working condi- ~~
tions.”

“sion by the Finnish federation with respect to its participation

€ Nordic countries’ strike for peace. If the Finnish federation
*€ such a decision, it appears most likely that the other three
Me union central federations in Finland will do likewise.

From Sept. 20 to 27 the Swedish labor federation holds its 21st
8fess which will also address the issue of Swedish participa-
Nin the strike for peace.

Already on the 10th of Nov. 1983, representatives of the fed-
oe did reply in principle in the affirmative to such a
to €st against escalating armaments, but the condition attached
ae a decision at that time was that international solidarity
fd heeded. This condition now appears to be present as a result

€cisions taken by the central trade union bodies in Norway

nmark.

ss Oo
A S

others.

a
| “' the September Congress.

| AS far as other central trade union bodies in Sweden are
(cerned, the TCO, which governs public service workers last
-“at decided in favor of a work-stoppage to protest against the
arms race providing agreement could be reached with

het Would now seem the Swedish federation’s Congress makes
] final determination. Considering all factors, including the
| OV Palme tradition with respect to the struggle for dis-
|. Mament, it will be interesting to see which way the winds blows

Wharton, who is a machine operator by trade,
feels that the Canadian and Caribbean trade unions
could mount special programs where Canadian
workers would spend their holidays, or part of
them with their Caribbean counterparts living in

their homes and vice versa.

As for the issues currently facing the Canadian
trade union movement, Wharton cited three priori-
ties: job security, wages, and health and safety. He
noted that a ‘‘distressingly high’? number of firms
in Canada are asking workers for such concessions
as pay rollbacks, but noted the militant resistance

of the unions.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — NORMAN FARIA

WHARTON: We face the same branch plants.

| INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris

| The 7 . 5
Puri
| the ee

| i the grim years following

1976 military coup progres-
© Argentinians were picked
i unmarked cars, tortured,
os ee and buried in secret
Neve S. Relatives and friends
The knew of their fate.
_ »/€Y simply disappeared.
a. period ended with the
™ to civilian rule following
~. defeat of the Argentine
y in the Malvinas and
©Vverwhelming demand for
Feturn to democracy.
fore handing power back,
onaimirals and generals par-
ain, €d themselves retroac-

“ely from i be
ite any crimes com
ey

d under -their orders.
also warned ominously
“Y Were waiting in the wings
‘estore order’’ should they
a it necessary.
Ayan courts subsequently
ain Several top military men
Y of genocide and torture.
People wanted full disclo-
'€ of the fate of some 1,500
amor cared. Details and
Wa. > Were demanded, justice
Called for.

Last week, once again quot-
ing the Pope that armies
‘*should participate in the pre-
servation of each country’s
domestic peace as an instru-
ment of common good’’, the
generals threatened another
coup if parliament passed a law
regulating the armed forces.

In a public statement top
military men said they con-

Rounding up civilians in the
1970s.

sider it their duty to fight “‘ideo-
logical subversion’.

The ideological purity of the
grave, the domestic peace of
the jail cell, the common good
of criminal generals, all wrap-
ped up in the words of the
church, is the right wing’s
reply to civilian government.

So now
you know...

‘Pope John Paul II last week
took time out from his busy
schedule to clear up something

that has bedevilled (sic)
humankind down through the

S.
He pondered as only popes
can ponder and announced the
‘last word on the devil: ‘‘a cos-
mic liar and a murderer,”’ said
the Pope about Satan. He
could well have been describ-
ing Ronald Reagan.

So far so good. But when he
added the devil is a lion, a dra-
gon, a serpent, John Paul put
his holy foot in his mouth. The
Italian National Association
for the Protection of Animals
wants to know why lions and
snakes should be so maligned

‘

in a pontifical pronouncement.
They kindly didn’t remind the
Pope that dragons are just for
kids.

It must have been a nothing
day at the Vatican ... no poor
to berate,
priests to excommunicate, no
Solidarnocs to praise.

Where funerals
are ‘banned’

The mindless stupidity of the

apartheid regime, trapped by a
mighty historical movement it
cannot stem, is seen in the trad-
itional reaction of tyrants: in-
creased violence and brutality.

Layer upon layer of apart-
heid laws, the forced evacua-
tion of entire regions, ban-
tustans, bannings, jailings, tor-
ture; the region’s strongest
military machine backed by Is-
rael and the U.S., have all
failed to suppress the South
African people’s quest for
freedom.

The new state of emergency
with daily shootings of citizens
on the streets and in their
homes has escalated state ter-
ror alarmingly. The cost in
lives, many of them children, is

no Nicaraguan :

appalling. While western
governments wring their hands
and hypocritically blabber
about sanctions “hurting
Blacks,’ hundreds die and
thousands languish in jails.
Despite every restriction, -

the struggle takes on multiple
new forms, ever widening and
now reaching directly into
white enclaves heretofore con-
sidered safe.

The circle tightens. The cry,
“Power to the People!’ re-
sounds throughout the beauti-
ful, embattled land. The his-
tory of the African people, al-
ready so rich in struggle, is
daily being enriched by the
sacrifices of her daughters and
sons.

And the oppressor? Desper- _.
ate, hate-filled and running out
of options, the regime now at-
tempts to restrict public funer-
als for its victims. Last week it
said funerals for more than one
person are banned, as are out-
door funerals. The people, kill-
ed behind the cloak of a media
blackout, are now asked to
bury their martyrs in silence.

The final indignity by a sick
regime? :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 10, 198669