IWA unity and militancy score
gain for B.C. labor

significant

Canada Day message warns
of rising danger of war

Dr, James G, Endicott, chairman of the Canadian Peace
Congress, has issued the following appeal on the occasion of
Canada’s 99th birthday,

*On this Canada Day the majority of Canadian citizens are
enjoying relative prosperity; the deadly scourge of war-has
not yet touched our fair land, We are planning for the 1967
Centennial and the International Fair, “Expo ’67” which for a
short time will turn a large part of the world’s attention to
Canada, :

“On this happy occasion it is also necessary to warn of
the rising danger of warinthe world. The American aggression
against Vietnam is being expanded and ever terrible weapons
of mass destruction are being used, There are increasing
American threats against Cuba, including a C.I.A, attempt to
assassinate Prime Minister Castro, South Africa, Portugal,
Southern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo are getting the support
of Britain and the United States for the attempt to establish a
white man’s slave state in the south of the continent of Africa.

“We Canadians cannot escape from responsibilities con-
cerning the menace of war and the destruction of human
welfare in so many parts of the world. We are honor bound
to increase our struggle for peace.

“T appeal for action, united action to demand that the
American war against Vietnam shall cease, I appeal for
all kinds of effort to expose lies on which the U.S, aggres-
sions are based.”

“TWA unity and militancy has won new signifi-
cant gains for B,C,’s woodworkers, The workers
showed their resentment at the miserly share
they were getting of the industry’s enormous
profits by voting over 90 percent for strike. This
powerful strike vote, combined with a series of
widespread walkouts strengthened the position of
the bargaining committee and opened the way for
a settlement,”

This was the evaluation released this week of
the forest industry negotiations by the Wood-
workers Committee of the Communist Party of
B.C, The statement says:

“This settlement is a relatively good one, Good
in the sense that the wage increase is above the
average and good particularly in relation to the
wages gained by the IWA in past years, Itisa
distinct change from what used to be called
‘the nickel union’,

‘«The various wage adjustments in plywood; the
ten cent shift differential; the break-through in
loggers’ travel time; equal pay for equal work for
men and women; plus other items, all tend to
firm up the workers’ economic position, The
Nemetz recommendations in respect to a joint
employer-union committee with two so-called
public representatives, calls for critical scrutiny.

“The report’s proposal to extend plywood
evaluation to the rest of the industry is nota
gain for the workers, What recourse has the
worker when his job rates, grievances and condi-
tions are turned over to a company-manned
committee? What if he disagrees? What courseis
open to him? These matter should remain an
inseparable part of collective bargaining.

“The Nemetz proposal for a committee on
technological change has some potential, The Oil
Workers formula has been taken into account
with some minor consideration for the laid-off
worker, The one week pay for each year of work
can be taken seriously when it effects senior

workers, but its likely application will be to
cover young workers with little seniority, It
does, however, point up a serious problem.

“Such a committee, like others, can be useful
and even beneficial, but only if under constant
union observation and pressure, Any attempt by
this committee to take away the problems of
technological change from the processes of col-
lective bargaining should be stubbornly resisted.
This committee should bring proposals to the
parties concerned and request government legis-
lation to deal with technological change that will
protect the workers,

The situation was highly favorable this year for
a better deal for all the workers,
Bennett’s interference into the normal procedure
of collective bargaining blocked the chances of a
better settlement. It was obvious that the work-
ers were determined to put up a good fight to
win their just demands, The Bennett appointment
of an industrial inquiry commissioner, unsolicited
by the union, was deliberately designed to blunt
the workers’ militant actions manifested in their
powerful strike vote, Bennett succeeded in using
government authority to impose a weakened settle-
ment on the union,

The Premier’s action is in line with his whole
anti-labor bias, His government enacted anti-
labor laws that are unparalled in Canada.

He instigated action against the Lenkurt workers
and union officials and carries the responsibility
for jailing Longshore leaders who refused to order.
their members to work on a federal statutory
holiday, :

The IWA proved that with greater unity and
determination on its part the union is capable of
overcoming the opposition of the monopolies and
their agent, the Socred government, and win
better deals to protect and advance the interest
of its membership,”

‘From self-governing Dominion

Premier —

Canadian Communists see in
the 100th anniversary of Confed-
eration an opportunity to assert
the urgent need of new policies
and a new direction in the life
of Canada — the assertion of our
country’s independence, the win-
ning of national equality of French
and English-speaking Canada and
the radical democratization of
our political, social and economic
structures,

Canadian independence was
implicit in the grand design of
the Fathers of Confederation:
self-government for the new
Dominion as against colonial sub-
ordination to Downing Street, and
a Canadian identity and unity
able to withstand the pressures of
United States expansionism,

Yet.independence in the fullest
sense has not been madea reality
in this past century. From a
“self-governing Dominion within
the Empire,” Canada became a
satellite of the new imperialism
of the United States,

Today the questions of control
of our own natural resources, of
our own industrial development
and social and cultural exist-
ence, hang in suspense. Instead
of leadership on the path of inde-
pendence and of peace, our ruling
class, acting as junior partners
of U.S. monopoly, ties Canada
as a cClient-state to the war-
machine of U.S. imperialist ag-
gression,

to U.S. satellite’

Only by means of a break
with this servile, disastrous anti-
Canadian course, the proud as-
sertion of Canadian independ-
ence, and the dedication of our
energies and resources to the
cause of peace, can the future
of our country be assured.

The British North America
Act of 1867 conceded to French
Canadians limited language
rights and a provincial existence
within a federal state — but de-
nied them the full right of na-
tional self-determination, Here-
in is the source of the present
*‘crisis of Confederation” of Can=
ada as a country.

Communists in French and
English Canada pioneered in de-

The following state-
ment was adopted at
the 19th convention of
the Communist Party
of Canada.

fining the nature of the two-nation
state and in demanding the right
of self-determination for the
French-Canadian nation,

Today’s demand for a new
constitution embodying the full
equality of the two nations in
Canada, and for recognition of
Quebec as the national state of
French Canada, is the precondi-
tion for the equal and voluntary
and fraternal union of our peo-

ples — and of the survival of
Canada as a country.

We Communists look to the
revolutionary transformation of
society as the indispensable
means to cope with the techno-
logical and scientific revolutions
of our time — to replace the
minority-rule of the great corp-
orations with the majority-rule
of the working class,

Socialism is the answer to the
armament trusts and imperialist
war, to national inequality and
oppression, as it is to poverty
and insecurity and the degrada-
tions of our present social order,

Marx’s Capital was published
1867, and our Confederation cen-

tennial coincides with the 50th
anniversary of the great October
Revolution that created the
world’s first socialist state: the
coincidence of dates being sig-
nificant as a historical reminder
of the kind of world process with-
in which the evolution of Canada
has taken place,

The road ahead to the demo-
cratic reconstruction of Can-
adian society is one that carries
forward the paths trodden by this
country’s pioneers, by the work-
ing men and women who built
up its present vast industrial
and agrarian wealth, and whose
heroic struggles for a better
life, for social and spiritual ad-
vance, are the augury of the com-
ing achievement of a socialist
and ultimately Communist so-
ciety in Canada, and throughout
the world,

5)
cu

A mination,

KR

In the spirit of the foregoing,
the Communist Party of Canada
_ will dedicate its efforts during
1967 to furthering, through wide-
spread public activity, and by
written and spoken word, the
cause of Canadian independence,
the achievement of a new, made-
in-Canada constitution embody-
ing the principles of. national
equality and national self-deter-
and new policies of
peace, democracy and social ad-
vance for the people of our coun-
try.

July 2, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 12

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ry