By MIKE PHILLIPS
TORONTO — The anger, frustration,
d militancy of the workers of Ontario

of Were expressed in the deliberations and

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Proceedings of the 25th Ontario Federa-
tion of Labor convention, Nov. 22-25.
Contrasting the apparent paralysis
hich seems to have gripped the Cana-
dian Labor Congress since last May’s
biennial convention, the OFL’s more
than 1,500 delegates reaffirmed the labor
Movement’s commitment to fighting
Cutbacks, concessions and controls, and
look the organizational steps to continue
process of mobilizing both the labor
Movement and its growing numbers of

S against an unprecedented attack on

€ union rights and the people’s living
Standards.

Palestinian Rights —

_And, in a welcomed departure from

Cold war direction taken by the con-
8fess on international affairs, the OFL
‘Ook bold steps toward strengthening
and international working class

Solidarity by supporting the national
' ghts of the Palestinian people and call-
| Mg on the CLC to open a continuing

Ogue with trade unions in the socialist
World with the goal of resuming fraternal
®xchanges between Canadian labor and

ir workers.

On the negative side, the convention

| Missed an opportunity to begin the essen-

lial task of reaching out to the growing
amy of unemployed as a much-needed

‘ally in the fight to turn the economy

nd,. and to help jobless workers

i throughout the province organize into a
Powerful political force.

All-Out Struggle

ss The convention’s adoption of the ac-

N program including the call for a gen-
“tal strike brought out the best expres-
Slons of solidarity and unity from the
elegates. The message to the Davis
80vernment delivered by OPSEU presi-

Mt Sean O'Flynn and UAW Canadian.

leader Bob White pledging all-out strug-
gle against controls and concessions and
total support of the private and public
sector unions for each other’s battles
came through loud and clear. Labor is on
the move and will not let itself be de-
feated.

The OFL leadership also got a clear

message from the delegates, represent-

ing Ontario workers from communities
large and small, and the forests, mines,
mills, offices and factories throughout
the province. It came through in the de-
feat of the proposed recommendation for
biennial conventions, while at the same
time the delegates granted the federation
a five-cent dues increase to help finance
the stepped-up levels of activity.

It also came through in the sharp de-
bate over a weak policy paper titled
“Jobs: A Working Alternative’? which
many delegates tried unsuccessfully to
defeat because, in its gross inadequacies
it contradicted positions already held by
the OFL which name public ownership
as the key element in any strategy for
solving the current depression and put-
ting Ontario’s workers back on the job.

Hapless Document

Delegates argued that the convention
should find the way of endorsing the brief
presented by the OFL, on Nov. 16 to the
Ontario cabinet, which the resolutions
committee introduced as a companion to
the hapless ‘‘Jobs’’ policy paper. Where
the Nov. 16 brief spoke of the need to use
Ontario’s ‘‘productive resources in the
interests of social needs not profits’’, and
reaffirmed the fed’s policy of
‘supporting the need to put the re-
sources of (Ontario) in the hands of the
citizens of (Ontario)’’, the convention
paper cited the need to restore
“confidence and economic vigor’’ — the
kind of confidence, “‘that will encourage
investment”’ and ‘‘create the environ-
ment for entreprenurial risk taking ...”’

As Steelworkers Local 1005 delegate
Peter Liebovitch told the convention, the

) LABOR
_OFL pledged to
controls, concessions

fight

current depression shows private enter-
prise isn’t working. ‘‘Look at Chrysler,
Massey Ferguson and Dome Petroleum
where governments are spending mil-
lions bailing them out’’, he said. ‘“‘Why
should we bail out these corporations
with our tax dollars. If they can’t work
without bail outs why not take them
over?”

Delegates also severely criticized the
paper for failing to mention the need to
organize the unemployed or proposing
any concrete commitment to achieving
this necessary task.

Dan Heap, Local 91, Toronto Typo-
graphical Union emphasized that a key
ally in the labor movement’s winning its
stated objectives is the mass of unem-
ployed. Heap noted that the jobless now
roughly equal the total membership in
the CLC.

‘*These two figures present a real di-
lemma for the labor movement”’, he said.
“‘Most of the jobless in this country are
young people, this country’s future. Are
they going to be organized with us, to
change the system, or are they going to
be organized by the system to beat us?”’

United Electrical workers delegate
Larry Wheaton said a real job strategy
for labor should aim to reclaim Canada’s
economy from the control and dom-
ination of foreign multi-nationals, on the
basis of public ownership and demo-
cratic control; project a reduced work
week with no loss in pay; and increase
living standards.

The convention adopted a resolution
that was the weakest among other sub-
mitted motions urging the OFL to or-
ganize the unemployed. It commits the
OFL to encourage the setting up of local
unemployed committees and to con-
vene, as soon as possible, a conference
of delegates from all existing unem-
ployed groups in the province.

Of some 238 separate resolutions
submitted to the convention, 113 mo-
tions were drafted by the resolutions

CLIFF PILKEY: Labor, in projecting an
alternative program to bankrupt policies
of government, is fighting a battle for the
hearts and minds of the Canadian public.

committee for the convention’s dis-
position. Included among those which
passed was a statement on women and
affirmative action including the demands
for the launching of a campaign on af-
firmative action as a top federation prior-
ity and a proposal to expand the OFL
executive board by five members to en-
sure that women make up 30% of the
total. The convention also received a
statement outlining the attack on living
standards and passed resolutions calling
for: local action committees ‘‘that will
enforce if necessary the right of workers
to keep their homes and families intact —
free from sheriff or bailiff intervention:
the CLC to campaign in support of con-
tent laws and programs to ensure prompt
return to work; pressure on governments
for a Canadian merchant marine: and,
the nationalization of strike-bound Con-
sumers Gas Co.

ae ee

| Of the

Stepped-up efforts by the Canadian Labor Congress
International Affairs Department to push the trade union
Movement further into the cold-war camp are not wash-

| 'g at provincial federation levels.

Wo recent provincial federation conventions, the
B.C. Federation of Labor and the Ontario Federation of
bor, by-passed the CLC positions and in fact came out
' opposition to them in some major areas. For example

th the B.C. and Ontario Federation conventions con-. ”

‘ demned the Israeli Government for its invasion of Leba-
hon, called for the recognition of the rights of the Pales-
@n people to a national homeland, and in the case of

. the OFL, called for recognition of the Palestine Libera-

0 Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative
Palestinian people.

is is in contrast to the support given by the CLC to
_ the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, placing the blame on the

PLO, and also full CLC support for Camp David.

the issue of world disarmament, peace and
dtente, the CLC has more and more placed its support

! behind the two super-powers theory and backed away

M any meaningful participation in peace actions. For
®Xample it refused to participate in or support the recent
4nti-Cruise demonstration on Parliament Hill because in

Opinion of the CLC it directed one-sided criticism at

Us. foreign policy and not at the Soviet Union. (We

€re not aware that the Soviet Union was proposing to

Ww
| test Nuclear missiles in Canada).

Labor in action
William Stewart

On the matter of peace actions both conventions urged
stepped up participation of their member unions in ac-
tions for peace, selecting nuclear disarmament and
détente as major objectives of the labor movement. In
B.C. the federation renewed its demand that Canada get
out of NATO and NORAD. ; =

The main attention of both conventions was directed
to the role of U.S. imperialism and in particular Reagan
and the U.S. government of the day as the main threat to
world peace. The two super-powers theory did not ap-
pear in the resolutions adopted. : : :

In the Ontario Federation convention the question of
opening up a dialogue with socialist countries as part of
peace efforts was supported by the delegates. A resolu-
tion adopted called on the CLC to open up discussions
with the trade unions in socialist countries with an aim to
developing a wide range of exchanges between the
unions of their countries and ours. —

Nor was the relationship between jobs and disarma-
ment ignored by the convention. Many delegates spoke

"a warning that an in-depth process is underway

of the impact of heavy arms expenditures on the econ-
omy. Canada’s arms budget was cited as a major contri-
butor to inflation, as well as a contributor to unemploy-
ment, inasmuch as dollars spent on arms do not contri-
bute nearly as many jobs as dollars spent on productive
assets and social needs.

Also evident in these debates at the provincial conven-
tions, was a trained cadre of the CLC and International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), employ-
ing skillful and seemingly well reasoned arguments
against pullirig out of NATO and NORAD; for policies of.
positions of strength and for unity of the free world
against the memance of socialist invasion.

These arguments were not the old easily recognizable
cold-war rhetoric. They were much subtler, often
concealing the real objective, well coated with facts and
often figures. It is clear that there are widespread inter-
national assignments, sometimes under the wing of the
ICFTU, sometimes in conjunction with governmental
departments, and in more cases than not funded by
CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency).

It was a tribute to the delegates that they were able to
see through these sophisticated arguments. But it is also

the
International Affairs Department of the CLC to ion a
cadre of international affairs experts whose basic objec-
tive is to give support for imperialist policies, in the name

of a“‘third way”’.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— DECEMBER 3, 1982—Page 9