| Were ; oe out f & ana Shou] labor sentiment is for politicai action a Bia 7 WILLIAM KASHTAN When Ch TORONTO dlateg arles Millard de- cou recently that he - “‘dis- Stion any need for endor- in, 2 the CCF” he cer- eraered something of a furore, The statement Varied reactions, with ing thay nntators conclud- and Millard’s remarks ay pti Congress » Meant that “politics : Or unions”. But that Misleading conclusion. "esident tens; : 1S true is that an in- ing discussion has been Cleg, Shin trade union cir- Merger ticularly since the and formation of the the Politiean = and. perspectives of ‘ action. The merger ully settle this ques- € resolutions adopted the nature of compro- i _ Qo tion, nt é Were in Mises hss Ta, nand it left the door Coro €ndorsation of the the wa & provincial scale; on ’ Perse €r it held forth the the | Clive of a coalition of get union and farm Br €nt, the CCF and other Wag ae Where ‘it was definite ition the need to establish i Mamit education and action the paces at all levels of ade union movemeent. or the adoption of these noes the debate has ie as to the path in- feat politica! action Ud take, ae the eve of the federal ee it was settled in a by the Ontario Feder- callin of Labor convention eandig for election of CCF “eyey, tes: Nationally how- 7g CLC restricted itself Won to a call upon the ts to get out and vote. ait another federal elec- a 2 the offing in 1958 and Tpening of the struggle isgu, Number of provinces, the 9 fa of political action is S$ up again in more ‘Ute form. ‘ The ghts UWdoe attack on trade union exemplified in the " hville events is forcing pac iti 7 i Quebae of ponviced action in goth Roger Provost, presi- of the Quebec Federa- of Labor’ and~ Picard, €nt of the Catholic Syn- tee emphasized the urgent of yolitical action if tion Presid | Tgani dae Uplessis’ straightjacket. dian Labor Congress, -on ; ec zed labor is to get out where trade are also under In Alberta union rights attack, organized Jabor has been impelled to move TOnk wards political action by con- testing a provincial byelection in Calgary. Nationally too, 2 trend is growing for stronger forms of political action. It is an open secret how- that divisions continue advance \ ever, to exist on how to political action,. : A fairly substantial body of CCF-minded trade unionists continue to insist that the CLC should endorse , the CCF 4s “Japor’s political arm.” On the other hand other CCF trade unionists have begun to tion the e@visdom of such a policy, particularly since the merger, and have pecome fav- orably inclined to seek some other vehicle for political ad- vance. If the press reports him cs rectly, Jodoin has cde iid himself in favor of a: Labor party based on the trade umions, somewhat along the lines of the British pattern. He undoubtedly reflects” z substantial body of opinion too, Still others hold, that a coalition along the lines of the CLC resolution may be the most desirable. It could well be that out of the debate and on the back: ground of economic, sooia and political events, the Se may be ° impelled : 2 support the formation of ss political centre which, a though not organically part 0 the OLC, would be closely allied with it. This could be the inference taken from. both Millard’s and Jodoin’s statements that ‘ trade unionists have been advised ‘to steer clear of any direct tie-in with political parties. It may explain why Millard declared, ‘I don’t know whe- ther it’s a good thing for labor to continue automatically en- dorsing the CORY What is important to note jn all this is the fact that 1n trade union circles there ge appears to be an almost unan imous agreement that inde- pendent political action 1S not only desirable but necessary. The. differences that exist are not™.on the need for such action but on the forms it should take and the policies it should adopt. ques- ~ Guster of the agenda by election 0 national president. Teamsters has been f James R. Hoffa, shown 24 forced to the top of the AFL-CIO executive council's . above with supporters at Miami, as inter- _ Quster of Teamsters would fan many conflicts within AF NEW YORK When secretary ~ treasurer John F. English shouted at the Teamsters Union corivention in Miami that AFL-CIO chief- tains could “all go straight to hell” if they don’t ‘want the Teamsters Union in, he gave a mild foretaste of things that might come. The standing ovation given English by convention dele- gates in Miami indicated the temper of, the men in the driver’s seat of the giant union. Expulsion of the Teamsters would aggravate all] the many tensions within the AFL-CIO, and could usher in an era of jungle warfare for U.S. labor. Not long ago English was iouted as a “moderate”, in the Teamsters shigh command, He was hand-picked by AFL-CIO chieftains to replace the oust- ed Dave Beck on the AFL- CIO Executive Council. This week in Miami, Eng- lish declared: : ‘We will never withdraw from the AFL-CIO, but- if they kick us out, we will not be in a hurry to get back,” Shrewd, aggressive, their influente reaching into almost every phase of the American economy, Teamster chieftains would be in a stong position to play on differences within the AFL-CIO. Teamsters have léng been allied with the building craft unions, and could fan the ten- sion between these crafts and the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department over jurisdictional o issues. The current International Teamster, official union jour- nal features a story on a cent special convention of the AFL-CIO Building Trades De- partment under the heading: “Crafts Firm on Jurisdiction.” The building craits, which Tor have been talking of bolting - * the AFL-CIO. unless their jur- isdictional claims are. upheld, could take one of two courses: ® Either seek an alliance. with the Teamsters in support of their jurisdictional claims, regardless of AFL-CIO oppo- sition. : @ Or resort to an ultima- tum that unless theeir juris- dictional claims are honored, they will make common cause with the Teamsters. Other inviting waters for Hoffa and his men are af- forded by the open and viru- lent warfare on East Coast waterfronts between the Na- tional Maritime Union and the Seafarers International Union, both AFL-CIO affiliates. The Teamsters, alone or in cooperation with the unaffili- ated, International Longshore- men’s Association, are in a powerful position to tip the seales for either of the rival seafaring unions. NMU President. Joseph Cur- ran had balked the AFL-CIO high command when he pub- licly challenged its support of the AFL-CIO International Brotherhood of Longshore- men against the ILA. The reason: The AFL-CIO brotherhood was allied with feared the SIU and. Curran that if dock workers fei]. under SO. domination, his union would be squeezed, out, The same legie could prompt him “to curry favor with the Team- sters. If the Teamsters are ousted, a vather formidable group: of unions, numbering some 2:5 milion members would be outside the AFL-C€10O, Aside from the 1.5 million member Teamsters Union, there is the 600,000-member United Mine Workers. Smaller but compact are the Interna- tional Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (roughly 65,000), Mill and Smelter Workers (roughly 80,000) and the Unit- ed Electrical Workkers for which there are no member- ship figures. + At the Miami i convention, the central issue that emerged. was whether or not the:-Team+ sters shoulld actively seek an accommodation with the AFL- CIOE si ese aS See The “corruption”. issue’ was blurred as Frank Brewster, chief of the Western Confer- ence of Teamsters and an un- savory figure in the McClellan Senate Committee hearings, lined up behind Vice President William A. Lee, and AFL-CIO candidate for president. English, the supposedly “clean” Teamster threw his support to Hoffa, who has openly defied the AFL (GLO Rs October 11, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3 the Mine, © official -