Majority favor lifting blockade of Cuba

By TOM MORRIS
Ih spite of the lack of a two-
fds majority to lift the 10-
Nar ban against Cuba, the re-
fit meeting of the Organization
American States held in Quito
Mis a heavy blow to the anti-
é Position long held by that
"anization.
TWelve member-countries sup-
an end to the blockade,

re Opposed and six abstained.
ce initiative of Venezuela,
bel Rica and Colombia, the
; ption that the blockade was a

War product and should be
Beauties was put before the
inne They callai it “anach-
lttey® and inconvenient” and

W support from Argentina,
Pangtvador, Honduras, Mexico,
a, Peru, Dominican Repub-
Trinidad-Tobago and the
St country, Equador.

C>Posing the resolution were
hj ouulitary-backed regimes in
"Abas Uruguay and Paraguay.
veneaning, and in effect pre-
wees @ shift in the blockade
ah, at this session, were the
toa States, Brazil, Guatemala,
Us" Nicaragua and Haiti.
tery delegation chief Robert In-
ag explained the U.S. posi-
taus as “remaining silent be-
The © we wished to avoid even
ty PPearance of influencing by
the Temarks or by our actions

Outcome of this meeting...”

We pointed out in his col-
Mita last week, the American In-
ay for Free Labor Develop-
a (AIFLD) is a front for the
Plementation of arch-reaction-
< AFL-CIO . policies abroad.
~Wever, since these policies in
Doli flow from U.S. imperialist
hee and aims, they have ab-
hag nothing in common with
~dom, as such.
tims the contrary, they are
tom and policies that seek to
by nate labor and make it
Capit, the interest of monopoly
tg tal in general, and U.S.
pn ePoly capital in particular.
Teover, these policies and

quickly abrogate formal
etalist democracy, and. demo-
| © methods. In its place it
ins 12Stitute coersive methods,
aq idation, blackmail, violence
: ven murder, all of which
hig, tniliar pattern in the labor
ang ry of this continent—north
ie South, east and west.
: that is not surprising, therefore,
the the bureaucratic chiefs of
yy gullding trades unions in the
ond their counterparts in
ada — should employ black-
ei as a means of imposing
a will upon the Canadian
Ore Congress and Canadian
Kers, to try and prevent the
l€vement of an independent,
Moye" and united trade union
Ment in this country.
It Autonomy Challenged .
epg is instructive to read the
of tts of the 1974 convention

& number of the larger build- -

des unions since the May
AVention of the CLC decided
Ca SOme further guidelines for
@dian autonomy, and, what

LABOR SCENE

BY BRUCE MAGNUSON

vine tolerate no opposition, and -

This must have evoked smiles
when seen against the U.S. role
in the OAS, especially during
the 1964 Washington meeting at
which Cuba was expelled. The
OAS has long been regarded as
an American club, especially
concerning socialist Cuba
against which the United States
cajoled and coerced member-
states to support Washington’s
blockade and isolation policy.

Prensa Latina, reporting on

the Quito meeting, revealed that
she 12 member-states who op-
posed continuation of the block-
ade have issued a joint declara-
tion reaffirming their position.
They stated that the nature of
the vote indicates that other
states may join those already en-
joying normal relations with
Cuba since they do not feel ob-
ligated to respect a resolution
which lacks a majority of sup-
port.
“The will of the majority in
supporting the proposal to lift
the sanctions against Cuba is a
faithful reflection of the historic
event which took place in Quito
— that one stage of Interameri-
can relations has come to an
end.” |

Mexico has never obeyed the
ban and in recent, years Argen-
tina, Peru, Panama, Trinidad-
Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica
have also ignored it. Argentina
quickly announced following the
Quito meeting that it will ig-

The OAS is losing its grip

nore sanctions and proceed with
its agreement to sell Cuba $8-
million worth of automobiles.

Prensa Latina comments that
these events show the efforts the
Latin American people have car-
ried out to ‘foster dialogue and
understanding among all nations
of the continent within the
framework of respect for the
principle of non-intervention,
and of their firm determination
to eliminate within the region all
elements which disturb Inter-
american peace.”

This irreversible process and
its telling effects on the OAS are
the subject of commentary from

many quarters. The president of

the Colombian parliament, Luis
Villar Borda described the vote
as “the final burial of the Or-
ganization.” The extreme diffic-
ulty of U.S. foreign policy in
Latin America where today its
only staunch allies are repres-
sive military juntas, is added to
by the rising prestige of socialist
Cuba. The Quito vote also ex-
presses the determination by the
peoples of Latin American to rid
themselves of U.S. domination
and embark on an independent
course in economic and political
affairs. ,

Cuba’s oft-repeated proposal
that new forms of Interamerican
regional groupings free from
U.S. imperialist control be exa-
mined may very well soon re-
place the discredited OAS.

must be

A challenge that

met head on!

is most irksome to the U.S.-Can-
adian rightwing union bosses,
some means to enforce those
guidelines inclusive of penalties
for violations.

Canadian vice-president Ken
Rose of the IBEW told his inter-
national union convention that
he was proud of being a Can-
adian, but that he was more
proud of being in a great organi-
zation like the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers. This was followed by @
statement to the effect that the
Canadian Labor Congress can go
to hell. : ;

David Cairns, Canadian direc-
tor of the Painters and Decora-
tors, complained to delegates of
the Ontario provincial Building
and Construction Trades Council
meeting in Kitchener Nov. 2-3,
that a coalition of big national
unions led by the Canadian
Union of Public Employees had
allied itself with Quebec dele-
gates and packed the CLC con-
vention to push through its pro-
gram on autonomy for Canadian
members of U.S.-based unions.
He flatly told these delegates
that “per capita tax to the CLC
will not be paid until this poppy-
cock about autonomy is stop-

” &
Ronald Taylor, international
roadman for the Sheet Metal
Workers, .followed this up by
saying “there is no way a bunch
of garbage collectors — 4 refer-
ence to CUPE members — }!S
going to tell us what to do.”

Master in its own Houce

But what is at stake here is
not the autonomy of interna-
tional unions to run their inter-
nal affairs, but the right of the

Canadian members of these
U.S.-based unions. to run their
affairs and for the Canadian
Labor Congress to be master in
its own house of labor. —

The great debate on the floor
of the Ontario Provincial Build-
ing and Construction Trades
Council is the first of its kind
ever. And it does not bode well
for the so-called international
roadmen, who are thé agents of
their U.S. bosses south of the

border. The attempt to keep the —

blackmail pressure on the CLC,
behind the backs of the members
who pay the shot, is now prop-
erly out in the open. The resolu-
tion adopted was a good one, as
far as it went. But it may be
necessary to go further at some
point and withhold per capita
‘from the International U.S. head-
quarters, while at the same time
making sure that the CLC share
of per capita is fully paid.
Leaders’ Responsibility .~

The leaders of the CLC too,.
must stop playing footsy with
U.S. union bosses and listen to
their Canadian members. Instead
of buckling under to the press-
ure and going to Washington,
they ought to have called in the
Canadian officers of the unions
concerned and requested them
to account fully for their actions.
Surely anyone seeking to sabot-
age the AFL-CIO in the same
manner, would quickly be called
to account.

Moreover, the CLC should
have taken the initiative in mak-
ing public the situation as it
developed so that Canadian
members of the unions concern-

ed could hayve-acted sooner on.

this serious matter.

~ increased

What about rail job
security in 1975?

By BRUCE MAGNUSON
Everything that has happened
in the last ten years points to
rationalization and
growing layoffs in the railway
industry. Yet, while job security
ranks high as an issue in most

union negotiations,. there is no

mention of this in the currently
projected 1-year contract for
1975 in the railway industry.
Why?

It‘ will be’remembered that job
security was one of the issues
left in the hands of Justice Em-

mett Hall to arbitrate when.

Parliament legislated the railway
-workers back to their jobs some
15 months ago. But when Hall
reported last January all he
would say was that a plan based
on the principle of attrition may
be possible for employees with
eight or more years of service,
‘but there were a variety of bar-

‘Tiers, including rigid craft lines

or rigid lines of jurisdiction. He
accepted a suggestion by both
the railway managements and
the unions that the matter be
delayed: Consequently it ‘was
laid over to June 30, 1974, so
both parties could: study -the
question and then meet again.

In the past decade productiv- .

ity has been increased to the
extent of making possible for the
railways to cut their non-operat-
ing staff in half. But those who
remained have not shared in
benefit of the productivity gains.

Emmett Hall made a point of
this fact by emphasizing that
railway employees have been

‘made to carry the-burden of

national policy. The cost of car-
rying out national policy has
come out of the workers pay,
instead of company profits. That
is a fact railway workers, and
indeed all Canadians, have to
recognize. :

The Executive Council of
the Young Communist
League. of Canada an-
nounced recently that Shane
Parkhill has been assigned —
to the duties of Organizer
for the YCL on a Canada
wide basis. =

Shane has been active in
the peace movement for
many years and joined the
-YCL about two years ago.
He was a candidate for the
Communist Party in the re-
cent federal election,
against former Minister of
External Affairs Mitchell
Sharp.

-YCL ORGANIZER

There has been no solution
offered to the job security issue.
Nor is there any mention of this
in the proposed railway settle-
ment. All indications are that
the railways are stalling on the
job security issue while prepar-
ing for more rationalization and
massive layoffs to come.

Layoffs—Order of the Day

With the economy sliding into
a_ recession, and with massive
layoffs already on the order of
the day, there is no way the rail-
ways are going to avoid this
crisis.

In the face of this situation
the railway companies are tak-
ing steps to secure their profits
by seeking an immediate 25 per-
cent freight rate increase.

But for the workers on the
railways, who suffered a 7 per-
cent erosion of the 1974 wage
dollar on account of inflation
there is a $350 lump sum to
cover only less than one-half of
their loss. After taxes are de-
ducted it will be even less, not
to mention the fact that a seven
percent raise should be incorpor-
ated into the wage rate of the
present contract before there
can even be any talk about the
needs of 1975.

for 1975, two-thirds of this is
in the form of a pre-payment, so
called; of an anticipated infla-
tionary erosion of the 1975 wage
dollar. The balance of five per-
cent will barely cover taxes,
pensions and other de? ictions,
leaving nothing for increased
productivity and to improve
living standard.

COLA a Farce

Because of the unique arrange-
ment for prepayment of COLA
in this way, it gives the appear-
ance of serving a double pur-
pose, first as a wage increase
.and then as compensation for
future cost of living rise.

This makes the COLA clause
in the proposed 1975 contract a
farce, insofar as it will be ap-
plicable only after living costs
have advanced more than 10
percent above the rise in the
first ten months of 1974. Even
then, only three-quarters of any
additional inflationary erosion of
the 1975 wage dollar will be
compensated for. Nor is. there
any concessions made on the
union demand that would tie
pensions to the consumer price
index.

All these, plus other ° short-
comings, combine to make this
contract an exceedingly poor
pattern for other negotiations
in 1975. 3

etn

THUNDER BAY — Striking Great Lakes a :
per Co. workers, :
bers of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2693 ‘ok

As for the 15 percent increase

- police after they blocked a Canadian Pacific train leaving th
Lakes wood yards last week. The train was carrying the mill's —
tion of newsprint made before the strike was called. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1974—Page 5