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ORGANIZING THE UNEMPLOYED: THE ‘80s

movement support

is the decisive factor

| Pro

| BY DAN KEETON

| Tre long lineups around the Franciscan
Ission in Vancouver every Friday tell it

Cais tter than any economic analysis —
like da is in another depression. And
the 30s, it may be a long one.

vpwith more than 200,000 B.C. workers
Icially’’ on the streets — the real figureis
of bably closer to 300,000, as people despair
eps work, stop registering at Man-
fig os Centres and are dropped from the of-
rate Statistics — and with the Canada-wide
Over the 2 million mark, the vast army of
NuDloyed increases monthly.
beg One of this is really new. Canada has

a | a recession since the beginning of the

| Grog

decade. Then, the official jobless rate for
oS, aed was six percent, and economic
turn was measured by a slowing of the

8 National Product growth rate, instead

= terms of actual decreases.

Ven then, organized labor was becoming
blan ed,- refusing to accept government
shments to the effect that Canada was

tnteteoing a minor downturn which, given

Dethe” would right itself in a few months,
the Ps a few years. ‘The dominant fact of
pee economic situation is unemploy-
ie Tead a leaflet issued by the Canadian
De tT Congress in 1972, under the heading
Bo a Full Employment Program.
d Ut with the advent of the 80s and the
: tic worsening of the jobless scene the
tine forward-looking elements in the labor
be Vvement realized something more had to
De done. Taking their cue fromthe last
of Pression, they began the formidable task
°rganizing Canada’s jobless millions.
at effort has borne the best fruit in
‘\-, Where, under the auspices of the B.C.
cils €ration of Labor and local labor coun-
hay, 25 “unemployment action centres
Th € been established across the province.
€y provide services ranging from soup kit-

and more giveaways to private in-—

chens and clothes exchanges through welfare
and Unemployment Insurance claims
counselling to political action.

Each centre is run by an unemployed
committee of the local labor council, and
named as such, with the exception of the
older organizations whose efforts led to the
formation of the first action centres.

The organization of B.C.’s jobless got its
kickoff in March, 1982 when the Oganiza-
tion of Unemployed Workers was formed in
a union hall in Port Alberni, the woodwork-
ing centre hardest hit by the depression.

The OUW took its name from an
organization active in the 30s. But unlike the
depression era, when trade unions were
scarce and usually inactive in areas outside
their own immediate interests, today’s
unemployment movement benefits from the
expertise and support of the trade union
movement.

“We're all IWA (International Wood-
workers) members laid off indefinitely from
the waterfront plants,’’ Bill Massey, one of
the original founders of the OUW and the
action centre, told the Tribune.

“‘We’re people trained in working class
work and who understand the problems
associated with organizing workers,’’ he ex-
plained. And, he noted, union support for
the centre is strong. Start-up funds were pro-
vided by the Port Alberni and District Labor
Council, and affiliated members provide
much of the material and financial backing.

A regular function of the Alberni centre
— temporarily interrupted during a move
from the basement of the [WA hall to new
quarters — has been the education sessions
in which the centre’s voluneers lead discus-
sions on the economic causes of unemploy-
ment.

Facts such as the domination of the world
economy by multinational corporations
make sense when one points out that
sawmills and pulp plants are closing down
because the companies have moved opera-
tions to low-wage areas such as Brazil and
the state of Alabama, said Massey. “‘People
really come around to a socialist way of

MAY DAY
@

FEATURE

TRIBUNE PHOTOS—SEAN

Unemployed march to legislature to demand action for.jobs, Apr. 9, 1983 (top); action
centre co-ordinator Kim Zander addresses jobless rally in Vancouver in February.

thinking — surprisirig in such a short period
of time.”

Part of the ability of the jobless organiza-
tions to attract and hold members rests in
their programs, presented as demands
whenever a jobless rally or protest is called.
The program of one group might differ

slightly from that of another, depending on .

geographical considerations — Port Alber-
ni, for instance, has key demands concern-
ing the forest industry — but the organiza-
tions agree that government action is need-
ed.

Some demands are short-term. Both Van-
couver and the Port Alberni call for an ex-
tension of UI benefits to include the full
period of unemployment, for an increase in
welfare rates to a minimum $650 monthly
for single recipients and for an end to the
“harassment”’ of recipients by officials of
both agencies. Port Alberni’s group
demands a moratorium on: mortgage
foreclosures, which happen almost daily in
that city where thousands of woodworkers
are on indefinite, and in most cases perma-
nent layoff.

But the movement as a whole emphasises
that the creation of jobs, not welfare, is the
real issue. They demand government in-
tervention in the economy, to end the anar-
chy of private corporate control. The Island
organizations stress a ‘‘use it or lose it’’
policy regarding tree farm licences, arguing
that corporations which close mills and
move operations elsewhere should lose their
TFLs, and their operations should be run by
a crown corporation. Measures such as a
massive reforestation program funded by
taxes on private corporations, and a
legislated end to plant closures are key
demands.

Full employment, the organizations
assert, can be achieved if the work week is
reduced to 30 from the current 40 hours per
week, with no loss in pay. And they demand
an end to social service cutbacks and the

establishment of large-scale public works
projects.

And, always central in the programs of
the jobless organizations, is the concept of
“unity with the trade union movement.”’

“Organized labor and the unemployed
have the same struggle against the same
boss,’’ said Don Lloyd, a leader in the B.C.
Coalition of the Unemployed.

Lloyd warned against attempts by the
Socred government, on behalf of large cor-
porations, to introduce “‘right to work”’
legislation, or any variant in that theme.
“They hope to bring workers to their knees.
There’s no question that the defense of all
workers rests On unity between trade
unionists and those out of work.”

Like several ot the other action centres
around B.C., Port Alberni’s provides ser-
vices ranging from ‘‘advocacy’’ — assisting
welfare and UI recipients in achieving
benefits from the often reluctant agencies —
and providing ‘“‘food on an emergency
basis’? according to centre co-ordinator
Dave Crosby.

The Alberni centre has also fought mor-
tgage foreclosures, picketing banks with
“information lines”’ until the bank agrees to
reduce the interest rate.

The centre also functions as a daily ‘‘drop
in’ place. “‘Right now it’s. probably the
busiest place in town. People come in and sit
around and b.s., and that’s important to
me,’’ said Crosby.

Crosby, who estimated that the centre's
volunteers had grown from a list of 15 or 16
last year to about 100, said the Alberni
organization was a ‘‘bit different’’ from
many other action centres in that ‘‘we are
also a pressure group.”

Massey also stressed the centre's growth
in numbers and importance — “‘we've
become a highly visible force inthe town™’ —
and its role as a political pressure group. The
OUW last summer formed the B.C. Coali-

See UNEMPLOYMENT page 13
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1983—Page 11

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