‘Friday, November 26, 1976 48 , No. 47 a VOL. 38 Callaghan. (See story). 80,000 in Britain ope a Sops Its 10,000 member-contingent forming the largest group in the huge _ March to the British Parliament last week, dem National Union of Public Employees voice their op 'N public spending advanced by the Labor gove ‘aaa FIGHT THE CUTS SAVE onstrators from the position to the cuts rnment, of James —Morning Star photo ‘demand: ‘End cuts’ |, LONDON, G.B. — An estimated ~ 80,000 people thronged the roads 4nd lawns outside the Parliament _ Buildings in Britain last Thursday h a8 trade unionists, pensioners and - Students demonstrated their op- Position to the austerity program of the British Labor government Which has advanced massive cuts N public spending as a means of Shoring up the crisis-ridden British €conomy, The march, headed by trade union leaders and left MPs, wound _lts way for hours from Hyde Park © Westminster with the largest Contingent — consisting of more an 10,000 people — made up of members of the National Union of blic Employees which will bear the brunt of the government’s Cutback program in the form of unemployment. At the end of the monster march, ©Monstrators lobbied MPs and Participated in a meeting at €ntral Hall, Westminster where ney heard various speakers and Signed their names by the Susands to the declaration Summing up their demands and denouncing the cuts in public Spending. Delegates to the B.C. Federation "ave unanimously endorsed. the Stockholm Peace Appeal calling 9r an end to the arms race. eae endorsement, passed at the €deration’s convention last week, Was contained in the report by the hternational Affairs Committee Which outlined the objectives of the Appeal and stated that while the toad to achieving these objectives Will not be an easy one,.. it Must be travelled if the world is to a safe place for future ; 8enerations. _, Wetherefore have no hesitation M endorsing the objectives of the Stockholm Peace Appeal,” the report said. “We believe that cuts in public spending are damaging to the social wage, irrelevant to. the solution of the economic problems facing Britain and lead to higher unemployment,” the declaration stated. : It added that the three series of cuts announced by the government of James Callaghan would mean severe reductions in jobs and services and would spark price increases as subsidies are with- drawn from food, and utilities. Speakers at the mass rally called for a change in government policy andend to the “social contract” by which workers’ wages are restrained andend to cuts in public spending. The nara was considered the largest lobby of Parliament since 1954 when thousands gathered to voice opposition to West German rearmament. | & avs 23 298) % we His leadership reaffirmed by accepts the applause from t 8 ‘a The fight to save the life of American Indian Movement ac- tivist Leonard Peltier has gone directly to justice minister Ron Basford, a spokesman for the Vancouver based Peltier Defence Committee said this week. The committee spokesman said that Peltier’s lawyers have decided not to appeal a ruling of the federal Appeals court which upheld an earlier decision that Peltier should be extradicted to the United States to stand trial for the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, and have decided instead to formally appeal to Basford directly. Basford must personally order any extradition from Canada. The first stage of the appeal was the submission of a 30-page brief to the-minister by Peltier’s lawyers, Stuart Rush and Don Rosenbloom. They are expected to meet with © Basford privately this week to discuss the content of the brief and to present verbal arguments, against the extradiction order. The brief to Basford accused the United States’ government of the “srossest misconduct’’ in -its handling of Peltier’s case and asked the minister to grant Peltier political asylum in Canada. Though the brief was not made public, a copy was obtained by the Vancouver Sun, and _ that newspaper reported that the brief stated bluntly that Peltier’s lawyers ‘“‘believe that the govern- ment of the United States has used every possible trick and deception to effect its purpose.” a 534-418 vote victory over challenger Art Kube, secretary-treasurer Len Guy he B.C. Federation of Labor convention Friday. Retired vice-president Don Dunphy (left foreground) conducted the election. = In the original extradition hearing before Judge W. A. Schultz, the U.S. attorneys presented two affidavits sworn by Myrtle Poor Bear in which she stated that she had witnessed Peltier shoot thetwo FBI agents he is accused of murdering. It was primarily on the strength of these two documents that Schultz or- dered Peltier deported. The submission to Basford states that American officials had in their possession a third affidavit, also sworn by Poor Bear, and dated earlier than either of the two ad- mitted in the extradition hearing, which states that she was not present at the shooting. Peltier’s lawyers said that this affidavit was deliberately sup- pressed by U.S. officials and only came to light at the trial of Peltier’s co-accused, -Darrelle Butler ‘and Robert Robideau. Butler and Robideau were acquitted following a five week trial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The brief stated: ‘“‘We must conclude that the U.S. government misconduct that has tainted’ so many trials of AIM activists in the U.S. has tainted the proceedings here in Canada as well. “The American government attorneys clearly subverted the course of justice in Canada by consciously suppressing this af- fidavit.’’ Peltier’s lawyers cited numerous cases of intimidation of AIM members on the Pine Ridge Reservation and pointed out that in the last three years, there have been more than 270 violent deaths on that reservation. This, they said, is evidence that the American government .has embarked on a see DECISION pg. 12 The tension that had dominated the week-long B.C. Federation of Labor convention finally broke last Friday as incumbent secretary- treasurer Len Guy, together with the other officers put forward on the executive slate, was returned’ to the leadership of the 230,000- member labor body. _Guy overcame challenger Art Kube by a vote of 534-418 — a margin greater than anticipated by even the most pessimistic of —Sean Griffin photo president and Kube’s supporters and an_ in- dication that the executive council had won new support during the course of the convention. The IWA’s Jack Munro, one of the chief architects of the Kube campaign, went unopposed for the position of first vice-president, but all other candidates which opposed the executive were defeated. Three other former members of the executive council, all of them major supporters of Kube, also went down to defeat in their bid for re-election. Incumbent John Squire led off the elections by defeating Ron Douglas for the position of second vice-president and the pattern was similar throughout as Don Garcia defeated Laraine Singler for fifth vice-president and Doug Cronk again defeated her for sixth vice- president. George Johnston, Bob Donnelly and Cy Stairs were not opposed for their respective positions of president, third vice- fourth vice- president. John Fryer, Mike Kramer and Erich Ewert were all knocked off ‘the executive council. Fryer had been fourth. vice-president. The first suggestions as to how the vote would probably go came early in the convention with the standing vote on endorsement of the executive council report, but intense and often bitter cam- paigning continued right up to the moment of election as challengers sought to turn out the Johnston- Guy leadership in order to alter the - course charted by the labor body, with less emphasis on its central role in leading the trade see NEW pg. 12