The executive council of the
AFL-CIO is a pillar of - con-
servatism. In its attitude to the
Soviet Union, the homeland of
socialism, it is nothing short of
reactionary.

This fact was driven home when
I read an AFL-CIO statement on
the Soviet trade union movement
adopted by the council a few
months ago. The following
quotation should prove my point:
“In the USSR, the so-called trade

unions are state institutions, in-.

cluding supervisors and managers,
formed to subject workers to a
discipline assuring the diligent
performance of the tasks assigned
by the state as employer.”

While Canadian trade union
movement has, in the main, taken
a better position on the USSR, it
should be recognized that some
leaders share the outlook of the top
bureaucrats of the AFL-CIO. Such
people stand in the way of closer
ties between Canadian and Soviet
workers, thus working against a
basic principle of trade unionism:
cooperation and solidarity among
the workers of all countries.

The Soviet trade unions have 113
million members in 30 industrial
unions. What George Meany and
his colleagues refuse to recognize
is that the role of these unions
under socialism is — despite some
similarities in day-to-day work —
fundamentally different from the
role of trade unions under
capitalism.

Under Soviet legislation, trade
unions are voluntary organizations
and operate in accordance with
their own rules. They do not have
to register with the state in order to

function. That disposes of one big
lie in the AFL-CIO statement.

But is it true that Soviet
management personnel belong to
the same union as workers in the
plant? Yes, itis true, but it must be
seen in the context of a developed
socialist society in which the plant
is publicly owned and in which the
managers, superintendents and
foremen are considered as em-
ployees working for the same
objectives as other working people.

When an American journalist
attended a Soviet trade union
meeting recently, he was amazed
when workers sharply criticized
the department superintendent for
failing to make sure the depart-
ment received necessary
materials on time. He was even
more astonished when the
superintendent quietly promised to
rectify the situation without delay.

While managers in the Soviet
Union are guaranteed the right to
manage and while their legitimate
orders must be obeyed, they
cannot get away with being ar-
bitrary or unfair. Fundamental
labor legislation guarantees the
right of all workers to participate
in the management of production
through their trade union and other
public organizations, people’s
control bodies, general meetings,
production conferences and other
forms of public activity.

Thus managers are held strictly
accountable to those whom they
supervise, and the unions have the
power to obtain the removal of
incompetent, arbitary or dishonest
managers.

There is no elite group with the

unchallenged right to manage
production and appoint its own
successors. In the Soviet Union,
everyone is guaranteed a job and it
is the duty of every citizen to work
for the welfare of society to the full
extent of his capacity. The over-
whelming majority of managers

library, and the distribution of
holiday reservations at reduced
rates.

Because the collective
agreement covers a socialist en-
terprise and every worker is, in
effect, a part owner, the
agreement will also contain

_ commitments to carry out the state

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS:

and superintendents have been
promoted from the ranks.

The cold warriors would have us
believe that there is no free
collective bargaining in the Soviet
Union but it is not so. The basic
provisions of the collective
agreements are determined by the
trade union central committees
jointly with the ministries and
government departments. Then,
collective agreements in detail are
negotiated for the employees of
every enterprise. Included in
enterprise collective agreements,
for example, are the following:

e Wage and bonus rates for all
categories.

© Scheduling of shifts.

e Safety measures and working
conditions.

e Care of children of the workers.

o The: work of the canteen and
club, the organization of amateur
art activities and various hobby
groups, the building of new
apartment houses and sport

facilities, books for the enterprise —

For 1978:

End wage controls
Stop Combines attack on UFAWU

No West Coast oil port
Full employment
Season’s Greetings from
officers and membership

United Fishermen & Allied Workers Union

Fraternal Season’s Greetings

To All Labor

VANCOUVER, NEW WESTMINSTER AND DISTRICT
BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 16, 1977—Page 16

J. BIDDLE - PRES.
C. SLOAN - SECT’Y.

plan, improve labor productivity,
improve the overall quality of

- output, reduce production costs,
- install new machinery and abolish

heavy manual operations. The
more products the enterprise
manufactures and sells over and
above the amount stipulated in the
plan, the larger will be the ad-
ditional profit that will be used to
expand production, to provide cash
bonuses for workers and to meet
cultural requirements.

To George Meany and company,
who enthusiastically uphold the
rule of monopoly capital in the
U.S., this means working for the
state. To Soviet workers, it means
working for themselves, because
the state is run by, and for, the
working people.

It should be noted that in the
USSR, as in other European
countries, both socialist and

capitalist, some vital questions,

such as hours of work, public
holidays, paid vacations and

_pensions are settled by legislation

rather than
bargaining.

A manager in a soviet enterprise
cannot discipline, transfer of
discharge an employee without-the
consent of the union.

by _ collective

The Soviet trade unions examine -

all designs for new factories and
other industrial enterprises and
advance their proposals with
respect to safety provisions, in-
dustrial hygiene and the placing

and operation of machinery. As a —

rule, their proposals are adopted.

Among the functions carried out
by the unions are the following:

e Supervision and observance of
labor legislation.

e Inspection of labor protection
and safety provisions. Unions have
broad enforcement powers.

e Organizations supervisions
over the construction of housing,
community centres, sports
facilities and libraries.

e Participation in

the .
distribution of housing ac- _

USSR: here is real workers’ control

commodation built by the state and
by industrial establishments.

What it adds up to in that
government bodies and economit
agencies have direct respot
sibilities to the unions, without
which they cannot tackle the majo!
social and everyday problems. The
unions, on the other hand, have?
responsibility to their members
whom they represent in economit
agencies and government bodies.
Members of union committees wh0
fail to take a firm stand on behalf
of their members will be subject t0
sharp criticism and removal from
office.

The role of the trade unions in the
Soviet Union is a classical example
of co-determination and workers
control under socialism. The fact
that the executive council of the
AFL-CIO is always knocking thé
Soviet Union is regrettable 4
mainly because it remains tht
official voice for some 14 milliol
trade union members in the U.S.
However, times are changing ané
the American labor: movement if
not immune to the new currents
sweeping across every continent.

The vast majority of the Soviel
people cannot remember a timé
when there was unemployment if
their country. Instead of knocking
the Soviet Union with its planned
economy, George Meany and his
colleagues should take up in 4
vigorous way the fight to eliminate
unemployment and poverty if
their own country.

"i

{

Holiday

Greetings

CAMPBELL RIVER
COURTENAY
AND DISTRICT
LABOR COUNCIL

4
g
YA

Seasons Greetings

Tae Local 213

International Brotherhood

of Electrical Workers
4220 Norland, Burnaby, B.C.

to the
labor

movement