ae TTT | Ree

Anyone who has spent much time at the bargaining
table will have been told innumerable times that wage
rates are too high, and that the resulting prices of our
products are too high to compete in the world market.
That contention has been repeated, in one form or
another, in good times and bad, decade after decade, for
as long as living man can remember.

A very little thought reveals the fallacy of that con-

tention. For the fact is that it is repeated, with equal
conviction, in all of the other capitalist countries. Since
the sum total of world exports must equal the sum total of
imports (since one and the same item is an export for the
country that sells it and an import to the country that
buys it) then it is impossible for all countries to
“‘compete’’, that is to sell more than they buy. If any one
country has a positive balance of trade — that is, its
exports exceed its imports — then, of necessity, all of the
rest of the world combined has a negative balance.
Otherwise the books wouldn’t balance.

Even from the point of view of a single country, there
is no such thing as pricing oneself out of the market.
Regardless of the comparative price levels existing be-
tween two countries, it is always possible to make profit-
able exchanges by trading goods that are relatively cheap
in country A, for goods that are relatively cheap in
country B, regardless of their absolute prices. In practice
the absolute prices tend to be mediated by fluctuations in

Bescomics
for you

the exchange rates between different currencies. For
example, if the Japan commodity A costs twice as many
yen as commodity B, whereas in Canada Commodity B
costs twice as many dollars as Commodity A, a smart
broker can buy $1,000 worth of A in Canada, ship it to
Japan where its yen price will buy twice as many units of
B, which in Canada are each worth twice as muchas A,
so the broker ends up with $4,000, regardless of the
relative price levels of the two countries.

Let’s see what has been happening to Canada’s
trade during the years when our capitalists have been
telling us that we are pricing ourselves out of the world
market:

In 1961 our trade surplus was $173-million
By 1964 it had quadrupled to 701-million
By 1968 it had doubled again to 1.5-billion
By 1970 it had doubled again to 3-billion
By 1980 it had tripled again to 8.8-billion

By 1983 it had doubled again to 18-billion
This year it is likely to exceed $20-billion.

As mentioned above, Canada’s huge trade surplus is |
only possible by virtue of the fact that other countries are |
experiencing trade deficits of equal amount. Moreover, |
our trade surplus has been growing steadily since 1961, |
and is now more than one hundred times what it was.in |_
that year. Therefore when capitalists, bankers or poli- |
ticians keep assuring us that we need to increase pro- |
ductivity in order to be more competitive, they may be |
sincere, but if so they are ignorant.

The composition of our trade is another matter. The
exports that contribute to our trade surplus consist
mainly of oil, gas, pulp and paper, raw minerals and
grain. Much of that is non-renewable, so that if we con-
tinue indefinitely to rely on export of raw materials, we
will one day be in serious trouble.

There is no good reason why Canada cannot develop |

secondary and tertiary industries. Indeed, ona per capi- }

ta basis, Canada is one of the world leaders in the
manufacture and export of automobiles and parts. While |
this is in part the result of the auto pact, and dominated |
by the U.S. big three, there is no reason why other
industries, based on the local market and trade with
other countries, cannot do as well. This however will |
involve a radical departure from the cut and run ap- |
proach of the present captains of industry.

6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 4, 1985

TORONTO — Canadian trade union
history will be made September 4 when
Canadian members of the United Auto
Workers open their Constitutional
Convention here. This convention is
the climax of the coming of age of
Canada’s newest Canadian union. The
pages of this paper have carried most of
the details leading up to the separation

is worth repeating that it was the inter-
ference by the International in the last
GM _ negotiations that was the final
straw that led to the split.

The main reason for the split was the
different direction the two sections of
the union were taking. Since the intro-
duction of concessions into Chrysler in
1980 the U.S. leadership of the union
has opted for class collaboration polli-
cies. Here in Canada the union tended
to move in a class struggle direction.

Most watchers of Canada’s trade
union movement will agree that in near-
ly all areas the role of the UAW has had
a most profound effect in Canada’s
union movement, from the fight against
concessions, to international solidarity,
and peace.

What is the significance for the rest of
the trade union movement of the
UAW’s move in Canada? First, it most
decidedly changes the balance toward |
Canadian unions and away from inter-
national ones within the Canadian
Labor Congress. This will help cut
down the possibilities of the import of
U.S. State Department policies directly
into Canada through international
unions, as happened during the ‘‘Cold
War’ when communists and left-wing
trade unionists were isolated and left-
led unions were expelled from Cana-
da’s central labor bodies.

Secondly it puts back on the agenda
of every international union in Canada
the question of autonomy. If there were
a place where peu;e go after they die
and are able to watch over us I’m sure
that Gordon Lambert long-time com-
munist and autoworker would be sitting
with a very contented look on his face.
Communists have fought for full Cana-
dian autonomy for Canadian workers in
international unions since 1921. The
move by the Canadian UAW is a wel-
come step toward a sovereign, united
trade union movement in Canada.

Thirdly,

oe ‘ : Autonomy has a particular affect on
from the UAW's international union. It the international Building Trades
unions. Traditionally these unions have
been the most conservative and are
now in the Canadian Federation of
Labor. All members of these unions are
closely following the UAW’s actions in
its constitutional convention.

the establishment of a
Canadian UAW opens up the possibil-
ity of a more united trade union move-
ment in Canada. Mergers have already
taken place with the UAW and there
are more in the cards. Because of the
UAW’s fighting tradition thousands of
unorganized workers have become
members of the UAW in this year

UAW's Robert White: has led the pro-°
cess to independence and will deliver
the main report to the convention.

UAW constitutional meet
History in the making

in Nova Scotia.

alone. With this kind of success maybe
the UAW should be given a chance to
try to organize the workers at Michelin

Sources also say that there soon will
be a concentrated drive to organize
more workers in Manitoba. The intro-
duction of the strong traditions and in-
fluence of the UAW will enhance the
Manitoba Fed in its ongoing work.

Greater democracy is an important
feature of the new Canadian UAW. The
convention will be asked to agree on the
setting up of a public tribunal to settle
internal disputes. This would prevent
situations such as occurred in Local

1005 USWA (Steel) when Cec Taylor
had to go through the courts to get rein-
stated as president. It’s rumored the
public tribunal would be headed up by
prominent Canadians such as Bishop
de Roo or June Callwood.

The idea is not new, the International
in the past used a public review board in
the “Jim Bridgewood’’ case. Bridge-
wood was removed from the office of
recording secretary of UAW Local 707
in 1968 because of his membership in
the Communist Party. The review
board ruled that the anti-communist
clause of the UAW’s constitution could
not apply to Canadians. The purpose of
the public tribunal is to resolve the in-
ternal disputes without having the state
intervene.

Another very important point that
has to be recognized is that the UAW in
Canada has always given solidarity to
other unions; this is the tradition and in
the coming months it will be compelled
to help and to seek the help of other
unions. This was very noticeable in the
Eaton’s struggle and is again in the cur-
rent Visa strike.

The creation of an independent
Canadian UAW also sets the stage for
upcoming battles. The first test of the
new union will be in October when the
Canadian UAW takes on Chrysler. If
there is a long strike, the UAW will
need the support of the whole Canadian
trade union movement to win. The
main issues are catch-up with GM and
Ford and common negotiations dead-
lines for the big three in Canada.

I’m told there will be more guests
than delegates at the UAW’s Constitu-
tional Convention with a mass of media
coverage. Owen Bieber, president of
the International UAW, has been asked
to address the convention in a show of
unity. At this point, the union has not
yet heard whether he’ll accept.

All eyes will be on Robert White,
Canadian Director of the UAW in
‘Canada (and soon to be elected leader
of the new union) when he gives his
opening remarks to the convention. It’s
sure to contain something for the whole
trade union movement to follow.

Gordon Lambert, well-known com-
munist and autoworkers’ leader was a

long-time advocate of independence
and autonomy.

No matter what happens, September
4 will be remembered as the day Cana-
da’s trade union movement finally
came of age.