ee aa ot eee Labour Dave Werlin, past president of the Al- berta Federation of Labour, and candidate for leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress at its last convention, addressed a Tribune forum Sept. 14 in Toronto. The evening was billed as “Canadian Labour and the Fightback,” a left discus- sion. The meeting had over 60 participants and focussed on two main issues: the recent Ontario election and the CLC. Concems regarding the problems fac- ing the NDP were first and foremost in the minds of the lefties. Many of course shared the concem about leaders of the people’s movements being “co-opted” into the NDP unconditionally, and the possibility the labour movement would censor itself for fear of embarrassing political friends. Important points were made around the attitude of the left to the election of the NDP government of Dave Barrett in B.C. in 1972. When Dave Barrett’s photo was featured on the front page of Time Mag- azine under the title “Dave Barrett: the Salvador Allende of the North,” com- munists and others in the left scoffed at the comparison. (Allende was Chile’s Social- ist president overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup in 1973.) Forum tackles issue of labour and NDP John MacLennan LABOUR IN ACTION Se ree ee: The other night, some of these people, including activists in the B.C. trade union movement, aided by hindsight, spoke about the left’s own sectarianism towards the NDP, and how many just sat back to watch it go down the tubes. Not that the left was responsible for the NDP losing its re-election bid, but the point was made that the left didn’t use its in- fluence to mobilize the labour movement as a counter balance to the big business pressures. The Time magazine issue was a signal to B.C.’s business community, the transna- tional corporations, and the old line parties to get their act together and rid the province of the New Democrats. The campaign played no small part in the uniting of the right in our west coast province, as Liberals and Tories came together under the banner of Social Credit to block social democracy from re-elec- tion. (Werlin noted, however, that some of the important social legislation introduced by the Barrett government was still in place, and was the focal point around which people in the B.C. Solidarity move- ment mobilized in 1983.) The other timely event that coincided with the Tribune forum was the CLC’s Action Plan 1990-1992, adopted by the executive council. Ithas the right mix of parliamentary and ~ ‘defeat the short term corporate agenda on extra-parliamentary actions. It lays out times, dates for workshops, lobbies, dem- onstrations and other protest activities to specific issues, and their political allies (read Tories) at the ballot box. An important idea stressed was that for its implementation, the plan will need bodies. The Communists and the left must do their share. And the left must find a way to be involved. The last point that has to be made on this score is that sometimes this paper, includ- ing this column, have gone overboard in praise of planned CLC actions, only to be let down when they weren’t implemented. The question now is: how can the left in the trade union movement use its influence to help the leadership implement the pro- gram? And implementation is decisive. The program lays the basis for the defeat of the Tories in 1992 or even before that date if there is a political crisis. This was a timely forum, which pro- vided a good opportunity for an exchange of views and experience. It would good to have more gatherings where other issues could be discussed by the left and com- munists. Woodworkers challenge Mexico free trade link Plans by the federal Conservative gov- emment to join talks with the United States and Mexico over a trilateral free trade deal were strongly opposed by angry wood- workers at the fourth annual convention of TWA-Canada on Sept. 26. In a telegram to Trade Minister John Crosbie the union said the deal as conceived would import Mexico’s “appalling, in- human” working conditions into Canada. But the union itself came under some criticism from the floor for its failure to adequately address the need to fight free trade, during the convention in Vancouver last week. In the telegram IWA-Canada president Jack Munro told ‘Crosbie the delegates “strenuously object to your government's announced intention to pursue trilateral neg- Otiating toward a so-called free trade agree- ment with the U.S. and Mexico.” “Mexican workers toil under appalling, inhuman conditions, with some of the low- est wages and worst worker safety and en- vironmental conditions in the world,” he Stated. Munro charged the federal government with betraying workers by reneging on its promise of full adjustment programs to deal with the massive layoffs that have followed in the wake of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. “Many of our members, in the furniture industry and elsewhere, are the direct vic- tims of that betrayal. And as the export of redwood logs from California to Mexican sawmills shows, many more would be vic- timized by the latest proposal.” In an address to the convention, B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Geor- getti warned that under the increasing glob- alization of capital, plants are increasingly located in countries noted for low wages and no unions. “We should expect from our government, from our nation, an expectation that the na- tions we trade in, that the workers in those nations enjoy the same standards that we enjoy,” he said. : “We have to eliminate those levers that the capital community uses.” Georgetti noted that 165,000 jobs have 8 + Pacific Tribune, October 1, 1990 been lost due to free trade, and he slammed the federal government for allowing high interest rates, which he said have “put our export market into a tailspin.” And he slammed the Socred government for presiding over the demise of the forest industry in B.C. Instead of insisting that the companies diversify, “this government has done nothing but encourage the export of two by fours and pulp.” The B.C. Fed president placed hope in the New Democrats, saying that at the last provincial convention NDP leaders pro- mised “fair labour legislation” when elected. And he envisioned a time when NDP premiers from B.C., Saskatchewan and Ontario would force Ottawa to enact fair income tax laws. Munro and some delegates echoed the line of promoting the NDP as a solution to problems. But delegate Ray Fleming from Local 1-85, noting the union’s growing anger over plant closures by the New Zealand-owned Fletcher Challenge, urged worker action as well. “Sure, we have to change the govern- ment, but we have to take every goddamn local within the [WA together on this ... and we’ve got to take these sons-of-bitches on.” The union officers’ report outlined plant closures, strikes and various benefits the . TWA-Canada has been working for across Canada. But it drew criticism from one dele- gate. Local 1-80 member Lyn Kistner said the report “lacks some depth and does not indi- cate to the convention the severity of the crisis we're in.” He said the report gave only casual men- tion of the Free Trade Agreement in a few paragraphs relating to plant closures and tariffs. “But free trade is not just about tar- iffs. It’s about our sovereignty, our social fabric as a country,” including social pro- grams, Kistner said. Kistner said the IWA-Canada “must be- come more vocal about the free trade and the devastation of our membership.” He called for an emergency resolution “to put us on the clear path of a fightback in the next year.” of restraint. Kate Deakins (I), Min Yao and Muriel McRae maintain picket line outside Dundas Street campus of Vancouver Community College on Thursday. The members of the Vancouver Municipal and Regional Employees Union are picketing all campuses in an effort to move the college board back to the bargaining table. The union says the parties are only a couple of percentage points apart on wages, which it says were seriously eroded during eight years Munro urges legislation Continued from page 1 that Fletcher Challenge would not lose tim- ber rights over the closure of the “anti- quated” Fraser Mills operation, but said he told the company it would lose such rights if it shut down Delta Plywood. Munro in his speech said that was good news, “but it comes just before an election.” “The stark reality is that it was a Socred government that a few years ago removed the clause in Tree Farm Licence agreements requiring that the timber be issued to supply named manufacturing plants,” he reminded delegates. The union was to discuss forest policy resolutions at press time, Sept. 27. Resolu- tions tendered for debate called for the development of a “value-added” industry — diversification of forest products — pressed the provincial government to immediately ban raw log exports, and demanded a royal commission on forestry. Munro slammed current high interest rates imposed by Bank of Canada governor John Crow and supported by federal Finance Minister Michael Wilson. He said the high rates “greatly reduce the overall demand for wood products.” “Second, they drive up the value of the Canadian dollar, and therefore of the price of our product on foreign markets... third, they greatly increase the cost of capital in our operations,” Munro said. The IWA-Canada president said the ap- parent cancellation of a fall election means a spring session of the legislature can be called to pass legislation “that introduces into all major timber tenures court-enforce- able links between having timber rights and the supply of a minimum number of good (union) jobs.”