Continued from pg. 1

as Kamloops. Among them were
large contingents from the Car-
penters’ Union andthe In-
ternational Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, the most
sizeable of a host of trade unions
represented, buses from Simon
Fraser University and Capilano
College and from the Downtown
Eastside Residents’ Association.
One of the buses carried about 50
elderly Chinese, members of the
DERA senior citizens’ club.

The legislature was a curious
sight as the parade approached —
surrounded by army trucks and an
honor guard in full regalia, com-
plete with a cannon, to partake in
the ceremonies of the first day of
the legislative session.

Just as the last of the demon-
strators filed onto the crowded
lawn, the lieutenant governor’s
limousine pulled up to the front of
the legislative building. Premier
Bill Bennett appeared on the steps
of the building to greet Owen and
stood facing the huge crowd whose
chants drowned out the brass band
welcoming the lieutenant gover-
nor’s entourage.

Moments later Owen and Ben-
nett disappeared into the
legislature, locking the iron gates
behind them, and while the
government proceeded with the
speech from the throne, those
outside heard speakers talk about
their number one priority — jobs.

In spite of an invitation to ad-
dress the gathering, Bennett did
not appear again. Nor did he speak
to the unemployed from inside the

legislature, as the speech from the
throne contained no measures
aimed at job creation, and instead
reaffirmed the government’s
commitment to the status quo.

“You will be disappointed to
hear that there was nothing for you
in the throne speech,’”’” NDP MLA
Rosemary Brown later reported to
the demonstration, ‘“‘The struggle
goes on.”

If they were disappointed,
demonstrators were not surprised
at the government’s response, as
Thursday’s rally was the second
day of the Citizens’ Lobby For
Jobs. Wednesday, about 70 trade
unionists divided into 18 teams to
lobby MLAs about unemployment
and discuss with them the
Federation’s job creation
program.

It was only after considerable
pressure, however, that the lob-
byists were able to see members of
the government, although ap-
pointments had been asked for well
in advance. A questionnaire had
also been sent in advance and was
filled out by opposition members,
but only two Socreds responded. A
number of Socreds refused even to
see the lobbyists.

But if Wednesday’s
“discussions”’ failed to impress the
point on the government, Thur-’
sday’s massive demonstration
could be shunned, but not ignored.
“We've made our _ point,’’
Federation —_secretary-treasurer
Len Guy declared to. the rally as it
prepared to march back to the
buses, “It was a_ splendid
demonstration.”

1
— Sean Griffin photo

It took the better part of half an hour for the hundreds of marchers to
file onto the Legislature lawns, drowning out the government's
ceremonial pipe band with their chant: “We want jobs.”

Continued from pg. 1

Canada. He called for restrictions
to keep capital.in Canada ‘“‘to be
used to build industry and create
jobs here.”

“We can make plans for the
immediate,’’ Rankin said, ‘‘But we
are also going to have to decide
that this sytem is bankrupt. We
need to come back with 40 and 50
thousand people on this lawn, and
finally to win a government that
will have socialism first: on its
agenda.”

Rankin was
Downtown Eastside Residents
Association president Bruce

Eriksen who noted that the

Unemployment Insurance Com:

mission has dropped requirements —
for mandatory job searches. “The

reason for it,” Eriksen suggested,
‘was that employers didn’t like

being harassed by thousands of

unemployed.”

Eriksen said that in the three
years of the Socred government, —

small business failures have in
creased 119 percent, ‘‘There is 2
115,000 people out there who can’t
afford to patronize these

-businesses,” he said. ;
Other speakers included Mike —

Kaufman, spokesman for the

newly formed Greater Vancouver

Union of the Unemployed, John
Shields, president of the Victoria

Labor Council, George North of the _
B.C. Teachers’ Federation and
Gordon Bell, spokesman for the,

B.C. Students’ Federation.

Jurisdictional demands mar bank campaign

In my article on organizing
Canada’s bank employees pub-
lished in the Tribune of December
9, I concluded: “‘The Canadian
Labor Congress, with its great re-
sources in membership and
money, will be in the best position
to undertake the kind of a
sustained campaign the situation
calls for, provided no jurisdictional
quarrels develop among the af-
filiates.”’

I have been reliably informed
that the Office and Professional
Employees International Union
(20,000 members in Canada) and
the- Retail Clerks International
Union (50,000 members in Canada)
have refused to participate in the
national bank organizing commit-
tee of the CLC. The Office Em-
ployees have their head office in
New York and the Retail Clerks in
Washington.

The OPEIU is basing its jurisdic-
tional claim on a letter of under-
standing signed by its top officers
and the ranking officers of the
Canadian Labor Congress on

- October 16, 1972. That letter was
signed in connection with a pro-
jected campaign to organize work-
ers from what was described as
“the pure white-collar field, which
is defined as including banks,
finance, insurance and real estate
companies, home offices, stock ex-
changes and similar establish-
ments.”’ The main points of that
agreement were as follows:

e Charters were not to be issued
by the CLC where prospective
members indicated a preference to
join the OPEIU;

e The OPEIU was to. be
recognized as having prior juris-
dictional rights in the pure white-
collar field, subject to the pro-
visions of the CLC constitution;

e CLCcharters were to be issued
to single and original bargaining
units and not extended to other
cities in the same company or to
other companies whether or not in
the same industry;

e One hundred and twenty (120)
days prior to the termination of the

first contract and, if necessary,
succeeding contracts, the CLC was
to recommend to the affiliate that
the OPEIU be permitted to send
printed material to the members~
and meet with them, to solicit their
affiliation to the international
union. The agréement specifically
stated in point number five that
“The CLC representative would
take a similar position,’ which
meant he was to advocate affilia-
tion to the OPEIU;

e If the membership refused to

LABOR |
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

affiliate with OPEIU, the CLC was
not “to give any other affiliate
access to the transfer procedure;

e The terms of the letter of un-
derstanding were subject to 90
days’ notice of cancellation by
either party.

The letter was signed for the CLC
by Donald MacDonald, then
president, and William Dodge,
then secretary-treasurer. Howard
Coughlin, international president
and two other ranking officers
signed for the OPEIU. The Retail
Clerks were not directly involved
then, so we can only surmise that
their position in 1978 reflects a new
understanding with the OPEIU.

The record will show that the
1972 agreement did not result in
significant gains for organized
labor in respect to the major
chartered banks, the main in-
surance companies, the stock ex-
changes or similar institutions in
the private sector of the economy.

As we are given to understand,
the current leadership of the CLC,
in consultation with the leaders of
major affiliates, has decided that a
new effort will be made to organize
white-collar employees. But in-
stead of scattering their shots over :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 31, 1978—Page 12

the whole field they will con-
centrate on the five major banks.

This in itself is a formidable task
since it involves more than 145,000
full-time employees employed in
7,200 branches and a number of
central and regional offices.

The plan is to organize bank em-
ployees through a number of af-
filiates and then allow the bank
employees themselves to decide
their future status within the CLC.
The long-term objective is the es-
tablishment of a Canada-wide bank
union.

Whether the new union will be a
purely Canadian union within the
CLC, or whether it will become
part of the OPEIU or any other
union, should be for the bank
workers themselves to decide. The
1972 letter of understanding was
basically a commitment by the
CLC leadership of that time to
organize white-collar employees
pending their eventual transfer to
the OPEIU. Frankly, it is my

opinion that such an approach to —

bank employees of this time would
not bring the desired result.

The creation of a_ purely
Canadian union of bank employees
within the CLC would greatly
advance the struggle for an inde-
pendent, sovereign and united
trade union movement. The CLC
has branches of international
unions as well as Canadian unions
within its ranks.

The Canadian members of in-
ternational unions functioning in
Canada enjoy varying degrees of
Canadian autonomy. As _ the
Canadian unions in the CLC in-
crease their total membership, the
demand for more autonomy inside
the international unions becomes
more compelling.

Ihave never advocated, as some
do, that there be a magic road or a
shortcut to the establishment of a
purely Canadian trade union
movement with fraternal ties with
the workers of other countries,
including the U.S. It is a long and
complicated process.

However, we must never forget
that trade unions are working-
class organizations and that the

- working class cannot achieve its

major goals unless it is united.

Any obstruction by the Office
and Professional Employees’
International in alliance with the
Retail Clerks can only serve to
cause disunity and to diminish
greatly the possibility of a major
breakthrough in the white-collar
field.

The executive council of the CLC
represents more than two million
Canadian workers. Its re-
sponsibility is, first, second and
last, to advance the best interests
of Canadian workers.

In this case, the best thing it can
do, at least in my opinion, is to pro-
ceed vigorously with the
organization of a Canada-wide
bank workers’ union. Then, the
bank workers themselves could
freely decide their future af-
filiation.

It would be best if the OPIEU
and the Retail Clerks went along
with the CLC campaign, but if they
don’t, the campaign should pro-
ceed without them.

Organized labor can’t afford a
situation where Canadian workers
are denied the freedom of choice.
Neither can it afford to have this
organizational drive defeated by a

nasty, jurisdictional squabble. We
are dealing with the future of more

than 100,000 working people, not
pawns on a chessboard. bs

If the OPEIU and the Retail
Clerks do not see their way clear t0

supporting the CLC drive, they —
should at least do nothing to ob- —

struct its success.

When organized labor takes on 4

the five big banks in Canada, it iS:
challenging the concentrated
strength and power of the in
dustrial and financial interests
who dominate the economy of our
country. A _ divided
movement can’t do the job.
What we need is the kind of
vision, drive and concentration

demonstrated by the Committee

for Industrial Organization (CIO)

in the U.S. when it organized mass —

production workers in rubber,
auto, steel and other unorganized
industries in the 1930’s and ’40’s.

A successful campaign to or-

ganize the bank employees would |
inspire tens of thousands of other
white collar workers to join unions, —

and the OPEIU and Retail Clerks,
along with other unions, would gain
from this upsurge. Those trade
union leaders
narrow, jurisdictional claims to

the detriment of organized labor aS —
a whole do a disservice to the labor
movement, including their. own”

members.

Back the paper that fights for labor —
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