Dolores Ibarruri, ““La Pasionaria’, exiled president of the Communist
Party of Spain, has applied for the second time for a passport to return
to her native country. Refused earlier, she applied this month from
Moscow where she has been in exile since the end of the Spanish Civil
War.

Federalist policy will
worsen crisis says CP

cont’d from page 1
party, even though there are those

in the NDP who want to associate.

the NDP with the PQ,’’ Morgan
warned. “It is clearly a_petit-
bourgeois party that represents the
middle class of Quebec. It is not a
party of workers and it will not
represent workers.”

The Communist leader noted
that the PQ came to power with the
support of working people who
opposed the corruption of the
Bourassa government, but that it
would soon be in conflict with the
labor movement, both with regard
to its labor policies and on the issue
of separatism.

Suggesting that it may seem
contradictory to many Canadians,
the CP’s central committee stated
that the battle against separatism
would be won largely in English
Canada, and not in Quebec.

Only when the people of English
Canada are won for the recognition
of the national aspirations of
French Canada will a new ap-
‘proach to the crisis of con-
federation be developed. “The
continuation of federalism, the CP
warned, poses the question of
Canada’s survival as a country.

The CP also stressed that the
crisis could lead to a Tory victory

in the next federal election. If
Conservative leader Joe Clarke
were to make good on his threat of
force against Quebec, it could
result in civil war and would
transform Quebec into . a
“Lebanon”’ or “Northern Ireland’.

The Conservative “get tough”
position and the proposal to
decentralize authority to the
provinces has attracted the sup-
port of both the Lougheed govern-
ment in Alberta and the Social
Credit government in _ this
province.

The extreme regionalism ex-
pressed by the Lougheed and
Bennett governments together
with the media campaign
throughout the western provinces
to popularize the concept of
“western separatism’’ have un-
derscored the CP’s warning that
the solution to crisis of con-
federation will be determined in
English Canada.

The campaign for western
regionalism is designed to un-
dermine public support for the
national aspirations of French
Canada and has focused attention
on provincial grievances with

‘Ottawa, in the process, creating

further divisions in Canada and
adding another threat to the sur-
vival of the country.

‘Democratic majority’
sought in Indian vote

cont'd from pg. 1

common people, the peasantry and
the democratic forces. And there
were people within the ruling
Congress Party who sought to
weaken even the parliamentary
democratic system on one pretext
or another.”

The CPI leader specifically
pointed to the enormous pressure
that the World Bank and other
capitalist forces are putting on
India’s government to reorient the
economy towards export
production. He said that this would
tie India to the U.S. and the
multinational corperations.

He said that more and more
concessions were being made to
international and domestic

capitalism under emergency rule.
Parallel with this, he emphasized,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 25, 1977—Page 12

the 20-point economic -reform
program and land reforms were
shelved, workers’ bonuses were
cut off and workers were denied
promised cost-of-living allowan-
ces.

Rao stated that India’s. Com-
munists had repeatedly protested
these policies to prime minister
Gandhi and other top officials of
the ruling Congress Party but no
changes were made.

The struggle to win back those
programs as well as to extend
economic ‘benefits will be a major
part of the CPI’s campaign in the
March vote.

This year’s elections have been

seen as particularly difficult as~

four right wing parties have joined
forces in a bid to win a majority.

The International Woodworkers
of America, the largest union in
British Columbia, will hold its
regional wage and contract con-
ference over this weekend.
Delegates from every local in B.C.
will hammer out demands for the
coming round of negotiations.

The coast master agreement,
involving 28,000 workers, expires
June 14, along with the agreement
for independent forest companies
on the coast involving 2,500
workers. The southern Interior
negotiations, with three IWA locals
and 6,000 workers, ends June 30.
The North Cariboo agreements,
with 2,700 workers, expires August
31.

June 30 will mark the end of the
current agreements between 12,700
pulp and paper workers repre-

sented by the Canadian Paper .

Workers and the Pulp, Paper and
Woodworkers.

A number of local agreements
covering several thousand workers
will also expire from June through
August.

In addition, some smaller
bargaining units, represented by
the Carpenters, Office and
Technical Employees, Operating
Engineers, Electrical Workers and
other unions will terminate in the
next few months.

All in all, close to 50,000 workers
are directly involved. These
negotiations will play a key role in
determining the area of settlement
far beyond the forest industry.

One of the first questions that
comes to mind is whether the [WA
and the two pulp unions, which
have to deal with the same handful
of giant companies, will be able to
unite by adopting ‘common
demands and by co-ordinating
their bargaining strategy. Ob-
viously, it would be to the ad-
vantage of all workers in the in-
dustry and the labor movement as
a whole if they could do so.

The fact that Reg Ginn,
president of the Pulp, Paper and
Woodworkers, has been publicly
quoted as favoring negotiations
within the guidelines of the federal
wage control program will not help
the situation. However, as the
largest union, the IWA should do its
best to come up with a program
that will offer a sound basis for
uniting all workers in the industry.
Failure to do so could lead to a
continuation of the unfortunate
division and disruption that
marked the negotiations in 1975.

Gerry Stoney, president of the
New Westminster local of the IWA,
wrote as follows in the December,

— 1976 issue of The Chipper:

“We will be faced on one side by
a government which has legislated
wage controls and will undoubtedly
restrict the IWA’s ability to
negotiate the settlement our
members are entitled to and that

our employers can afford to pay.

“On the other hand we have an
industry that is already crying
crocodile tears about their poor
financial conditions and their
inability to compete on a world
market. These two opponents will
leave the IWA no alternative but to
devise new strategy and moves to
convince our employers that we
are entitled to a fair share of the

"wealth that we produce.”

Stoney pointed out that the wage
and contract conference will be the
second one to include the coast,
southern Interior and northern
Interior locals of the IWA and that
one of the goals will be one set of
negotiations to produce a master
agreement. |

Judging by published reports
from a number of IWA locals,

proposals submitted to the con-
ference will include the following:

e A substantial wage increase.
One dollar an hour is the most
quoted figure;

eA shorter work day or a
reduced work year, to minimize
layoffs and unemployment, and a
guaranteed number of days work

per year;

e@ A fund to supplement unem-
ployment insurance benefits;

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS.

e Improvements in welfare

provisions ;
e A better COLA formula;

@ Payment for overtime beyind
four hours in one week to be given
as time off;

e Improved working conditions;

e Contractors and sub-
contractors and owner/operators
to adhere to the union agreement;

e An improved pension plan.

All of these proposals and many
more have been submitted to the
wage and contract conference,
demonstrating that the mem-
bership expect to win substantial
improvements in wages, working
conditions and benefits. Given the
correct leadership, substantial
gains will be made.

The question of worker-directors
will also be debated, in response to
anumber of proposals like this one,
submitted by Local 1-71:

“That we demand all major
companies immediately make
room for worker representation
(union members) on their Boards
of Directors.”

Worker directors would have no

real authority or power and at bes!
they would have the choice 0
rubber-stamping the decisions ?
corporate boards, or serving aS
token opposition. Any ideas thal
management would become molt
humane or more generous to lab!
is a pipe dream — particularly !
the areas of major concessiol
involving a cost factor or ti
surrender of management righis ;
The concept of worker-directo®
and co-determination has be@ s
widely applied in West Germall) t
and elsewhere in the Europea! |
Common Market, but it has no
advanced the basic interests of tf j
working people. It has 1
strengthened the trade unions #
had any major influence on ®
vestment. The primary aim of
employers in entering into sv!
schemes is ‘to utilize the trad
union movement to increase
exploitation of the working clas
Labor must insist on a decisi¥®
say on all matters of vital concel!
to it. To achieve this objecti¥® {
monopoly power must |
restricted by extending trade unid! i
rights, including the right ©
workers to run the economy at
plant level and in the country as! '
whole. This means that the scope
collective bargaining must
widened to include such questio®
as: economic and social policy
technological change; investmé
policy; safety and health; movill
or closing of plants and manpo
training and planning. In short, tht
emphasis should be placed ®
putting more rights in
collective agreement rather, ©
stead of placing a worker with #
power on the board of directo!
-The IWA, as the largest union i!
the province, can spark the wh
labor movement if it adopts”
fighting program along these ines
combined with a determination
negotiate and fight on the basis
the workers’ needs and not on ©
basis of accepting the wag
guidelines laid down by
Trudeau government. '
——

SUNDAY, MARCH 6"

ELIZABETH
x | PLAYHOUSE
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