Vote affirms Federation policy

cont'd from pg. 1

“IT believe the most distinctive
characteristic of this Federation,
its policies and its leadership has
been and is, its class  con-
sciousness,’’ he declared. ‘‘I
believe that all of us and all of the
people we represent who work for
wages and salaries have a common
basic interest and a common in-
terest which is different from
employers, speculators and
professional people in our society.”

“Those of you who may believe
that things have changed, that
labor has arrived . . . should try
to change the unique nature of this
convention, to make it more like
other federations, limiting its
activities to functioning as a
legislative body, concentrating on

briefs and P.R. and trying to have

a better image and get along better
with employers and politicians.

oe Ets teas Johnston added,
stressing the central issue before
the convention, ‘‘those of you who
share my view that as working
people, we have a separate and
distinct interest, that the struggle
for economic and political power
has just begun, that the employers
and their politicians are going to
continue to try to get us, either
subtly or with a big stick; those
who share this view must use this
week to reinforce the peculiar
nature of this federation, to
reaffirm and strengthen militant
policies, to reaffirm strong, tough
and not necessarily polite
leadership and to give a clear
mandate for the next year and for
years to come that this Federation
is to continue to lead the fight of
working people for a fair share of
this province’s and this country’s
wealth and the fight of working
people for control over their
destiny through real political and
economic power, rather than token
recognition.”

The executive council report
echoed Johnston’s remarks and re-
emphasized the choice placed
before convention delegates
“‘whether to continue our primary

QUEBEC

cont'd from pg. 1

nations, including their right to
self-determination up to and in-
cluding secession; the recognition
of the binational character of the
state; and guarantees of the
language and culture of the two
peoples.

The working. class and
democratic movement on an all-
Canadian scale must exert every
effort to help achieve such a just
and democratic solution to the
crisis of Confederation. Failure to
do so can have grave consequences
for Canada and the Canadian

people. :
The Communist Party of Canada
is opposed to separatism.

Separatism can be defeated only
by truly democratic, truly national
policies. It will not be defeated by
chauvinism, racism, or arbitrary
dictatorial measures aimed
against the French Canadian
people. Nor will Canadian unity be
strengthened or reinforced as long
as monopoly remains in the saddle
and determines policy. For
genuine and not fake unity to be
achieved, far-reaching measures
of social reform, including genuine
redistribution of national income is
called for, as well as_ public
ownership of natural resources,
energy and the means. of
production.

The working people of Quebec
will hold the Parti Quebecois to
account. In order to successfully
- accomplish this and prepare the:
road for a genuine people’s
government in Quebec, the
working people should start now to
build a mass federated party of the

*

‘relations with the former

CY STAIRS =...
trade union principles.”

reliance on united industrial ac-

_tion, supplemented by an effective

political action program, or
whether to turn to some sort of
attempt to find favor with those
governments.”

The floor mikes were thronged
when the motion of adoption on the
report was put as supporters rose
to ensorse the report and critics
rose to attack it.

CUPE delegate Len Stair, who
had been one of those to walk out of
the executive council meeting,
called the report a ‘“‘negative one.”

Carpenters’ delegate Lorne
Robson immediately took issue
and affirmed the executive
council’s call for strong leadership.
“The officers have carried out the
policies of this Federation,’ he
declared.

Robson

took the offensive

against the critics of the executive .

and reminded the convention,
“prior to coming here today, we all
witnessed a press campaign,” a
reference to the fact that some
executive council members had
aired their differences with the

- Federation leadership in the daily

papers.
“Tt is never in labor’s interest

when issues are raised in the
employers’ press,’’ he stated,
adding that it was “‘no secret that
employers want to get at the of-
ficers of this Federation.”
Callng on delegates to give
support to the executive council
report, Robson noted that labor’s

-problems were ‘‘getting worse” as

a result of the economic crisis.

‘‘Under those circumstances, we
need a strong, united organization
to carry out policy more than
ever,” he declared.

CUPE delegate Dave Werlin
echoed the call for support of the
report and told the convention:
“The fundamental question is
whether this Federation is going to
be Canada’s most militant; the
issue is whether or not this
federation is going to fight anti-
labor legislation no matter who
introduces it.”

An irate Syd Thompson from the
IWA took the mike to renew the
attack on the council report, at the

same time firing a broadside into

the convention delegates who
supported Federation criticism of
NDP labor policies.

Thompson _ accused the
Federation officers of having
reached such a low point in their
NDP
government “‘that they weren’t
even on speaking terms with the
government they were supposed to

‘support.”’

He blamed the officers for
“bringing defeat to the NDP and
ushering in the dirtiest, rottenest
government this province has ever

been saddled with.”’

“Surely we're all part and parcel
of the NDP,’’ he thundered. ‘‘And
surely no one other than Liberals,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 19, 1976—Page 12

; “—Sean Griffin photo

“repudiate those who don't have the guts to stick to

Socreds and Communists will sit
here and say that we don’t want an
NDP government.”’

Earlier, IWA regional president
Jack Munro, one of the main
spokesmen in the campaign
against the Federation leadership,
had told delegates that the image
of the trade union movement was
“in the gutter’? — the result, he
argued, of the policies pursued by
Federation officers.

‘“‘We’ve got to speak with Some Socredor Communist who happen

god-damned appearance of being _ to disagree.
responsible people,” he declared. “The central question here
Munro’s outburst drew an angry __policy.”’

response from Building Trades
Council vice-president Cy Stairs
who cited the IWA leader for
“hypocrisy.”

He pointed out that Munro and
the others who have called for
“more responsible leadership’’
had carried out a campaign
against the Federation leadership
for some time before the con-
vention and put up their own
candidate long before the officers
met in caucus.

“There’s been a deliberate at-
tempt to split this Federation,” he
charged. “‘And I call on this con-
vention to repudiate those who run
to the boss’s press — to repudiate
those who don’t have the guts to
stick to trade union principles.”

Oil and Chemical Workers
delegate Buck Philp also
denounced the attack on the
Federation leaders and expressed
shock at the comments voiced by
Syd Thompson. “I didn’t think I
would ever hear brother Thompson
say that trade union principles
should be subservient to a political
party,’’ he said.

Fishermen’s delegate Homer
Stevens: also took issue with
Thompson, and said “‘it’s easy to
label everybody as a Liberal,

Faced with an impressive ar
of delegates in support of the
report, CUPE delegate Mik
Kramer who had also walked out 0
the executive council meet
attempted to turn the deb
around.

He accused the Federation 0)
ficers of “using the press to rip 0
the NDP”’ and insisted that la
should not have taken independent
action but “‘should have ironed ov
its differences with the NDP 2
home.”’

IBEW delegate Doug Cron
brought the debate back again and
reminded delegates that the issue
at. stake was the policy mandat
given the officers by the con
vention. “If carrying out thal
mandate means criticizing ou
friends — and I mean the NDP —|
then criticize we must,”’ he stat
- Fishermen’s delegate Georg!
Hewison emphasized the 1
portance of the policy directid)
outlined in the council report an@
reminded delegates that ‘we've
got two anti-labor governments qe
one in Ottawa and one in Victori

‘“We need unity such as we havé
not needed it before,’’ he declared:
‘And the executive council repor
forms the basis for that unity.”

‘Poverty’ laws blasted

cont'd from pg. 1

Though provincial right-to-work
legislation has only been hinted at,
Stoney reminded delegates that
Conservative MP Frank Oberle
has introduced a private members
bill inthe Commons which calls for
federal right-to-work laws. He said
that bill is before Parliament now.

Stoney said that several
American states which have this
-type of legislation can serve as
examples as what the effect of
right-to-work laws will be, and
referred the IWA’s ‘$1.18 less’
campaign — the amount being the
wage differential between states
with right-to-work legislation and
those which do not have this type of
legislation. He cited Arkansas, a
right-to-work state as an example
and told delegates that IWA

~members in that state are earning

only $2.95 per hour.

An even more striking example
of the effects of right-to-work
legislation was offered delegates
by Tom MeNiece of the Carpenters
Union. McNiece told the con-
vention that production workers in
Georgia, another right-to-work
state, earned an average of $3.88
per hour, while the average wage
in Washington was $5.22.

In addition to lower wages,
workers in areas where these laws
exist are forced to agree to
“outrageous clauses” in their
contracts, McNiece said. He cited
contracts which allow for no rest
periods, no travel time and many
other items the B.C. trade union
movement has won over the years.

“These are the agreements that
have to be signed where right-to-

_work laws exist, and if this type of

legislation is introduced in this
province, it will undermine every
collective agreement,’’ he
declared.

Lorne Robson, secretary of the
Provincial Council of Carpenters,
told delegates that right-to-work
movement is “‘particularly aimed
at the building trades.’ The con-
struction unions are already facing
dif ficulties in organizing
unorganized workers because of
the denial of information picketing,
and have been the target of non-
union contractors such as former
Socred cabinet minister Phil
Gagliardi.

Robson stressed the urgency of _

: Pegs -‘ethaes ascees
is ime he Seer

contribution of the B.C.
movement to the Serta :
National Day of Protest. Carr told

the delegates that ‘‘no matter wha
the prime minister says (and
has been saying very little), ™
matter what the labor minis
says, we're still the same mili
group that went out on October 1

maintaining a strong central labor
federation to lead the fight against
legislation such as the right-to-
work laws. “‘If anything is done to
change the policies of the,
Federation, it will hurt us all — and!
hurt us badly.”

The resolution adopted by the
convention delegates agreed with
the formation of a special com-
mittee to combat any legislation of
this type, and urged all local unions
and labor councils to ‘‘mount an
all-out campaign against
municipal politicians favoring
‘poverty’ laws.”

Several delegates, including
Port Alberni alderman Walter
Behn, and a number of COPE
candidates in Vancouver’s civic
elections, noted the importance of
the labor movement fielding and
supporting candidates at the civic
level who were pledged to oppose
uphold labor's rights.

Delegates had earlier been
congratulated by CLC executive
vice-president Shirley Carr for the

Join the ~~" Fenr
tO

She urged the conventio?
delegates to step up their ca’
paign against wage controls and
said that the CLC was urging
federations and labor councils
lobby members of parliament in 2?
effort to bring about an early end
the controls.

Carr referred briefly to the :
contentious policy dispute whiC
dominated much of the first day®
discussion and called upoal
delegates to unite after it has bee?
resolved. “We have our differenc& —
here, but when you’re outs!
you’re part of two million. We mu
act together. We have bigee ;
battles ahead of us.” Se

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