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UAW SUSPENDED

What happens now?

By WILLIAM ALLAN DETROIT

The 1.6 million member Unit- €d Auto Workers Union is sus- Pended as an affiliate of the AFL-CIO because of falling be- hind three months in payments Of per capita taxes which were due May: 1. The recent UAW Convention authorized the with- Olding of per capita taxes to the AFL-CIO and the placing of Such funds in escrow accounts.

The withholding came about a part of the long struggle by auto workers union to get the AFL-CIO leadership off dead

Center, into a program of organ-.

izing the unorganized, internal democratic reform and to play a Progressive, peaceful role in the Community, national and world affairs. Also to end the coldwar- ism, anti-Communist thrust of AFL-CIO president George

eany and his “foreign affairs” Minister, Jay Lovestone. To all

Of which Meany and his cohorts

tied to the Johnson Administra- tion, said “No”.

Here in the center of the UAW’s strength (750,000 mem- ers in Michigan) it’s learned from sources inside the auto Workers and other unions of What can happen to the UAW Now that it is suspended.

One UAW source told this re- Porter, “We are looking for friends in the rest of the labor Movement and will be busy at that”. Also, “We are starting to build Community Action Coun- Cils which will be a place where all other sections of labor can J0in with us in community ac- tion on the UAW’s programs of helping the poor, organizing the Unorganized, working on the Peace issue, joining in the 1968 ieetion .activities, participating N the black liberation move- Ment and many other needed Social needs”.

“What do you expect will be the next step of Meany?” we asked

“Possibly a letter to all state and central labor bodies saying

that UAW members cannot hold elective posts and that we are not eligible for membership in these bodies because of the per capita situation.

“And after that, any other moves by Meany?” was the next question we asked.

“Yes, we think that within 30 to 60 days, Meany will call a special convention of the Indus- trial Union Department (IUD) and order the removal of Walter Reuther, president of IUD and the UAW) for the same. reason that UAW members can’t hold office in state, county AFL-CIO Councils”.

“What does the UAW intend to do on this?”

“Well, we will fight to stay in the general stream of the labor movement. Also we will organ- ize Community Action Councils so that our members will have a chance to work with the grass roots forces. About the IUD, we'll wait and see what hap- pens,” said the UAW source.

Meanwhile UAW president, Walter Reuther, vice-presidents Leonard Woodcock and Pat Greathouse, paid a visit to the president of the International Brotherhood of Frank Fitzsimmons in his Wash- ington office.

The discussions at the histo- ric meeting, taken at the initi- ative of Reuther, centered around continuing cooperation between the two. giant unions, the UAW with 1,600,02 and the Teamsters with 1,992,000 mem- bers.

Reuther, facing expulsion from the IUD, and his locals from state, county AFL-CIO bo- dies, wants to seek support from the Teamsters for joint action in Community Action Councils the UAW intends to start when Meany makes his moves.

This could also bring the powerful Building Trades locals, close working partners with the Teamsters, into joint political and other actions with UAW and Teamsters. Such a combina-

‘Teamsters, ‘

tion would far outdistance in power, influence and finances, the remnants of the AFL-CIO councils left when UAW locals are suspended.

Leaving Teamsters headquart- ers in Washington in a closed car, Reuther wasn’t spotted by newsmen who had no inkling of the historic meeting.

He stepped on a plane then for Turin, Italy, where he led a delegation to a sixth world auto meeting sponsored by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). At that meeting Reuther will speak on “New Horizons for World Auto Labor’.

From that meeting, he will journey to Frankfort, Germany, for another meeting with metal workers. A delegation from there will go to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Vic Reuther, brother of Walter, will lead the visitors. Then he, pos- sibly with ‘others, will visit the Soviet Union.

OUR SENIOR CITIZENS _ ARE PAWNS—TLC ~

“The senior citizens in Toron- to are being given less conside- ration than the animals in the zoo,” said Murray Tate, vice- president of the Labor Council of Metropolitan Toronto in speaking to a resolution calling on Ontario Premier John Robarts to “stop immediately any move- ment of old people out of Met- ropolitan Toronto for financial reasons.”

Delegates unanimously adopt- ed the resolution which speaks of the ‘disgusting, callous action of the Metro Toronto Welfare Department in making pawns of our old people.”

Jim Herdman of the restaur- ant workers union said the ac- tion was “deplorable and abomi- nable” and that the old people should be allowed to live and die in the city where they spent their lives, where their family can see them, and where they paid taxes during their working years.

Nursing home operators are boosting the rates as of June Ai and people between the ages of

vantaged minorities.

LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS

In many cases, generations of discrimination and neglect have produced a level of poverty and inequality which human rights legislation is not adequate to over- come. Large numbers of Nova: Scotia Negroes, Prairie Metis, Northern Eskimos and most of Canada’s Indians fall into this category. Even if all formal racial discrimina- tion were to disappear overnight, very few of the tremen- dous number of unemployed Indians, for example, would be able to secure employment. The reason for this is that very few of them have had the background, training, and education which would. equip them to succeed in the labor market. Thus what is required is not merely the ab- sence of discrimination, but also the presence of positive programs which would help the Indians and other disad-

Organized labor has a role to play in assisting In- dians, Eskimos and others in achieving their just place in Canadian life. It must place its experience in legislative representations, in organizational methods and ir collec- tive bargaining at their disposal as part of its own contri- bution toward the development of human rights in Canada.

—From Human Rights Statement of Canadian Labor Congress

70 and 93 are being threatened by a move to Bowmanville by

the welfare department since.

the province has refused to pay anything more.

Clive Ballantyne of the Brick- layers in also denouncing the action said that this underlines the necessity of the homes com- ing under public rather than private enterprise.

Turning to the question of labor political action in relation to the upcoming federal elec- tion Council voted $2,000 for the NDP, put orf a full-time po- litical co-ordinator and agreed to all out efforts to mobilize labor for the campaign.

Stressing the need for issues not the image (‘‘we are being asked to vote for a Napoleonic Haircut,” said one delegate) the delegates loudly applauded Bal- lantyne when he said that a worker who votes for the Tories or Liberals is as much a scab as the man who crosses a picket line.,

Philip Robichaud, delegate from Local 27 of the Carpenters Union said that while he did not often speak in Council meetings, this time he wanted to stress, as a French-Canadian, the need to stop Trudeau who is “selling disunity right across the coun- ry.” The delegates also called for protests to the CBC over the fir- ing of Bruce Rogers, NDP can- didate in Toronto-Parkdale and to CTV over its refusal to in- clude NDP leader T. C. Douglas in the debate. On the latter they pointed out that “in Toronto, one of the country’s largest viewing areas, the Conservative party is the minority party.”

A more serious approach to municipal elections was also projected at this meeting. The municipal committee report pointed out the problem of en- dorsing candidates who later vote contrary to labor’s views. The Council agreed to periodic meetings in the buroughs and the city to really keep abreast with the issues at the municipal level.

alf dewhurst

ne campaign by the B.C. ishermen’s Defense Committee or amnesty for the jailed lead- €ts of the United Fishermen and lied Workers’ Union is win- Ning wide support in the labor Movement. Proof of this was € unanimous decision of the anadian Labor Congress con- Vention instructing Congress Officers to work for this goal. To win a remission of sent- €nces for President Steve Stav- €nes and Secretary Homer Stev- Ns, serving one year terms on

8 injunction conviction, will

Not be easy. For it means buck- Ng the anti-labor, big employer ~Stablishment which put them iN jail last November as an ob- J€ct lesson to the trade union Movement right across the Country,

; However, a successful’ fight Or amnesty would serve as an Object lesson for the big employ- Pe and anti-labor courts which ‘fample on the cause of justice M their haste to serve the inter- sts of big business. Th

Amnesty for Fishermen's leaders

€ campaign for amnesty has |

to be seen as part and parcel

of the anti-injunction struggle. It is, by this token, a fight for the right to strike which is the heart and soul of free collective bargaining. And, free collective bargaining is a guarantee of de- mocracy in the work-places of the land.

Amnesty can be won if the labor movement across the coun- try will throw the full weight of its united determination into the fight. Wires, letters, resolu- tions and petitions demanding amnesty should pour into the office of Prime Minister Trudeau, the would-be-architect of a just society in Canada. They should pour also onto the desk of the attorney-general. Let the new Liberal regime be put to the test of action before voting day.

Let the new Tory hopeful, Mr. Stanfield, be put to the test as well. Ask the leader of the NDP, Tommy Douglas, to press hard- er for the unconditional release of the Fishermen’s leaders. Ask the leader of the Communist Party;.:Bill Kashtan,, to. do, the

same. Put every candidate in every riding on record as to where they stand on this just demand.

The biggest assist of all could come from the officers of the CLC. They, in the spirit of the recent convention, could make this campaign an occasion to. recommend favorable action by the executive council on the application of the Fishermen’s Union to the CLC. Such an ac- tion could well be decisive.

The CLC convention wanted the Fishermen in. There can be little doubt on this score, even though the refered resolution on this question never found its way back onto the fioor. The only argument put up against the convention taking such ac- tion was that it could harm merger discussions presently underway between the Fisher- men’s Union and the United Packinghouse Workers. Many delegates argued otherwise. They maintained that taking the Fishermen in would facilitate the discussions. pyre sips

Reason suggests that the lat- ter point of view is more sound. For it is evident that both unions are interested in streng- thening the bargaining position of the workers in the food pro- cessing. industries which they represent. Otherwise there would be no discussions underway. But both unions have to make sure that the particular bargaining interests of their respective members are taken fully into account and fused with the general interest during the pro- cess of merger.

Because of the complex na- ture of the fishing industry a number of sectional interests have to be taken into account in processing merger. And this could be a time-consuming busi- ness. But, if pursued with patience, a mutually beneficial merger can result. From this standpoint it would be to the advantage of all parties desiring

merger that both unions stand

on equal ground as affiliates of the CLC.

This contribution _ the

to

strengthening of the organized labor movement can be made only by the CLC. It is to be hoped that it can be made soon.

The anti-injunction fight, the affiliation of the Fishermen’s Union to the CLC, the merger discussions between the two unions in the food processing industry, and the unconditional release of the Fishermen’s lead- ers all bear on one another. In a particular sense, though, the campaign for amnesty holds at present the key to advance all along this line. .

It is the two top officers of the Fishermen’s Union who languish in jail. They were given a year, without any re- mission of time off for good be- haviour, as an act of big busi- ness defiance of the trade union movement. That defiance can be given a sharp rebuff with the unconditional release of Steve Stavens and Homer Stevens. This in turn will serve, in a most dramatic way, the process of unification of the labor move- ment. : aoe

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 24, 1968—Page 5”