“the 13

are

IN TERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Despite his claims in a Globe and Mail
at May 15, John Fryer, president of the
ational Union of Provincial Government
Employees, neither attended the _inter-
Aational trade union conference for peace in
gua “nor did he attempt to meet with
13 Canadians who did attend,” Larry
Yes, one of the conference delegates, told
¢ Tribune this week.
_ We never even saw John Fryer in
oe — and he never answered the
a to meet with us that we sent to his
ae Bayes Said, adding that some of the
wet statements in the Globe story “don’t
Coincide with the facts, either.”
ks Yes, one of the five unionists from B.C.
. © attended the trade union conference
3 a 24-27 in Nicaragua, was responding to
a by Globe labor reporter Wilfrid List
Ch quoted Fryer as saying that “Cubans
everywhere in Nicaragua” and that their
nee Was required for him to visit the
Ocks at Corinto; that the Sandinista

_ B0vernment was “Marxist-Leninist” and

pie to being a left-wing dictatorship; and
the leaders of the union centre affiliated
= International Confederation of Free
© Unions were harassed.
ap € were at Corinto, too,” said Bayes.
air there Were just two guards at the gate
‘4 didn’t see any Cubans I could identify.
s . ‘Ow do you distinguish a Cuban from
\caraguan anyhow — does he have an
°Y€ in the back of his head?”
i € story also claimed that Fryer had
tended thé trade union conference for
Peace and that it was sponsored by the
‘Orld Federation of Trade Unions des-
Cribed as “an Organization made up mainly

t

of union bodies with Communist
orientation.”

In fact, the conference was organized by
the Nicaraguan Trade Union Co-ordinating
Committee, made up of the nine main trade
union federations in Nicaragua, including
the Association of Rural Workers (ATC),
the National Union of Employees (NNE),
the General Confederation of Labor
(CGT), the Federation of Health Workers
(FETSALUT) and the powerful Sandinista
Central Body of Workers (CST). The CST
is affiliated to the WFTU.

The conference was attended by 240
delegates, representing 133 trade unions
from 68 countries.

Significantly, the only trade union federa-
tion in Nicaragua which did not take partin
the conference, the CUS, is the body which
presumably provided the invitation to Fryer
to come to Nicaragua. Representing only
three per cent of the organized work force in
Nicaragua, it is affiliated to the Interna-
tional Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

The Canadian Labor Congress is also
affiliated to the ICFTU, although the Con-
gress executive council adopted policy in
1982 calling for extending its relations to the
various union federations in Nicaragua,
particularly the Sandinista-led CST.

It was to develop further solidarity ties
with unionists in Nicaragua that the Cana-
dians attended the Managaua conference.
The five British Columbians were Bayes, a
member of the UFAWU; Wes Maultsaid,
an Anglican minister and a member of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees;
Myra Johnson, also a member of UFAWU;
Sy Pederson, a member of the IWA who

represented the Campbell River, Courtenay
and District Labor council; and John
Warren, a member of Local 115 of the
Operating Engineers.

All came back profoundly impressed
with the determination of the Nicaraguans
to build their own future and the universal-
ity of the demand for an end to US.
intervention.

“The overall impression I had from the
conference was that the U.S. is isolated from
the rest of the world,” said Bayes. “Every
delegate including those from the U.S. and
Britain said the same thing: get the U.S. out
of Central America and let the people build
their own future.”

Sy Pederson echoed Bayes’ comments,
adding that he was also impressed by the
democratic organization both in the trade
union movement and in everyday affairs.

“The country is organized block by
block — not only for defence but for every-
day decision-making,” he said.

“And it is clear that there is majority
support for the government of national
reconstruction.” ‘

The group will be w orking in this country
together with other “Canadian unionists
who have gone to Nicaragua on work bri-
gades to extend solidarity with Nicaragua
and to establish Canacian support for
assistance.

Fryer repudiated for Nicaragua remarks

LARRY BAYES. . .”'I findit strange that Fryer
never met with the Canadians while he was
in Nicaragua.” : iat Si age
The final document adopted by, the peace
conference emphasized the need for solidar-
ity and reaffirmed the demand foran end to
the aggression against Nicaragua which, it

‘said, “is the victim of economic sanctions

and interventions by the U.S. government
through its tools the CIA and other military
and. diplomatic bodies,” pois nay

The document, known as the Managua
Declaration, also emphasized that workers
“possess a powerful weapon of class unity in
order to end poverty and war” and urged
“trade union solidarity and active pafticipa-
tion in the struggle for peace.” °

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. 8th Annual
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Sunday, June 3, 1984

1 p.m.
Websters Corners Hall
25470 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge
Salmon
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ROOF REPAIRS — New roofs. Reasonable.
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FOR RENT

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682-2781

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LEGAL SERVICES

RANKIN, BOND, McMURRAY. Barristers
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DIRECTORY

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 23, 1984 e 11