, | _Labor in Action

.——____ George Hewison

| Happy 50th, UE!

‘ the recent convention of the United Electrical, Radio and
fiticth Bevorkers of Canada noted, this coming year will be the
mark f Irthday for their union. Now half a century is quite a
x ee an ordinary union, let alone U.E.., which has never been
that 5 Ty. From the struggle to get a first contract in 1937 to today,

Its pee has stood out in Canada’s labor movement. _
Worke r 8anizing style and contracts were exemplary in proving to
endy = that gains could be made even in times of depression. It

‘2 Ted the harassment of the War Measures Act, and the in-

oe of its leader, C.S. Jackson.
fo esa trial was the period of the Cold War and McCar-
| union; When the gang-up of state, employer, and right-wing trade
| faile Sts conspired to humble the entire labor movement, but

to bring UE to heel.

. PlOneered the concept of a sovereign, independent and
ft d trade union movement in Canada, by insisting on the right
ma Nadian workers (electrical workers in the first place) to

a¢ their own decisions free from U.S. diktat, all the while
ers ne warm fraternal ties with U.S. trade unions and work-
| file an equal footing. It has always prided itself on its rank and
| ify ooraCy: Unlike most labor conventions, closure is rarely,

~Y€r, invoked during debate from the floor.

Brilliant Quartet

Ba Is the style that produced probably the most brilliant
rs = €t of trade union leaders from one union that Canada has
ie Seen: Jackson, George Harris, Ross Russell and Jean Paré.
I) cre, oo importantly, it provided the training ground for hun-
fullest 1 rank and file activists who by debating everything to the
the pt have been equipped to take on the bosses’ propaganda on
. in floor or elsewhere in the labor movement. _
| the face reminded the recent convention about the time when
expel CCL (Canadian Congress of Labor) leadership moved to
Pe the leaders of UE from a particular labor convention,

fen’ thereby to isolate other delegates from UE and left in-
8a

| fe: To the McCarthyites’ chagrin, of the remaining 49 dele-
| clare? 43 UEers hit the microphones to carry on the fight to bring
) ty and working-class solutions to the labor movement.
197300 UE was readmitted to the Canadian Labor Congress in
| bec » It wasn’t because UE had surrendered any principles, but
| ,. “Use the working people who had never abandoned it, had
N the harm which red-baiting and disunity had wrought to the
Unit, unions, and had overwhelmingly demanded UE’s (and the
ited Fishermen and Allies Workers’ Union) readmittance.
fon UE is faced with new problems, in the first place how to
“and ee transnational corporations, like General Electric
“hol €stinghouse. Like other unions, it faces employers who
0 Up both the carrot and the stick.
the N the one hand threatening plant closures, or layoffs, and on
She ner tempting the workers with slick Quality of Work Life
Mes to zap the last drop of profit out of each worker.
mM what this observer saw at the last convention, UE is
Ng to deal with these as effectively as ever.

B Who Gains?
ag 4 Strange new phenomenon has developed in this connec-
Bais new form of attack, apparently stemming from the left,
| he. al that UR is ‘‘in bed with the boss”’ over matters pertaining to
4 th and Safety.

- ‘ew columnists for the big business press have chimed in. A
Siderable campaign has been developed to get workers to
© forward to say UE hasn’t represented them.

Ow the early leaders of the UE like most early trade union

in Ts in Canada believed in the inevitability of socialism, as

be, 8 the final solution to the conflict between the worker and the

tome But they also recognized that workers’ power won't occur

ae and thus have resorted to signing collective agree-

tion Ss and other compromises with the boss to mitigate exploita-
it cluding the damage to workers’ health and safety.

p yould be absurd to suggest that signing a collective agree-
th., ,/8 On principle, selling out. It is equally ludicrous to claim
“its , “Cause UE can’t win total health and safety protection for
Ag pubers under this system, that it is selling out. :
(Who I told one so-called ‘“‘leftist’”’ at the last CLC Convention

} far t M my opinion had studied the working class in a university
Teor long,) ‘‘when someone singles out the UE with its track
yn of fighting the boss, for attack, I have to ask — who stands

The by such an attack?”
ie} answer is clear. The corporations.
Cony, Sing by the performance of the delegates at the recent
. €ntion, who certainly had no inhibitions about getting to the
Rives? in sometimes sharp discussion, the mandate was clearly
| ,.2t0 the current officers who were re-elected by acclamation.
| ex, teover, delegates gave their officers a unanimous two-year
‘Sion to carry on that line of march. It’s likely therefore, that
oad despite its modest size by comparison to some rather
trade ttiliates to the CLC, continue to play a decisive role in the
Union movement, far beyond its size.

Fro

Free trade, disarmament |
top United Electrical meet

By MIKE PHILLIPS

TORONTO — The United
Electrical workers have promised
to bring the largest possible con-
tingent of members to the Ontario
Federation of Labor’s April 26
rally against free trade.

The decision came in a key re-
solution, April 4, at the UE’s 40th
biennial convention, when some
200 delegates unanimously resol-
ved that the union, would “help
mount a vigorous public cam-
paign in opposition to free trade
:.. and (conduct) a major drive to
get massive UE participation in
the OFL’s anti-free trade rally”’ at
Queen’s Park.

The dangers of free trade were
singled out by UE president Dick
Barry in the officers’ report to the
convention. Calling on union

stressed the need for the most
massive protest possible on the
steps of the Ontario Legislature to
give the federal and provincial
government a clear message
about Canadians’ opposition to
free trade.

He reported that some 28 bus-
loads of workers are expected
from the Windsor region alone, to
demonstrate the level of mobil-
ization taking place. ‘‘We will be
judged in terms of the numbers we
can turn out’’, the OFL president
said.

“‘We’re working hard ... to
have one of the largest and one of
the most important rallies in the
history of this province.”

members to ‘‘gear themselves for ~

the fight of their lives’’ against the
massive assault by the trans-
nationals and the governments
that serve them, he warned that
‘free trade makes it easier for
corporations to use the threat of
international competition to de-
mand concessions from workers
and to pressure governments into
tax breaks and other giveaways.”

Increased economic depen-
dence on the U.S. transnationals,
Barry warned, would further
weaken our cultural, and political
identity. ‘‘We would be so de-
pendent economically, that we
would have to sing the American
tune politically — something our
federal governments have been
doing to a large extent for many
years.

‘*After free trade, there would
be even less room for in-
dependence, if any at all’’, Barry
said.

Clear Message

The resolution, which was
passed after OFL president Cliff
Pilkey addressed the convention,
outlined the details of this Cam-
paign to include, “‘the holding of
educationals within local com-
munities, lobbying of political
representatives, and active par-
ticipation in local, regional, and
national coalitions against free
trade.”’

Pilkey outlined the federation’s
mobilization campaign and

Peace and disarmament was
also high on the convention’s
agenda as delegates debated and
adopted a resolution from the UE
National Executive Board calling
on all UE locals to set up local
peace committees and to continue
co-operating with peace organ-
izations and coalitions such as the
Canadian Peace Alliance, the To-
ronto Disarmament Network and
the Canadian Peace Congress.

New Hope

The resolution noted that new
hope has been given to the re-
newed round of disarmament
talks and summits between the
U.S. and the USSR by Mikhail
Gorbachev’s plan for the staged
elimination of all nuclear weapons
on the planet by the year 2000.

In adopting the resolution the
delegates called on the Canadian
Government to halt the testing of
Cruise and other U.S. weapons in
this country; withdraw from
NORAD and NATO; stop the

-manufacturing of U.S. military

equipment in Canada, under the
Defence Production Sharing
Agreements; sharply reduce the
military budget; and show an

example to other countries by de-
claring Canada a_ nuclear
weapons-free zone.

A resolution on international

trade union unity called on the
Canadian Labor Congress, “‘to
take a strong and leading position
within the International . Con-
federation of Free Trade Unions,
(ICFTU), to bring about unity of
action of the workers of all world
trade union affiliations by de-
manding the ICFTU join with the
World Federation of Trade
Unions, (WFTU), to form a
common strategy to combat the
vast activities of the transnational
corporations.”
It also committed the UE to con-
tinuing to exert all efforts to facili-
tate unity within labor’s ranks in
Canada and with trade unionists
around the world.

Unity for Peace

International labor unity was
highlighted at the convention by
the presence and participation of
Amy Newell, the newly-elected
secretary-treasurer of the Ameri-
can UE, and a two-person dele-
gation from the Soviet Power and
Electrical workers union.

Valentin Telnov, a secretary of
the 3.7-million member union and
Alexander Panychev of the
union’s international department
described the role and functions
of their union in the socialist
economy of the USSR, and
stressed the crucial need for the
entire trade union movement to
unite around the world for univer-
sal peace and disarmament.

“The elimination of nuclear
weapons from this planet can only
be won through joint effort’, Tel-

nov said through the translation -

provided by Panychev.

The convention, which marked
the union’s 49th anniversary, also
focussed through resolutions and
statements on the Canadian
economy, pensions, women’s
equality, housing, occupational
health and safety and other is-
sues. A new 10-person NEB, in-
cluding two women was elected
and the five national officers,
Dick Barry, Art Jenkyn, Oswaldo
Nunez, Bill Woodbeck and Frank

Pischercia were acclaimed to

office.

Pilkey pays tribute to union’s role

In what many delegates greeted as an historical moment in UE
history, OFL president Cliff Pilkey paid tribute to the progressive
role the union has played in the Canadian trade union movement
during its 49 years.

‘‘You have a first rate leadership in this organization’, Pilkey
told the delegates singling out president Dick Barry, “‘as certainly
someone who takes a principled interest in the total unity and
welfare of the entire labor movement.”

In a brotherly tone, Pilkey teased the convention about the
UE’s militant traditions and constant pressuring on the labor
movement leadership for action and implementation of con-
vention decisions.

‘‘We appreciate the contribution UE makes at our conventions
even though we might think you’re overzealous at times with
your cause. But without you I don’t know what kind of conven-
tion we’d have anyway’’, he said.

Barry in thanking the OFL leader for his address to the dele-
gates, which focussed on the need for massive labor mobilization
against free trade, playfully urged Pilkey to read the UE officers’
report very carefully because it contained the policies and pro-
grams the union would be expecting to see emerge from the next
federation convention.

OFL leader Pilkey . . . militant tradi-
tion and labor unity.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 16, 1986 e 5

—e