continued from Page 1

Divisions in the Labour Movement Won't Disappear with a Split

The right-wing leadership still ensconced in some unions may think that an organizational split will end the political differences and divisions in the CLC, or short-stop problems in their own unions, but history doesnât sustain that conclusion. The kind of unions that workers need to most effectively defend and advance their interests – will emerge – one way or another, sooner or later. That was the case with the CIO in the 1930s and Î40s, in Canada and the US, and it is the case today as well.

Those in the left who may think that the creation of a new labour central in Canada, will automatically strengthen the trade union movement, also need to look to history. The Confederation of Canadian Unions, which heralded itself as a left-wing, Canadian labour central, finally packed it in this fall, after spending years in self-imposed isolation. Similarly, the international building tradesâ Canadian Federation of Labour has also finally packed it in, after 20 years outside the CLC. All the evidence proves without any doubt, that splits weaken and divide the trade union movement, leaving workers more vulnerable to corporate attacks, less able to defend their immediate and long-term interests, and more vulnerable to raids and internecine wars and rivalries.

The problems presenting themselves in the labour movement now, may appear to be mainly constitutional or organizational, but they are a reflection of structural, economic and political changes to capitalism brought on by the scientific and technological revolution, and by the collapse of the socialist system of states. They are a result of changes in production and work, changes in the working class and ruling class, and the vast changes in the world wrought by capitalist globalization. These are problems that will require new strategies and new approaches by labour, including a new sense of internationalism and solidarity, and a new appreciation of labour's broad social and democratic agenda, and allies.

To respond effectively, the trade union movement needs to re-tool for the struggle ahead.

For a Sovereign, United, and Independent Trade Union Movement

A sovereign, united and independent trade union movement can most effectively mount a counter-offensive against neo-liberalism and capitalist globalization in the 21st century.

Canada is the only country in the world where the headquarters of many of its unions are based in another country. The dramatic growth of Canadian unions over the past 30 years, particularly in the public sector and in the birth of the CAW 15 years ago, has also dramatically changed the balance in the composition of the trade union movement in Canada. At the CLCâs birth in 1956, the majority of organized workers in Canada were members of US-based international unions. Today the majority are members of Canadian unions affiliated to the CLC. Furthermore, Canadian unions are the fastest growing sector of the trade union movement, bringing masses of women into the labour movement, and transforming it from a predominantly white to a multi-hued movement.

A united trade union movement must be one in which Canadian workers in American unions have full rights to determine all aspects of the unionâs work and priorities in Canada, including the sole right to elect a Canadian leadership, and to control Canadian finances. These rights to Canadian autonomy and democracy, create the basis for unity within the Canadian trade union movement, between sovereign Canadian trade unions and the autonomous Canadian sections of US unions.

Canadian sovereignty is a necessary condition for developing the struggle against the employers, who operate on a national as well as an international playing field, and who have related objectives. Workersâ interests go beyond the workplace and collective bargaining, to include issues such as the social net and social policy, job creation and economic policy, corporate globalization and Canadian sovereignty, the national question in Canada, development, peace and foreign policy, equality issues, equity, and much more. For the trade union movement to adequately defend workersâ interests, it must have a political view and an independent political action program that advances the broader interests of the labour movement and of the working class of Canada as a whole.

Full Canadian autonomy and democracy is a pre-requisite for the militant unity in action that is called for today, around a made-in-Canada agenda for labour.

Where Canadian autonomy is denied, Canadian workers will inevitably step up their struggle for full sovereignty. These are rights that must be extended to all workers in English-speaking Canada, and in Quebec.

Furthermore, the trade union movement in Canada must be independent in a class sense, and must expose and reject class collaboration, tri-partism, bi-partism, and all other forms by which the employers attempt to co-opt labour. Instead, labour must fight for class struggle policies and independent labour political action, that can lead and mobilize working people into mass struggle around critical economic, social and political demands. Labour must never subordinate it own interests and demands to those of a political party or movement, even the most friendly. Instead, support for and commitment to labour's interests and demands must be the benchmark against which labour's friends are measured.

A united labour movement will bring to bear the collective power and might of Canadaâs trade unions, united in struggle with all of the forces fighting for democracy and social progress. A united labour movement will advance labour's common interests, outweighing narrow, sectoral interests. While the narrowly defined jurisdictions of the past are changing, the development of conglomerate unionism is obscuring the role of the CLC as the body that unites unions from different industries. The fact that the CLC has not carried through a mass campaign involving and uniting all affiliates, since the free trade fight of the 1980s, has contributed to this obfuscation. The fulfillment of the central political role of the CLC in defending the political and economic interests of all workers in all sectors should be clearly revealed in campaigns that unite labour in mass action across the country. This is needed today more than ever. Similarly, there needs to be close cooperation amongst unions working in the same sector, with the aim of achieving unity around bargaining and political demands and objectives. Facing transnational corporations, with the ability to move capital and production in the blink of an eye, it is more important than ever for the labour movement to develop deeper and broader unity within the trade union movement, and between unions.

Local Unions, as well as Affiliates, Need to Weigh In

These issues have been the subject of debate in the labour movement for some time in Canada. They usually come into sharp relief at difficult junctures, such as the present one. To preserve the unity of the organized labour movement now, it will be necessary for the CLC to re-open the discussion on these questions leading up to the next convention, and to bring to bear the full involvement of all affiliates, all local unions and labour councils, and the membership of unions across Canada in finding democratic solutions. In the process, it is possible that real progress can be achieved, and a stronger, more united trade union movement will emerge. Of the options available, this is clearly the most preferable, and the one that most progressives are likely to embrace.

return to Page 1

© 2000 Communist Party of Canada