Photo by Murray Mosher

GCIU delegates to the Canadian Labour Congress Convention included, from left: Flavio Cananzi, Toronto 100M Executive Board member; Winnipeg 900M Pres. Colin D. Lang; and International Vice Pres. James J. Cowan.

At the largest Canadian Labour Congress Convention in history, delegates made plans to move economic and social justice, organizing, equality, and global worker solidarity forward into the 21st century.

Delegates also paid tribute to retiring CLC leaders Pres. Bob White and Secy.-Treas. Dick Martin and elected officers to succeed them. Top CLC officers are now Ken Georgetti, president; Nancy Riche, secretary-treasurer; and Jean-Claude Parrot and Hassan Yussuff, executive vice presidents.

In his farewell convention address, White thanked the workers who gave him the opportunity to lead the Canadian labor movement. "No other group in society has given so much for democracy, for economic and social justice as working people," he said.

White said that critics who predict labor's demise are wrong. ". . . I say: We are still here; we are growing; we are fighting back; and we are not going away – so get a life!"

Delegates approved the CLC policy document on social and economic justice that committed the labor federation to fight for a productive economy, a more equal society, a strong public sector and network of public services and social programs, and full recognition of human rights.

Among the paper's 40 proposals were the commitments to: save Medicare through major federal reinvestment and national standards; restore the Unemployment Insurance system with decent benefits and oversight by a commission that includes worker representation; fight poverty by restoring federal support for social assistance and social services and banning workfare; and continue the fight for a national non-profit child care and early childhood education program, broad access to public education, and a strong system of public pensions.

As alternatives to conservative profit-first philosophies, the CLC urged options that would put jobs first through lower interest rates and increased levels of public investment. The federation also urged that governments put human values at the center of their economic decisions and that corporations put people before profits.

The CLC Action Plan also focused on human values over market values. The plan committed CLC to political action, direct action, and to organizing and mobilizing workers for political, economic and social change.

On organizing, the policy adopted would encourage a "culture of organizing" that promotes labor's integration with various geographic, social and cultural communities.

The document on global solidarity charged that economic requirements, such as privatization, deregulation and "freer trade" – set by leading industrialized nations and enforced by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank – are pushing the world to the brink of an unprecedented economic crisis. These policies also are forcing indebted nations to lower employment standards, attack unions, and weaken social programs, the CLC said.

The CLC said that workers, particularly women, are bearing the brunt of the crisis. The federation pledged to campaign to end sweatshops and child labor and focused on May Day 2000 as a means to expand global worker solidarity around these issues.

The policy document on fighting racism received unanimous support from delegates. The statement focused on the historical link between racism, sexism and the exploitation of labor and committed the CLC and its affiliates to a multi-pronged anti-racism action plan.

GCIU Vice Pres. James J. Cowan noted that solidarity is the common thread linking all of the CLC policy documents. "We need to understand and act on the reality that workers, whether next door, in the next province or state, or on the next continent, whatever their gender, race or ethnicity, all share common goals – to provide for their families and feel secure about their future prospects," he said. "That is what the CLC is working for in the 21st century."

Convention delegates also debated and adopted several resolutions. The resolution on the right to strike sharply criticized Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow's use of legislation to force striking and locked-out workers back to work.

The emergency resolution on Devco Coal Mines pledged to work with Cape Breton miners and their communities to fight the federal government's plan to close the mines and to privatize Devco's Prince Mine. The CLC said the plan will put 1,200 miners out of work in a region with the highest unemployment rate in Canada.

Delegates approved a resolution that pledged to fight against all forms of the privatization of public services. The resolution said that privatization is eliminating hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs and undermining equal access to services, as well as the services themselves.

Convention addresses

Speakers included LeRoy Trotman, president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; AFL-CIO Pres. John J. Sweeney; Alexa McDonough, leader of the New Democratic Party; Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton; Chinese rights dissident Wei Jingsheng; and Indonesian labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

Trotman said Canadian workers and their unions "have made a huge difference for workers in developing countries through leadership on globalization issues and through donor support."

Addressing the worldwide struggle for workers' rights, Sweeney said "the great challenge of the new global economy is to make sure that it raises standards up rather than drives them down." He demanded that workers get a "permanent seat at the table" whenever trade deals are negotiated.

McDonough urged labor's support for the NDP. The labor-NDP partnership in the last federal elections helped elect 21 NDP members of parliament, including 10 trade unionists known as "Workers in the House," she said. "That partnership has made a difference for working people."

Hampton earned the delegates' applause when he pledged legislation to ban scabs if the NDP wins the upcoming election in Ontario.

Wei Jingsheng, who was imprisoned by the Chinese government for 18 years because of his human rights activism, said that the struggle for democracy and workers' rights are inseparable in China. "We cannot organize unions without freedom of expression and freedom of assembly as well as other rights," he said. "In China, workers have been at the forefront of the democracy movement, allowing a widespread democratic and workers' movement to develop across the country."

Pakpahan, who was imprisoned by the former Suharto government for his union activism, urged unions to continue to oppose IMF loans that impose austere economic measures on developing nations such as Indonesia, where he said 30 million workers remain unemployed.

In response to Pakpahan's appeal, delegates joined the postcard appeal organized by the East Timor Alert Network to free political prisoners in East Timor.

In other action, delegates attended special forums on human rights, women's issues, and international solidarity.

The CLC Humanity Award was presented to Dr. Joseph Gosnell, who urged unions' support for the struggle by the Nisga'a to preserve treaty rights. CLC Secy.-Treas. Martin received the CLC Environmental Award for his dedication to environmental activism.

More than 2,000 convention delegates joined in a rally with 700 operators and technicians who struck Bell Canada on April 9th over job security issues. The company plans to shift 1,400 operator jobs to a U.S. company and reduce their salaries by nearly half.

In a first for the Canadian labor movement, events at the CLC convention were broadcast on the temporary FM radio station program called "Union Wave." Broadcast in English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Punjabi, segments of the program also were available for download from the CLC's website using Real Audio.