UNIONS in Canada

The struggle of the Canadian people for democracy, sovereignty, peace and social advance is essentially a political struggle against big business and its control of the Canadian State. The interests of the vast majority of Canadians are in conflict with the anti-democratic, neoliberal policies of the transnationals and the banks.

The working class, due to its size and strategic place in the production of goods and services, is the natural leader of all democratic and progressive forces. It is organized as a consequence of modern production itself into a cohesive, continuously growing force that is compelled to fight back. It possesses no means of production. Its class interests are diametrically opposed to those of finance capital by virtue of its position in the economy.

But the working class needs allies to take on and defeat the immense, coordinated power of finance capital. Therefore the trade union movement Ð its organized contingent Ð must build unity with other sectors and movements of the Canadian people adversely affected by the domination of finance capital, and which have an objective interest in winning a new democratic course for Canada. To be effective and successful, the struggle against finance capital must have the working class as its core, its driving force and leader.

The Communist Party works for the development of a democratic, anti-monopoly, anti-imperialist alliance, uniting all the labour and other democratic movements and led by the working class. Such an alliance can win broad support for alternative policies to curb monopoly power: public ownership and democratic control over key industries and natural resources, job creation, improved living standards and social benefits, environmental protection, and defence of democratic liberties.

The Unity of the Working Class

The leading role of the working class is the indispensable factor for effective united action of the people against monopoly capital; and the unity of the working class is essential to its ability to carry out that leading role.

The working class movement cannot advance on the basis of economic struggle alone. It must challenge and eventually defeat the political power of the ruling capitalist class. To accomplish this aim, the working class needs its own political party. The Communist Party strives to be that leading political party of the working class.

A strong and united trade union movement is vital to the defence and advance of the working class as a whole. Canadian workers have built their own trade unions and mass organizations, to protect and advance their economic interests as wage-workers. The unions are their basic organizations of class struggle. The gains made by the trade union movement serve the interests of all working people, the organized and the unorganized. Economic and social gains achieved by the unions help to raise living standards and social conditions for the working class and working people in general. This is why the ruling class systematically wages an ideological campaign to turn working people against the trade union movement.

The struggle between the working class and capital has sharpened. The capitalist class and its state have launched an all-sided attack to weaken and destroy the trade union movement. This is a decisive part of the corporate drive to lower real wages and living standards. Using mass unemployment and the direct intervention of the state, monopoly capital seeks to reduce labour's bargaining strength, to extract concessions wherever possible. The struggle against concessions and to enlarge the scope of collective bargaining is an integral part of the struggle against finance capital.

The most pressing task facing the organized trade union movement is to unite its ranks around class struggle policies and militant actions to confront the corporate offensive, to bring about democratic and anti-monopoly transformation, and to shift the balance of class forces in favour of the working class and its allies.

For a Sovereign, United and
Independant Trade Union Movement

To combat the power of big business and the transnationals, the trade union movement must become sovereign, united and independent, with the highest level of coordinated strategy and action. It must be governed by the principle "an injury to one is an injury to all," at all times placing the interests of the movement as a whole above the sectional interests of individual affiliates. It must oppose raiding, and resolve jurisdictional disputes in the interests of affected workers and the movement as a whole.

In the face of capitalist restructuring, workers and their unions must demand greater control over the introduction of technological change, the moving or closing of factories, the duration of work time, corporate investment policies, worker retraining, health and safety and pay equity. To win a greater share of the benefits of the new technology, workers and unions must fight for a shorter work week with no loss in take home pay. They must also oppose privatization and fight for the expansion of the public sector. These demands strike at corporate power in the workplace.

The trade union movement must defend the interests of all workers, both organized and unorganized, and pay particular attention to those most exploited and underpaid.

With the organization of the public sector, the majority of organized workers are now in Canadian unions. However, many Canadian workers are still represented by international unions headquartered in the U.S. Therefore the struggle for Canadian autonomy and the independence of Canadian sections of international unions will continue, always based on the vital need to maintain unity of the trade union movement, while ensuring that Canadian workers have the right to make all decisions within their respective unions and the trade union movement as a whole.

The trade union movement must resolutely combat all forms of discrimination and intolerance that divides the working class, both within its own ranks and within society as a whole. It must struggle against racism, sexism, homophobia, and against discrimination of youth, older workers, or the disabled.

The trade union movement must champion the social and workplace rights of women, and promote their fullest participation within union structures at all levels of responsibility and leadership.

It must also cement the class unity between the workers in Quebec and workers in the rest of Canada, and between Aboriginal and non-aboriginal workers; oppose manifestations of national chauvinism; and respect the national and cultural diversity within the working class as a whole.

The trade union movement also needs to strengthen its international solidarity with workers and their struggles internationally as a condition for securing its own advances.

It must also seek out and build stable and enduring alliances with other democratic and social movements to defend and promote democratic rights, sovereignty, and the socio-economic welfare of working people in general, to oppose neoliberalism, capitalist globalization, imperialism and war.

No less urgent is the task of organizing the unorganized majority of the working class, of helping them to lift their living standards and become involved in political action and struggle against finance capital. This includes organizing the growing body of technical, scientific and professional workers, and workers in service industries employing large numbers of women, youth and immigrants. This also involves special efforts to organize part-time, temporary and contract workers, and the organization of the unemployed. It includes active struggle for equality and against workplace discrimination.

The rights of unemployed workers must also be defended, and every effort extended to assist them in organizing their ranks and fighting for full unemployment benefits and for decent jobs.

The trade union movement must protect the internal union rights of all its members, especially rank-and-file members, and encourage their involvement in all labour activities. It must uphold the principle of inner-union democracy, and oppose bureaucratic and other undemocratic practices that undermine membership participation and control.

To advance the overall struggle of the working class, the trade union movement must commit itself to a comprehensive program of independent labour political action, one which mobilizes organized workers into democratic and political struggle, in addition to workplace economic struggles against their employers.

To win the trade union movement for such a fighting program, right-wing policies of class collaboration and betrayal of labour's interests must be challenged and replaced with policies of consistent class struggle. Communists in the trade union movement work to uphold the best, militant trade union principles and maximum democratic involvement in decision-making.

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