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SERIOUS SPLIT FACES LABOUR
THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO of a badly-divided house of labour was closer than ever as this newspaper went to press in late June. The Canadian Labour Congress has warned that the CAW will face full sanctions effective July 1 FOR raiding eight Service Employees International Union locals in Ontario. If the CAW is actually forced out of the CLC, the impact on Congress activities, provincial federations, and local labour councils would be immediate and very harmful. Even worse, such a development would hamstring the labour movement at a critical time, during a rising fightback against the neoliberal attack on working people.
There were potential solutions to defuse this crisis, but so far none has prevailed. One worthy proposal was that the eight SEIU locals become directly-chartered CLC affiliates for a three year period, with the right to then freely choose which union to join. Unfortunately, that idea was rejected by the SEIU leadership, which realises that the 30,000 members of these locals overwhelmingly want to leave the SEIU, as shown in recent votes.
Many factors led to this dangerous development, starting with the refusal by the SEIU international leadership to provide full autonomy to Canadian members. But rather than laying blame, it's time to find a realistic, unifying way forward. The idea in some quarters that the CAW could "replace" the CLC by drawing more militant affiliates to its side is a non-starter; so is the idea that the CLC can get along fine without the Autoworkers. Such strategies are a recipe for a long period of inter-union strife. The Congress and its most powerful affiliate need each other to defend the interests of working people, so some way must be found to bring the Autoworkers back into the fold. We urge union leaders to find a basis for restoration of unity as soon as possible, and then to take a serious look at problems such as organizing the unorganized and ensuring that workers in each sector and industry are not broken into many competing unions. United we win, divided we fall!
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