May 1999

WANTED: IN THE WORKPLACE
AND IN CANADIAN SOCIETY
—
STRONG, MILITANT AND UNITED UNION LEADERSHIP!

Message to delegates at the
May 1999 Canadian Labour Congress convention in Toronto,
from the Central Trade Union Commission,
Communist Party of Canada

Since the early 1980s, working Canadians have undergone relentless carpet bombing from global Capital and its local political gophers. Free trade, privatization, deregulation, dismantling of social programs, layoffs, and systematic impoverishment have rained down on our heads.

The trade union movement, first in the neo-liberal cross-hairs, was caught complacent and unprepared for this onslaught. Its current and future state of health is of key importance, not just to its own members but to Canadian society as a whole. It has unique potential for protecting working class living standards, for mobilizing broad social resistance, and ultimately for mounting a counter-offensive in the next millennium.

What kind of unions do these times call for?

1. We need unions that educate, activate, mobilize their members, that allow and encourage democratic involvement. We have to divest ourselves of "business unionism," which sees itself as an insurance agency at best and a dues extraction franchise at worst, and hides from its own membership.
2. We need unions that take on the boss, that fight wholeheartedly and creatively against exploitation in the workplace and for safety, dignity and economic security on the job. We have to root out class collaboration, bipartism, QWL and all forms of demobilization and cooptation. We need unions prepared to deploy the full range of working class weaponry ö strikes, occupations, boycotts, etc.
3. We need unions committed to autonomous decision-making by Canadian members, to building solidarity between public and private sectors, to establishing united action and common fronts between unions. We must combat raiding, splitting, and all divisive strategies.
4. We need unions that respect and fight for the rights of diverse groups within their membership and society as a whole - in particular the full equality of women, people of colour, young and old, lesbians and gays, those with disabilities. Racism, sexism, homophobia must be rooted out.
5. We need unions that look beyond their established bailiwicks, that actively organize the unorganized, that speak out for and reach out to the unemployed, the marginalized, the impoverished, the oppressed. We need unions that fight for long-term jobs for all, for the right of all to organize, collectively bargain and strike.
6. We need unions which will fight for a shorter work week without loss in pay, against overtime, for more vacation time - for a balanced work life which will foster individual and social health and combat the scourge of unemployment.
7. We need unions that do not fight alone or for narrow goals, unions that actively work with community coalitions, social justice groups, and progressive organizations of all kinds. Labour has a core role but cannot combat neo-liberalism by itself.
8. We need unions prepared to articulate a broad political and social alternative to neo-liberalism, including the fight for public ownership, accountability and control, to develop labourâs own broad vision and immediate independent agenda, and to communicate this both to its members and to the community at large.
9. We need unions which recognize the importance of political action, both electoral and extra-parliamentary. We need unions that will fight in the streets, in the communities, nation-wide, using all the resources and strategies at their disposal and mobilizing their members and their allies in this task. We cannot afford unions which simply contract out political action to one political party, or confine it to election time.
10. We need unions which will fight for solidarity between the people of Quebec, the First Nations and the rest of Canada, recognizing the right of nations to self-determination up to and including secession. We need unions with the vision and guts to fight for unity and common struggle between Quebec workers and those in the rest of Canada. We need unions resolutely opposed to the dismantling of federal powers, programs and standards.
11. Finally, we need unions dedicated to international working-class solidarity, determined to fight for a new international economic order based on social justice, national equality, sovereignty and democracy. Our unions must be alert to the threats implied by "free trade" agreements, multilateral investment deals, capitalist globalization and the untrammelled machinations of transnational corporations. We must improve coordination of workers' struggles internationally.
12. The fight to strengthen the House of Labour, and to focus its sights and harness its energies outwards, is the long-term issue facing this Canadian Labour Congress. The importance of the struggle for the future of Canada can hardly be exaggerated.

— Central Trade Union Commission, Communist Party of Canada

© 2001 Communist Party of Canada