Unity, unity and more unity (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Labour Day 2005 Statement, Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada      Labour Day 2005 is here. We have much to be proud of. The provincial federations that have met this past year, the Quebec Federation of Labour Convention and the Canadian Labour Congress Conventions have been significant events whose membership participation and enthusiasm provides a forward perspective in this dangerous and troubled world.      The Communist Party said some time back that there is an undercurrent, a stirring amongst the working people that has not yet fully matured into organizational and structural expression. Its main feature is the search for methods of struggle, combinations, alliances, a revitalization and dedication whose main feature, no matter how infant, is its forward direction.      The labour movement and the effective struggles it has been involved in this past year can be viewed as a series of checks and balances. There have been no decisive defeats but also no major victories. By and large the working class and its allies have been involved in skirmishes. The working class and its labour movement have not yet come to terms with the main dangers, have not yet fully assessed the global, national and governmental forces manoeuvring to use and exploit them, and the danger these agendas pose to their well-being and unity, wedges of disunity and the hammers threatening to drive them deep.      We need to analyse our responses, but in all cases we must bear in mind that the main danger is the global corporate agenda and the imperialist countries that use political blackmail, economic leverage and outright military brutality to implement the agenda. We must also remember that these imperialist countries are cannibalistic, they may hunt in wolf‑packs but they will turn and consume each other to expropriate the spoils. They are the biggest danger to the nations of the world, to peace and the survival of the human species. This is the corporate world and its agenda is the main danger to people everywhere. Internally this sets the stage for the competition between different sections of Canadian capital and the way it exploits. Unity of Nations and Class     The historic problem of the unequal union between English‑speaking Canada and Quebec is still the cause of justified resentment in Quebec. Confederation treated the Quebecois as just another province, ignoring the history, culture, language and economic development that clearly establishes them as a nation within Canada, not a province. As a nation they must have the right to self-determination up to and including the right to separation. This right, if enshrined in a new Canadian Constitution, would be the strongest persuasion to remain voluntarily as equal partners in a confederal republic that also establishes similar rights for Aboriginal Peoples and Acadians.      The rulers of Canada are exploiters of labour and nations within Canada. They have been forced at times to soften the lines of exploitation and oppression, have had to bow to national and class resistance, but they were forced to do this to maintain control. The capitalist class exploits the working class. That is their essence, and in their imperial stage they capture and exploit whole nations. Sections of capital within the subject nations either join in as junior partners or resist and conduct nationalist struggles in their own interests.      We have all these conditions in Canada but in no case does any competition between the Canadian ruling class and elements of the national bourgeoisie in Quebec contain within it the emancipation of the working class, the best interests of the working class. They will both open recruiting offices and offer small gifts, but both have plans for increasing the rate of exploitation, of gaining a monopoly on the right to exploit. Georgetti and Duceppe     The Canadian Labour Congress Convention in Montreal provided a good look at a courtship. The courtship was the pitch by the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, Gilles Duceppe, to the workers of Quebec and the leadership of the CLC. Obviously the pitch had already been aired in private, at least with the leadership of the QFL and the leadership of the CLC, but perhaps with leaders of other major unions, because on the convention floor the response preceded the pitch.      The response came in Georgetti's introduction of Gilles Duceppe to the delegates. It contained these gems of persuasion: "we have to accept the fact that there are two Social Democratic parties in Parliament... this man is a friend of labour... he is one of us."      It was after these introductions that Duceppe launched into his speech which included parliamentary support for the fight against the US "Star Wars" program, support for Employment Insurance reform, support for anti‑scab legislation and a pledge to protect publicly owned and delivered health care. He also made it quite clear that Quebec must separate from Canada, that there would then be another "worker‑friendly" state in North America, that the NDP concessions wrung from the Liberals meant nothing to Quebec and that globalization was not a bad thing for working people, "all we have to do is learn to manage it". He also took a shot at Jack Layton and the NDP's "centralized vision of Canada".      Duceppe is an adroit and polished politician, but who does his agenda truly represent? His progressive position on peace and anti-Star Wars is the position of the majority of the population in Quebec (more so than in any other part of Canada) and the credit belongs there, a compliment to the Quebecois. Employment Insurance reform, protection of public health care and support of anti‑scab legislation reflect what is necessary to recruit labour and working class support in Quebec and compliance with what already exists. His rejection of the NDP and Layton is understandable because no matter what Jack Layton says or implies, the New Democratic Party, unlike the Canadian Labour Congress, does not recognize Quebec as a nation. This is a very serious problem that prevents the NDP from being a serious federal party, prevents them from addressing the unequal union of confederation and prevents them from providing a unifying force in parliament that would drive a wedge between the Bloc and the Harper Tories. The NDP refusal to recognize Quebec as a nation is a major obstacle to the union of the working class across Canada.      Duceppe is a representative of the nationalist agenda, of the small capitalists in Quebec. He is actively campaigning to deliver the working class into their camp because they must recruit working class support to fulfil their agenda. His party, the Bloc Quebecois, was originally formed by breakaway Tories who were major players in Brian Mulroney's Free Trade cabinet. Their dispute was over Liberal federalism and they support a version of national relations that requires separation. There may be social democrats in the Bloc, but the Bloc is not a social democratic party. It is a party of free trade, globalization and with a corporate agenda that must play to the progressive traditions and militancy of Quebec workers in order to succeed.      When Georgetti states that "he is one of us," it raises the question: who is "us"? If "us" is a section of labour leadership who are becoming more and more integrated with their "own" capitalists, who are prepared to lead the working class to supporting their national capitalists, then when he looks at Duceppe he truly sees another "us" who is doing the same thing in Quebec.      Does "one of us", mean that Georgetti agrees that globalization is not a bad thing? Does Georgetti even know what he means, or is he just shooting from the lip and trying to live one day at a time in an environment that is beyond his grasp? His public abandonment of the struggle against free trade, (never fully retracted or explained), his shady ties with British Columbia private health care investment groups, and the general malaise of the CLC in face of intensifying attacks on the working class indicates a real danger. A willingness to adjust to the political environment regardless of the welfare of the working class. Opportunism and compliance instead of struggle.      The history and the policies of both the Canadian Labour Congress and the Quebec Federation of Labour indicate that they are not pawns of either the Canadian ruling class or of the narrow nationalist aims of sections of Quebec capital. The presence of Duceppe at the CLC Convention and his invitation to speak might be justified by objective political developments both in Quebec and in the federal parliament and because the convention took place in Montreal. The Bloc opposition to "Star Wars" and for other legislation important to working people could be applauded. But an unconditional identification of the Bloc leader as "one of us" is a puzzling and risky short‑cut which appears to be primarily intended to excuse the CLC leadership from its current neglect of policy on the national question and its general absence from the struggle for recognition of the right of nations to self-determination, including the right to separate. What is needed? The problem of the Quebec workers and Quebec progressive voters is that there is no major federal party whose platform represents their national and class interests. This problem is to the advantage of the Bloc who will try to capture their support by default. If, as the result of big nation chauvinism and intimidation from the Liberals and Tories in Ottawa and narrow nationalism and chauvinism from the nationalist parties in Quebec, Quebec separates, then this country and its multi-national working class will be in great danger of being delivered to the New York bankers on a silver platter. Canada, the second richest resource area in a resource-hungry world, will be splintered and available for plunder. Workers and labour in both nations would be less able to resist and we would find ourselves providing cheap labour and cheap resources to foreign capitalists.       At this time the only political program representing the rights of all Canadian nations, of all sections of the working class, is the program of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) and the Parti communiste du Quebec (PCQ). For many years the Communist Party has put forward the proposal for a new constitution based on the equal and voluntary partnership of Quebec and English‑speaking Canada with the full participation of Aboriginal peoples. A new constitution guaranteeing the right of nations to self-determination, and offering an equal, voluntary partnership in a confederal state, is what is needed.      The Canadian Labour Congress recognizes Quebec as a nation. That was won years ago at convention mainly because of communists and other left elements who campaigned vigorously for it and won. The QFL has a national status within the CLC that is unique and different from the provincial federations. There is also the CNTU with a militant history of struggle with whom unity can be developed.      This is an ideal platform for the launching of campaigns that would weld labour and class unity to such an extent that the working class across Canada would lead all social strata whose interests lie in the creation of a new constitution guaranteeing the rights of nations and preserving the social programs that provide the catalyst between our cultures.      It is not enough to sing solidarity forever at conventions. The CLC has the policies in place already but it has sat on them for years. It has not implemented policy into program and campaign on the national question. Solidarity and unity are not mystic ideals, they are hard practical necessities of working class life that must be forged in struggle, cemented in achievement and demonstrated every single day.      If Quebec workers looking at the rest of Canada could see a determined fight against the repressive and anti‑democratic Clarity Act, a struggle to raise the peace and disarmament movement to match their own, a campaign by the CLC for a new Canadian Constitution, a sympathetic understanding of their national sentiments and a concerted effort to organize union densities up to the high levels existing now in Quebec, it would almost guarantee unity and solidarity would prevail. The unity and solidarity of the working class in the two largest nations could provide a leadership on national, democratic and social campaigning that is larger than our class but would put the labour movement at the centre of a social dynamic of growth and recruiting unknown since the 1940's.      A working class agenda that represents the national interests of Quebec and English‑speaking Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and Acadians would dictate the need for its political expression. We need a more aggressive and militant labour leadership. We need intervention, program and action. In the interval between Labour Day 2005 and Labour Day 2006 we must return every single day to the oldest and most valuable of all labour slogans.... Solidarity Forever. Unity, Unity and more Unity! (Back) (Home) Telus workers solid against bosses (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou IT SEEMS CERTAIN that Telus will drag out the lockout against its employees, using increasingly desperate tactics in its bid to crush their union. But the Telecommunications Workers Union is holding firm and winning wider support.      The struggle is well into its second month, after the company unilaterally imposed a new contract in July. The TWU has been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement for almost five years. The federal Labour Minister's offer of a special mediator has been accepted by the union, but not by Telus. Despite company claims of an unworkable collective agreement, Telus made profits of $242 million last quarter. That amounts to over $17,000 for each of the 13,700 locked-out workers, in just three months. In total, Telus has about 28,000 employees.      In mid-August, the company resorted to intimidating media outlets after the B.C. Federation of Labour and the TWU launched an advertising blitz to encourage consumer action. Union members and supporters are being asked to cancel their call features and automatic bill payments to Telus.      "This advertising campaign will build on our work with union members in BC to send Telus a message by cancelling their custom phone features," says BC Federation president Jim Sinclair. "These ads take aim at Telus' Achilles heel, lousy customer service".      The airtime will cost over $260,000. Ads began airing in major markets in BC and Alberta on August 16, and will conclude on Labour Day. But four stations in Calgary, CHFM, CHQR, CKRY and CKIS, have refused to air several of the ads.      "These guys have got to be kidding," said TWU president Bruce Bell. "Telus used to be in the communications business, but now they seem to be gearing up their role as censors. First they knocked down the Voices for Change website on the grounds that they were protecting scabs whose photos had been posted there. Within days it became clear that was a ruse when Telus paraded them around the Telus plaza in Calgary and then tried to use them to force a confrontation with our people. Then they invited TV cameras into the workplace to show them scabbing our work. So much for `protecting their identities'."      Bell points out that the TWU has a strong legal precedent protecting its ad campaign. In a 2001 labour dispute, a court ruling allowed the Office and Professional Employees Union to run ads critical of the BC Automobile Association.      Several recent developments in Vancouver show that labour solidarity is having a positive impact for the TWU.      After library workers (CUPE Local 391) lobbied their employer, Vancouver Public Libraries (VPL) suspended ongoing work with Telus until the dispute is settled. The announcement comes after CUPE 391 told the VPL that CUPE members would not work alongside scabs nor permit scabs from entering VPL worksites. VPL and Telus had been negotiating a contract for a new phone system for 22 branch libraries, and installation of Telus software at the central library.      The union has also reached an agreement with the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver not to allow Telus on site to do work during the annual PNE fair and beyond. The PNE, which owns its own equipment and cable, has made arrangements with other service providers, and has advised PNE exhibitors that they will not be able to have Telus on site to do any work. Pay phones on the site have been marked out of order and will not be repaired.      "The members of the TWU are very appreciative of the PNE's co‑operation with us under these difficult circumstances," said the TWU's Karen Whitfield. "We wish them a very successful fair and encourage TWU members as well as members of the public to go and have a great time."      The PNE is a registered, non‑profit charity, owned by the City of Vancouver.      These actions show the worth of electing a labour-friendly civic government in Vancouver, where the COPE majority on city council faces a tough re-election battle in November.      One consistent company tactic has been to wildly exaggerate the number of scabs crossing the picket lines, especially in Alberta.      "Their ploy isn't working," said Bell recently. "Since the beginning of this dispute, I've been saying that we have the support of 86% of our members. That's the percentage that voted `yes' when we conducted our strike vote last year. Now we can offer a precise estimate of the number of members who are supporting us. We just paid out our first instalment of picket line pay for people who have spent the required amount of time on the line. In that period, 78% of TWU members in Alberta and B.C. drew picket pay. That figure shows a tremendous amount of internal support."      Bell pointed out that this figure does not include union supporters who are off on disability or vacation, or those who have taken the union's advice and sought alternate employment.      Evidence is also piling up that managers are being pushed to the limit to keep operations going, and that the results are often poor.      Telus "Partners Solution President" Karen Radford recently admitted to a Calgary radio station that the company is behind in some service areas. She said the record is getting better, but customers have a different view. One customer told the station that it after three weeks, Telus had still not switched his phone port over to Shaw, a change that usually takes about ten days. Picketing workers in Calgary say that new phone installations are backed up until December.      One typical report making the rounds by email tells of a businessman telling a picketer about a friend in Telus upper management who was told that she would either work as required during the dispute or say goodbye to her job. The woman is working six days a week, 12 or more hours per day, and the company is still demanding more hours.      So far, Telus stocks have not fallen since workers hit the bricks on July 21. The explanation in the business press is that Telus' wireless operations are so profitable that the market is "blind" to any risks associated with the job action.      As reported on Aug. 5, second‑quarter results showed that earnings, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, rose 10.2%. The rise was driven by a 28% increase in wireless division earnings, accounting for 42% of the company total. While Telus has 23% fewer subscribers than its biggest rival, Bell Mobility, its earnings were 10% higher. Telus's price‑to‑earnings share ratio is about 22, compared to 15 for Bell Canada.      From the corporate perspective, the lockout was "a necessary and worthwhile war for Telus to wage, no matter how long it takes to win." That's a quote from an article by Andrew Wahl in Canadian Business Magazine (Aug. 15-28). Wahl says that "the long‑term flexibility and cost savings Telus would accrue with its current proposal are key for it to be competitive in all areas of its business."      In other words, for Telus to continue reaping maximum profits, its front-line workers must be crushed. And if Telus does win this war, its competitors will be forced by the laws of capitalism to make the same attempt. There's much more at stake here than the working conditions and incomes of 13,700 TWU members. This is a struggle for the interests of all workers, organized and unorganized.      That's why it's so important to help put the screws to the company, by heeding the union's advice to cancel extra services, and to take more time to pay bills. And finally, we can all help win this struggle by getting out to the picket lines, and to union rallies. Vancouver-area PV readers will be out in force at 12 noon on Labour Day, Sept. 5, when Telus workers and other unions rally at the company building at Kingsway and Boundary. We'll see you there! (Back) (Home) The heavy hammer of the steelworkers (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond     Has anyone here ever heard of The Insolvency Institute of Canada? Yes, sisters and brothers, it does exist, this is no joke. Let us look at excerpts from the self-introduction on its own web page.      "The insolvency Institute of Canada is Canada's premier private sector insolvency organization (my god - how many more are there?) .... dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the field of insolvency..."      This little plum of information, this glimpse of the underbelly of court lobbyists and judicial leverers, comes to us because the Steelworkers at Stelco's Lake Erie works in southern Ontario have just taken a strike vote, with 98% of their members giving permission for job action.      So let's hear what the head guru of insolvency has to say. According to Bruce Leonard, President of The Insolvency Institute of Canada, speaking of the Steelworkers, "They're wielding a heavy hammer and nobody's taken it away from them yet." Does anyone sense sour grapes here?      There are also independent freelancers in the insolvency business. Richard McClaren, a University of Western Ontario professor who specializes in insolvency, penetrates goes right to the heart of the matter with an insight that would be hard to find outside the hallowed halls of academia. He says, "I think they are just trying to increase their leverage so that they can say they mean business..." Wow! Why didn't we think of that?      Whenever workers go into action there are a number of predictable reactions; pulling out the experts for media exposure is one of them. First comes the metamorphosis of derelict capitalists into sainthood and new corporate community benevolence, guided by the stern parental hand of bankruptcy protection judges who hold off the littler capitalist debtors and the hungry insatiable workers from attacking Snow White whilst she regenerates. This is backed up by experts of every stripe who provide proof positive that workers threaten this wonder of recovery by their impatient greed, lack of community caring (even though they are the community) and vacancy of historical vision.      Stelco has been under bankruptcy protection for well over a year, courting and then rejecting suitors from all over the world. Then the company decided to finance its own restructuring from the record profits created by its own workers.      Those workers have a pension fund to which Stelco owes $1.3 billion. Stelco's restructuring plan offers a $200 million down payment and the rest over 10 years. Incidentally, Stelco has shelled out 80 million of the workers' bucks to advisors over the past year. Workers at plants in Hamilton, Nanticoke (Lake Erie), Burlington and Alberta rejected that plan, in favour of a proposal by Tricap Management to pump $500 million into the shortfall and repay the balance in six years. Stelco management and bondholders (Deutsche Bank is the biggest) have shunned the Tricap plan because it favours workers over other debtors. Oh dear! We must fight favouritism at all costs.      The Steelworkers Union had filed a motion asking the courts to force Stelco to consider the Tricap plan. On August 16, that bid was adjourned indefinitely by an Ontario judge after the union agreed to resume talks with Stelco.      The union has warned that Stelco's plan burdens the steelmaker with too much debt. It criticized the company for proposing only a $200 million down payment into its $1.3 billion pension solvency deficit, compared to Tricap's offer calling for a $500 million down payment. To keep things in perspective, remember that the United States steel industry was retooled, refinanced and restructured on the backs of over 200,000 American Steelworkers who lost medical and pension benefits. Word is that Stelco intends to submit a restructuring plan to the court by September 7, after which it will go to a creditor vote.      On August 9, the Ontario government entered the fray again. Six months ago the Ontario Liberal regime had warned all parties that any re‑structuring plans must address the workers pension shortfalls. We said at the time that this could be roughly translated into street language thusly: "you're not dropping this mess into our laps."      Well, the ante has been kicked up a notch. South of the border the Wall Street gurus are whispering behind the scenes that bankruptcy protection may be the future for General Motors. If that should ever happen the rebound in Ontario will make the Stelco debacle look like a kindergarten. The Canadian media has been very quiet about this - remember you read it here first. We all hope it doesn't happen, but the political arm of the bourgeoisie must be losing sleep.      The tactic of the Steelworkers at Hamilton's Hilton Works, the largest local, is still uncertain because their contract does not expire until well into next summer. Their consistent demand has been for an existing contract to be honoured. Can they ask for anything less? Of course not - and good luck to them.      The godfathers of insolvency bemoan the possession of "Thor's Hammer" by the Steelworkers. But in this publication we celebrate it. We will always feel more secure when workers are organized and carrying weapons of persuasion. Frederick Engels made the point a long time ago that workers could be the hammer or the anvil, it is up to them. In southern Ontario industrial patois it goes, "you better squeeze while you've got them by the..." (Back) (Home) Kill the Terasen deal - Protect Canadian Sovereignty and resources (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) B.C. Provincial Executive Committee, CPC THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CANADA will be further eroded by the recently announced sale of BC-based energy giant Terasen to a Texas energy conglomerate. The buyer, Kinder Morgan Inc., has a total market share in the United States of $22 billion (US) compared to Terasen's $3.3 billion (Can) in Canada.      The $6.9 billion deal will create one of the world's largest energy companies. Control of our natural gas resources will be transferred from a company 99% owned by Canadians to a foreign owned company based in another country. If this deal goes through, (75% shareholder approval is required) we will have irretrievably lost another chunk of our sovereignty and heritage to another foreign owned corporation. Under the terms of the NAFTA agreement this sellout will be practically impossible to recover. The Canadian shareholders have a responsibility to reject this deal, and governments must be pressed to protect our sovereignty and resources by placing Terasen's production and distribution facilities back into the hands of the people through public ownership and democratic control.      The sale must be approved by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), and by Investment Review Division of Industry Canada. A precedent was set when the sale of BC-owned WestCoast Energy Inc. to Texas-based Duke Energy Corp. in 2002 was ratified by both bodies. Without strong public reaction against this deal, it will almost certainly go through.      Terasen was established over 50 years ago as Inland Gas, a privately owned natural gas provider serving the energy needs of several interior BC communities. BC Hydro later sold its natural gas division to Inland, and in April 2003 they renamed the company Terasen. The history and financial success of this company is a direct result of the large scale re‑distribution of publicly owned assets into private pockets. Terasen now supplies over 60% of the total energy needs in British Columbia, with a pipeline and distribution network of 8,000 kms serving B.C., Alberta and parts of the U.S., most of which had been managed by BC Hydro, a publicly owned corporation.      However, control and ownership of our natural gas resources is not the main prize sought by Kinder Morgan. According to company spokespeople, they have their eyes on set on the massive oil sands resource in Alberta. This deal puts them in a stronger competitive position to wallow up to that particular public trough.      The CEO of Kinder Morgan, Richard Kinder, is a multi-billionaire buddy and strong supporter of President George Bush. A former president of Enron, he bailed out in 1996 before the lid blew off that company. His new company found itself well positioned to profit from Enron's collapse by snapping billions of dollars of that corporation's assets. Even more concerning are reports that Kinder Morgan is under investigation by the US Office of Pipeline Safety for possible environmental violations. The total amount of fines levied against Kinder Morgan to date for environmental infractions exceed $5 million.      Once again we see the neo‑liberal economic agenda of privatisation at work here in British Columbia. The Campbell Liberal government have been exposed again as outright liars for promising that our natural resources will never be sold off. This is another serious blow to Canada's ability to look after our own energy needs first. Don't think for one minute that the energy guzzling behemoth to the south will not place its needs before the needs of Canadians.      As reported by Terasen, 50% of the company's shares are owned by pension funds and mutual funds. In the case of the pension funds, millions if not billions of dollars of workers' investments are tied up here. Earmarked for investment in Canada, this money and its financial benefits will now be flying out of the country.      The question of sovereign ownership and control of our natural resources should be compelling enough for the government to step in and block this deal. It's bad enough that these resources are presently in private, for-profit hands, but at least they were in Canadian hands subject to our laws and regulations. What real control will Canadians have after this deal goes through? This was understood even by B.C.'s former Social Credit government, which placed a Canadian ownership proviso on any sale of the company. The Gordon Campbell Liberals, who received large donations from Terasen, later removed that restriction.      If the privatization and sell-off of our resources to foreign (mostly US) owned transnational corporations continues unabated, we might as well set up a gigantic funnel from coast to coast along the border and turn the tap all the way to "full." Without positive definitive action from both provincial and federal governments to regain sovereign control of our public energy resources, the flow to the south will continue and increase until there is nothing left for Canadians. This is the real cost of globalization and the global neo‑liberal agenda: loss of sovereignty and control of natural resources, industry and social services. It is a "for profit" and not a "for people" program.      While the BC Utilities Commission has the power to regulate the cost of natural gas to consumers, it has no real power to protect our common heritage from foreign ownership or to stop exploitation at private hands.      The BC Committee of the Communist Party of Canada calls upon the BC government to do the responsible thing: provide real and lasting guarantees to protect our natural gas, by returning production facilities and delivery systems into the hands of the people through public ownership and democratic control, under the management of BC Hydro. The piecemeal privatization of BC Hydro must stop and be reversed. Those public assets originally paid for by taxpayers' dollars must be returned to the people of BC and Canada.      We also call on the shareholders of Terasen gas to reject this deal in favour of Canadian sovereignty and protection of our natural resources for Canadians. (Back) (Home) Will AFL-CIO split spill into Canada? (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond FROM SOUTH OF THE BORDER, another big challenge to the Canadian labour movement is developing. The turmoil within the AFL‑CIO that led to the withdrawal of the Carpenters Union, the Teamsters, the SEIU and the UFCW looms ominously, a dark cloud on the horizon.      There are no absolute saints in these disputes but there is confusion when everyone claims sainthood. There will have to be much more information before the picture becomes sharper, but in general, the corporate models of trade unionism are being shaken and workers and substantial sections of leadership are developing new forms of resistance.      It is OK to wave the flag of democracy and justice when it is convenient, but Canadian workers know full well that the Carpenters, the UFCW, the Teamsters and the SEIU have all used trusteeship and the courts to thwart the democratic wishes of Canadian members who wanted to leave and join Canadian unions. Their sainthood is tarnished for sure. We must be on guard to make sure these American disputes do not initiate raiding and turf wars in our labour movement. We must at all costs, keep our central labour bodies intact and work hard for more unity, not less.      In the top eight industrial states, of which Canada is one, the percentage of the workforce organized into labour unions has declined. The figures vary from country to country but the decline is general. The most significant decline is in the United States.      People's Voice has printed several articles over the past year on union density, membership decline, mergers and sector density. The AFL‑CIO Convention just completed in the United States, the developments that preceded it and the drama of dispute played out concurrently with it, highlights all these phenomenon and more.      From 1955 to 2005, the AFL‑CIO experienced a 21% per cent decline in membership, from 34% of the workforce to 13%. In 1955 there were 135 affiliates and in early 2005 there were 58. The great majority of these were not departures but rather mergers. This decline is the legacy of the involvement of the AFL‑CIO as a junior partner in the cold war strategies of imperialism and its attack on the socialist states and the American left, especially trade unionists and communists. It is significant that the decline in labour membership is the most acute in the leading imperialist country where the attack on the working class was greatest and the fifth column of George Meany and Lane Kirkland within American labour was most influential.      It is impossible to work vigorously for the downfall of a workers socialist republic abroad and to represent the welfare of workers at home. U.S. labour still has to come to terms with this in regards to protection of Cuba. You can crawl into bed with the boss class if you want, but it is their bed and their bedroom and residency requires compliance.      The situation by 1995 had deteriorated to the point that Lane Kirkland and crowd found it necessary to exit Kirkland into retirement and appoint an interim leader, Thomas Donahue, who could run as an incumbent. Several unions were unhappy with this ploy and ran the president of SEIU, John Sweeney, for president. Sweeney won hands down and thousands hoped American labour had turned a rather large corner.      The jury is still out on the last ten years because things are not so black and white in the real world as they are on paper. The decline under Sweeney's watch has continued - 168,000 members lost in the past year alone. The momentum of decline was so great that this probably still relates to the original problem, but also to the restructuring of the workforce, the continuance of corporate or business unionism and most importantly the intensified attack on workers everywhere. There have also been significant progressive seeds planted but not yet harvested.      First the bad news. The Carpenters Union, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Service Employees International Union, after putting together a document called the New Unity Program, went out to recruit support for it. The program called for a re‑organization of the AFL‑CIO into fewer sector defined large unions, forced merger of smaller unions into these sector giants, a smaller professional leadership, and the rebate of 50% of the per capita to these unions for organizing purposes.      The program fell apart basically because too many unions, including three of the four authors, had diverse unrelated sector memberships themselves. Out of this debacle emerged the "Change to Win" coalition which carried out some negotiations with AFL‑CIO leadership prior to the convention. The coalition demanded the right to choose the next president, to cut per capita by 50% and to streamline the AFL‑CIO's 51-member elected executive council by replacing it with the presidents of the fifteen largest unions. This proposal by professional pork‑choppers would have not only taken the vote from rank and file delegates but would also have eliminated all African-American, Latino and women leaders from the executive. When they couldn't get this in the back room they announced their withdrawal from the AFL‑CIO on the eve of the convention.      Leave this group for a moment and pedal in reverse to parallel developments in U.S. labour. This is the good news. During the past several years, and especially during the struggle to pry Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld out of office, the AFL‑CIO did better work than it has for decades. Alliances and coalitions were formed, workers at the grassroots level were mobilized, and even though Bush was re-elected, the conditions for unity and growth developed and remain. The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Labour Council for Latin American Advancement, Asian Pacific American Labour Alliance, the Phillip Randolph Institute, the Coalition of Labour Union Women and Pride at Work are constituency groups that have been working at the grassroots and strengthening solidarity, the fight for peace, against racism and opposition to George Bush and the Republican right. They organized a vigorous campaign to oppose the proposals of the "Change to Win" group, culminating in a "Diversity Summit" that preceded the AFL‑CIO convention and was attended by hundreds of rank‑and‑filers and union leaders.      The proposals coming out of the Diversity Summit were so important to John Sweeney that in his keynote address he requested from the delegates a unanimous vote of support for them. He asked, he got, and celebration of the unanimous support swept across the convention floor. The constituency groups will now be affiliated directly with state and local labour councils, and the AFL‑CIO General Council will add seats for the constituency groups as well as The Alliance For Retired Americans. The Executive Council will increase from 10 to 15 the number of vice-president positions that must be filled by women or people of colour. The Canadian Labour Congress should take a hard look at these progressive decisions.      There is no absolute purity. The corporate mentality of the "Change to Win" unions also exists by degrees in the AFL‑CIO, and the demand for heightened organizing and the need to revitalize the U.S. labour movement is a good demand. What must be developed are the democratic, inclusive and left class movements that accomplish what is needed.      What advances the struggle, what moves the working people closer to their goals and what moves them farther away? That question is the same for us here in Canada as it is for our sisters and brothers to the south. Whatever happens in our countries will affect us all. We stand in solidarity with the courageous workers of the USA and we will do our best to complement their struggle with our own. Hopefully unity will prevail and the labour movement can face the real enemy, the corporations and their global agenda of war and acquisition. (Back) (Home) Mobilize for Sept. 24 actions (The following editorial is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 1-15, 2005 U.S. peace forces are planning giant demonstrations in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24. These actions could be the largest anti‑war mobilization in the U.S. since the start of the war on Iraq, and deal a strong blow to the far‑right, pro‑war Bush administration. A strong show of solidarity in Canada at this critical time for the burgeoning U.S. peace movement can make an important difference.      Numerous signs show that the U.S. public is fed up with the war. At its late July convention, the AFL-CIO overwhelming adopted a resolution calling for the "rapid withdrawal" of U.S. troops. There have been extended and state‑wide periods of mourning for U.S. casualties, and a massive outpouring of support for Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq. Until her own mother recently fell ill, Sheehan has camped out near the Bush ranch in Texas, demanding to speak to the president about the war; she will be a featured speaker at the Sept. 24 protest in Washington.      A strong mobilization of the peace movement in Canada will also help boost peace as an important issue during the upcoming federal election, expected no later than February. The Communist Party is urging its members and clubs to work for the most visible and massive protests, with the involvement of labour councils and other people's organizations, including the public participation of Communist Party clubs.      Details of local actions should be sent to the Canadian Peace Alliance at cpa@web.ca; readers can find information on Sept. 24 events at www.acp‑cpa.ca. (Back) (Home) The "federalists" are wrong (The following editorial is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 1-15, 2005 The uproar over the appointment of Jean Michaele as the next Governor-General is a shameful example of big-nation chauvinism. The working class and democratic movements in English-speaking Canada must reject the bigoted view that only "committed federalists" are worthy of holding positions of responsibility.      The federalist position boils down to an argument for maintaining the inequalities built into the Canadian state from its formation, with perhaps some minor tinkering. Inherent in this reactionary argument is the concept that Canada is just a set of "equal" provinces. Thus Prince Edward Island is guaranteed perpetual status in Parliament far beyond its small population, and a few provinces under right-wing control can block progress on vital social programs.      In reality, Canada is a state composed of many nations, upon which was superimposed a set of colonial boundaries called provinces. The nations within Canada - including the Aboriginal Peoples (First Nations, Métis, Inuit), the Acadians, Quebec and English-speaking Canada itself - have the inherent right to self-determination, up to and including the right to secession.      Until that right is given full constitutional recognition, the oppression of smaller nations within the Canadian state will continue. To demand that only "federalists" be regarded as "real Canadians" is to demand that the racist, undemocratic nature of the Canadian state become virtually an official ideology.      It is true that in today's conditions, the breakup of Canada would serve the interests of transnational (especially U.S.) capital, which would welcome unfettered control of this country's resource wealth. The best policy for working people is to demand a renewed confederation, based on an equal and voluntary partnership of the nations within Canada. The path to such renewal is currently blocked by Anglo-Canadian chauvinism. The Canadian Labour Congress, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and other progressive and democratic movements take positions which reject this backward concept, in favour of moving towards equality of nations. Their example should be built upon, especially by working people within English-speaking Canada. (Back) (Home) Living wage campaign deserves strong support (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Darrell Rankin THE INITIATIVE for a "living wage" campaign is a positive step and should get the strong support of a wide range of community groups. Manitoba desperately needs a strong labour‑backed coalition that stands up for all working people, with a broad vision for a better society.      The Doer NDP government website declares that Manitoba is "highly competitive in terms of its wage structure," indicating a high level of comfort with the situation. In fact, it sounds like the Doer government wants to keep things exactly the same.      For too long, pro‑corporate governments in Manitoba have impoverished workers. Minor legislative reforms have done little to reverse the effects of decades of plant closures, wage rollbacks, speed‑ups, and privatization.      Last year in Manitoba 7.4 per cent of workers earned the minimum wage, the second highest level in Canada after Nova Scotia. Nearly one‑third of the Manitoba workers earn low wages, defined as less than two‑thirds of the national median wage.      Rather than address the issue, in May of this year Manitoba MLAs rewarded themselves with a 10 per cent pay raise, to $72,000 a year! These MLAs are effectively siding with the corporate bosses who get millions of dollars every year in "pay" exploited from the toil and sweat of Manitoba workers.      Fixing the problem of low wages requires a comprehensive approach, including taxing corporations and the wealthy, a much higher minimum wage, "fair" or "living" wage laws and a shorter work week with no loss in pay. Public works to establish a universal, public child‑care program and public housing would make Manitoba a far better place for young workers, families and seniors.      The Communist Party believes these are the main, realistic ways to seriously reduce the growing injustices in Manitoba society. These measures need massive support from a broad range of groups representing labour, Aboriginal Peoples, women and youth, among others.      An active, strong Living Wage Campaign would be a step in the right direction and complement years of campaigning for a higher minimum wage by Manitoba's Just Income Coalition. Such campaigns are needed for a successful fightback against the corporate agenda in Manitoba.      (Darrell Rankin is the Manitoba leader of the Communist Party.) (Back) (Home) Manitoba Living Wage conference (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) On September 9 and 10,  the Winnipeg Labour Council will hold a major conference to spark a Living Wage campaign in Winnipeg and Manitoba. The goal of the campaign would be to require businesses dealing with governments to pay standard wages and benefits as set out in "Living Wage" laws passed by the city and province. The conference is free and is open to everyone. Organizers are encouraging  unions, community groups, and student and faith organizations to attend. The conference will be repeated in Brandon on September 11. The idea behind the campaign is that public dollars should not subsidize poverty-wage work. Historically, "fair wage" laws protected skilled workers in some contracted-out work. These laws, some passed more than one hundred years ago, are of little or no use today. Years of privatization and contracting-out of public services have led to the loss of better-paying public-sector jobs. Governments then sign expensive contracts with private corporations which pay "privatized" workers much lower wages. The conference will open with speakers on Friday, 7:30 pm, at the Fort Garry Hotel (222 Broadway). On Saturday, the conference runs from 9 am to 4 pm at Crossways-in-Common (222 Furby St.) featuring workshops on mobilizing, alliance building and planning. To register or to contact the organizing committee for information, call Derek Black at 204-256-9818. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 7. (Back) (Home) News from Leonard Peltier (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Leonard Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement imprisoned since his 1976 conviction on framed-up charges of murdering two FBI agents, has been transferred twice to different prisons this summer, first from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Terre Haute, Indiana, and then to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Peltier recently sent the following message to supporters: On August 15, 2005 I was transferred to USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania. Life has been extra difficult for me since I was transferred from Leavenworth. This system is designed to make one feel very powerless, and what they are doing with me now is definitely aimed to erode my body and spirit even more. My loved ones, and all of you, my friends and allies who continue to support me, keep me sane and hopeful. They say that it is in times of crisis that one can really see who your real allies are. Those of you who have contacted the Terre Haute Prison and the Bureau of Prisons on my behalf, keep me in your prayers, and are supporting my Defense Committee, have made an enormous difference in my situation. I humbly thank each and every one of you, and firmly believe that your actions most certainly saved my life and prevented me from living in an institution that is well known for its extremely high crime and violence. Also, health problems continue to plague me and the conditions I was subjected to exacerbated them. I know deep within my heart, that if there had not been such an outpouring of support, concern and overall outcry regarding my arbitrary detention, I would have probably stayed in solitary confinement for an indefinite length of time, or worse I would not have survived in the general prisoner population. Although I have been forced to endure many hardships, I will never surrender, even if all that is left of me is my spirit. Your love and support inspire me to overcome everything. I hope that here at Lewisburg I will be able to resume living in the general population, practising the traditional ways and continuing with my artwork... I again want to express my sincere appreciation and tell you once more that without you I am not sure I could have survived this last month. Every day I think about and pray for a time when I will be among you, shoulder to shoulder, fighting for justice for my people and our Mother Earth. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier  (For more information see the Leonard Peltier Defence Committee website, http://www.leonardpeltier.org. The Committee urges supporters to "contact USP Lewisburg to make sure Leonard regains all his hard earned prisoner rights, especially his religious rights, visitations, regular phone call and ability to paint. Be polite and courteous, but let them know that a lot of us all over the world are concerned about Leonard's well-being." Contact the Warden at USP Lewisburg, PA 17837, tel. 570-523-1251, fax 570-222-774. The email address is: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV.) (Back) (Home) Wages sink for young workers (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) PV Vancouver Bureau Being a young worker in Canada today means having more education and lower wages than your parents earned a generation ago, according to a new report from the Canadian Labour Congress. The report shows that young men aged 15 to 24 earn 25% less than those of the same age group during the 1970s and '80s (in real terms, adjusted for inflation). Young women earn 20% below what was paid to young women in the workforce thirty years ago. Released to mark International Youth Day on August 12, "Better Educated, Badly Paid and Underemployed: A Statistical Picture of Young Workers in Canada" is online at http://www.canadianlabour.ca. "It's harder than it used to be for young Canadians to get started in life. We've seen the signs for years, and now we've got the numbers to prove it," says Barbara Byers, CLC Executive Vice President. "This study makes it urgent for everyone in a decision-making capacity, including those of us in the labour movement, to deal with the issues that stand  in the way of rapid improvements in the standard of living of those who happen to be less than 25 years old today. Issues like job creation, minimum wage, student debt, child care, training, pay equity and an effective anti-racism strategy." The paper documents the worsening fortunes of younger compared to older workers, especially over the 1990s, and charts trends in employment and unemployment rates of teens and young adults. Youth, as a whole, experience continuing high unemployment. Teens have fared somewhat worse than young adults age 20 to 24. Young men, as a group, have fared somewhat worse than young women. Participation in post-secondary education has risen from one in five of those aged 20-24 during the mid-1980s to one in three today. This "good news" reflects both the difficulty of finding good jobs and the need for higher education to obtain good jobs. Despite their better education levels, the real wages of young workers have fallen to just 75 to 80% of the real wages earned by young workers a generation ago. Jobs held by young workers are disproportionately part-time, insecure and low paid. The gap between youth wages and adult wages continues to widen. In 2004, the median youth hourly wage (half earn more and half earn less) was $9 per hour, and the average hourly wage of young workers was 56.7% of the average hourly wage for all workers. Almost half (45%) of all young workers who are not students and are working full-time do not earn enough to meet the poverty line for a single person. Unionization of young workers has been increasing since 1997, from 11.7% to 13.9% of all youth employees. Unionized young workers earn $2.78 per hour or 28.1% more than non-union young workers, and the union advantage is even greater for young women. Much of the decline in the fortunes of young workers was concentrated in the period of recession and "jobless recovery" from 1989 to the mid-90s. As the study notes, "Young workers are hard hit by recessions, since new hiring tends to come to a halt, and only slowly picks up in periods of recovery." The proportion of young workers with jobs fell from 63.3% in 1989, to a low of 53.3% in 1993, before partly recovering to 58.1% in 2004. In June 2005, the youth employment rate had again slipped back, to 57.5%. By contrast, the proportion of workers aged between 25 and 54 with jobs has increased over the long-term, from 73.9% in 1989, to 81.4% in 2004, and 81.3% in June 2005. The youth unemployment rate has never dropped below 11% since the mid-1970s, reaching as high as 17.3% in 1992. In the first half of 2005, the youth unemployment rate averaged 12.5%, down a bit from 2004, but more than double the rate for workers aged over 25. In June 2005, there were 360,000 unemployed young persons, making up 31% of the total number of the "official" unemployed, or almost one-third. Unemployment is particularly high among teens, and among young men. In 2004, the teen unemployment rate was 18.1% compared to 10.3% for those aged 20 to 24. The unemployment rate for young men aged 15 to 24 in 2004 was 14.9% compared to 11.8% for young women in the same age group. The report finds that "the other major dimension of the declining fortunes of young workers has been in terms of real wages, and the wages of young workers compared to older workers. Today, young men aged 15 to 24 earn only about 75% as much as did the young men in the same age group in the mid-1970s in terms of inflation-adjusted hourly earnings. Young women have done slightly better, but they still earn only about 80% as much as did the young women of the mid-1970s. The pay gap between young women and young men has narrowed slightly, but the gap between youth and adults has greatly increased. This is a perverse path towards equality." One dramatic change has been "the greatly increased rate of young adult participation in full-time education." Since the mid-1980s, the proportion of teens who are full-time students rose from 75% to 80% as high school dropout rates fell, and the proportion of young adults aged 20 to 24 studying full-time rose from about 20% to about 33%. About half of all young people now enter some form of post-secondary education immediately after high school, and many do not seek a full-time job until their mid-20s or even later. Many young people move back and forth between work and education for an extended period, incurring heavy student debts. The transition to work is taking longer and is becoming more difficult. The report says that "Increasingly, young people are delaying marriage and cohabitation, opting to live with their parents through their twenties. Census figures show that 58% of young people between the ages of 20 to 24 years were living in their parental home in 2001, up from 42% in 1981. Even among young people aged 25 5o 29 years, almost one-quarter (24%), were still living in their parental home in 2001. Following in lockstep, young people are also delaying having children, and choosing to have fewer children when they do start families." (Back) (Home) Young Aboriginal workers hit hardest (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Excerpt from "Better Educated, Badly Paid and Underemployed" The 2001 census shows that there are over 1.3 million people who identify as Aboriginal people, or nearly 4.5% of the total Canadian population. Aboriginal persons are relatively younger than the general population. While youth aged 15 to 24 represent 13.5% of the general population, they make up more than 17% of the Aboriginal population. Aboriginal youth make up 5.7% of the total Canadian youth population, but a much higher percentage of the youth population is in Prairie cities, such as Winnipeg (11.7%), Saskatoon (11.6%), and Regina (10.7%). While their share of the youth population is much smaller in other cities, there are significant numbers of Aboriginal youth in most big cities across Canada as well as in the North and in many rural areas. Aboriginal people tend to have lower than average education levels, and the gap is still very large for youth. Census data show that 61% of Aboriginal youth have less than a high school education, and just 1.7% have university degrees compared to 43% high school completion, and 5.5% university completion rates for all young people. This education gap between Aboriginal youth and the general Canadian population may help explain the particularly high unemployment rates of Aboriginal youth, along with factors such as racism and very high unemployment rates for all Aboriginal persons living on reserves and in many rural areas. With an unemployment rate of 22.8% for Aboriginal youth in 2001 compared to 13.7% for all youth, there was a gap of just over nine percentage points. Unemployment rates for Aboriginal youth in the Prairie cities with large Aboriginal youth populations are higher than average for all Aboriginal youth, and the unemployment rate gap compared to youth as a whole is greatest in these cities. (Back) (Home) Racism in the job market (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Excerpt from "Better Educated, Badly Paid and Underemployed" As Canada has become more racially and ethnically diverse, the youth population has become even more diverse. Of all young people age 15 to 24 in Canada in 2001, one in six or 15.9% belonged to visible minority groups (i.e. non-white/non- Aboriginal). This is higher than the 13.4% proportion of persons of colour in the entire population, mainly because the immigrant population is younger than average. However, a high proportion of visible minority youth (41%) are not immigrants, but were born and educated in Canada... Visible minority youth make up a very high and rising share of the total youth population in Vancouver (45%) and Toronto (42%), and a higher than average proportion in other big cities, especially Calgary and Montreal. Given that many immigrant youth arrived in Canada as young children and that 41% of visible minority youth were born in Canada, a clear majority of visible minority youth entering the workforce have almost certainly been educated in Canada and speak good English or French. In short, most young workers of colour do not suffer from the same disadvantages of many adult immigrant workers of colour - such as lack of recognition of foreign credentials and work experience. Furthermore, visible minority persons are much more likely than non-visible minority persons to be highly educated, and visible minority persons born in Canada have much higher rates of educational attainment than average. For all these reasons, one would expect visible minority youth to be doing well in the job market compared to nonvisible minority youth. Yet, their employment rates are lower than average, and their unemployment rates are higher than average. This is especially true for black youth. Racial discrimination in hiring and promotions is very much a factor at play. One in five visible minority workers reported experiencing racial discrimination in the recent Ethnic Diversity Survey, and many complaints are filed before human rights tribunals each year. (Back) (Home) World Youth Festival a huge success (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The 16th World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Caracas from Aug. 8 to 15, with more than 15,000 delegates from over 140 countries. A colourful fireworks display, cultural performances and an indigenous purification ceremony accompanied the opening event on Aug. 8. Delegations from each country entered the grounds at the Tiuna Fort to be reviewed by dignitaries, international guests and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The largest delegations are from Venezuela with nearly 5,000 delegates, Colombia with more than 3,000, Cuba with 1,200, Brazil with 800, the United States with over 700, and more than 100 from Canada. In total, 11,000 delegates came from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and another 4,000 from other continents. During the procession, Jessica Marshall, co-chair of the U.S. National Preparatory Committee, was pulled from the march and led to the reviewing stand to embrace Venezuela's President Chavez. The gesture was seen as a symbol of the great respect the Venezuelans have for the large delegation from the U.S., a country whose government has tried to subvert democracy here. Marshall said later, "Young people of the United States stand in solidarity with the youth of the world, the youth of Venezuela. We want peace and friendship, not the policy of aggression carried out by the Bush administration." The crowd was a rainbow of flags, banners and T-shirts representing the struggles and issues faced by the young people of the world. They gathered here around the slogan of the festival, "For peace and solidarity, we struggle against imperialism and war!" Caracas was chosen as the site of the festival in recognition of the exciting developments of the Bolivarian Revolution ushered in with the election of Hugo Chavez and the mass movements that defended him against a U.S.-backed coup attempt in 2002. Young people have played a significant role in the Bolivarian movement, and the Venezuelan National Preparatory Committee comprises 30 organizations. The president of the Venezuelan NPC is David Velasquez of the Venezuelan Communist youth. Michael Madeira, president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth and head of the festival's International Organizing Committee, said that Venezuela's revolutionary political scene is helping reinforce and rejuvenate the World Youth Festival movement. The festival movement grew out of the ashes of World War II as an attempt to unite the youth of the world to ensure fascism would never return. Today the festivals represent the power of friendship among the youth of the world to combat racism, war, imperialism and poverty. The nine-day festival included debates, political discussions, cultural exchanges and dozens of other forums for international solidarity. (With files from People's Weekly World) (Back) (Home) Youth show powerful anti-imperialist front (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By María Julia Mayoral and Ventura de Jesus, Granma daily special correspondents The 16th World Festival of Youth and Students have broken the blockade and the censorship imposed by imperialism, which could not prevent more than 15,000 delegates from 144 countries from meeting here to organize new battles to the benefit of humanity, with a clearer and more global vision of problems and their causes. At Poliedro Stadium in this city, bursting with young people, a festival declaration was presented, ratifying the determination of the youth and student movements of the world to increase their coordination in the local, regional and international spheres, with the motivation to take on the ideological, cultural, economic and military offensive of the imperialist elites led by the U.S. government. The declaration refers to the decision to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the World Festival of Youth in Caracas in 2007; without a doubt, these events have been strengthened after this year's festival in the land of Bolivar. The participants in the nine-day event reiterated their demands for the rights of young people, students and the peoples in general to a world of peace without nuclear weapons; access to education; and universal, free health care. It was also expressed that the use of scientific and technical development should not continue to be the exclusive prerogatives of the rich nations, particularly in the areas of communications and information. Jobs for all was another demand, as was the elimination of every type of discrimination, and a new international order that would eliminate the growing foreign debt. The many accusations made against imperialism in the document included the illegal imprisonment of five Cuban anti-terrorist revolutionaries, who should be immediately set free. David Velasquez, national coordinator of the Festival Preparatory Committee, urged that everyone commit to give continuity to what had been discussed, so that the struggle for the survival of humanity - seriously threatened as never before - does not languish. According to Miguel Madeira, president of the International Organizing Committee, the festival took place in this South American country after more than two years of intense work in schools, factories, businesses, and neighbourhoods of many nations to gain the involvement of many thousands of young people in the necessary battle against imperialism. The gathering in Caracas, he affirmed, included many lectures, workshops, seminars, meetings of different sectors, diverse cultural and sports activities, and a magnificent anti-imperialist tribunal. "Young people have come out of this Festival with the certainty that the gathering does not end with its closing ceremony," he noted. "This is just the beginning of the return to our countries to spread the ideas discussed here and strengthen our organizational ability against imperialism, exploitation and war." (Back) (Home) Riot police attack bank workers (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Scuffles broke out in Athens on August 16 after police tried to distance striking workers from Emporia Bank's offices at central Sofocleous Street. The protesters were trying to draw attention to their demands and to block strikebreakers from going to work. The Greek Federation of Bank Employee Unions (OTOE) called the strike to protest changes to the supplementary pension scheme of Emporiki Bank, the country's fourth-largest lender. Broader changes to the banking sector's pension system caused three weeks of strikes in June. Parliament has since approved the changes but unions are threatening to continue their fight. OTOE said many workers participated in the one-day strike, even though it was held right after a three-day religious holiday. The strike was intended to coincide with a meeting of Emporiki Bank's general assembly, which gave approval to the pension change. An overhaul of the bank's pension liabilities is considered a crucial step towards further privatization of the state-controlled lender. (Back) (Home) Houston janitors can join union (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Houston janitors who are involved in an effort to form a union have taken an important step toward their goal of securing better jobs and affordable health care. The five major janitorial companies, that together provide cleaning services to roughly 80 percent of the city's commercial office space, have agreed to a fair process to allow janitors to freely choose whether or not to join the Service Employees International Union. Under the terms of the agreement, once a majority of the janitors working for each of the five companies have indicated their desire to join SEIU, the companies have agreed to recognize  SEIU as the janitors' union. More than 6,000 janitors could become members of SEIU. The union reports that thousands of janitors have signed cards saying they support forming a union, and more are signing every day. The struggle is also winning broad community support. More than 100 community, religious and elected leaders, churches, and organizations in Houston have pledged their public support to the janitors. On August 20, Archbishop Joseph Florenza gave a special mass in support of the janitors and other low-wage workers in Houston. (Back) (Home) Cuban Five win right to new trial (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) People's Weekly World combined services After considering their case for over a year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Aug. 9 overturned the 2001 convictions of the Cuban Five on charges of serving as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The court said the five men did not receive a fair trial in Miami because of pervasive prejudice there against the government led by President Fidel Castro, and ordered a new trial in a different jurisdiction. "This is really a historic opinion," attorney Leonard Weinglass, a member of the Five's legal team, said in a telephone news conference. Weinglass said a federal appeals court had never before reversed a trial court's finding on the grounds of venue. "And in writing their opinion which covers just one of the eight or nine issues raised on appeal," he said, "the court analyzed in great detail virtually every facet of the case, of the community, of the publicity, of the attitude of the jurors, the actions of the prosecutor and the motions that were made during and after the trial." If the court's ruling is upheld by the U.S. Attorney General's office, René Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero will be transferred back to Miami to begin the process of seeking a new venue with the aim of getting a fair trial. Paul McKenna, lawyer for Hernandez, said he would apply for bail as soon as possible since his client's legal status is what it was before the trial. The Five were on an anti-terrorist assignment to watch right-wing extremist groups in south Florida. Over more than four decades, nearly 3,500 people have been killed and over 2,100 injured in terrorist attacks against Cuba, including 1997 bombings in Havana in which one tourist was killed and 12 others injured. When the Cuban government shared important information they uncovered with the FBI at a special meeting in 1998, the FBI arrested the five men instead of acting on their findings. After a 2001 trial in Miami, conducted in an atmosphere of intense hostility and characterized by defense attorneys as legally flawed, they were convicted and sentenced to draconian terms. Two received life sentences, Gerardo Hernandez received two life terms plus 15 years, and the others 15-year and 19-year terms. The men were then dispersed to federal prisons in far-flung locations around the U.S., where they have received harsh treatment including episodes of solitary confinement and denial of family visits. The Five are viewed as heroes in Cuba and around the world. Their freedom has been the object of a worldwide campaign, including in the U.S. The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five called the appeals court's decision "a sensational victory for the Five, the Cuban people and the international people's movement that supports them." Weinglass pointed out in a statement that attorneys for the Five had had their request for a change of venue to another city denied five times. "Miami is a different city from every other city in The U.S.," he said. "A portion of the exile community has engaged in terrorism against Cuba for decades. Violence against Cuba is heralded in small, but vocal circles in Miami." The defense attorney noted that Orlando Bosch, responsible for bombing a Cuban passenger airliner in 1976 in which all 73 passengers died, walks Miami streets a free man, though the U.S. Justice Department once called him the most dangerous terrorist in the Western Hemisphere. "Hard-line exiles and their supporters play a large role in shaping public opinion and debate in Miami," he added. To try the Five there was "a clear violation of their right to have a trial free of outside influences that were prejudiced against them." (Back) (Home) Urge for U.S. labour unity strong at the grassroots (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Roberta Wood, People's Weekly World, Aug. 11 Activists and leaders of state and central labour councils across the U.S. have not given up on the idea of unity, even in the midst of a major split in the AFL-CIO. Traditional Labor Day parades, from New York to Detroit to Los Angeles and dozens of small towns in between, look to be a showplace for the continuing commitment to work together. It is at the local level that great labour unity has been forged in recent years - in the heat of strikes, organizing campaigns and struggles for pro-worker legislation and elected officials. "Solidarity out here has been very essential," said David Kemnitz, president of the North Dakota AFL-CIO, in a phone interview. "It's been carried on between locals and then transmitted up." Kemnitz said that relations have been built over time with trust, understanding and friendship. "You don't throw that away. We're still brothers and sisters." he described a Labor Day picnic of the Missouri Slope CLC in his state that took place this week. "They traditionally have it early," he explained. It was well attended, he said, with members of unions from both sides of the split as well as many friends from movements in alliance with labour. Locals of unions whose internationals have quit the AFL-CIO are no longer eligible to participate in the central labour bodies and state federations, according to the AFL-CIO's constitution. Many CLC activists were deeply disappointed that the federation's July convention did not enact any measures to allow for exceptions. Nevertheless, in the weeks following the convention. local activists were putting their heads together, both in their councils and informally, to find 'wiggle room" to maintain alliances. "The split isn't complete," said one New York labour activist. "It can be weakened or reversed. We need to encourage every form of unity." "Nothing is stopping anyone from coalescing in common cause on strikes, contract enforcement, demonstrations," said Kemnitz. He added that new financial difficulties for state federations such as his will be daunting. With the loss of per capita payments from a large portion of affiliates, he said, "the funding stream that was there has disappeared. The difficulty is in the financial strength of the institution that helps disseminate the message." In America's workplaces many labour activists expressed frustration at the splitting action. Besides a lively Internet debate, which involved about 9,000 of the AFL-CIO's 12 million members, few rank-and-file activists were part of the discussion. On the shop floor, it's hard to find anyone who says that any of the issues raised to justify the split, trump the issue closest to workers' heart - unity. (Back) (Home) Canadian Peace Alliance call: All out on Sept. 24! (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Canadian Peace Alliance is calling on its member groups, individuals and supporters to mobilize for a pan-Canadian day of action against the wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and in support of US military war resisters on September 24th. The CPA call says, "On that date, tens of thousands of people will participate in a huge anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC. We in Canada stand in solidarity with our American friends as we call on the Government of Canada to uphold international law by declaring the war of occupation in Iraq to be illegal under the charter of the United Nations. We are also calling for the removal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan as it is the largest contingent of support for the US led war of terror. "It is more than two years since the invasion of Iraq and the violence there continues. Far from being in its last throes, the Iraqi resistance grows with each new round of violence coming from the occupying forces. With more than 100,000 Iraqis and 1,700 US soldiers dead, the international community will once again call for an end to this illegal and immoral war. "Despite the virtual blackout on news involving the conduct of the US/UK forces in the country and the facade of independence brought about by the elections in Iraq, more and more people all over the world and, crucially, in the US are opposing this war. "In Canada, the federal government is moving in exactly the opposite direction. They have doubled the military budget and increased support for the US-led 'war on terror' by increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. As General Hillier's recent belligerent comments indicate, Canada provides increasingly open support for a broader campaign, led by the United States government, to assert control over the Middle East region. Also, Canadian corporations continue to profit from the war while people of Muslim and Arab backgrounds, such as the 'Secret Trial Five', face ongoing harassment, intimidation and racial profiling. "In addition, the number of US war resisters coming to Canada is growing each month. They are refusing to participate in the illegal war on Iraq - just as the Government of Canada did. Yet the Canadian government has intervened to prevent these war resisters from raising the issue of the illegality of the war in their refugee claims. The Immigration and Refugee Board has already denied refuge to Jeremy Hinzman, a decision which is being appealed to the federal court. We need to challenge the Canadian government's hypocrisy and demand that today's war resisters, like those who came before them during the Vietnam  War, be given refuge in this country. "This is a crucial campaign for the peace movement. If we can open the border to US war resisters, we can very concretely undermine George Bush's ability to wage wars of aggression. "In the wake of the London bombings, this task becomes ever more crucial. As with September 11, 2001, the response from Western governments is to cynically exploit these tragic acts in an attempt to legitimize militarism, occupation and aggression. But the London bombings show that the so-called 'war on terror' makes our world a less safe place as this cycle of violence escalates. We will only have true security if our governments stop this cycle of violence. "End the Wars of Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Let the War Resisters Stay. All Out September 24th. (Back) (Home) CBC workers making news (The following article is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The CBC has locked out Canadian Media Guild members, but the union is launching an internet-based service for the public. The project will present journalism, and eventually other programming, produced by CBC's locked out reporters, researchers, writers, hosts, producers, technicians and support staff. The CMG will begin with a text and picture site, followed by an English National daily newscast via podcast and downloadable file at 6 pm EDT. The project may expand to provide more local, regional and national news, current affairs and entertainment content. For information on this exciting development, check the Media Guild website, http://www.cmg.ca. (Back) (Home) What's Left (The following item is from the September 1-15/2005 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) VANCOUVER, BC 9/11: reclaiming history and resistance - 6:30 pm, Thursday, Sept. 8, Room 2270 SFU Hharbour Centre (555 W. Hastings). Films on 9/11 in New York (6:30), and "Chile: Obstinate Memory" at 7:30. By donation, $4 for one film, $6 for both. Presented by Envisioning Peoples Struggles, 778-552-2099 or eps2000@resist.ca. COPE Policy Conference -  Sat., Sept. 10, and civic election nomination meeting, Sunday, Sept. 25. For time & place, call 604-255-0400. StopWar film night - "Fallujah 2004", 7 pm, Tue., Sept. 13, at PacificCinematheque, 1131 Howe St. StopWar meetings - Sept. 14 & 28, 5:30-7:30, Maritime Labour Centre, 111 Victoria Dr. Take Back the Night -  Friday, Sept. 16, annual women-only protest against male violence, starts at dusk from Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park. BURNABY, BC Support Telus Workers - Labour Day rally, 12 noon, Monday, Sept. 5, at the Telus Building ("The Boot"), corner of Kingsway and Boundary. WINNIPEG MB Living Wage Campaign conference - Friday, Sept. 9, 7:30 pm at Fort Garry Hotel, 222 Broadway, and Sat. Sept. 10, 9 am to 4 pm at Crossways-in-Common, 222 Furby St. Free Admission. For info or to register (Sept. 7 deadline) call Derek Black 256-9818. Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee -  meets Turs., Sept. 13, 7 pm at Workers Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St. Info 783-9380. TORONTO, ON Rally against occupation of Palestine  - every Friday, 5-6 pm, picket at the Israeli Consulate at Avenue Road/Bloor West. Organized by Jewish Women Against the Occupation and Coalition for Just Peace in Palestine. MONTREAL,QC Vigil against occupation of Palestine - every Friday, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians and Jews United, 961-3928. CPAC Broadcast Is Solidarity Forever? - CPAC documentary on the labour movement in Canada, including segments with CAW president Buzz Hargrove, and key labour struggles such as the campaign to organize Wal-Mart. Dates and times (all times Eastern): Sept. 2, 8 pm; Sept. 4, 9 pm and midnight; Sept. 5, 8 pm; Sept. 16, 8 pm; Sept. 18, 9 pm and midnight. PEACE RALLIES For local details of Sept. 24 anti-war actions across Canada, visit the Canadian Peace Alliance website, http://www.acp-cpa.ca. (Back) (Home)

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