(The following article is from the January 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Sam Hammond, leader of the Communist Party of BC

     President Jim Sinclair opened the 53rd annual convention of the British Columbia Federation of Labour on Nov. 23 with a very militant speech that articulated the attack on working people. He did not hold back at all, defining the evils of the present crisis and the capitalist system that is responsible.

     Looking back at the depression of the 1930's, Sinclair repeated the same lies that, in his eyes, are being paraded out again. He expounded on the callousness of pro-corporate neo-liberal policy: "In 1940 Canadians asked the right question: how could their government find billions of dollars to fight a war after spending most of the 1930s claiming they had no money to help the millions of poor and unemployed? Don't you think that in 2009 the question is relevant again to a whole new generation of Canadians? How did governments find hundreds of billions of dollars for banks, and billions for executive bonuses, after spending decades cutting public services and now refusing to help the growing army of unemployed and the poor?... Is something wrong with this picture?  I say fire them all and put half of them in jail."

     And further: "This is the fight of our lives, and it's between the vast majority of working people fighting to survive tough times and the corporations and their right wing governments... The corporate tax cuts are so deep, that in 2011 students will pay more in tuition (in BC) than corporations will pay in corporate taxes."

     Sinclair's analysis reflected the frustration and anger of BC workers, and it was much better than the "not so bad" executive report. If his militancy divided into several channels of economism preceding the rather hygienic workshops the next day, it still provided a point of departure for expressions of militancy, the criticism of a lack of program and action, and the eventual appearance of a composite resolution late on the third and final day that ended in an "Action Program."

     The "Action Program" was probably the offspring of a leadership hearing the anger of the "newly legislated back to work" Paramedics who never got to strike at all, the HandyDart drivers who cannot even get an agreement to compulsory arbitration, the privatized, the underfunded, the dismembered and the disowned.

     It was all there on the convention floor. Ken Davidson, Vice President of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, set the tempo, saying he would vote against the Executive Report because it lacked a fightback program. The delegates showed their appreciation.

     Angry Paramedics vowed to continue fighting even though their strike was controlled by "necessary service" legislation, and then legislated again in a double whammy to a complete end. Representatives of 500 HandyDart strikers were howling mad at a callous government that privatised their jobs and delivered them into the hands of a profit grinding U.S. transit operation. There are 200,000 public sector workers preparing for bargaining across B.C., facing a pending wage freeze and benefit give-back. Some 10,000 forestry workers are also gearing up for negotiations, facing the massive export of raw logs and the dismantling of processing mills that are being re-assembled south of the border and in low wage areas of the globe.

     Dave Pritchett of the Longshore union reflected this collective anger in a militant speech about co-operation between unions to prevent the export of raw logs. "We have to create a crisis of our own," he said, demanding some ground level fightback action. Another delegate said it all: "We have the power, but do we have the will to use it?"

     The power and the will to use it was far from the conclusion of guest speaker Linda McQuaig, who did her usual well-researched analyses of evil capitalism, ending with the proposal for good capitalism as existing in the social-democratic Valhalla of Scandinavia. The salvation for Canada's unemployed, hungry and homeless apparently lies somewhere in Norway, not Vancouver. But how do we get there?

     The delegates spoke to much more than the resolutions, some of which were good and some quite weak. It didn't matter much, as delegate after delegate used the resolutions as a vehicle to say what was on their minds. CUPE B.C. president Barry O'Neil made a strong and angry speech warning the Campbell government not to bring paramedics from the east, the south or the military to B.C. for the Olympics. He made it clear they would be considered scabs, and the union would not take this laying down. Brigid Kemp from the South Okanagan Labour Council spoke on the hypocrisy of governments which can fund the Afghan war but not hospitals and social programs. Stephen Von Sychowski received approval and respect from delegates when he spoke of young workers and the minimum wage campaign.

     The "Action Program" that resulted is a good start. Not perfect, but perfection is not needed as much as determination and a call to arms on several fronts. The Program is militant, it is about youth, First Nations, the homeless, the unemployed and poor. It calls for labour to unite with its community partners to launch defensive and offensive campaigns. In a positive development, it calls for extra-parliamentary labour action with an eye on mobilizing the community, a day of protest and even "job action."       It is rather telling of the tensions building within labour and within the NDP that point 2 of the Program states: "The Federation and the affiliates lobby New Democratic Party MLAs and constituency associations to ensure the party and the caucus embrace a progressive economic and social strategy for British Columbia."

     The authors think it requires labour lobbying to ensure a "progressive" economic and social strategy from the NDP. It apparently does. The NDP started its biannual convention the day after the BC Fed ended. Even though leader Carol James had the benefit of the BC Fed delegates' feelings, and Jim Sinclair's speech to the NDP convention, she didn't seem to hear.

     Perhaps she didn't notice that about 15% of the delegates remained seated during her grand entry to the BC Fed convention, where criticism of the NDP's performance and priorities that blew the May 2009 election was a politely subdued and obliquely expressed undercurrent.

     Carol James' perennial courtship of BC business, her stated aim to bring business and labour together, to move the NDP closer to the centre (which is the same direction as to the right) and her complete failure to discuss what went wrong last spring does not bode well for the future.

     To bring labour to the table in co-operation with business means she must move labour to the right, and that will cause a split that leaves her alone with business. BC doesn't need two business parties. Jim Sinclair might have been trying to bring some sanity to the NDP Convention when he said, "The real problem we have in this party, the real challenge we have, is we don't have enough working people on side. That's what this party is about, making British Columbia a better place for the working people, the vulnerable and the poor." Carol James and Jim Sinclair have different priorities.

     Two conventions. One wants to organize resistance, the other appeasement. One wants to win the next election, and the other seems determined to throw it away again. This is not a Tale of Two Cities, but it is a Tale of Two Conventions, and the choice is yours.


The Delegates of the Federation endorse the following Program of Action:

1. The affiliates and the Federation jointly produce popular education materials, including videos, written materials and course materials for use by affiliates, locals, activists, schools and the public to promote a progressive economic and social agenda based on the recommendations in the two papers discussed by workshops.

2. The Federation and the affiliates lobby New Democratic Party MLA's and constituency associations to ensure the party and the caucus embrace a progressive economic and social strategy for British Columbia.

3. The Federation and affiliates work to build a province-wide movement with our community partners to escalate opposition to stop the Liberal Government cuts to services and restore funding, including developing a unified message, co-ordinated advertising campaigns and regional actions leading to a province-wide day of action.

4. The Federation continue to work with public sector unions to co-ordinate collective bargaining strategies, to reject any attempts by governments to strip conditions from collective agreements and impose back-to-work legislation.  This includes solidarity actions regionally and provincially up to and including job action.

5. The Federation develop a co-ordinated fight back campaign against the HST and for fair taxes and the funding of public services. The Officers of the Federation develop a full scale campaign against the tax.

6. Affiliates and the Federation  work with community partners, including First Nations, to hold a Summit on Poverty in 2010 which will develop a comprehensive strategy and plan to reduce poverty.

7. Affiliates and their Federation support the Young Workers Committee and their work to create a low wage worker network to organize non-union workers to fight for their rights, including a $10 minimum wage.

8. The Federation organize immediately a strategic planning meeting of all affiliates to implement the Action Plan. Each affiliate will commit to participate on the Planning Committee for the implementation of the Action Plan.

9. The Affiliates and the Federation focus campaigns in targeted ridings to build a capacity to defeat the Liberal MLA in 2013, or earlier through recall, if feasible.

10. Provide a complete report to delegates at the 2010 Convention on the implementation of the Action Plan and how best to use our resources to increase our capacity to organize against anti-worker politicians, defeat the Liberal government and to elect and keep accountable politicians who are supported by the Labour movement, municipally, provincially and federally.