Unity, Militancy and Labour's Split

The New Socialist Magazine, November / December 2000


The ongoing dispute between the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Executive of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has polarized opinions throughout the Left and the labour movement.

On the one hand, the conservative leaderships of a number of unions have denounced the CAW for "raiding" members from a fellow union. On the other hand, some left-wing activists instinctively side with the CAW, applauding its perceived militancy and its record of waging more aggressive strikes than most unions. These activists tend to see the battle with the CAW as just the "shake up" that a tired, passive, bureaucratic CLC leadership needs. They are excited when the CAW talks about building a new labour federation on more militant lines.

The debate is complicated by a long-simmering political hostility toward the CAW from leaders of unions like the Steelworkers and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). These unions strongly opposed the CAW leadership’s support for the mass-based Days of Action against the Harris government in Ontario, and they abhor its willingness to publicly criticize the NDP.

The current dispute thus takes place in the context of an anti-CAW campaign by more right-wing officials of rival unions. Their attacks on the CAW for raiding members from the Service Employees International Union are thus far from innocent. Moreover, a number of these union leaderships have sought to punish the CAW severely for things they themselves do and have done.

Not surprisingly, then, many good activists see this as a straightforward battle between right (Steelworkers, UFCW etc.) and left (CAW) in the labour movement.

Yet, however much left activists may be drawn toward support for the CAW, its leadership too must be held publicly accountable. There are legitimate and important questions to be posed about whether the CAW has recklessly split the labour movement in a raiding operation. The CAW’s own processes of internal democracy need to be examined. And CAW president Buzz Hargrove’s ruminations about a new labour federation need to be scrutinized: is he offering a real program for a militant new departure, or is he in fact operating without a compass and an accountable process?

New Socialist hopes to provide a forum for left-wing debate around these questions. In this issue we offer two perspectives, both critical to different degrees of the CAW leaders. One, by Greg McMaster, a long-time leader and activist with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in Edmonton, argues a position for healing the division within the labour movement. The second, by Bruce Allen of the CAW Left Caucus, sharply criticizes the CAW’s own record of internal democracy.

The stakes are high for organized labour in this debate. We hope to continue the discussion in future issues.