Beyond optics, toward politics: Report from CLC Convention
2017Joel Harden 2017-06Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 10 →
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CUPE Local 1281 (published with permission of RankandFile.ca)
At its best, the recent 28th Constitutional Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress demonstrated how far unions have come on Indigenous rights, Palestin ian rights (more on that later), racism, queer or trans rights, mental health, and environmental justice. Del egates made passionate appeals to support these and other important struggles.
Impressive speakers like Angela Davis, Candy Pal mater, Cindy Blackstock, and Mary Walsh argued unions must champion issues suppressed by power ful insiders. Heartfelt videos acknowledged former CLC President Bob White, outgoing Secretary-Trea surer Barb Myers, the 25-year anniversary of the 1992 Westray Mine disaster, and the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. On the fourth day of CLC Convention, a union “street party” occupied Bay and King Streets, the heart of Canada’s financial district.
At its worst, the 28th CLC Convention also illustrated the limited thinking that exists in union circles, par ticularly at the leadership level. Election leaflets fes tooned the halls making few, if any, specific promises.
A 5 per cent pay increase (indexed to inflation) was approved for CLC leaders who currently earn over three times the average wage in Canada, despite stiff opposition from convention delegates. UNIFOR (the largest private sector union) and Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union continued their public feud after an attempted raid by UNIFOR failed earlier this year. Premier Rachel Notley arrived to celebrate 10 SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 2017 achievements made by the NDP government in Al berta, but ended with a pitch for export-driven oil pipelines, the impact of which would undermine cur rent efforts in Canada to meet global climate change targets.
At a time when organized labour faces existential challenges, these optics at union conventions leave many cold. Before going to the 28th CLC Convention, I canvassed my Facebook contacts to see who else was attending, and this reply earned the most praise: “I’ll be raking leaves in my yard during CLC Conven tion, which is likely to add more to the class struggle.” Ouch.
While such cynicism is understandable, I’ll offer an other perspective here:
Yes, union conventions are spaces where top-down strategies get used for particular outcomes, but they are also moments where activists can shift beyond optics to politics. With the right strategy, activists can organize, appeal for support, and advance important work. n