Labour Abandons the NDP

It's not just Buzz or his economist in residence Jim Stanford that have abandoned the NDP now the House of Labour, the founding members of the New Democratic Party have abandoned endorsement of the party in favour of third party lobbying.

CLC puts issues at forefront:: calls for support of policies, not parties, in federal election [Globe & Mail] 05-Jan-2006

This is not new, they did this during the 2004 election, basing their propaganda campaign around 'issues'. But having seen the negatigve impact Buzz embracing Martin has had we have all been waiting for the CLC to come to the defense of the party they created.

The late launching of their campaign this week and their failure to endorse the NDP and attack strategic voting is shameful. Why have they even bothered. Brother Georgetti and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) should hang their heads in shame.

Labour Launches Its Own Federal Election Campaign [CLC] 05-Jan-2006

What was needed now was a strong push in the labour movement for the NDP not some weak tea vote on policies campaign that one would expect from a Liberal front group like the Council of Canadians. Now a strong attack from Labour on the Liberals and Conservatives was needed. And it ain't happening. This makes the CLC irrelevant as well as ineffecutal as a political force in this election.

They sound exactly like Buzz and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) who support the Liberals. An low and behold behind their 'issues' campaign is the truth. Brother Georgetti has abandoned the NDP for the Liberals.

Labour's minority report on the election [24 Hours Vancouver] 05-Jan-2006

A major Canadian labour leader is crossing his fingers for another minority government in the next election.

"We think minority governments work better than majority governments," said Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti yesterday. "We've seen the results and we're quite happy with them."

Georgetti said the last minority government was better for labour, passing legislation that protected workers' pay if their employers went bankrupt. There was also more money for training and education.

While Georgetti claims to still support the NDP so does Buzz and they sound like Tweedledee and Tweedledum when it comes to the Liberals.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) an affiliate in the CLC at least has taken the bull by the horns and done the right thing. The best “strategic vote” is for the NDP [CUPE] 05-Jan-2006

What had always made Canada different from the U.S. was our labour movement was the source of Canada's Labour and Socialist parties.Through out the thirties till the red scare of the fifties radical unions, were aligned with the Communist Party and the One Big Union formed by the Socialist Party of Canada. In the fifties the divided labour movement in Canada came together as one federated body the CLC and went on to merge with the CCF to create the NDP.

In the U.S. the AFL/CIO historically followed Samuel Gompers dictum of rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies. And would not be until the 1960's that they aligned with the Democrats. An independent labour party never existed under the auspices of the AFL/CIO though the Socialist Party of the USA was a power house under Eugene Debs at the begining of last century.

Today the CLC has reverted, as has Buzz and the CAW to Gomperism. And its all over jobs in the Southern Ontario Rust belt. Auto and Steel jobs. Screw the rest of Canada, screw the NDP, screw Quebec, its all about Ontario. The CLC should give up any pretence to being a national federation, and change its name to the Ontario Labour Congress. And the CAW should change their name to the Ontario Autoworkers Union.

Hot: Endorsements. NDP candidate Peggy Nash, whose boss, Buzz Hargrove, keeps trying to hug Paul Martin when labour union bosses traditionally hug NDP leaders, is doing just fine without him. Ms. Nash, who is running against Liberal incumbent Sarmite Bulte in the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park, recently received an endorsement from Stephen Lewis, the former Ontario NDP leader and former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, who is now involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. Meanwhile, CAW chief economist Jim Stanford is endorsing Greig Mordue, the Liberal candidate in Oxford, a Southwestern Ontario riding. Mr. Mordue is the government affairs official for Toyota, which the last time we checked, was a Japanese car manufacturer. Mr. Mordue is running against Conservative incumbent Dave MacKenzie. Of course, Toyota just broke ground on its new plant in Woodstock, which is part of the Oxford riding.

And Toytoa is one of the companies NOT unionized by CAW, along with Honda. So go figure why such a high profile labour fakir like Stanford would support this particular Liberal. A foot in the door for the CAW to unionize the number one car maker in the world as the number one car maker in the U.S., GM sheds jobs as it tanks in the world market. Opportunism as usual in the world of bread and butter business unionism. Once upon a time the CAW and other large industrial unions claimed to be the Left in Canada, and the Left in the union movement.

Today they show themselves for what they are, shameless business unions out for the good of their own members.Willing to sacrifice class struggle for a bowl of pottage.


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