Strike supporter speaks
Q. - What was the response of the rank-and-file in your union to your arrest?
A. At my postal station, when I went back the next day - I was a little nervous because I thought that some people might think this is going a little too far, to get arrested, and maybe wondering why I wouldn't sign this paper [stating that she would not retur to the picket line] because so many others had. But when I went in the next
LYNN BUE is an Edmonton feminist, and is the executive vice-president of Local 15, Letter Carriers Union of Canada. On June 18, she joined almost 400 other people arrested at Gainers. Along with another letter carrier, Mary Hughes, she spent a night in jail for refusing to sign a statement promising not to return to the picket line, under a injunction forbidding support picketing. They were tuen released without signing, and subsequent arrestees have not been required to sign.
Why did you refuse
Question.
to agree not to go back to the picket line?
Answer.
I just want to show the court, the judge and the legal system what I feel about how they could hand out an injunction like they did.
It's a statement about how unjust that is to the workers at Gainers. I want to be there with these people because there is so much power against them.
Why is support on the picket
Q.
line itself so important?
A.
The more we stand with them,
Sometimes you the safer they are.
where take a stand on something you don't get any support and you start doubting. You are against all police that we've all been these brought up to respect, and the court system is supposed to be just, and the media is not supporting you and people say you're just greedy.
know what it feels like to stand alone so I don't want that to happen to them. I'm really proud of these people.
Q.
Do you feel this is a watershed for the labor movement in
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Alberta and Canada?
A. Yes I do. A few different things have happened lately in Alberta. For example, the recent provincial election rocked the country, the fact that we elected New Democrats in Alberta and especially in Edmonton. Then we have three strug gles going on now where people are really fighting back - Gainers in Edmonton, Suncor in Fort McMurray, Zeidler Forest Industries in Slave Lake (and Zeidler has had quite a bad reputation with regards to how it treats its employees - it's amazing to see the people in this small town fighting back). And we have people who are unemployed, like the Dandelions who are supporting all these struggles. Ordinary workers are going to be watching this and it could make a difference in how they respond to the struggles they're going to have. I really see a crisis coming -we're being pushed to the wall. We can't just keep taking slow steps backwards all the time without fighting back. That's going to be dangerous. But if we don't fight back really effectively, it's going to scare people. They will think, well there's no point.
If this strike goes on for a long time some people might say it's a loss - that they won't get what they're fighting for. I don't think it's a loss if labor groups, women's groups and church groups all stand together and really push - then it will be something we can look at as an education, because we haven't done this very often. We may make some mistakes, but if we don't get too scared and just stop fighting it's not going to be a loss. If people start backing off or become apathetic it will be really bad for many years in Alberta.
morning, they. cheered and I was really surprised. People who hadn't even supported the idea of our union going on strike in the past, came up and were patting me on the back and saying, "Good for you. We have to stand up against this". It felt very strong. Even one person who had in the past talked to me about how she didn't like unions because of what she had read in the newspaper and talked about the workers at Gainers being violent - she had changed and was caring about how I was doing, teasing me in a gentle way, but not saying that was a dumb thing to do. I knew that she was proud we'd done that.
Q. What about your local executive?
A. We have a very good execu tive in Edmonton. That was one thing that I trusted - that they would really understand why I had done what I did, including not signing and staying in jail overnight. They would do the same thing.
Q. What is your response to the debate concerning all the so-called violence on the picket line?
A. I feel frustrated by it. I mean, how dare they talk about these ordinary people as being violent. It's their jobs - some of them have put 30 years into this company - and now no one gives a shit about what's happening to them. They've had riot police come, they've had the legal system show no concern about what's going to happen to them. They see scabs crossing which, if they can keep the plant open, means Pocklington has no reason to nego tiate with them - so they don't have any power. Everything's going against them and trying to take away their power. I don't know how many other people would respond. It's easy to sit back when you're not involved and say, "Oow, I hate violence" - people throwing rocks or some of the things that have happened, but if it was happening to you and you had all these forces against you, how would you respond? The power of that judge to keep us in jail overnight because we wouldn't do exactly what he says, even though
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Sometimes when I open up the and someon newspaper and someone on the picket line has thrown nails or smashed windows, I become nervous. It's not because I'm angry at those people who did it. I can understand why they are frustrated and why they do it, but I'm worried about how easily the public could switch its mind about this strike, use it as an excuse. But then I just relax and say, "That's "That's not fair". It's built up too much anyhow. It's really sensationalized. But also to talk about not having violence that's what an ideal world would be like, but we don't live in an ideal world. If one uses that as an excuse support these people, I think control over their lives - that's when some of this violence will stop. When people have more power and more women or they're violent".
are a lot more poor women because we get the lower paid jobs and do not have access to good jobs. time of high unemployment and the trade union movement needs feminist trade unionists to educate it. The men in trade unions are no different from men in the rest of society. They've grown up with the same ideas about women. When I first got involved in the union movement there were times when I thought that there was just too much to struggle against because these men did not understand and/or did not want to understand women's issues and the only important thing what was happening between management not going to get allies with the govern. ment or the legal system. They re not just going to change things for us and unite with workers to force the government to make changes or to win back our basic rights. unions fight alone because they make SWP wins lawsuit ON AUGUST 25, Federal Judge Thomas Griesa granted the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, an organization in solidarity with the Fourth International, 264,000 US dollars in damages for 18 years of harassment by the FBI.
This ruling marked the culmination of a lawsuit initiated by the SWP and the Young Socialist Alliance in 1973, along with individual members of these organizations. The legal launched in the aftermath of the Watergate affair, when there was a general against the dangers of covert operations by the FBI and other securagencies. It gained broad support among the left and civil libertarians.
The attorney for the SWP and YSA, Leonard Boudin, one of the leading US constitutional lawyers, commented: "The impact of this decision goes far beyond the SWP and YSA. This ruling is a contribution to constitutional law, extending important new protections to the rights of all politically active individuais and organizations."
The government attorneys have told the press that they are still considering whether to appeal the ruling.
Griesa ruled that hundreds of proven burglaries by the FBI of SWP offices to plant bugs or to steal and photograph letters and other documents were vious violations of the Fourth Amendment." The Fourth Amendment forbids "unreasonable searches and seizures" by the government.
The judge also held that the disruption program carried out by the FBI, known as Cointelpro (Counter-Intelliup a huge group that they have to work with to try and make them sensitive to women's issues. All of these movements will be corrupt unless they see that any kind of injustice, whether sexism, racism or class is addressed. If we don't we'll be corrupted and we'll fail.
. What changes do you tee ave to be made to Alberta's labo legislation?
A. First of all, I'm really angry that we've become so tamed by the legal system. That happened years ago.
I'd like to see labor legislation changed so, first of all, scabs can't be hired. But we're going to have to have changes way beyond that.
I wouldn't want to say that I don't want the legislation changed because I would, but I have this real fear that it would take the teeth out of labor to get people really organized again. If government were smart they would little too arrogant right now. gence Program) was illegal, noting:
"The FBI embarked on a series of actions with the express purpose of harming the SWP by causing internal mistrust and strife, by weakening its alliances with other groups, by hampits scheduled activities and by other means. There was no legal authority or justification for such operations."
The FBI had argued that such methods were justified because it thought there was evidence of illegal activities by the SWP and the YSA. The judge declared: "Over the course of approximately 30 years, there is no indication that any informant ever observed any violation of federal law or gave information leading to a single arrest for any
The SWP and YSA had demanded 40 million US dollars in damages. But the law allowing damage suits against the federal government carries a two-year the bulk of the specific complaints made in the context of the case were
In a front page editorial, The Nation, one of the country's major liberal magazines, gave the following ment of the SWP's victory:
"The Socialist Workers Party bore the brunt of government blows to progressive politics over the past two decades, and it has won a valuable moral victory. For the first time the FBI's disruptions, surreptitious entries and use of informers have been found uncon-