The Marxist-Leninist Daily

Since Monday, September 29, 2014, health care workers have been holding a continuous protest against Bill 1 outside the Nova Scotia Legislature. Shown here, protests continue on October 3, 2014. The workers are firmly opposing Bill 1 and are defending health care services, their working conditions, as well as their right to unionize and negotiate their working conditions. They have been demonstrating nearly nonstop at the Legislature since the bill was tabled to demand that it be immediately withdrawn and that the Health Minister resign.

Militant Opposition to McNeil Government's
Anti-Labour Bill 1, Health Authorities Act

On Monday, September 29, the Nova Scotia Liberal government tabled its union-busting Health Authorities Act in the Legislature. Amongst other anti-social measures carried out in the name of a phony austerity agenda, the bill attacks workers' right to freedom of association. It is being rammed through the Legislature despite broad outrage from health care workers and others, and is presently at third reading.

Premier Stephen McNeil claims to be carrying out a "mandate" from voters to find ways to reduce health care budgets by $15 million a year. In the September 2013 provincial election, in which the Liberals replaced a one-term NDP majority government with their own majority, they solemnly promised their health care reform plans would save on medical system costs without touching existing bargaining rights of the workers in that sector, where they are represented by four organizations.[1]

The government's actual plan under this law is to reduce the number of health system bargaining units eligible to negotiate collectively from 50 down to four and make substantial changes to collective bargaining.

Currently in collective bargaining, in the absence of consensus between the health system (the employer) and its employees, the government would normally foist an arbitrator on the parties. Under this proposed law, the arbitrator would be empowered to dictate what body or bodies could represent the workers. After that, the workers have no further say other than to vote on the final contract offer.

To "democratize" this negation of fundamental rights, the government did a backroom deal overnight on Tuesday, September 30. Some 60 or more individuals were reportedly allowed to suggest cosmetic changes before the Legislature's Law Amendments Committee all day Wednesday, October 1 until the early hours of Thursday morning. After the government rejected amendments proposed from the NDP, that party reportedly threw in the towel shortly after midnight Thursday morning. On Friday, October 3, third and final reading is scheduled to ram the bill through to receive the Lieutenant-Governor's signature. The government's victory in Friday's vote is a foregone conclusion: current party standings in the Legislature are 33 Liberals, 11 Conservatives and seven New Democrats.

The McNeil government's attack on workers' rights, especially its denial of workers' freedom of association,[2] was met with militant and sustained opposition by the four major unions representing health care workers in the province and their allies in the working class, in the form of round the clock protests at the Legislature that began the day the bill was tabled.

On the first day, more than 600 surrounded and marched around the Legislature in downtown Halifax, keeping vigil outside into the late evening as the "debate" carried on inside. In addition to speakers from the immediately-affected organizations, representatives from Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union and others had joined the assembly, and representatives from the Canadian Federation of Students were also in the crowd. All those who spoke stressed the workers' unity of purpose in opposing this law. By Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 workers had gathered around the Legislature.

The monopoly media have played a dirty role to disinform the workers and the public. For example, coverage of the single arrest during the ongoing protests was to claim that it is the workers' spirited determination to defend their rights and to oppose Bill 1, not the government, that has created an atmosphere of "high tension" outside the Legislature. Other reports focus on alleged divisions in the workers' movement. All of this is to sow doubt about the justness of the opposition to Bill 1 and the need to oppose anti-social, neo-liberal austerity measures that will degrade workers' rights and working conditions and the services they provide. Such story-telling covers up that Bill 1 constitutes state violence against the workers. The essence of the matter is that workers bargain collectively on the basis that no means no. They possess the power to deprive the health care system (and its government overlords) of their labour power. If the role of their union representatives changes from representing their members' collective class interest to playing yes-men for the rich and their system, this veto power ceases to exist and the workers are reduced to a condition little better than slavery.

The workers understand -- and the McNeil gang certainly know that they understand -- that the bargaining mechanism that the Liberals will implement through Bill 1 ignores the current union membership that the workers themselves have built or joined unil now. In actual practice, the "law" they are proposing would break these bargaining units up and impose some other arrangement more favourable to the interests of the rich.

Ray Larkin, a longtime labour lawyer in Halifax, bluntly told the CBC that this law renders collective bargaining meaningless by affirming roles only for the government on the one hand and government-approved "representatives" of the workers on the other. How long before the government moves to throw all the hard-won gains of past contract struggles out the window? Furthermore, once this becomes the law, what would be in place to stay the hand of large private-sector employers such as Bell Aliant or NS Power from having the government create a similar exception to the Trade Union Act for, i.e., against, their workers?

This week's developments are a wake-up call to the entire class: the workers must get organized politically so they cannot be conned and robbed like this again by a government in which they play no role in creating or directing. Even Charter rights like freedom of association are not safe from these wreckers. The instinctive response of the workers taking living form on the grounds of the Nova Scotia Legislature this week is that this is the beginning, and not the end, of the matter.

September 29 Rally at Legislature

1. The workers across the entre health care system are currently represented broadly as follows:

- non-medical hospital staff and administrative personnel partly in the Canadian Union of Public Employees, partly in the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU);

- most nursing staff in the NSGEU and a smaller portion in the NS Nurses Union; and

- staff at the Northwood Seniors Home -- a major government-run senior citizens' complex in North End Halifax -- are members of Unifor.

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

"Freedom of association" is precisely what the McNeil government's Bill 1 proposes to strip from its own employees in the health sector.

About Bill 1

Using its majority, the Nova Scotia provincial government tabled Bill 1, the Health Authorities Act, on September 29.

Bill 1 will merge the nine current District Health Authorities into one and create a new Provincial Health Authority which will work with the IWK Health Centre in Halifax which provides care to women, children, and youth from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Furthermore, the bill reduces the number of bargaining units in the health care system from the existing 50 to four. The bill will make it mandatory for the four unions that are currently organizing in the health care sector to organize in only one of the four components of the sector, which are defined as nursing, health care, clerical and support. This is a huge attack on the right of the workers to organize themselves into trade unions and to join the unions of their choice without interference from the government and to negotiate their working conditions. Workers who voted to join a specific union will be forced to move to another union according to the component of the health care sector they belong to.

Bill 1 imposes a mediator who will approach the four unions to determine which will represent whom. If this fails, the mediator becomes an arbitrator and makes the decision unilaterally. The mediator has 45 days once the bill is passed to try to come to an agreement with the unions and another 45 days to make a decision if the first step fails. As health care workers who work in the same component have different working conditions depending on the union they belong to, it will up to the mediator to decide which collective agreement they will have.

Bill 1 also bans strikes in the health care sector until April 2015, when the Health Care Authorities merger will be enforced.

The government of Nova Scotia tried to justify the tabling of its bill with the usual neo-liberal pretext that bureaucracy must be reduced and the management of the health care system must be simplified so that the system is geared toward patients' needs. In fact the bill concentrates more power in the hands of the Health Minister who can dismiss at will the directors of the new Health Authorities if he decides that they have violated an order that he gave or merely that it is in the public interest that they be dismissed. Such a bill that wipes out district health authorities and places all the new directors under the direct authority of the Minister will make it much easier to cut and privatize services.

Besides blaming bureaucracy for the problems in the health care system, the bill also blames the workers, their unions and the bargaining process for these problems and considers them to be a waste of time and money. The government says it is wasting from 1,000 to 2,000 hours a year in collective bargaining with the various unions, money that should go to patients.

The workers who have held many actions since September 29 say they are also getting ready to challenge the bill in court. A statement issued on September 30 by Joan Jessome, the President of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU), reads in part:

"For the last 30 years, health care workers in Nova Scotia could choose their own union and bargain their own agreements. All workers in Canada, including health care workers, have for decades had the right to choose their union. That is the law... Stephen McNeil and the Liberals just introduced legislation -- Bill 1 -- which makes it illegal for health care workers to choose their union. But it's worse. The legislation in Section 86 (1) then goes on to give the employer the right to help select the union for employees. Under section 86 (c) (iii) the Bill allows the employer to help decide what collective agreement benefits employees must accept. [...]."

"This is an unjustifiable infringement on the union and its members' rights to freedom of association," says Joan Jessome. "It's an infringement on their right to form and join a trade union of their choosing, and to have that union bargain collectively on their behalf. It's one of the worst pieces of labour legislation we've ever seen in Canada."

Workers are also outraged that the government has rejected outright the proposal they made as part of the government's plan to merge the health authorities. Four of the health care unions -- NSGEU, Unifor, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union -- have proposed establishing a collective bargaining association. This would bring the various unions that represent the workers in each of the four above-mentioned areas to the table to negotiate a collective agreement together for the sector. Workers would continue to be represented by the union of their choice. The Minister rejected the proposal because it interferes with his plan to create chaos for the workers' and their unions. He even refuses to meet with the unions saying he does not want to interfere (!) and that it is up to the mediator to discuss with them.

Liberals Takeover New Brunswick

In New Brunswick, a provincial election was held on September 22. Control of the provincial government in Fredericton passed from the Conservatives led by David Alward to the Liberals under Brian Gallant.

At the dissolution of the Legislature in Fredericton late last spring, the Progressive Conservatives led by Alward held 41 seats and the Liberals under Gallant 13 seats. One seat was held by an independent MLA, who had been kicked out of the PC caucus in 2012. The NDP under Dominic Cardy, the Green Party under David Coon and all other registered parties held zero seats. The standing in the Legislature is now as follows: Liberals 27 seats; PCs 21 seats; Green Party one seat. Note that in 2013, an electoral redistribution was undertaken under the 2005 Electoral Boundaries and Representation Act, changing the total number of seats from 55 to 49. According to the Act, redistribution of electoral districts must take place after every second New Brunswick general election.

The result of the election was influenced by the Irving monopoly interests which withdrew support from the Conservatives to back the Liberals. The Liberals will now go all out to further arrangements which help the Irving interests within the United States of North American Monopolies.

Correction

Re: "Upcoming Provincial Election Aims to Deliver New Brunswick to the United States of North American Monopolies," TML Weekly, September 6, 2014 - No. 31. The following information corrects erroneous information provided in that article.

The Irvings' 300,000-barrel-a-day facility on Courtenay Bay at East Saint John is the highest-capacity oil refinery in Canada.

The completion of the Irvings' liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on tidewater (the Bay of Fundy), at Mispec Point next to the Irvings' Canaport refined-oil loading/crude-oil-unloading facility and the Irving oil refinery, will put Saint John on the map as never before. Judging from data mentioned in a recent article by F. William Engdahl concerning LNG terminal facilities existing on or planned for the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf coast, the Mispec Point expansion will complete one of the first, modernized Atlantic coast LNG terminals within six days' voyage to LNG terminals on the Atlantic coast of western Europe. These connect to the gas pipeline network of the European continent. In the course of the deepening conflict between the U.S. and Russia this spring and summer, the Obama Administration promised that the Americas could replace the Russian sources of natural gas that currently turn the wheels of industry in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy and France (to name a few).

The Irvings' role in these particular energy corridor arrangements are one piece of a much larger system and network of energy corridors that run the length and breadth of Canada, the United States and Mexico. This collection of energy corridors forms the backbone of transport, industry and energy supplies for the entire United States of North American Monopolies.

Cuba's Temerity -- The Tomakjian Case

- Isaac Saney, Co-Chair and Spokesperson,
Canadian Network On Cuba, October 2, 2014 -

Much bile has been spilled in the Canadian media condemning Cuba regarding the conviction and sentencing of Toronto businessman Cy Tokmakjian and two of his executives (Claudio Vetere and Marco Puche) for corruption, bribery and suborning of Cuban officials. Under Cuban law they were convicted of acts "that are contrary to the principles and ethics that should characterize commercial activity, and contravene the Cuban judicial order." Of course, it is within the legitimate purview of anyone to question the correctness of the outcome of any judicial process, however, some other motives and motifs appear to be guiding the Globe & Mail, CBC, Toronto Sun, Financial Post, CTV and others. While articles in the monopoly media denounce the conviction on the basis of "lack of due process" and "unfairness," this is an uninformed statement since in fact the trial went to great lengths to ensure that everything was done by the book. Most importantly, however, is that none of the media who accuse Cuba of lack of due process even attempt to address the question of whether Tomakjian actually engaged in corrupt activities.

Indeed, the conclusion they draw is that it is the Cuban government -- and by extension the Cuban Revolution -- that has shown itself to be corrupt. Peter Foster ("Risky business in Cuba," Financial Post, September 30, 2014) goes so far as to chastise Tomakjian for not realizing that he "was operating in a corrupt system that could turn on him at any time..." What disappears by sleight of hand is the guilt or innocence of Tomakijan and the fundamental issue that in Cuba the bribery of officials to gain favours in the course of business relations will not be tolerated. This is what the Canadian media accusing Cuba of lack of due process seem to be most upset about.

This case has been going on for three years and throughout that period the response of the Canadian monopoly media to the Tomakjian case is not to investigate what precisely he did, despite the fact that the trial brought out all the facts. To assert that the very fact that Cuba tried and convicted him is proof that it is Cuba that is the corrupt party is irrational to say the least. It reveals that Tomakjian's guilt or innocence is not the central issue.

The temerity of Cuba to allege that members of the Canadian business class might actually engage in practices that are dishonest and unscrupulous is unacceptable, according to those accusing Cuba.

The media's claim is that nobody's investment will be safe in Cuba because Cuba is corrupt and will arbitrarily and self-servingly seize the assets of any investor. This is balderdash and the media know it. As does Mr. Kent, a former Harper government cabinet minister, who has also been making wild accusations against Cuba.

To try to defame Cuba's defence of its economy and way of life and opposition to corruption through the vile slander the media are currently engaged in is a thinly veiled attempt to bring Cuba to its knees by sowing doubt about its treatment of foreign investors. All who have invested in Cuba and have been honest have received a very good return on their investment. Ask all the companies that participated in building the tourist industry, or Sherrit International, which has invested in oil, gas and nickel since 1992.

Tomakjian was found guilty and sentenced according to the laws of Cuba, as were all others found guilty in the same case. Let the substantive issues be dealt with, which is Cuba's right to engage in honest business relations with all countries and its right to defend its laws and demand ethical behaviour from those with whom it engages in business relations.

The guilt or innocence of Cy Tomakjian aside, the intensive Cuban anti-corruption campaign has resulted not only in the conviction of foreign businessmen but also Cuban government officials and representatives. Havana is exercising its sovereign right to defend its national economy and nation-building project from both internal and external sabotage.

It bears noting that for any country to try to cope with and overcome the current worldwide economic crisis in a manner that favours its people, not the global monopolies, is no small feat. This is all the more true for a country such as Cuba that is subjected to a brutal all-sided economic war from the United States. Cuba's efforts in this regard are reflected in the latest United Nation's Human Development Report. These annual reports are recognized as the most comprehensive and extensive determination of the well being of the world's peoples. Cuba was ranked among the nations with Very High Development. In short, Cuba is a country that effectively uses its very modest resources for the benefit of its citizens.

Perhaps, those who accuse Cuba of being a corrupt society should take note that more than 55-years ago the Cuban people closed down all the mafia-run casinos and ended the U.S. supported Batista regime; a regime that had permitted the impoverishment of the majority of Cubans and the corruption of all of Cuban life. It also bears noting that this year will be the twenty-third consecutive year that the United Nations rejects the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba, which is illegal and extraterritorial, and violates even Canadian law.

U.S. Blockade Hinders Information Technology Development in Cuba

One of the effects of the U.S. blockade of Cuba, in place for more than 50 years, has been the stifling of Cuba's information technology sector. For example, Cuba's Information Technology and Advanced Telematic Services (Citmatel), part of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, has not been able to reach its full potential, explains Beatriz Alonso, Manager of Citmatel in a recent interview with Prensa Latina

"We constantly face the fact of not having access to technologies, certain software and very limited marketing of our products and this prevents us from enjoying the most modern technological breakthroughs and flexible financial systems for our products in the market," she said.

The U.S. economic war also prevents Citmatel specialists from attending courses on state-of-the-art technologies, among other training actions, Alonso added.

Founded 15 years ago, Citmatel develops and commercializes IT applications, projects, equipment and technical assistance, multimedia products, audiovisual materials and online publications through science and innovation, as well as integrating solutions with new information and communication technologies.

Citmatel operates an important scientific network for Cuba's scientific institutions, and it runs the www.cuba.cu website, with multimedia and editorial content in various formats covering several fields and provided in several languages. It also provides e-commerce and online education services, and is responsible for granting and registering Cuba's country code top-level domains (.cu).

Despite all this, Citmatel will continue the development of internet-based technologies, focusing on issues related to e-commerce, as well as new forms of printing on demand, including publishing books on several topics, she said.

Alonso added that Citmatel will also continue dealing with issues related to the use of phones and tablets for the national intranet, the design of educational games for children and youngsters, as well as audio-books for the blind and visually impaired, among other electronic products and features.

U.S. Plans to Attack Cuba in 1976 Revealed

On October 1, the National Security Archive published declassified documents from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library which revealed that in 1976, Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State under Ford, devised secret plans to launch air strikes and other attacks on Cuba. The documents were declassified following a Freedom of Information request from the Archive. These materials were also published that day by the New York Times.

William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, researchers at the Archive, in a book about the documents also published October 1, write that Kissinger's consideration of open hostilities with Cuba came after secret diplomatic talks to normalize relations. The authors write that Cuba's efforts at supporting the anti-colonial struggle in Africa "was the type of threat to U.S. interests that Kissinger had hoped the prospect of better relations would mitigate."

The book describes Kissinger as "apoplectic" about Cuba's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Angola to assist the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party of António Agostinho Neto against attacks from insurgent groups that were supported covertly by the U.S. and apartheid regime of South Africa.

The documents reveal that Kissinger convened a group of senior White House officials (including then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld) to work on possible retaliatory measures. Kissinger advocated for strong action to attack Cuba, fearful that the assistance provided to Angola was making the U.S. look weak. He argued that Cuba's actions were driving fears around the world of a wider race war that could spill over into Latin America and even destabilize the Middle East. In a series of contingency plans that followed, options ranged from a military blockade of the Cuban coastline, to airstrikes and mining of Cuban ports. But the documents also warned of serious risks, including the start of a wider conflict with the Soviet Union and a ground war to defend the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Also considered was the possible reopening of the Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico, a possible location for the repositioning of destroyer squadrons, at the cost of $120 million.

"I think we are going to have to smash Castro. I don't think we can do it before the election," Kissinger told President Gerald R. Ford, according to a transcript of a Feb. 25, 1976 meeting in the Oval Office. Ford replied, "I agree." Jimmy Carter ultimately won the 1976 presidential election.

At another Oval Office meeting on March 15, 1976, Kissinger said "even the Iranians are worried about the Cubans getting into the Middle East countries. I think we have to humiliate them. If they move into Namibia or Rhodesia, I would be in favor of clobbering them."

Nine days later, Kissinger chaired a high-level "Special Actions Group Meeting" at the White House Situation Room to discuss options. "If there is a perception overseas that we are so weakened by our internal debate so that it looks like we can't do anything about a country of 8 million people, then in three or four years we are going to have a real crisis," Kissinger said.

Kissinger is also quoted in transcripts saying, "If we decide to use military power, it must succeed," and that "There should be no halfway measures. If we decide on a blockade, it must be ruthless and rapid and efficient."

To view the full documents on the website of the National Security Archive, click here.

Actions in Support of Cuba's Right to Be

No to U.S. and Canadian Troops in Iraq and
Bombing of Iraq and Syria!

Halifax
Weekly Anti-War Picket

Fridays -- 4:00-5:00 pm
Corner of Spring Garden Rd. and Barrington St.
Organized by: No Harbour for War
For information: noharbourforwar@hotmail.com

Windsor
Rally and Speak-Out:
Stop the U.S.-Led Destruction of Iraq and Syria Now!

Saturday, October 4 -- 11:00 am
Meet at City Hall Square -- Speak Out starts at 11:45 am
Organized by: Windsor Peace Coalition
For information: windsorpeace@hotmail.com of 226-975-2010

The Windsor Peace Coalition calls on all those in Windsor and Essex County who stand for peace and justice to join us in saying NO! to the U.S.-led destruction of Iraq and Syria.

The only "debate" about it in Parliament is over how Canada will be involved in a new US-led war in the region. Canadians don't want debates on how best to invade, destabilize and interfere in other countries' affairs; we want to end it.

It is brutally ironic that October 7 marks the 13th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that was launched under bogus pretexts and which Canada is still embroiled in today through NATO.

Don't let the warmongers in Parliament speak in your name! Don't let them embroil us in another war of aggression under bogus pretexts that will only lead to more chaos and violence and crimes against the people of the world!

We call on all unions, political parties, community groups and everyone else to speak out NOW! Spread the word far and wide to co-workers, friends and family and through social and other media. Join in!

Invest in our Communities, Not in War!
Anti-War Picket every Saturday -- 11:00 am-12:00 noon
Corner of Ottawa St. and Walker Rd.

Hamilton Rally for Good Jobs

It's the one-year countdown to the next federal election, which is expected in October 2015. Communities will be gathering in solidarity against the Harper agenda as part of a pan-Canadian weekend of actions. To protest the end of door-to-door mail delivery, protesters will gather letters to be sent to MPs and to Canada Post. This rally is part of the activities for the Council of Canadians conference in Hamilton this weekend.

Ontario Government Must Defend Public Right!
No to U.S. Steel's Bankruptcy Fraud!

To get a seat on the Local 1005 bus from Hamilton, call 905-547-1417 or sign-up
at the Union Hall at 350 Kenilworth Avenue North. Visit Local 1005 USW online @ www.uswa1005.ca.

Militant Opposition to McNeil Government's Anti-Labour Bill 1, Health Authorities Act