The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.34           September 28, 1998 
 
 
Communist League Candidate: Workers Unite To Defend Our Interests  
In an August 28 statement, Elssa Martinez, Communist League candidate in the upcoming Montreal municipal elections, explained, "There is nothing workers can do to prevent the dollar from falling. The only way for us to resist its impact is to unite and defend our interests against the capitalists in Canada. By uniting workers in Quebec and English Canada, the 4,000 members of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers union, who are going into their 10th week on strike against Abitibi Consolidated, are showing the way forward for all workers."

In Quebec the number of days that workers have been on strike increased 68 percent in 1998 over the same period in 1997. The Quebec Employers Council called on the labor minister to do something about the situation.

The socialist campaign, however, hailed this resistance. Martinez stated, "We put forward a program that aims at uniting all working people. This includes fighting for a reduction of the workweek with no loss in pay as part of overcoming unemployment and poverty. We campaign for affirmative action measures that can redress the impact of discrimination against oppressed sectors of the working class such as women, Francophones, Blacks, and Natives. This perspective of working-class unity cannot stop at borders. We demand Canadian banks cancel the debt of countries oppressed by imperialism. A fight for such a demand will be key in uniting workers from oppressed countries with those from imperialist countries."

 
 
 
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