WESTERN EUROPE CANADA INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A000400260002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 26, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Labor Policy Dispute May Bring Cabinet
Shakeup in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
:Italian Labor Sets Nationwide Strike
of US Military Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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Canada Sees Progress in Law of the Sea
Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Fast-West Labor Meeting To Convene in
Geneva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8
February 26, 1975
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Labor Policy Dispute May Bring Cabinet Shakeup
in Spain
The Spanish cabinet is involved in a policy
row which may trigger the departure of Labor Minister
Licinio de la Fuente and bring other cabinet changes
as well. Prime Minister Arias may shed light on how
he will handle the dispute in a major policy speech
scheduled for tonight.
The labor minister reportedly submitted his
resignation in disagreement over a proposed labor law
that would allow the dismissal of striking workers. Such
a law would be a great defeat for his effort to obtain
a decree granting a modified right-to-strike, which
he has been advocating to lessen labor tensions.'
Another factor in his resignation may be the
determined effort he faces to bring his ministry's
Social Security Institute under scrutiny of the finance
ministry. There have been rumors of possible misuse
of government funds at the institute.
Should De la Fuente, who is also a deputy prime
minister, depart without getting a right-to-strike
law, this would be a victory for those who advocate
a hard line in dealing with political and labor
unrest. This group won out last October when the
information minister was dismissed in a dispute
over press freedom. The then finance minister also
resigned in protest. Another cabinet shakeup at
this time would be a further blow to Arias' efforts
to maintain his modest liberalization program in
the face of ultra right opposition.
February 26, 1975
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Italian Labor Sets Nationwide Strike of US
Military Bases
Tomorrow, US military bases in Italy will be hit
for the first time with a day-long nationwide strike
by their Italian employees.
The unions have three principal demands:
--the abolition or change of a 1957 agreement
which, in effect, prohibits collective bar-
gaining between US forces and Italian labor.
--renewal of an Italian law which guarantees
government re--employment to workers discharged
by US forces.
--an upward revision of wage adjustments linked
to the cost-of-living index.
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The strike comes in the midst of numerous other
work stoppages by the major Italian unions and does not
appear to be motivated primarily by anti-US sentiment.
It probably reflects, instead, labor's tendency to
credit the recent escalation of stike activity for
impressive gains scored in the latest round of negotia-
tions with Italian employers. The unions had made
little progress under their previous policy--followed
until last September---of holding strike activity to a
minimum.
It will
particularly
employers, in
given in to m
living issue.
February 26, 1975
be difficult to resist labor demands,
on the cost-of-living question. Italian
an effort to secure labor peace, have
ost of the other unions on the cost-of-
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Canada Sees Progress in Law of the Sea Conference
Ottawa is pleased with the progress made
at last year's Law of the Sea Conference in Caracas,
especially the possibility that Canada can get
full control over fishing rights up to 200 miles
off' its coasts.
External Affairs Minister MacEachen, in a
speech delivered last Tuesday, said that the most
evident progress at Caracas was toward establishment
of the 200 mile economic concept. Canada, in his
view, could thus acquire the exclusive right to
manage both mineral and living resources within
s that zone, including the right to reserve for
Canadian fishermen that portion of the total resource
which they have the capacity to catch in any given
year. He projected this theory to mean that,
as Canada's fishing capacity-increases, so would
its total, percentage of the catch--theoretically
up to 100 percent.
Although this did not mean immediate exclusion
of all foreign fishing vessels from the 200 mile
zone, MacEachen made clear that it does mean control
of foreign fishing on Canadian terms.
The minister indicated that, at the forthcoming
Geneva round of the Law of the Sea Conference,
Ottawa would push for recognition of its rights
to all natural resources beyond 200 miles to the
limit of the continental margin--some additional
400,000 square miles of ocean mostly on the east
coast.
MacEachen also believes substantial progress
was made on another Canadian goal--establishing
the concept of the international area of the oceans
February 26, 1975
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as a zone reserved for the benefit of mankind.
He feels there is a growing realization by all
nations that the old unfettered freedom of the
seas attitude is over.
Ottawa's position on Law of the Sea issues
has tended increasingly to reflect the views of
the less developed coastal states. Its policies
on pollution controls and unfettered passage of
straits as well as the issues raised by MacEachen
are increasingly a~t odds with those of the major
maritime powers.
February 26, 1975
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The Soviets--publicly as well as privately--
view the Conference as an important step in their
continuing effort to establish closer ties with
Western labor or anizationS.
The Soviets have also been pressing for an
agreement to establish a permanent organizational
framework to accommodate further labor contacts
outside of the ILO context. The prospects for
reaching an accord on this matter at Geneva are
uncertain
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February 26, 1975
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East-West Labor Meeting To Convene in Geneva
Labor federations from both Western Europe
and the Communist states will be represented at
the second East-West Trade Union Conference that
convenes in Geneva on February 28-March 1. The
Conference is considered a "private" meeting,
under the auspices of the four European worker
representatives on the Governing Board of the
International Labor Organization (ILO). The
sessions will be closed to the press and public,
as was the case during the first Geneva confer-
ence a year ago.
During numerous bilateral discussions with
European labor leaders in recent months, the
Soviets have made a determined effort to broad-
en the agenda to include political subjects.
British and West German trade unionists, among
others, have assured US officials that they are
adamantly opposed to allowing the meeting to be
transformed into a platform for Soviet political
purposes. Accordingly, the agenda is reportedly
limited to technical labor matters, such as the
humanization of the working environment and the
protection of workers from the effects of toxic
substances.
The meetings have an implicit political
significance, however, given the prominence of
the participants, who include leading West Euro-
pean trade union figures as well as the boss of
the Soviet trade union organization. The Euro-
pean Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the World
Confederation. of Labor, and the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) will
send observers. It is likely that the communist
labor international, the World Federation of
Trade Unions, will also be represented.
February 26, 1975
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