WESTERN EUROPE CANADA INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A002000130001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 21, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Western Europe
Canada
International Organizations
Confidential
No. 0291-75
October 21, 1975
State Dept. review completed
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WESTERN EUROPE - CANADA - INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
CONTENTS
EC Mining Industry Seeks Commission Help on 1
Raw Materials . . . . . . . . . . ? ' ? '
. 2
ORIT Delays Reorganization . . . . . . .
4
Denmark Pushes Home Rule for Greenland . . .
Postal, unions Litj-y l u~..~.. -- 7
Controls . . . ? ? ? ? ? ' ' ' ` ' ' '
October 21, 1975
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EC Mining Industry Seeks Commission Help on
Raw Materials
Representatives of the major European mining
companies met with the EC Commission last month
to discuss raw material requirements within the
EC and seek increased protection for overseas in-
vestment. Industry representatives agreed to pro-
vide estimates of the investment capital flows
that will be necessary to assure Europe's supply
of raw materials, the extent of guarantees needed,
and the expected rate of return. The companies
are seeking to limit investment by the host coun-
try to 45 percent with the company holding an equal
percentage and a respected international institu-
tion such as the World Bank holding ten percent to
assure reasonable treatment of both parties.
The Commission's directorate general for
development and cooperation agreed to prepare a
new proposal for a community investment guarantee
system. The Commission may also organize delega-
tions to Australia, Mexico, and Brazil to look
into raw materials availability. The mining
companies approved of the recent EC mission to
Canada which discussed investment laws and regula-
tions and the resulting investment climate.
Over the past year, the Commission has been
seeking to assure the EC of supplies of essential
raw materials including tropical and temperate
zone agricultural products, twelve mineral and
seven non-mineral materials including leathers
and hard fibers. Assurance of supply for minerals
is proving the hardest to come by. Even so,
Council approval of a community investment guaran-
tee is doubtful. Bonn is likely to prove the
chief opponent; it has an effective system for
guaranteeing investments by its own nationals
against political risk and the Schmidt government
fi
-
nan
is in general opposed to plans to extend EC
cial responsibility at this time.
October 21, 1975
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ORIT Delays Reorganization
Latin American labor leaders failed to pro-
duce a plan for revitalizing the inter-American
labor system, ORIT, in time for the world con-
gress of the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) now being held in Mexico.
Still, they are angrily resisting attempts by
other ICFTU affiliates to impose remedies on
the ailing ORIT and have won approval to continue
their own efforts to reorganize. The subject
will be addressed at an extraordinary congress
next May, probably in Caracas.
European labor officials have attacked ORIT
for its ties to the AFL-CIO, accusing the Latin
trade unionists of falling under US domination
and failing to represent the interests of Latin
workers. Several Scandinavian unions were threat-
ening to pull out of the ICFTU if ORIT were not
disbanded and replaced by a new, Latin-only
organization. ICFTU affiliates have been impa-
tient with ORIT's structural and financial dis-
array in recent years, annoyed at the Latins'
acceptance of AFL-CIO's leading role in ORIT and
its disassociation from ICFTU, and disgusted with
ORIT's failure to condemn the repression of
unionism in Chile.
For their part, the Latin labor represent-
atives remain divided on many internal ORIT
matters, but they have stood solidly together in
bitter opposition to interference from outside
the region. Another, and relatively new, point
of agreement is to keep the link with US labor,
which provides much needed financial assistance.
Beyond that, it is difficult to find any practi-
cal or ideological matter that unites Latin
American labor.
October 21, 1975
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CONFIDENTIAL
As a regional forum, ORIT is rife with
peculiarities. Two of the most influential
affiliates have almost nothing in common:
Venezuelan labor, fiercely independent, oper-
ates in a. truly competitive political environ-
merit, while Mexican labor is a captive of a
highly controlled government system. Argen-
tina, which has the strongest trade union
movement in Latin America, does not participate
in ORIT, which it too regards as US-influenced.
OR:IT's general secretary is a Paraguayan with
no constituency of his own. The other groups
in ICFTU see little to give them confidence
that the Latins will be able to work out their
own problems, but they have backed off for now,
in the face of vehement Latin insistence. If
the Latins try to prolong their reorganization
beyond May, the ICFTU will probably make a
stronger effort to intrude.
Meanwhile, the ICFTU congress has departed
from its agenda and become an angry forum for
a different kind of attack on US labor. A series
of speakers has condemned the US government
decision to pull out of the International Labor
Organization (ILO), accusing the administration
of selling out to the AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO
of abandoning ILO to the Communists. An ILO
official had earlier warned the congress of the
political risks and disservice to labor involved
in using the organization for the "wrong pur-
poses." Other speakers acknowledge that ILO's
recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization and other controversial political posi-
tions posed a problem, but urged the US to
"stay in and fight."
f?ctober 21, 1975
CONFIDENTIAL
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Denmark Pushes Home Rule for Greenland
Denmark has created a 15-member Greenland
Home Rule Committee, made up principally of
members of parliament, to oversee the gradual
transfer of most powers by 1979.
Current plans call for Denmark to retain
control of foreign and defense affairs and a
deciding voice in natural resource management.
On all other matters, the local Greenland Council
will assume responsibility on a step-by-step
basis to allow for growing pains. Control of
education probably will be the first area turned
over.
Natural resources may become a bone of con-
tention. A desire to benefit from exploitation
of undeveloped resources motivates much of the
home rule agitation in Greenland. Copenhagen,
however, has no intention of allowing multi-
national companies to exploit the Greenlanders,
or permitting Greenland to become the Abu Dhabi
of the Arctic.
The Danes do not expect home rule will affect
US base rights. When Greenlanders have suggested
charging the US for base rights, the Danes have
pointed out that the US could ask for reimburse-
ment for services US personnel provide. This has
sufficed to put off the Greenlanders for the
moment, but the US Embassy points out that the
bases will continue to be a temptation.
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Growing agitation for home rule has irritated
many Danes, who feel that Denmark can no longer
afford the dependency.. Mogens Glistrup, leader
of the conservative Progressive Party, was widely
criticized this summer, however, for suggesting
that Denmark sell Greenland, presumably to the US.
At the party convention last month, he back tracked
and s orted extending home rule.
I
October 21, 1975
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CONFIDENTIAL
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Postal. Unions Defy Trudeau's Economic Controls
The postal sorters and handlers union
has directly challenged the Trudeau government's
new wage and price control program by shutting
down post offices in virtually all of Canada's
major cities.
The union, demanding a 51 percent wage
increase over a 12-month period, rejected the
recommendations of an official conciliator for
a 38 percent: wage increase over a 30-month
period. The government had indicated it was
willing to grant the 38 percent raise although
it exceeded the control program's guidelines.
A provision in the new program grants exceptions
for such raises to workers who are closely
related to another group which recently has gained
a more favorable settlement. Canada's other
major postal union, the letter carriers, received
a 38 percent wage hike last April.
The large wage settlements this year have
been a major factor contributing to Canada's
inflation which is running at a higher rate
than in most major industrial countries. The
competitiveness of Canadian goods on world
markets has been affected and the nation's
trade deficit has grown rapidly.
Excessive wage settlements are the prime
target of the control program and Canadian
labor leaders have been quick to grasp this
fact. The T:rudeau administration had hoped
that the first case to come before its new
Anti-Inflation Review Board would deal with
a roll back of prices in order to convince
labor of Ottawa's good faith. The postal strike
appears to have upset this strategy.
October 21, 1975
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Trudeau has staked his political future
on a bold program of economic controls to check
inflation and cannot afford to back down. The
postal workers may eventually compromise on
a wage settlement along the lines of the government
offer, but in the meantime Trudeau's political
skills will be severely tested. A portent
of trouble ahead was the recent defeat of Communica
tions Minister Juneau, who lost a by-election in
a working class Montreal constituency that
had been held by Trudeau's Liberal Party for
over fifty years.
October 21, 1975
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Confidential
Confidential
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