LABOR BRIEFS OIL MONOPOLY “SEPARATISTS”, HIT EDMONTON — The 125,000-member Alberta Federation of Labor declared its opposition Feb. 4 to the big-business-in- spired movement for western separatism. The annual AFL convention unanim- ously adopted a resolution introduced by the Calgary Labor Council committing the federation to fighting western separatism ‘‘with all our means and resources to keep Canada united and strong from sea to Separation of western Canada from the rest of the country, the resolution pointed out, would hurt working people, small farmers, and small business people as well as pensioners the most. TORY REPRISALS BEGIN IN ONT. TORONTO — Ontario’s Attorney General Roy McMurtry said Feb. 4 that Grace Hartman, president of the 165,000 member Canadian Union of Public Employees, (CUPE), will be charged with contempt of court for urging hospital workers to defy the Tory government’s back to work injunction against the recent hospital workers’ strike. The tally, as the Tribune went to press Feb. 5, of strikers and CUPE leaders to receive punishment for standing up to protect their rights in- cludes: the suspensions of three officers of CUPE’s local at Toronto’s Queensway Hospital, the entire local executive at Hamilton’s St. Peter’s Hospital, and two CUPE local leaders at the Sudbury Sanitorium Hospital. SHORTER WEEK, STRIKE DEMAND MISSISSAUGA-— Better wages and the shorter work week are the key de- mands of some 670 nuclear engineers and scientists as they struck Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Feb. 2. Members of the Soc- iety of Professional Engineers, and As- sociates, the strikers are mostly concen- trated in this community near Toronto with a small group in Montreal of about 15 people. The strikers want a 20% wage hike over two years with guarantees in the sec- ond year of parity with private sector rates. Uv s x a nw < 2) THE SEPARATIST ' PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 13, 1981—Page 8 | i | PHOTO — MIKE PHILLIPS oe %. # 2 For eight days Ontario hospital workers put their princi- fringe benefits. They earned the respect of all workers {0 2 ples on the picket line demanding better wages, working - standing up to reaction. = conditions and fighting employer attempts to weaken Tory police, Tory laws, Tory press force hospital strikers to retreat By MIKE PHILLIPS TORONTO — Bullied but not beaten by Ontario’s reac- tionary Tory government, hospital workers throughout the province énded their strike Feb. 2 with the issues that sparked the valiant fight unresolved. As expected, Ontario’s big-business government, en- couraged and goaded on by the establishment media, went after the 14,000 striking hospital workers with all of the fury their hatred of the working class could muster. The Ontario Provincial Police and sheriff's officers, in the . wake of an injunction issued by the Ontario Supreme Court, Jan. 30, gleefully set about the task of invading picket lines throughout the province, photographing strikers and other- wise ‘‘gathering evidence” which will be used later to punish the militant workers for daring to stand up for their rights to decent wages and working conditions. There were reports of notices of contempt of court proceed- ings being issued to officers and members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the organizers of the province- wide strike on behalf of 16,000 hospital workers at 65 hospi- tals. At its height, some 14,000 workers at 51 hospitals took part in the strike in defiance of the strike-banning Ontario Hospital Disputes Arbitration Act, an Ontario Labor Relations Board cease and desist order, directed against CUPE leaders and — leaders of the hospital workers’ negotiating committee, and finally the supreme court injunction granted at the request of Ontario Attorney General Roy McMurtry ordering the strikers ~-back to work. : On Jan. 31, McMurtry said workers defying the back to work order would be treated like criminals by the government and he has since made it crystal clear the Tories intend to see to it that the workers are punished for daring to defy his big-business government. For its part, the establishment media hammered the strikers as hard as it could and once the strike was ended made sure to drive the message across that the workers’ efforts had ended in failure. ; The overall impact of the press coverage of the strike was to try and mobilize public sentiment against the strikers and behind the government. Heart-tugging features were pre- sented about the suffering of the patients and their families throughout the eight days of the strike. Yet little or nothing appeared in print examining the suffer- ing patients have to endure, and will continue to endure as a result of the staffing and budget cuts dictated by the Tories’ restraint policies. There weren’t many features on the lower quality of hospital care that results from cooks, cleaners, nursing assistants, and non-medical hospital staff having to pick up greater work loads when workers leaving the hospital staffs aren’t replaced. Faced with such a well-oiled gang-up and a shameful silence by the top leadership of the provincial and Canadian labor movement, the workers swallowed their pride and returned to their jobs following a midnight announcement, Feb. 2 by the strike. committee. An indication of the determination and militancy which characterized the strike from the beginning, was the closeness of the vote in the committee to call an end to the strike. This was also reflected by the fact that strikers in Ottawa, Sudbury and Hamilton held out longer, returning to their jobs in the same disciplined and militant way they had hit the bricks, Jan. 26. The Feb. 2 return to work followed an offer by CUPE adi earlier to end the strike if the OHA would agree there would? no reprisals against the strikers. 5 Seeking its pound of flesh, the OHA refused, intent punishing the workers for their courageous stand. Meeting! Toronto, Feb. 3, representatives of the hospitals belonging! the OHA decided to leave the question of feprisals up | individual hospitals. © In some cases hospital administrations lost little time! taking out their revenge against the workers. The entire Jost leadership at St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton were inform by mail Feb. 4 they were being suspended indefinitely, whl the administration ‘‘reviewed”’ the events of the strike, af decided what action to take. j St. Peter’s was the scene of the first walkout by hosp workers, before the Jan. 26 strike deadline throughout province was implemented. a In Sudbury, workers returned to their jobs Feb. 4, # meetings with the managements and locals of three hospil failed to produce any agreement that reprisals would not taken against the strikers. | The locals met individually with the various hospitals a the administrators took the OHA position that they wo! recall workers after a review and examination of the events! the strike. : So far, Sudbury CUPE spokespersons could only confif that two members of Local 1023 at the Sudbury Sanitoril! the unit chair-person and an active local member during! strike were suspended indefinitely. In both locations the us! will grieve the suspensions. 4) The government’s bludgeoning back to work efforts dif’ eliminate the basic problem which encouraged the worker get into the battle for their rights in the first place. Though Tories proved that they still can intimidate Ontario wo!) using the powerful legal tools at their disposal, the fact rend for all hospital workers to see that some 14,000 of their sist! and brothers accomplished what had never before been oo —they got the vast majority of CUPE hospital workers oul strike in defiance of reactionary anti-union legislation. Forced arbitration, isn’t going to provide hospital w 5 with the justice they seek and deserve. So far it has slashed their living standard, and there’s no reason to ¢ that will charge. : Their own experience shows hospital workers that the a gains they have made in improving their living condit! were when they were united enough and strong enous! force the OHA to negotiate, as in 1974. wh With governments, particularly the Tories ip On") squeezing more and more out of workers’ living standart fatten corporations such as those in the auto industry, pulp ey paper, etc., the choice for all workers will become ever cl | — crawl or fight. j Hospital workers have shown by their strike and thé year battle they’ ve conducted with the OHA and Queen that they are more than prepared to fight for decent y ‘reduced work loads, and the protection and extension of fringe benefits. j They won’t forget what the big-business establishmen to them in the Winter of 1981 to stop their just drive for a life, and, in the experience gained in this valiant strike, ty draw the proper lessons for the next battle, to ensure that” time they’ll win.