LABOR

Expo stand

follows
Kerkhoff

Continued from page 1

In his statement rejecting the latest prop-
osals, Expo chairman Jim Pattison stated
that several things “have changed in the last
two weeks.”

One of them he said, was the fact that
“the non-union contractors came together
as never before in B.C. and convinced Expo
86 of their abilities to participate in or, if

_ necessary, build the exposition.

“With this new major resource created,

the board could not ignore the non-union
contractors’ presence or their rights to par-
ticipate in determining their own wage
rate,” he said.

“Any future negotiations that might alter

the minimum wage rate must be negotiated _

with and agreed to by all parties ensuring
the policy of open site...”

Pattison’s statement made it clear that
the board will not come to any agreement
covering labor on the site unless it gives the
non-union sector the unrestricted right to
set its own wage levels — possibly in con-
junction with the government but without
any reference to the Building Trades.

That has virtually closed the door to the
negotiated settlement that had been sought
by many affiliates to the Building Trades
and who will now have to look to other
Strategies to stop the non-union offensive.
The trades have made major concessions on
three separate occasions but all have been
rejected.

_ At the moment, employees of Kerkhoff
and various union contractors are working
on the site although the Building Trades
earlier took job action under their non-

affiliation clauses. en

But there are still some 200 contracts yet
to be let and since the non-union contrac-
tors apparently have the ear of the Expo
board — and given the low bidder policy
— many are likely to go to non-union
companies.

Still hanging over the site is the Expo

board’s request that cabinet declare the site

an “economic development project,” a
designation which, if made, would restrict
union rights on the site. Then there is the
threat made by Expo president Michael
Bartlett that union contracts will be can-
celled if job action is taken. =
The repeated efforts by the government
to tie the Expo site to the issue of jobs and
economic recovery has also pointed to a
possible election which would be fought
' Over the labor issue but that possibility
appears less and less likely as Expo finances
become more dubious and the machina-
tions of the Expo board more apparent.
Significantly, the board’s latest position
as outlined by Pattison is virtually the same
as that put forward by Kerkhoff through-
out the dispute that the Building Trades
have “no right” to negotiate wage levels
covering the non-union contractors.

Ironically, the Expo board’s latest action

_ coincided with the appearance of the July -

issue of B.C. Business which named Kerk-
hoff as “Business of the Year” and in a
cover story written by Province business
writer Ashley Ford, called president Bill
Kerkhoff “the reluctant hero.” ;

In casting him in that role, the story omits
any reference to the ICBA or its successful
campaign for changes in labor legislation
and tendering policies on public construc-
tion. It also omits any reference to Kerk-
hoff's and the ICBA’s objectives for the
non-union sector.

In an interview last week, Kerkhoff noted
that construction in the U.S. “‘is 90 per cent
non-union,” adding, “That could happen in
Cana sae
__ In this province, however, he concedes it
would be less. ““But we consider 75 per cent
non-union construction to be a realistic
goal,” he said. ; :

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 18, 1984

‘Vancouver Island jobless faced off with
Socred youth July 7 on the first anniversary
of the provincial budget that economists say
helped plunge B.C. into the worst economic
stagnancy since the 30s. Social Credit youth
should be concerned when 238,000 young
British Columbians are collécting UI! while
another 245,000 languish on the welfare
roles, the B.C. Coalition of the Unemployed
pointed out in a leaflet distributed outside the
young Socred convention at Qualicum Col-
lege Inn. The demonstrators, from unem-
‘ployment committees and action centres in
Campbell River, Comox Valley, Nanaimo
and Port Alberni, hit Socred policies on job
training and higher education, and called for
alternative strategies for economic recovery,
including reforestation, a shorter work week,
increases in GAIN to reflect the poverty line,
restoration of social services, expansion of

secondary industry, and other reforms.

The B.C. Federation of Labor has
demanded a full-member Labor Relations
Board appeal of a decision July 6 ordering
the Retail Wholesale Union to cease pick-
eting scab-driven delivery trucks operated

. by Slade and Stewart.

~The LRB decision, brought down by’a
single-member panel conducted by vice-
chairman Peter Sheen, is the first under the
restrictive new provisions of the amended
Labor Code covering secondary picketing.

Sheen ordered locked-out Slade and
Stewart employees to halt picketing of
company trucks at: customers’ loading
docks. The ruling is particularly disturbing.
since it removes what had been a long-
standing tradition in picketing — that
company trucks are an extension of com-
pany property — and is likely to set a
precedent for future decisions under the
amended code.

“Ina case that will set precedent regard-
ing the way picketing in this province is to
' be carried out, it.is totally unacceptable to

us that the LRB let the decision be made

by a single-member panel,” B.C. Fed

secretary-treasurer Mike Kramer said ina

’ statement. “The fact that the single board

member was an employer nominee only
made the matter worse. °

“Tf the LRB chaifman thinks we are

' going to accept and abide by a precedent-

setting one-person panel decision, he’s

Withhold levy, —
Solidarity urges |

Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity
Coalition are calling on all their members
to refuse to pay the municipal transit levy
portion of their B.C. Hydro bills until
Metro Transit has setttled at the bargain-
ing table and the buses are running agian.

The levy boycott was made at the
request of the Independent Canadian
_ Transit Union which voted at a member-
ship meeting July 4 to make the request.

bill is collected by B.C. Hydro and turned
over to B.C. Transit to cover transit costs
in Vancouver and Victoria. :

“We are advising our members to with-
hold the municipal transit levy portion of
their Hydro bills until the transit service in
the Lower Mainland is restored,” said
Solidarity Coalition co-chair Renate
Shearer. oe

Operation Solidarity spokesman Mike
Kramer added that Labour Minister Bob
McClelland “should appoint the indus-
trial inquiry commissioner as requested by

ee union.” a

Appeal demanded of picket ban

crazy,” said Kramer, adding that a deci-
sion of such importance “should automat-
ically be made by the entire LRB.

“We want-an appeal before the entire
board and we want it now,” he said. The
federation made the demand ina letter to
LRB chairman Stephen Kelleher.

Local 580 of the Retail Wholesale
Union was locked out by Slade and Ste-
wart May 18 at four operations in Van-
couver, Penticton, Kamloops and Terrace.

The United Nations’ chief body on
labor relations has found the B.C.
government guilty of violations of interna-
tionally accepted trade union rights, and
in violation of some international labor
agreements.

In a recent report the committee on
freedom of association of the Interna-
tional Labor Organization targeted three
legislative bills that accompanied the July
7, 1983 budget that led to the creation of
the Solidarity movement.

The ILO was acting on complaints filed
by the Canadian Labor Congress and the

World Confederation of Organizations of

the Teaching Profession — of which the
B.C. Teachers Federation is a member.

The legislation at fault includes Bill 3,
the Public Sector Restraint Act; Bill 11,
amendments to the Compensation Stabil-
ization Act; and Bill 26, the amendments
to the Employment Standards Act.

In their judgment, the ILO committee
members considered the arguments of the
complainants and the B.C, government,
which made its submission last April.

According to the committee’s findings,
Bill 3, which allows for the dismissal of
public sector employees for a variety of
reasons, contravenes a 1948 international
convention, to which Canada is a signa-
tory, decreeing that workers should have
the right to free collective bargaining.

The ILO committee said the granting of

The U.S.-owned company has hired sc@
drivers and warehouse help and has
advised customers in hotels, restaurants
and institutions that it is “operatin
non-union.”

declared all Slade and Stewart products”
hot. That declaration could also be ~
affected since hot edicts are governed by -
the same: section of the code covering ~
secondary picketing.

ILO hits Socred legislation

Victoria to consider amending sections of -

The B.C. Federation of Labor earlier

powers.to the provincial cabinet to set the”
salaries of principals, vice-principals an
other school supervisors contravened that |
agreement. The committee also noted that |
trade unionists and their leaders should be |
protected from firings based on trade
union activity, one of the chief threats”
posed by Bill 3. : Be:

Although Canada has not ratifed it, 2
1949 convention governing voluntary col- .
lective bargaining has been violated by Bill |
11, the committee stated. 2

It accepted the argument from the
teachers organization that the billextended |
the controls placed on public sector wages —
for an indefinite period and the employers
“ability to pay” the paramount considera-
tion. in’ wage settlements. Since the |
government determines this by setting |
public sector budgets, and since the rele- —
vant ministers’ approval must be sought
before a wage settlement takes effect, the |
principle of free collective bargaining is —
violated, the committee found.

The ILO committee also found fault
with Bill 26, the amendments to the
Employment Standards Act which, the
teachers group argued, would encourage |
employers to opt out of bargaining work- —
ing conditions. ~~ a

The committee stated it lacked enough
information to make a decision, but asked ~

*

the act.

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