Labour B.C. Fed charges IRG interference B.C. Federation of Labour pres- ident Ken Georgetti last week blasted the Industrial Relations Council for “unwarranted inter- ference” into collective bargaining between B.C. teachers and school boards throughout the province. Georgetti cited a letter sent out July 20 by IRC Commissioner Ed Peck to the B.C Teachers’ Federa- tion, the Queen Charlotte Teachers Association and the B.C. School Trustees Association, in which he stated that the IRC would be issu- ing a declaratory opinion on whether or not teachers and trus- tees could include language in their collective agreements accepting the B.C. Fed boycott of the IRC. Ironically, the declaratory opin- ion was not sought by either the local teachers’ association or the school board where such language has been agreed on in collective bargaining. Nor was either included on the list that received Peck’s let- ter. The IRC commissioner stated his intention of issuing the declara- tory opinion following receipt of a ' letter from Gordon Wilson of GMW Consultant who was ap- parently hired by School District 50 in the Queen Charlottes to investigate contract language agreed to by the Prince Rupert Teachers’ Association and School District 52 in Prince Rupert. The contract clause that they agreed to states: “So long as the B.C. Federation of Labour is con- tinuing the declared boycott of the Industrial Relations Council and the Prince’ Rupert and District Teachers Association is supporting this boycott, if a union has gone through the procedures that would otherwise be needed to authorize a strike except for the involvement of the IRC, a picket line established pursuant to such procedures would, for the purposes of this agreement, be deemed to be a legal picket line.” In his letter to Peck, Wilson referred to the contract clause and said that he “would like to know whether the parties to a collective agreement can legally opt out of this particular provision of the Industrial Relations Act.” Peck, in response, issued the formal notice, stating that he con- sidered the letter “ta formal request for the IRC to give a declaratory opinion pursuant to Section 38 of the Industrial Relations Act as to whether parties to a collective agreement can opt out ....” Peck called on the three bodies to make submissions on the issue before July 29. Georgetti charged that Wilson, in his letter to Peck, “was looking for a little free legal advice from the IRC and the IRC appears to be giving it to him. “But more than that,” he said, “it is blatant interference in the col- lective bargaining process when no interference is warranted or asked for by the parties involved.” The B.C. Fed president called Peck’s action “just another exam- ple of the IRC stumbling around looking for work to do and, in the process, setting the stage for con- frontation.” BCGEU vote set Continued from page 1 to the level of wages earned by comparable workers elsewhere in the public and private sectors. The union is also seeking improved contract language to protect them from job losses from contracting- out and privatization. Following the break in the talks, Plecas began a tour of the pro- vince, meeting with government managers and holding news bnief- ings with reporters to argue that the BCGEU was “irresponsible” in its wage demands. The timing was also clearly linked to the impend- ing BCGEU strike vote. In a message to members, BCGEU negotiators said that Ple- cas was attempting to “convince the public that the union’s position is unreasonable” and charged that the tour was “designed to influence union members to vote against the strike. : “But the government knows that a show of unity and strength by union members in the form of a strong strike vote will weaken the government’s position at the bar- gaining table,” negotiators said in urging a solid strike mandate. Shields warned union members during meetings in early August that government tactics indicated that Victoria may be preparing for a showdown with BCGEU mem- bers. He noted that the government had already begun recruiting po- tential strikebreakers and had instructed government managers not to schedule holidays during August and September. “It’s now up to the premier to avoid a strike,” Shields emphas- ized. “If he gives his negotiators a mandate to reach a settlement, then a strike can be avoided. “But if he stubbornly persists _ and digs in his heels then a strike will be inevitable.” : FIBUNE 1 Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street 7 Vancouver, B.C. V5K 125, Phone 251-1186 eee ew ee eee ee werner wse rere ererereeece reece seereere® Postal Cod lamenclosing lyr. $200 2yrs.$350) 3yrs. $500) Foreign 1 yr. $320 Bill me later ~=Donation$........ READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR 1 i Labour Notes Vote is the main issue, says AFL EDMONTON — The Alberta Federation of Labour, along with-millions of Canadians, has consistently demanded a vote by the people of Canada on the issue of free trade. “Unfortu- nately”, said AFL president Dave Werlin in a statement released July 26, “the Mulroney government has betrayed the Canadian people and thrown in its lot with the U.S.-based transna- tional corporations, in whose interests the Canada-US. trade agreement is designed. HR DAVE WERLIN “Despite the call for an election on the issue by broad-based coalitions representing millions of Canadians,” the AFL leader said, ‘“‘Mulroney has made it clear that he intends to push the deal through and deny the people a voice on a critical issue that would fundamentally alter our society”. Werlin said that when it became obvious that the electorate was going to be bypassed, the AFL and large numbers of Canadian organizations and individuals urged the Senate to intercede and to at least hold country-wide hearings on Bill C-130 (the implementing legislation for the Mul- ‘roney/ Reagan deal) and on free trade in general. The AFL did this “so that all of us could have a chance to voice our opinions,” said Werlin. “We believe this trade deal will have disastrous economic, social and cultural consequences for all Canadians. Since both Mulroney and Finance Minister Wilson rejected free trade in the last federal election campaign, and since the govern- ment has no mandate on this critical issue, we contend that the government has a moral obliga- tion to hold an election before passing the trade bill. “Despite being critical of the Senate in the past”, said Werlin, “I believe they cannot be critic- ized for being the watchdog of democracy, given the arrogance of the Mulroney government and the importance of this issue. The AFL president said the he would “far rather that Mulroney had the integrity to call an election than to have to rely on the Senate.” But “the important thing,” he emphasized, “is that the Canadian people must have the right to determine the course of Canadian history. “We therefore support the decision of the Senate to intervene in the trade deal to let the people of Canada make their wishes known”, he -IWA-Canada to vote on pact Members of the [WA-Canada throughout the province will be conducting ratification votes later this month following the signing last week of a tentative three-year pact covering woodworkers in the northern Interior, the last of the three major agreements up for renewal in the province’s forest industry. . Last week, negotiators for the IWA-Canada and CONIFER, the employers’ bargaining arm in the northern Interior, signed a tentative agree- ment closely modelled after the pact negotiated Aug. 5 with Forest Industrial Relations (FIR) covering coast logging and sawmill operations. A ’ standing in the collective agreement. similar agreement was also reached with Interior Forest Industrial Relations. The new agreement calls for wage increases of 85 cents in the first year, followed by 5.5 per cent in each of the last two years of the three-yeaf contract. The increases will push the base rate t0 $15.33 effective June 15, 1988 and the trades rate to $20.01. Although the IWA-Canada had _ initially sought a one-year agreement, it agreed to extend the term in return for putting pension improve ments on the bargaining table. On the key issue of contracting-out —-the focus of the 4%-month strike in 1986 — the union won inclusion of the 1986 letter of undet- In return, the forest giants had pressed for changes in shift scheduling to provide for contin uous production and weekend work in some operations. The new contract lifts the existing restrictions on shift scheduling, opening the way to variations” in shifts, including continuous production and compressed work weeks. But the agreement stipU-_ lates that employers must first follow a procedure | to reach agreement with the local union and the | crew involved before initiating a new production — schedule. 7 Following the signing of the coast agreement, — IWA-Canada president Jack Munro called on the | government to scrap Bill 19 and go back to the drawing board to draft a new Industrial Relations — Act. Noting that the agreement had been reached without reference to the IRC, Munro told a news conference: ““We’re not getting settlements undef Bill 19. We’re getting settlements because, I think, the legislation is so bad that employers are agree ing not to force us to abide by the law.” UFCW, USWA spurn trade deal Delegates to the international conventions of the United Food and Commercial Workers and | the United Food and Commercial this month declared their opposition to the Canada-U.S. trade deal, joining members of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union who voted to condemn the deal earlier this year. SHIRLEY CARR The USWA agreement, adopted by the union’s convention in Las Vegas Aug. 4, warned that the trade deal would do nothing to provide job secur- ity for Canadian or American workers while sacrificing the independence of Canada. if It called on “steelworkers in both of our coun- tries to work to defeat this flawed trade pact.” . A week earlier, in San Francisco, delegates to the 2nd International Convention of the UFCW endorsed an executive board resolution which noted that workers on both sides of the border “have a just fear about job disruption as a result of the implementation of the trade agreement.” - The resolution put the union “on record in opposition to the Canada-U.S. free trade agree- ment” and instructed union officers to “make such opposition known to the respective govern- ments.” Canadian Labour Congress president Shirley Carr was a featured speaker at both conventions, outlining the Congress’ campaign against the trade deal. 2 8 e Pacific Tribune, August 17, 1988