Continued from page 1 The decision effectively prevented the employer from moving against the 130 strikers, all members of Local 1928 of the Carpenters, and was widely interpreted as a “sending a message” to the Social Credit government over its labour legislation. In his judgment, Appeal Court Justice Seaton noted that he might have drawn the same conclusions as Justice Trainor. But on the basis on legal precedent, he overturned Justice Trainor’s decision, putting enforce- ment of the IRC order back before the courts. Citation Industries lawyer Michael Blax- land said following the ruling that he would be back in Supreme Court Friday or early next week seeking a contempt ruling against the strikers. The company also launched a $500,000 suit for damages against the union. Throughout the strike, the company has waged an unrelenting campaign against union members, first applying to the IRC to force members back to work and following that with mass firings of all 130 workers. It also advertised in newspapers for scabs. The local union has also borne the brunt Labour Court decision backs IRC of the IRC’s punitive powers because of its support for the boycott of the IRC initiated by the B.C. Federation of Labour. Still at issue is the original IRC decision which declared the strike illegal on the basis that a collective agreement was in force at the time Carpenters walked out. The union has countered that the agreement expired April 30, nearly two months before the strike began. The IRC was hearing a appeal of that decision Wednesday and Thursday, and Local 1928 was appearing at the IRC with the permission of the B.C. Federation of Labour. The outcome could affect the court proceedings. Local 1928 business agent Dave Streb said the union would be waiting for the final decision of the IRC and union members would continue picketing at least until the case was heard in Supreme Court. The B.C. Federation of Labour, which has backed the Citation workers through- out the strike, called the Appeal Court deci- sion another message to employers and the PRO. “The most important part of the decision is the Justice’s comments on contempt orders,” B.C. Fed president Ken Georgetti said in a statement Oct. 4. ““His message to employers and the IRC is clear: they should not expect to automatically receive a con- tempt finding every time they file an order with the Supreme Court. “Essentially, as far as we are concerned, the Appeal Court has simply added to the growing number of voices among labour, employers and the community which are saying that Bill 19 and the IRC are unwor- kable and both require fundamental changes. The Appeal Court has indicated that the IRC should not depend on the justice system to do its job.” Georgetti did not say what further action’ the federation would take to support the Citation workers whose strike has become a focal point in the labour movement’s battle against Bill 19. But Carpenters Provincial Council presi- dent Bill Zander said Wednesday that the “trade union movement is committed to the Citation strike. “The local has worked with the B.C. Fed at every step of the way in maintaining the boycott,” he said. “The whole trade union movement has a commitment to these workers.” Deals undermine UK labour unity By WILLIAM POMEROY A critical issue that had been causing disunity in the British trade union move- ment was resolyed at the annual conference of the Trade Union Congress earlier this month, when the Electrical, Electronic, Tele- communication and Plumbing Union (EETPU) was expelled from the TUC by an overwhelming vote of conference delegates. The 330,000-member EETPU has been controlled by extreme right-wing elements since 1965. The present general secretary, Eric Hammond, is the Thatcher govern- ment’s favourite trade unionist. Under its previous general secretary, Frank Chapple, the EETPU constantly opposed left forces in the TUC and refused to stand in solidarity with militant actions taken by other unions. On his retirement, the Tory government rewarded Chapple with a peerage in the House of Lords. Under Eric Hammond the EETPU has shaped a more vicious class-collaborationist policy. It emerged openly in 1985, when Hammond struck a deal with the reaction- ary anti-labour newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch’s decision to shift his printing operations from central London to east-end Wapping and to throw out a large part of the workforce through the introduc- tion of new technology was strongly opposed by the printworkers’ unions, which declared a strike to protect their members’ jobs. Hammond stabbed the printworkers in the back. His deal with Murdoch, made even before the announcement of the transfer to Wapping, arranged for EETPU members to take the jobs of striking printworkers. This was defended as “looking after the interests of the union members.” Many elec- trical workers walked out of the Murdoch plant in sympathy with the striking print- workers. The long Wapping strike of 1985-86, one of the most militant in recent history, was marked by powerful demonstrations of solidarity from other sections of the labour movement. There were many demands for the TUC to discipline the EETPU and expel it if necessary, especially after the strike- breaking by Hammond’s union enabled Murdoch to defeat the printworkers. But other right-wing elements in the TUC, such as the leaders of the Amalgam- ated Engineering Union (AEU), succeeded in blocking any effective action against the EETPU. The TUC confined its actions to 12 e Pacific Tribune, October 10, 1988 ERIC HAMMOND warnings and reprimands, which encour- aged Hammond and his circle to embark on worse policies of class collaboration. In Britain, industrial unionism in which one union represents all workers in a plant or industry does not prevail. Several unions exist in a single plant, although they may have joint bargaining systems. There are tendencies toward replacing this with unifi- cation, to avoid divisive competition for representation rights, but only through principled and brotherly trade unionism. But the EETPU has violated labour movement principles by trampling on other unions to negotiate single-union deals with employers. It achieves these deals by accept- ing no-strike agreements that other unions reject. In 1981 Frank Chapple reached the first such single union, no-strike deal with the Japanese firm Toshiba. Hammond fol- lowed with a similar agreement with another Japanese company, Hitachi, in 1984, ousting six other unions from the plant. Hammond?’s Hitachi collaboration raised protest in the TUC, which in 1985 tightened up its rules on inter-union relations to pre- vent such cases. Hammond defied the rul- ings and made his outrageous deal with Murdoch. He ignored the TUCs formal condemna- tion of this action and in 1987 negotiated single-union, no-strike agreements with two more companies, Christian Salvese and Orion Electric. Three other unions were ousted from these plants, their members literally forced into the EETPU. In March 1988, the TUC’s disputes committee directed the EETPU to with- draw from the Salvese and Orion deals. They refused. The TUC suspended the EETPU in July and made preparations to expel it. The extent of anger and unity of other TUC unions was reflected in the vote on the expulsion motion. Of 1,050 conference delegates, only the 53-member AEU delega- ‘tion and half of the 30 delegates from the Civil and Public Service Association voted against expulsion. A large section of EETPU members who opposed the Ham- mond line and remain loyal to the TUC left the EETPU and set up a new Electrical and Plumbing Industries Union, which pre- dicted it would draw 20,000 members shortly. Its leader, John Aitken, had won 37,000 votes in the 1987 union election for general secretary; Hammond had 108,000 votes. Britain’s right-wing press and employers are now calling on the EETPU to ally with other rightwing and independent unions to form a rival “TUC” to split the British labour movement. All-out membership raiding by the EETPU is being urged, including by Hammond himself. But the unity the TUC has demonstrated on this issue shows that most British workers will not go for that kind of betrayal. Labour Notes Carr joins UFW protest TORONTO — CLC president Shit ley Carr initiated the Canadian chain of the Fast for Life here Sept. 29. Thi original fast, launched by United Farmworkers. leader Cesar Chavez and completed after 36 days Aug. 21¥ has been carried on in three-day bouts by prominent U.S. political and cultu=) ral personalities. The object of the protest is to focus public attention of the union’s grape boycott and its bat tle against the growers’ indiscriminaté use of carcinogenic pesticides that have been linked with unusually high” cancer rates, especially among child ren in communities close to the spray passed the responsibility for the Can-) adian Fast to labour leaders, includ- ing the Ontario Federation of Labour’ Sean O’Flynn and_ Steelworkers Ontario director Leo Gerard. Cart has also called on all major super- markets in the country to stop selling the poisoned U.S. grapes for the dura- tion of the boycott. Union members | up in Canada OTTAWA — Labour Canada reports in January that union membership in this country now stands at 3,841 000° — an increase of 1.6 percent over the | previous year. The top six unions in the government’s survey include the Canadian Union of Public Employees with 342,000 members and the United’ Food and Commercial Workers with 170,00 members. NAPE takes strike vote ST. JOHN’S — Strike votes are being taken throughout Newfound- land by the province’s 6,000 hospital support staff after the collapse earlier this month of talks with the Peckford | government. Without a contract since March 31, © the union is focussing in these talks on wages. Newfoundland Association of Public Employees president Fraser March called the government’s last wage offer “totally unacceptable.” Voting began Sept. 8 and will con- clude October 10. j Cn eae oe ee eee eee ee Name eee We ee ee ee ee ee wie eee ¢ «wie ©. ge 6.0 40. 2-09 00 Postal Code lamenclosing 1yr. $200 2yrs.$350) 3yrs.$500) Foreign 1 yr. $32 Oa - Billme later Donation$........ READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR TRIBUNE Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 0.0 0-0 © 0: e 0 0:0 8 O16 4 0 0 0 6 0 00.0 0 6 0 6 Ome eee ees ee eee ere eweeceeense eee ere Ff 928 10250 20 gp -0 90: 00) 9 0.8 0 0 9 08 g:.8. Ome