acks P

ract violation

Union not consulted on automation

OTTAWA — A Federal Court
of Canada judge backed up the
Post Office in its flagrant violation
of a hard-fought-for technological
Change clause in the collective ag-
reement won by the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers from
their 42-day strike ending last
December.

Federal court. justice G.A.
Addy dismissed, ‘‘without the
slightest hesitation whatsoever,”
a CUPW application for an in-
Junction stopping the Post Office
from installing automatic sorting

equipment in the- newly-opened
St. John’s, Nfld. Post Office.
According to the collective ag-
reement the Post Office is re-
quired to consult with the union
before such equipment is intro-
duced. ‘The union has been wag-
ing a five-year battle for the right
to negotiate the effects of
technological change which af-
fects the classification of workers.
CUPW has never put forward
at any time arguments against
technological change, but it has
been engaged in long and painful

on
|

A .
Tomanen 1S PROGRESS i) y ‘ont

ny

Provincial employees
form national union

OTTAWA — Preceding the
Onvention of the Canadian
bor Congress in Quebec City
May 17-21, aconvention will take
Place to found what could turn out
to be Canada’s fifth largest union
— the National Union of Provin-
Clal Government Employees or
NUPGE for short.
Executive Vice-President of
the CLC Shirley Carr said May 3,
lat the founding convention of
€ 110,000-member organization
May 14-15 will ‘mark the reach-
Ig of a truly significant milestone
i Canada’s labor history.”

Carr who has been in charge of
©0-ordinating discussions on the
Creation of NUPGE, sees the or-
8anization as bridging the gap be-
‘Ween municipal and federal gov-
‘tment employees. Presently
the Canadian Union of Public
Employees represents the major-
'Y of municipal government
*Mployees while the Public Ser-

Ke Alliance of Canada repre-
Sents the federal government
*mployees.

6 . .
: ‘A national union to repre-
€nt provincial government

€mployees has become more

necessary than ever in view of
such government actions as the
implementation of the wage con-
trols program, spending cutbacks
and the increasing number of
cabinet-level meetings between
the provincial and federal gov-
ernment’, said Carr.

The initial components of
NUPGE will be the British Col-
umbia Government Employees
Union, The Civil Service Associ-
ation of Alberta, the Saskatche-
wan Government Employees. As-
sociation, the Manitoba Govern-
ment Employees Association,
The Prince Edward Island Public
Service Association, and the
Newfoundland Association of
Public Employees. :

.CLC president Joe Morris,
CUPE president Grace Hartman,
Claude Edwards president of the
PSAC and Louis Laberge presi-
dent of the Quebec Federation of
Labor, will address the founding
convention of the new union.

The headquarters of NUPGE
and its staff of two full time
officers (president and secretary
treasurer), research, legislation
education and public relations
departments will be in Ottawa.

discussions with a hard-headed
Post Office management over the.
question of making sure that the
changes would be of benefit to the
workers and not simply a means
of rationalizing the mail transmis-
sion process with as few. workers
as possible. The union wanted
guarantees from the Post Office
that job security would be main-
tained; and where applicable dis-
placed workers would be re-
trained for other jobs and
occupations.

By the terms of the agreement
signed in December the Post
Office should have informed the:
union’ of proposed technological
changes 120 days in advance and
provided a detailed description of
the program,

Following notificatidn, the con-
tract calls for union management
consultation to discuss the im-
plementation. The matter is then
resolved by a special committee
of the Public Service Staff Rela-
tions Board if the parties can’t
come to an amicable agreement.

CUPW vice-president Jean-
Claude Parrot, angry over the
Post Office violation of the ag-
reement said, ‘‘ The public has got
to understand now, why there are
strikes. It’s unbelievable.

‘I wish there had been 300
postal workers sitting in this
courtroom today to hear the deci-
sion’’, he said.

(=

tions, trials... .

fore swinging irito action.

.-. before it is too late.”’

Louis Laberge,
President, QFL

nN

General attack on labor,
Laberge, Daoust charge

“‘Attack by employers and governments against workers
and their trade unions are becoming more frequent and more
violent. The workers of the private sector just as much as those
of the public sector are hard hit by these attacks of the powers-
that-be, attacks that take the form of blockbuster laws, injunc-

““By Bills C-73 and 64 controlling wages, Bill 253 in the
hospital industry, Bill 23 in education and Bills 29, 30, and 47 in
the construction industry, the Trudeau and Bourassa govern-
ments attack organized labor’s very existence threatening the
right to strike and collective bargaining.

““These are no longer isolated attacks. This is a general
attack against workers in all economic sectors and against the
entire labor movement. It is therefore necessary that it is
workers from all sectors and of the entire labor movement to
mobilize themselves to resist these attacks of the state.

‘‘Meetings and demonstrations have been organized against
Bills C-73 and.64. Groups have tried to defeat these laws
unsuccessfully. Last December at the QFL convention the
delegates clearly indicated that after having exhausted all
‘means of pressure, that it would be necessary to use every
means up to and including the general strike, after consulting
with the membership, to defeat these unjust laws if the
Bourassa and Trudeau governments refuse to withdraw them.

‘‘Has the moment arrived? We believe that it has, though

_there are different opinions on this grave question. It’s up to
‘you to decide! We must not wait until the trade union move-
ment is completely crushed by establishment repression be-

‘*That’s why we are asking you to organize meetings to give
the QFL a clear mandate to use the weapon of the general strike.
We believe that the trade union movement in Quebec, and if
possible all across Canada, should respond vigorously to the
repression of governments subservient to the big corporations

Fernand Daoust,
General Secretary, QFL

Higher fees for non-citizens
harged at Alberta universities

Special to the Tribune
CALGARY—Calgary Labor
Council was thrown into uproar at
its last meeting (May 3) over the
decision by Alberta’s Tory Gov-
ernment to ‘“‘substantially in-
crease”’ fees for landed immig-

rants studying in higher education

institutions in the Province. The
move follows a decision by au-
thorities to increase student fees
by amounts ranging from 25-50%
later this year, and will be in addi-
tion to fee hikes for all students.

A motion to condemn the gov-
ermment decision outright was re-
ferred to the Council executive.
Members expressed incredulity
that even Lougheed’s govern-
ment could adopt such a measure.
There was confusion, too, over
the question of whether holders of
student visas should be charged
higher than normal fees. Labor
Council was shocked and dis-
gusted at the move. Art Roberts,
veteran Council member, spoke
for the great majority when he
said, ‘‘this Tory measure is an at-
tack on working people and their
families, and is part and parcel of
the whole policy of freeze. In
fact, it is a particularly mean and
vicious application of the
freeze.””

Landed immigrants, Roberts
explained, come to Canada to
work for a better life for them-
selves and their families. They

‘ hope to gain access to education,

the key in many workers’ eyes to
a decent life. ‘‘What is wrong’.
Roberts demanded, ‘‘with people
seeking the best education they
can get? Yet the Lougheed crew,
who are giving billions away to
Big Business, are out to put edu-
cation beyond the reach of very
many people in the province.
And, of course, those who will

First-time foreign students
to pay triple for University

bear the brunt will be working
people and their familiés. It is all
part of the program to reduce
workers’ expectations, the
psychological side of the attack
on living standards.”’

A young worker told the
Tribune of another aspect of the
issue. ‘‘I have been in Canada for
10 years’’, he said, ‘‘and have
worked at one job or another
since I was 14. For the last 4 years
I have been paying taxes, and
more or less keeping myself. But
my parents don’t want to become
Canadian citizens, which means I
can’t become a citizen for three
more years, until I’m 21.”

The Federal Secretary of State
Office in Calgary confirmed that
under present legislation many
students whose parents are un-
willing to become citizens can do
nothing to alter their status.

Labor Council learned that it is
not only higher education that is
under attack. Pat English, presi-
dent of the Alberta Teachers As-
sociation, explained that the en-
tire educational system was in
crisis. Most School Boards are
being forced to make cuts, and it
is those most in need who are suf-

an-

fering most. Special education is
being slashed, and there is no
possibility of reduction in class
sizes or teachers work load in the
near future.

Ms. English pointed out that
the task of the teacher had
changed over the last generation.
Whereas in “‘the good old days”’
the teacher was expected to meet
the needs of only a tiny percen-
tage of pupils in the academic
stream, now the majority of
young people complete grade
XII, and are provided with teach-
ing according to their needs.

“Our educational system is far
from perfect,”’ she agreed, ‘‘but
the answer is not to go back, and
is not to make cuts.”’

Council made its own sugges-
tion for improving Alberta educa-
tion, calling for the elimination of
Separate (Catholic) School
Boards, and the ending of pub-
licly _ supported religious
education.

In other business, Executive
Secretary Bill Patterson reported
that membership of the Alberta
Federation of Labor had grown
by 15% during 1975, and stood at
year’s end at 102,110.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 21, 1976—Page 5