LABOR

~ Trades dispute reaches critical point

The Building Trades-Canadian
Labor Congress dispute has reach-
ed acritical point. It is obvious that
the overwhelming majority of the
Building Trades locals have chosen
to stay with their international
unions. While the idea of an
autonomous Canadian Building
Trades Department has substantial
support, it is a fact that the majori-
ty of locals are not prepared to af-

_ filiate at this time with the Building
Trades Department recently
established by the CLC, at least
outside of Quebec.

The Apr. 30 deadline set by the
CLC executive council has come
and gone. The 12 international
building trades unions have been
suspended for non-payment of per
capita since April, 1980. The mon-
thly per capita tax to the CLC is
normally paid to that body from
the international office of each in-
ternational, located in the U.S. The
monthly per capita tax to the B.C.
Federation of Labor and the local
labor councils (chartered by the
CLO) is paid directly by the af-
filiated locals.

Section 4 (a) of Article 3 of the
CLC constitution reads: ‘‘Any af-

filiated of chartered organization
which has seceded, is under suspen-
sion or has been expelled shall not
be allowed representation or
recognition in the Congress, or in
any subordinate body thereof.”

The B.C. Federation of Labor
has publicly indicated it is not

prepared to suspend the 12 interna-

tional unions from the Federation.
On being reminded that the CLC is
sending letters instructing provin-
cial federations to suspend building
trades locals, Kinnaird reportedly
said: ‘‘We may take a long time to
receive that letter and a long time to
open it.””

Because Kinnaird has been a
member of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

—

has been named as executive direc-
tor of the provincial body. The new
pro-tem, non-paid president is
Jack Munro, president of the
largest union in B.C., the WA.

It would appear that the authori-
ty for employing Kinnaird as ex-
ecutive director is found in Section
10 or Article 7 of the Federation
constitution:

‘*The secretary-treasurer

Labor Comment

— one of the suspended unions —

for 25 years, he felt compelled to”

resign as vice-president of the CLC
and as elected president of the B.C.
Federation of Labor. He could
have avoided taking this step by
becoming a member of another
union, and it was reported that he
was offered membership in the In-
ternational Woodworkers of
America and the B.C. Government
Employees Union. If he had taken
that road, he would have been
following a route travelled by a
good number of well known labor
leaders before him.

However, Kinnaird, with the
support of the Federation officers,
has stepped down as president and

WINNIPEG — The Western
Canadian Conference of
Carpenters Tuesday demanded
that the international office of
the union pay up the outstan-
ding per capita payments to the
CLC — and declared that until
it does so, the locals and coun-
cils in the Conference would be
prepared to pay it directly to the
CLC, and deduct that amount
from the monthly remittance to
the international. ;

The Western Canadian Con-
ference brings together the
leading elected officers in British
Columbia, Alberta, Saskat-
chewan and Manitoba as well as
the Yukon.

Some 20 representatives were
at the meeting in Winnipeg
which wound up Monday with a
resolution on the issue, detailed
in a letter to CLC president
Dennis McDermott from Con-
ference secretary Al
Heidebrecht.

“The Western Canadian
Conference of Carpenters con-
tinues to demand the full pay-
ment of all per capita to the
CLC —by the... United
Brotherhood of Carpenters,”
the letter to McDermott stated.
“Our position is based on our
strong principled stand for the
unity and democracy of the
labor movement in Canada.

“Until our international pays
our per capita, our locals
and/or councils are prepared to
pay our CLC per capita direct,”
it said.

The resolution adopted by

We'll pay dues direct
to CLC — Carpenters

Conference would reduce the
amount of the monthly dues
and per capita remittance to the
international office ‘“‘by the
amount that would normally be
forwarded to the CLC.”

That declaration is likely to
spark the greatest reaction from
the Carpenters international of-
fice. Per capita payments to the
CLC are normally paid by the
international, having first been
collected from the Canadian
membership, and it was the in-
ternationals’ action in
withholding the per capita
payments as a pressure play
aimed at Congress policy that
sparked the crisis in the first

The resolution adopted by
the Western Canadian Con-
ference meeting noted that the
per capita boycott was under-
taken by the international
“without voice or vote of the
Canadian membership” and in
spite of constitutional provi-
sions stipulating affiliation of
the Carpenters to the CLC.

The resolution emphasized
the demand of the locals in the
Conference to stay in the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and
in the CLC as well as affiliated
federations and labor councils.

It also urged:

@ That, if the international —
does not accede to the Con-
ference demand,.a referendum
vote of the Canadian member-
ship be: conducted; =

@ That a committee of
representatives from the inter-
national ‘meet with a committee
of Canadian Conference of-
ficers to begin implementing the
CLC minimum standards for
Canadian autonomy.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 8, 1981—Page 12

Jack Phillips

shall, in consultation with the ex-
ecutive officers, employ, direct and

fix compensation for all ad--

ministrative help necessary for the
proper functioning of the Federa-
tion subject to approval of the ex-
ecutive council.”

Dennis McDermott, president
of the CLC, may not be happy
about this arrangement, but in my
opinion there is very little he can do
about it. Also, if Ken Rose, Cana-
dian vice-president of the IBEW
and a key force in promoting the
split, tries to move against Kin-
naird, nothing he can do will
change the situation fundamental-
ly. Even if the top leadership of the
IBEW was successful in depriving
Kinnaird of his membership in that
union — which would be a stupid
move on their part — the Federa-
tion could continue to employ him
as executive director. He would be
an employee of the Federation, not
an elected officer.

The B.C. Provincial Council of
Carpenters, according to Kinnaird,
has deposited a cheque with the

Federation covering its per capita -

tax owed to the CLC. The union is
continuing to press its international
office to reinstate the Canadian
membership in the CLC.

The Federation is trying to get
approval from the CLC officers
for a plan whereby all building
trades locals would pay their CLC
per capita tax directly to provincial
federations. The money would be
held in trust, while negotiations to
settle the dispute continued. The
president of the CLC has been in-
vited to come to Vancouver to
discuss this plan.

That arrangement would make —

it possible for Building Trades
locals to enjoy full rights in provin-
cial federations and local labor
councils while their parent bodies
remained under suspension from
the CLC. Kinnaird’s position in
this respect was spelled out in a re-
cent statement to the news media:
“‘We realize that this is not in ac-
cordance with CLC policy, but we
are trying to bridge the gap between
the parties and bring them back to
the bargaining table.”

The top leaders of the Building
Trades in Canada, who, in the final
count, are answerable only to their
international presidents in the
U.S., are threatening to set up a
rival trade union congress in
Canada next October, unless the
dispute is settled by that time. They
have gone so far as to give the un-
born congress a name: the Cana-

. dian Federation of Labor.

Such a center would be set up

-under the guidance of the Building
Trades Department of the AFL-

CIO, one of the most conservative

- centers of power in the U.S. trade

union movement. It would be

designed to promote narrow craft
and business unionism and would
bea vehicle for U.S. cold war plans

and politics in the Canadian labor.

movement. In place of indepen-
dent political action against the
political parties of big business, the
new leaders would promote
political .‘‘neutrality’’, which
would leave them free to wheel and
deal with the political parties of big
business. Conventions would be
run from the top down and heavy
pressure would be brought to bear
to prevent broad discussions of in-
ternational, national and _ social
issues which are an outstanding
feature of CLC conventions at the
national and provincial levels.

All local unions affiliated to the™

CLC and labor councils should
press the CLC leadership to allow
locals of the building trades to re-
main in provincial federations and

local labor councils. This would -

maintain the CLC connection and

would make the setting up of anew)
trade union center more difficult. It
would also assist in the process of
compelling the top leadership of

the international unions to

away from their splitting tactics. AS

well, national and provinct
unions from every sector of CL

membership should press for thé

adoption of such a course.

Progressive-minded tradé)
unionists have a special role to play
in explaining: the need for unity;
autonomy and democracy. Ont) —
cannot be gained at the expense 0!

the other. To the extent that it

be possible to develop a?
understanding of how these que)
tions are related, it will be possible

to avoid a split. A wides

understanding of this concept wil

also help to prevent unprinci

deals at the expense of autonomy
of the building trades workel
and/or inner democracy in the

CLC.

bs

Equal pay,

TRAIL — Workers at Com-
inco’s Trail and Kimberley
operations won a new tentative
collective agreement which will
give workers an average $3.50
increase over two years, in-
cluding cost-of-living adjust-

ments, and improved benefits
worth an additional $1.05 per
hour, just three hours before a
strike deadline. ‘

United Steelworkers
spokesman Monty Alton called
the pact ‘‘a major breakthrough
in economic:and social justice”’
for its precedent setting provi-
sions to equalize base rates for
male production workers and
female clerical workers. The
new starting base rate of $11.16
per hour in the second year will

workers in the mine and smelter,
and to the 700 office workers,
mostly women.

In addition to equalizing base
rates of pay for clerical workers
with production and
maintenance workers, the
number of increment steps be-
fore the top rate is reached have
been reduced, and equalized be-
tween technical and clerical
workers.

Formerly, it took office
workers 30 months and six in-
crement steps to reach the full
pay rate for their job classfica-
tion. Technical workers, in-
cluding assayers, computer
operators and draughtsmen,
took 10 months to achieve full
pay rates in their classification.

“Now, its 18 months for

apply both to production _

$3.50 hike}
in Cominco contract |

everyone,’’ Jim Saare, president
of Local 9705, representing the
office and technical workers in
Trail, said. ‘‘It doesn’t feel like —
we are a split union any more

now that we have acommon in- ~

crement scale.”’

The new contract will also br- |

ing all office and technical

workers back in the 37% hour —
work week. Saare explained —

that Cominco had been eroding
the long tradition of the
37-hour work week, putting

some workers on a 40-hour .
- work week with no extra pay.

Five locals of the United
Steelworkers are included on the

joint bargaining council for — ;

5,400 workers at Cominco’s
Trail and Kimberley operations.
There aretwo Trail locals: Local

9705 representing 620 office and —

technical workers, and Local
480, representing 3600 smelter
workers. The other three locals
which make up the bargaining
council represent Cominco’s
Kimberley employees: Local

9672 represents 140 office and —
technical workers; Local 251 |

represents 1,000 mine workers, ©

and 65 supervisors have their

own Local 8320.

Faced with the prospect of a

full scale strike commencing at 7
a.m. Monday morning, Comin-
co multiplied its previous offer

of 50 cents in the first year and —

COLA adjustments in the se-
cond year by several times to
reach a settlement at 4:30 a.m.
and narrowly avoid a shut-
down.

SiswINeE

Vancouver, B.C.

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