Labour B.C. building trades workers ended a 32- hour occupation of the Industrial Relations Council June 2, but vowed to return if the council does not live up to an agreement to fast-track several outstanding grievances, which will at least allow the unions to take several outstanding appeals to B.C. Supreme Court. Several dozen members of several build- ing trades unions walked into the IRC offi- ces in downtown Vancouver June 1 demanding ‘a meeting with council chair- man Ed Peck over the IRC’s heel-dragging on several cases where Building Trades cer- tifications are at stake. 3 : They left after a 2/-hour meeting with Peck the following evening, saying they 1 .t the action had achieved its objective of pub- licizing the case. But their assessment of the IRC is unchanged. “The board (IRC) was set up to destroy trade unionism in this province,” said B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council presi- dent Len Werden during the occupation. Building Trades members quietly walked into the IRC office starting at 9 a.m. and requested an audience with Peck. Told the council chairman was in Ottawa, the trades people said they were staying until he returned and met with them. They occupied the spacious reception area and several adjoining rooms. Security personal made no attempt to evict them, and police were not summoned during the 14-day occupation. June | marked the first anniversary of the massive province-wide work stoppage over Bill 19, the Social Credit government’s dis- credited Industrial Relations Reform Act Union sitdown hits that replaced the former Labour Relations Board with the IRC. Building Trades leaders charge that the council is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with Bill 19. Werden said the Building Trades “have been seriously hit by decertification moves and raids” since the IRC came into being. “The council moves immediately, if not sooner, on decertification applications and when phoney unions apply for certification. But we’ve had to wait up to one year (fora . decision),”” Werden said. The Building Trades Council has been taking certification cases before the IRC under a general exemption from the boycott of Bill 19 initiated by the B.C. Federation of Labour and supported by the Building Trades unions. At one o’clock on the first day, Werden, B.C. Council of Carpenters president Bill Zander, Building Trades Council secretary- treasurer Al McMurray and other union leaders went upstairs with IRC vice- chairman Bud Gallagher and other council Officials. In a statement, the union leaders told the IRC officials that the council has unfortu- nately lived up to the prognosis given by labour lawyers and industrial relations experts when it was established one year ago: that it was established to attack trade unionism. During that year the union leaders said the IRC has shown favouritism towards employer-created “employees” associations” and two “renegade” organizations: the General Workers of B.C. and the Canadian Iron, Steel and Industrial Workers Union. Media blackout charged Continued from page 1 “The bill to implement the Canada-U.S. agreement significantly restricts the power ' of the provinces to manage their economies and shape social policies,” it states. “The legislation to implement the deal diminishes provincial capacity to create programs to reduce regional disparities, protect the environment, modify their industrial struc- ture and develop their resources as they see fit. This is because articles 5, 6 and 7 of the implementing legis- lation empower the federal government to intervene directly in areas of provin- cial jurisdiction and force compliance with the principal goal of the free trade agreement: to create one vast common market in North America.” In addition, the legislation would effec- SWANSON tively make the federal government the - “agent-general” for Washington in impos- ing U.S. policies on provincial govern- ments, the analysis states. “Under the new rules, the federal government deliberately undertakes to bind the provinces to observe the free trade agreement and to give effect to its provi- sions even if the provinces concerned are opposed to specific undertakings ... In short, if the U.S. objects to provincial poli- cies, the federal government will intervene on behalf of the Americans to ensure that the provinces remove the offending mea- sures. : “Tn granting national treatment to Amer- ican business, Mulroney has given U:S. interests a direct voice not only in federal policy but also in provincial matters,” it States. Throughout its 123 pages, the Network emphasizes, Bill C-130 amends other fed- 12 e Pacific Tribune, June 8, 1988 eral statutes and regulations, covering energy, investment, financial services and cultural policies, to assert the supremacy of the free trade agreement over existing Can- adian law, “Provincial and federal social policy initiatives will be subject, directly and indi- rectly, to laws that will force Canadians to adapt to American legislative norms,” it States.” This means that Canadians lose control of the ability to plan their future in ways that reflect Canadian values.” Yet the media has not explained to Can- adians what is at stake in this unprecedented legislation — and is almost completely ignoring the broad opposition that there is to the trade agreement, Swanson charged this week. “I think Bill C-130 shows clearly that one of the purposes of the trade deal was to get around democracy. But the media hasn’t _ touched it at all,” she told the Tribune. “She noted that although reporters attended the press conference in Ottawa following the lobby by 28 representatives of major national organizations May 30, there was virtually no coverage of the event across the country. In this province, the Tribune was alone in its coverage. Even letters to the editor have been bur- ied, she said. Swanson emphasized that the blackout’ was clearly orchestrated, pointing out that Thomson Newspapers, Maclean-Hunter, BCTV and other media corporations were members of big business institutes such as the Business Council on National Issues and the Fraser Institute. “All the big media want free market, free trade policies,” she said. . She also cited the leaked Tory memo which had warned that the more Canadians learned about the free trade agreement, the less they would like it. The memo also noted that the best approach that the media could take would be one of “‘benign neglect.” “That’s exactly what’s being done by the media,” she said. Carpenter Phil Hebbard displays sign on balcony on Industrial Relations Council. The IRC has engaged in unjustifiable delays on appeals of its decisions, most of which have effectively decertified construc- tion companies, while giving speedy appro- val to employers’ applications for decertifi- cation and cease-and-desist orders against union picketing, they charged. Gallagher contacted Peck by telephone and was told the IRC head and former Compensation — Stabilization Program commissioner would talk to the trades lead- ers when he returned the following evening. The leaders replied they were staying until then. Topping the list of grievances was the council’s ruling allowing the decertification of BCE Development. Called Daon Devel- opment at the time, the Bell Canada subsi- diary informed the Building Trades Council it intended to terminate a collective agree- ment in 1985, but did not inform the United Carpenters and Joiners who also held the contract with the corporation. The IRC granted the decertification application on March 24 this year, based on Section 34 of the Industrial Relations Reform Act. That section allows a company to apply to go union-free after it has been inactive for more than two years. In fact, BCE Development has been active in the construction field, and furth- ermore, the Carpenters were not officially informed, say the trades who launched an appeal of the ruling. That appeal has still not been heard, and until it is, the Building Trades Council can not launch court action to overturn the IRC decision. Z The trades charged also that the IRC has allowed management personnel to vote on certification applications by the General Workers, and Canadian Iron, Steel and Fabricating and cited one case in which supervisors were involved in the sign-up. Additionally, the council has allowed irreg- ularities in the voting procedure which the Trades have appealed, but those appeals have been delayed for up to one year. In another case Armeco Construction Ce | SES ELD ESTER TENDER NT REST LOIE TREY i ] FIRIBONE ERIE SEES SOATEST I BTR TY | Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street | Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 “4 : Names. | 3 i Aree 3 | che SA Re eee t i Address? 28. 2 PRS Ee gg es chara ger eae eee in et ae PostalCode. I jamenclosing 1yr.$200 2yrs, $350 3yrs. $500 Foreign 1 yr. $32 0 : Bill me later Donation$........ | READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR z ~ a a ee ee ee ee ee ss ee ee ee ee i ee was allowed to set up a no subsidiary — a practice known as “double breasting” — to escape its collective pe ment obligations. That case is current before the courts. : In that instance, the IRC reversed 4 — sion taken by its predecessor, the PB Labour Relations Board, which disallowec the double-breasting. Be. The General Workers and Canadian Iron are not real unions, McMurray Said, but organizations that “sell sweetheart COn- tracts” to employers hoping to escape OF avoid agreements with the Building Trades. McMurray said one company, Fi iberco, made it a condition of employment that workers belong to Canadian Iron, est@ lished by former Iron Workers business agent Frank Nolan. Nolan once attempted to sign a wage rollback agreement with Amco Corp., a U.S. company wanting to establish a plant in Nanaimo. McMurray said the Building Trades unions could not give specifics of their meet- ing with Peck. But the unions had said dur- ing the occupation that only a commitment from Peck to speed up the appeals would end the sit-in. : “We explained the results of the meeting to the rank and file. They were satisfied. If they weren’t, we'd still be there,” he said. A further meeting with Peck has been tentatively set for this Thursday, McMurray said. Zander called the occupation a success. “We did bring it to the attention of the public, like it never was before,” he sal¢- B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Georgetti gave his support to the ocCU- pation, saying, “the public and the media do not see or experience the day-to-day frustta~ tion that comes from dealing with Bill 19 and the IRC.” : He said the one positive aspect of Bill 19, the 10-day certification vote, has not been realized because “the government and the IRC are making it difficult for unions to get certifications at all, let alone with the 10-day limit.”