By WILLIAM ALLAN

DUBLIN — ‘‘Don’t be a scab
for a bag of McDonald’s chips,”
read the picket signs of young
Irish unionists, seeking a union
contract here at McDonald’s
Hamburgers. McDonald’s now
pays 85 pence an hour ($1.85 in
U.S. money).

The pickets print leaflets and
hand them out to the thousands of
walkers on O’Connell Street.
McDonald’s is offering a free bag
of chips to those who cross the
picket line.

The Irish Transport and

General Workers Union
(ITGWU) is the biggest union in

ee and its members are aiding-

‘Don’t scab for a bag of chips’,
say Irish youth at McDonald's

their young fellow workers on
strike at McDonald’s.

What’s new about this scene
here, is that the strike is against a
multinational empire noted for its
anti-unionism.

As usual there are the cops
“‘protecting’’ the scab boss and
his operation. Pickets outside say
they hear from people inside that
McDonald’s dishes up their ham-
burgers free with coffee for the
cops.

One day one of the scabs slip-
ped a small black object into
another scab’s hand. He then
came out onto the sidewalk where
he started taking pictures of the
pickets.

_ thousands pass the picket line dai-

The scab picture taker is greeted
with hoots and howls, and soon
returns inside. A friendly
photographer comes around, asks
for permission to take pictures
later, is accosted by a cop and has
to show his press card.

Some tourists escort their
children across the line, and the
pickets yell ‘‘thats it, teach your
kids to scab.’’ Cops point warning
fingers at the pickets.

Many respect the _picketline
along McConnel Street where

ly. An elderly woman, stopped,
looked at the pickets, then at
those inside and said out loud,
“they should be bloody “well
ashamed of themselves.’

‘Close ranks in defense of

The recent provincial convention
of the New Democratic Party
adoted an emergency resolution
calling upon the attorney general of
British Columbia to drop all
charges against the *‘SFU 18’’, thus
joining the NDP. with a_ large
number of trade union organiza-
tions which have taken a similar
position.

On March 22 of this year, 18 peo-
ple were arrested when the RCMP
attacked a picket line at Simon

~ Fraser University. Those arrested

were supporting the strike of ‘the
Association of University and. Col-
lege Employees, Local 2.

The 18 were charged under ee
Criminal Code with blocking a
highway and obstructing a police
officer. The former charge carries a

“maximum six months in jail term
and a $1,000 fine. The latter carries .

a maximum two-year sentence upon
conviction,

Fourteen of the 18 arrested on the
picket line were members of AUCE,
Laborers, Steelworkers, Hospital
Employees Union, SORWUC,
Hotel and Restaurant Employees,
B.C. Government Employees, Iron
Workers, Canadian Union of
Public Employees and the
Carpenters’ Union. Also, fourteen
are students enrolled at SFU.

Those charged have elected to be
tried individually, thus denying that
they acted in concert.

The charges were dropped
against one of the 18, but a second
person, Peter Armitage, was con-
victed on July 30 of blocking a
highway and fined $250. The only
evidence presented by the Crown
was two photographs taken two
hours prior to the arrests, showing
Armitage peacefully walking on the
picket line. His conviction is being
appealed.

The remaining 16 are scheduled
to face trial in Burnaby on separate
dates. from October 29 through
December 10.

A defense committee release
August 21 made this statement:
“These arrests represent a serious
attack on fundamental workers’
rights. The -picketers faced in-.
timidation tactics in the form of
camera surveillance and the use of
excessive force. RCMP officers in-
cluded members of the Labor

Liaison Committee. At no time
were the picketers informed that
they were committing an offense or
that they wre required to disperse
during the three hours of mass
picketing prior to the attack on the
picket line. The charges are an alar-
ming extension of the use of the
criminal legal system in place of the
civil proceedings appropriate to
labor disputes.”

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

A statement issued during the
strike by members of the Com-
munist Party and the Young Com-
munist League enrolled as students
at SFU placed the blame for the
strike and all the inconvenience it
caused on ‘‘the hard-nosed, pro-
vocative attitude of the Board of
Governors.’’ It further stated: ‘‘It
should be equally obvious that the
socred government in Victoria,
which has been cutting back on
education and services and putting
the pressure on municipal and
educational authorities to hold the
line on wages, is the main instigator
of the attack on public employees in
British Columbia.”’

That document made it clear that
its sponsors did not agree with some
elements in the support committees
who were advocating confrontation
tactics in connectién with those
students who continued to report
for classes, and were calling those
students scabs. The leaflet called
for ‘‘the widest, possible degree of
understanding between the strikers
and the students at SFU.”’ It further
said ‘‘that all attempts to place the
students
strikers should be challenged and
defeated.” ©

Now that the strike has been settl-
ed by agreement to submit outstan-
ding issues to arbitration on terms
acceptable to the union (which
agreement the Board of Governors
had previously rejected) a process
of re-evaluation is taking place on
the part of many who were active

participants in the struggle.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 21, 1979—Page 12

in opposition to the

For example, I am told that many
realize it was a mistake to abandon
the campus to. those in the ad-

ministration who were working ~

against the strike. They know it was
wrong to oppose sending squads on
campus to win support of students,
on the grounds that they would be
‘‘crossing a legitimate picket line.”
This was carrying the sanctity of the
picket line to a ridiculous extreme,
particularly when the majority of
the students were not convinced
that the AUCE cause was just and
that it was in the long-term interest
of the students to support AUCE.
This projection is also valid in rela-
tion to academic:staff.

However, no strike is ever lost, at
least in the long run, because the
lessons of every strike add to the
education and tactical skill ea the
labor movement.

I am told that AUCE, an in-
dependent union, has applied for
affiliation to the Canadian Labor
Congress, Canada’s major trade
union centre. Affiliation to the
CLC would automatically entitle
AUCE to membership in the B.C.
Federation of Labor and the ap-
propriate labor councils of that
body. Such affiliations would great-
ly strengthen the position of AUCE
in any future stuggles with the SFU
administration.

A partial list of those who have
endorsed the demand that the
attorney-general of B.C. drop the
charges indicates the wide support
which has developed around the
issue:

@ The B.C. Federation of Labor.

@ The CLC labor councils of
Vancouver, New Westminster, Vic-

toria, Nanaimo/Duncan,
Okanagan and Campbell
River/Courtenay.

@ The Canadian Union of
Postal Workers. :

@ The B.C. Government
Employees Union.

@ The B.C. Provincial Council
of Carpenters.

@ The National Executive of the
Canadian Union of Public
Employees.

@ Vancouver Regional
Municipal Employees Union.

@ Locals 1-217, 1-85 and 1-367
of the International Woodworkers

and

* of America.

@ Local 213 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

VLC hears call

Action now urged -
against UIC cuts”

their welfare budgets increasing as 4

The Vancouver and ,District
Labor Council was urged “Tuesday
not to wait for the Canadian Labor
Congress but to ‘‘get the ball rolling
now’’ on a campaign to fight the
changes in unemployment _in-
surance hinted by the Clark govern-
ment.

The call was voiced by United
Fishermen and Allied Workers’
Union delegate Jack Nichol who ex-
pressed concern that a conference
called in Ottawa on the issue had
been poorly attended and, in any
event, didn’t provide the impetus to
the kind of local action that was
needed.

“‘The need is urgent — not only
because of the cuts suggested by the
Tory government but also because

of those already imposed by the -

Trudeau government,”’ Nichol said.

He added that the federal govern-
ment was ‘‘sensitive’’ to protest on
the issue in the wake of opposition
to any cuts from several provincial
and municipal governments who see

SFU 18°

@ Hospital Employees Union.

@ Canadian Association of In-
dustrial, Mechanical and Allied
Workers.

@ The Executive Board of the
Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of
Canada.

Thus, we see a wide spectrum of
support, including affiliates of the
CLC and non-affiliates, which is a
positive development.

Among the prominent in-
dividuals who have lent their names
to the call for the dropping of all
charges are the following:

@ Jean-Claude Parrot, national
president of the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers.

@ Don Garcia,
Longshoremen’s
Warehousemen’s Union.

e@ Jack Munro, president of
Regional District No. 1, Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America.

International
and

e@ Art Gruntman, Canadian
Paperworkers Union.
@ Margaret Mitchell, NDP

member of parliament for Van-
couver East.

@ Bill Zander, B.C. Provincial
Council of Carpenters.

@ Angus MacPhee, Pulp, Paper
and Woodworkers of Canada.

The trade union movement has
had, and will continue to have for
some time to come, its differences
over policy and tactics. But on an
issue like this, all sections of the
labor movement should unite and
take common action. If every local

_ union and every labor council in the
province would actively support the

demand to drop the charges, the
defense of the SFU 18 would be
strengthened a hundred times over.

Address ........

eee ee

Postal Code= 232.753:

ENS CSS RGAE ACEC RN

.

a

City or town ......... See ene

lam enclosing:
1 year $101 2 years $18 1) 6 months $6 (1)
OldO New Foreign 1 year $12 0
Donation $........

=

people are forced off UIC.

Delegates later endorsed a mo- |

tion, proposed by Electrical
Workers’

ing the CLC to take up the ca
paign across the country.

Although a formal budget an
nouncement has yet to be made, it
has been widely reported that the |
government is considering cuts in

benefits to claimants as well a
discontinuing sickness and. materni-
ty benefits.

“‘We’re really going to have to
rally support against the changes, _ 4
CBRT delegate Tom McGrath told
the council, warning
government was moving to put
the unemployed,
nant women on welfare.’

Elsewhere in the council meetings
delegates endorsed the executive |

board’s action in moving to set uP
meetings with the New Westminster
and District Labor Council with |
view to merging the two councils.
An initial meeting of officers is t0
be followed by a meeting of the twé
executive boards at the time of thé
B.C. Federation of Labor conve!
tion in mid-November.
If the merger is carried out, th
newly-formed council would repre
sent some 91,000 workers, bringing
together the 60,000 in unions now
affiliated to the Vancouver councl
with the. 31,000 in the
Westminster council.

UFAWU

Continued from page 1

delegate Jim Thomas; |
calling on the B.C. Federation of =
Labor to launch an all-out cam- | —
paign against UIC changes and urg-

that the -

“including

New |

But Holmes attacked that argue | —

ment with the statement,. ‘‘Some
things that workmen feel are fot

their own reasonable protections

may be criminal offenses.’

~The action against the fishermel

stems from Commission hearings in
January, February and April of this
year in which Combines . Bra
lawyers cross examined UFAW
president Jack Nichol, secret

George Hewison and past president! :

Homer Stevens, on questions in

volving the union’s strike policy: :

picketing policy and price negotia
tions.

All three union leaders refused o
answer the questions, claiming

emption from the Combines de

Lawyer Les Blond, chairman

the Branch hearings, rejected a

union’s argument out of hand 4?
ordered the three to reply to

ed, he said he would seek judi
approval to take contempt acti
against them under Section 17-3.

Defense lawyer lan Donald
presenting the union’s positio®
Judge McKay at Tribune
time.

wu

questions. When they again refi :
ee

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