STEEL — WHAT'S AHEAD? d The kind of statements quoted in the th Press and attributed to Cooke, if true, gi Ould do nothing but hurt the cause of the cd “UNion and strengthen the company’s re- w¢ SOlve to play it rough all the way to the fT tank y it roug ¢ In: view of the announcements of ni layoffs last fall and the developments s@ arly in the year, it was obvious that ys “Atgaining was not going to be easy. But his ‘4 Strateov of unity all alano the line in — No Long-Term- Disability plan to cover. disabled employees once Sick- ness and Accident Le’ benefits run out. a acations ‘ # + —No increase in vacation bonus. No increase in vacation time. -Stelco and Inco: Z| Inco *30 years service $460 *35 years service $478 at 55 : fi = 40 years service $512 25 *Inco base rate 1979 — $6.00 No increases at all offered by Inco until the final 4-cent offer. *None at Inco fosts, raise profits from Newfoundland to Ontario, could perhaps have made a difference. Even Inco employees themselves, following joint bargaining all the way for five months, should surely not be divided as they now are between Sudbury and Port - Colborne. But even that, be it as it may, is now water under the bridge. What matters now is that the giant multi-national that is Inco Metals Company, does not get away with the idea that Sudbury workers are going to be made to pay for capital expenditures abroad in Guatemala, In- donesia, in adventurous preparations for sea-bed mining of nickel, and the like. _ It is important in this respect to look at what Inco did offer in the negotiations, and how Inco employees stand relative to their brothers in other Ontario centres _ such as Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie. ~ Inaddition to the above the Inco Met- als Company sought to erode the union’s and workers’ rights, downgrading the grievance procedure, overtime, job post- ings and transfers. At a press. conference, Sat., Sep- tember 16, Inco officials let it be known that they were determined to use this year’s contract bargaining to alter the power of union stewards over the grie- vance procedure. In other words, what Inco has in mind doing is to use the present crisis to weaken if not to destroy the union in its Canadian operations, where 70% of its nickel comes from. That must not be allowed to happen at any cost. The ans- wer is support and solidarity by all Cana- dian workers ‘and their unions in this strike. In October Sudbury workers were in front of Queen’s Park protesting massive layoffs, now they’ve been forced to strike, rejecting Inco’s insulting 4 cent offer. ‘Inco’s attitude an issue’ Says paper editorially The Welland Evening Tribune, a Thompson chain paper, editorially ‘commented Sept. 19 on an important issue involved in the current strike un- derway against Inco. The editorial, titled ‘‘Inco’s Attitude an Issue’’, made the point about ‘‘the union’s seemingly hopeless position in face of massive stockpiles”’ of nickel and _ the remarks made by Steelworkers’ Dis- trict 6 Director, Stewart Cooke and q By BOB MANN é Some years back there was an effort _ Made in the steelworkers’ union to have United bargaining among the big steel - locals. Finally, in the late sixties it came y about that Inco, Stelco and Algoma ¢ (Sudbury, Hamilton and Sault Ste. _ Marie) all had similar termination dates n'their contracts. But now in 1978, even though there Was talk about joint bargaining, the mat- _ ter was dropped and each local union __ Was encouraged to go its own way with- , OUt any effort at co-ordination of effort. his led to a situation where Quebec Cartier and the Iron Ore Co. of Canada in uebec and Labrador were out on strike _ for three and four months respectively to _ &et a reasonable contract. : i 1 7 _ Sargaining committee recommended ac- _ Septance of an increase of 40 cents on a basic wage rates over a_ three-year _ Period, plus the cost-of-living allowance. Was a few days strike which won them Some additional small benefits in addition to what Stelco settled for. en it came to Stelco in July, the © t Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie there . Inco strike our Now, in September, Inco workers in Sudbury have been boxed into a corner from which there was no escape except to take on the big nickel empire in a bitter - and hard-fought strike under difficult cir- ~ cumstances. Considering that the situa- tion a year from now would in all likeli- hood be even worse than it is now, failure to face up to the. challenge would have been a humiliating surrender without a fight. The separate vote and acceptance of contract terms by Port Colborne smel- ter workers in these- circumstances is most unfortunate. ‘ One of the major issues, apart from wages, cost-of-living allowance and jobs _ protection, is the effort to weaken the union’s grievance procedure by segrega- tion of the steward’s body so that ste- wards across the operation would in fact be isolated from each other and sub- jected to company harassment and dis- crimination. The members of Local 6500 have em- ‘barked upon a heroic effort against a large multi-national’ corporation like Inco. But they must not be left to struggle alone. fight too A united labor movement, similar to - the rally which recently won the Fleck workers victory in Centralia, Ontario ina new contract, is what is needed to assist the Inco workers — a movement headed up by our labor leaders at all levels from Canadian Labor Congress down, and in- volving the entire trade union movement across Canada. The stronger the unity brought to bear on the Sudbury situation in support of the heroic membership of Local 6500, the quicker a victory can be won. Nothing less than a victory has to be the objective. Every other steel local union, including my own, Local 1005 in_ Hamilton, has a stake in the Inco strike. . A defeat in this strike would be a kick in the shins for the entire labor movement, every boss across Canada would have a heyday harassing the workers and deny- ing them their rights. A victory for Local - 6500 workers, on the other hand, will be powerful encouragement for other workers struggling to beat back the of- fensive of the corporations and govern- ment against labor. Ves, $0 WE ADDED A JOB- ENRICHHENT PROGRAM o- DETENIUINED GY A ThiemnTiTe FINAL OFFER SELECTION PROFIT SHARING CLAUSE a TY JT Tred Struck Dk UAS 5-77 | former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis, both of whom publicly opposed the strike. “*... Some of the pickets feel the naysayers such as Cooke and Lewis are pushing a major issue into the back- ground,’’ says the Evening Tribune. “‘The workers say that issue, which un- derlies all the differences on contract - wording and pay, is the attitude of Inco toward Canada and toward the Port Col- borne, Sudbury and Thompson, Man., workers who have helped generate the profits which have gone into Inco expan- sion and diversification in Canada and abroad. “‘The Sudbury workers who raise the point now say the issue must be pressed via the strike and resultant publicity ‘since it is the company employees who will play a central role in bringing pres- sure to bear on Inco and the government. “‘People like Lewis and Cooke should be reminded that they have ignored or forgotten about such possibilities . .. “Only a concentrated effort by all the employees, both on and off the job and those who were for or against a strike, will ensure that the company isn’t al- lowed to define its own best interests in a way which will lead to disaster for union members and their communities.”’ Ministers | offer help SUDBURY — The Sudbury and Dis- trict Ministerial Association is offering as- sistance in any way possible to alleviate the Inco-Steelworkers contract dispute. In a recent statement, a spokesman for the association said congregation minis- ters and pastoral ministries are expressing deep concern over ‘‘tensions and anxieties of our community”’ in current negotia- tions between Steelworkers Local 6500 and Inco Metals Company. ‘We can appreciate Local 6500’s con- cern for a more adequate proposal on economic grounds in our inflationary period and for Inco’s economic difficulties with their high inventories and depressed world markets,’’ the spokesman said. ‘We call our community to prayer and offer to assist in any way possible.”’ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 6, 1978—Page 7