_LABOUR

——_———*

By LORNE ROBSON

BRANDON — Unity in the face of an all-out
attack on the labour movement highlighted the bi-
annual convention of the Manitoba Federation of
} Labour held here Sept. 24-27.

Recent high profile disputes in the province, in-
| Cluding the two-month-old lockout of 1,500 West-
} fair food store workers, and strikes by Letter Car-
Ners and the railway unions, cemented the militant

Stand of the 627 voting delegates.

_ MEL President Wilf Hudson compared the ac-
tions of Westfair —the Supervalu, Economart and
Shopeasy sections of the George Weston empire —
with events surrounding the strike last year at
} Gainers in Edmonton. In both cases employers
Used strikebreakers, the police and courts to harass
and intimidate the workers. Calling on the entire
labour movement to rally in support of the Westfair
€mployees, Husdon added “‘the Westfair workers
will get their contract and it will be a fair one.”

Manitoba Government Employees delegate,
y Burns, addressing the executive report called
| ‘Or the ‘differences that have divided us, such as
} Final Offer Selection to be put behind, let us con-

Centrate on uniting this labour movement against

€ Concentrated attack we all face.”’

Burn’s remarks were echoed by Postal Workers

Winnipeg local president Dale Clark. Clark called
for anti-scab legislation and for full support for his
} "ion, appealing to the delegates that ‘‘we need
you on our picket lines.”’

These and similar calls for unity had strong dele-
| Bate Support and prompted the executive to amend
their proposed resolution on anti-scab legislation,
dropping reference to FOS. FOS, Final Offer Se-
€ction, is the controversial legislation passed by
} te New Democrat government which has the em-
} Ployer and union place their final position to an

ee

g| Unity theme at MFL meet

arbitrator who chooses one or the other. Sup-
porters of the legislation claim FOS eliminates the
need for strikes and anti-scab laws.

With the deletion of FOS, the convention united
around a unanimous demand for anti-scab legisla-
tion. A position that Minister of Labour, Muriel
Smith, refused to support when questioned by the

‘ press following her address to the convention.

Unity was also stressed in a resolution support-
ing the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in their
impending strike.

Scab Herders

Guest speaker Alberta Federation of Labour ~

president Dave Werlin, pointed to the unpre-
cedented use of strike breakers in recent disputes.
“Today there is no difference between (Gainers’
owner) Peter Pocklington and Brian Mulroney.
Both herd scabs.”’

Werlin noted the unprecedented use of the
state in labour disputes. ‘‘Court orders are issued
like dropping quarters in a slot machine. Then the
next thing we see is riot police on the picket line.

“*If the lessons of Gainers means anything, the
trade union movement must put aside differences
and stand united, and just as importantly, must
rally the community.”

The convention also adopted a strong resolution
against free trade and called for legislation to pre-
vent plant closures and to control technological
change.

Hudson was unanimously re-elected MFL pres-
ident, as was the entire administration slate. The
only sour note was the refusal of the Canadian
Union of Public Employees, the federation’s sec-
ond largest affiliate, to nominate anyone for the
executive, over the union’s continued opposition
to FOS legislation.

Peterson asked ‘where’s the money?’

1?

Parents put pressure on board

Labour in action

GEORGE HEWISON

TORONTO — The mediator in
: the dispute between Toronto’s
| 9,600 elementary school teachers
| 2Nd the Metro board called both
“tues back to the bargaining
| ‘able Sept. 30, but at press time
ee Was still no sign of a settle-
nt,
| _ As the strike entered its second
ek pressure was mounting on
the board to meet the teachers’
demands for sufficient paid pre-
“ation time to prepare courses,
i | ark papers and meet with col-
| “agues and parents.
| _ On Sept. 29 a noisy rally of 400
nts and children drowned out
| th SWearing in ceremonies for
| © New provincial cabinet, to
Mand Premier Peterson fulfil
caupaign promises to provide in-
“teased funding to improve the
ity of primary education.
Ccording to David Young,
Pokesperson for an ad hoc pa-
Nts committee, the group is not
...08 Sides in the dispute, nor is it
| the Ing on the province to legislate
teachers back to work.
he owever, with the exception of
balk Protesters, sporting signs
lati Ing for strikebreaking legis-
| Tore. .and buttons supporting

aa Hasek, a right-wing kook

Vicrw.> the majority of the crowd
bey displayed their bias for the
achers,

Parents for Prep Time,
| de resenting groups from the
| ..Wntown area had a sizeable
Ntingent. ‘We're one hundred
yy. Cent behind the teachers’,
soyard Young, told the Tribune
© re here because we want the
Sney Peterson promised us.””

| W: Ning for trustee in Toronto’s —

Later that evening, parents and
teachers demonstrated outside a
meeting of the Metro Board. Of
the 27 presentations made, 26
backed the teachers’ position.
Commented one parent follow-:

parents and children demonstrate their support for striking teachers

ing the meeting: ‘‘It was a useful
education to show up here. The
contempt shown for the teachers
is phenomenal. This board isn’t
interested in saving taxpayers’
money, or in the kids’’.

» 5

during a Queens Park rally, Sept. 29.

Labour and the NDP

Even in Manitoba, where the New Democratic Party is the
party in power, the class struggle is manifesting itself sharply.
Picket line violence caused by injunctions, court orders, mass

. Scabbing, riot police, and arrests have shocked and angered trade

unionists, and offended democratic opinion.

Muriel Smith is the newly-appointed minister of labour. Asked
how she saw the bitter Westfair strike being settled, she admitted
that she faced a difficult problem. The corporate sector, she said,
is experiencing ‘‘serious difficulties in the international market
place, and is anxious to protect and extend profit margins, while
workers are equally anxious to protect their wages and working
conditions. The job of our government,” she continued, ‘‘is to
provide a better framework for employers and the unions to settle
their differences.”’

Smith disagreed that anti-scab legislation was appropriate to
such a framework. :

Her approach and that of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
appear to be on a collision course. The latest MFL Convention
centered around the priority need for anti-scab legislation now.

Split on Final Offer Selection

Leading up to the convention, there has been an acrimonious
debate over the latest piece of NDP labour legislation called Final

| Offer Selection. It contains the illusion that there is an alternative

to the strike weapon, particularly wistful in this period of conces-
sion bargaining and union-bashing.

Going into the convention, Manitoba labour was badly divided
on the new law.

So when Local 832 of the United Food and Commercial Work-
ers Union (the union on strike at Westfair, a major force in the
Fed, a supporter of the NDP government, and generally con-
sidered on the right of trade union politics in Manitoba) brought in
its resolution, anti-scab legislation was coupled with support for
FOS.

Following at least three serious amendment attempts that were

visible from the floor, reference to FOS was dropped, and the

wording of the anti-scab legislation strengthened.

Dick Martin, CLC vice-president and former president of the
MEL, was roundly applauded when he called on all governments
to adopt anti-scab legislation immediately. Nobody missed the
inference for Manitoba.

MFL first vice-president John Pullen also made it clear that as
an employer, the NDP government was engaging in
“‘privatization’’ and other activities which the trade union
movement vigorously opposes.

Virtually all criticism of the NDP government was tempered,
however, by the knowledge that whatever difference there might
be between the NDP and the trade union movement, no one
wanted to open the door to a Tory victory down the road.

Political Options

The realistic political options in Manitoba at this time stand as
follows: either the Tories, or the NDP with all its vacillation on
free trade, Meech Lake, privatization, plant closures and labour
rights.

Many, including some former independent leftists whom I
spoke to at the convention, have decided that the answer is to join
the NDP and work to have it adopt more left policies. Most have
expressed nagging doubts about their chances, given the track
record. :

A reflection of the strong sentiment to ‘‘make the NDP re-
sponsive to labour’’ was the unanimous referral of the anti-scab
legislation resolution to the next NDP convention. The MFL
went on record ‘‘to make every effort to make it the number one
priority of the (NDP) convention’s Labour Panel.”’

Working within the NPD for labour’s alternative is clearly an
important component of the fightback. But as the NDP, by its
very nature does not encompass all of the people’s movements,
it is patently apparent that additional strategies are required.

Clearly the answer to Muriel Smith’s ambivalence on labour
versus corporate rights lies in changing the thinking of the vast
majority of the people. They have to realize the necessity of
defending labour from the corporate onslaught.

This cannot be done solely within the NDP. Part of winning the
debate inside the NDP, as well as winning in the trade unions and
in the broad community, lies in mobilizing broad extra-parlia-
mentary actions against monopoly capital and its policies, in
favour of labour and people’s rights.

Such extra-parliamentary actions must be as broadly based as
possible, involving maximum unity around agreed upon pro-
grams and demands, to have the chance of success working
people so urgently require.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 7, 1987 «7