* B.C. Federation of labour president Ken Georgetti seen here at a May
1989 rally for striking Leyland workers in Pitt Meadows, B.C., got his
chance recently to submit the Fed’s labour law demands to the provincial

government.

Time to get

rid of

Bill 19 says Georgetti

It’s been a long time coming but
' finally there’s an NDP government

Ms,

in power and there’s an opportunity
to get some changes in B.C. labour

laws.

A Labour Code Review
Committee has been touring the
eance and when it stopped in

urnaby on May 12th, B.C.
Federation of Labour President,
Ken Georgetti called for new
amendments to the Industrial
Relations Act, and a new era in

bour management co-operation.

Tn addition to the submission of
detailed amendments, Brother
Georgetti made several comments
to 3 labour relations experts on the
labour law review panel.

For the B.C. Fed the opportunity
Was given to suggest change to “an
illegitimate piece of legislation”
called Bill 19.
Georgetti said the bill introduced
in 1987, was “an employer’s dream
come true and workers’ worst night-
mare.”
Georgetti called the last labour
_ law process “illegitimate” and said
that in 1987 while then Socred
Labour Minister, Lyall Hansen was
holding public tours around the
province, “the real deal was being
3 “hee in the back rooms by (ex-
7 ier) Bill Vander Zalm and his
_ anti-union friends.”
He praised NDP Labour Minister
Moe Sihota’s “above board and fair

: for reviewing labour legisla-
M Fon this time.”

_ “Creating fair legislation that is
based on mutual respect is critical
3 Be iuncture, commented

titi. “For too long we have
d labour laws that

o4 employers at the expense

rgetti criticized the B.C.
Council for hypocritically

lation can be

ly disruptive of the bal-

f the relationship between
nent and labour is dramati-

cally altered, and also if process of
change is perceived to be
inequitable.”

Georgetti dismissed the BCBC for
its cavalier attitude towards labour.

“Maybe they slept through our
five year boycott of the Industrial
Relations Council,” said Georgetti.
“Maybe they didn’t notice that their
own members avoided the I.R.C. as
much as our affiliates did - because
it didn’t work .... Maybe they didn’t
notice that Labour’s number one
goal for five years was defeat of
Social Credit and repeal of Bill 19.”

Workers need laws
to protect against
employers who want
to weaken or destroy
unions

Georgetti said the Fed supports
government's efforts to get unions
and employers working together
under fair labour laws. *

“We in the labour movement
know that they will be good for the
economy, good for investment and
good for workers, said Georgetti.
“Both labour and employers have a
responsibility to work together to
make our economy prosper and
that’s the key reason why there
must be more balance in B.C.’s

_ labour laws.”

He said that something must be
done to improve research and devel-
opment in the province, which is
sadly lacking when compared to
other countries.

He told the panel that the Fed
supports the provincial govern-
ment’s recent move requiring
employers on government construc-

tion projects to train apprentices,
and-build up pools of skilled work-
ers.

“Labour believes that the most
successful economies around the
world are built around respect and
confidence between labour and
management,” said Georgetti in his
submission. “Both sides must con-
tribute their skill, knowledge and
experience in an atmosphere of
mutual respect.”

“The last thing we need in the
present world of global competition,
economic restructuring, etc., is
backward thinking and the continu-
ation of hostilities.”

To seek a co-operative atmos-
phere, however, workers must be
given some basic rights as outlined
by Georgetti.

“We have long recognized that the
relationship between workers and
employers must be based on a form
of co-operation, but in the labour
movement we have been faced with
some employers whose mission is to
destroy or weaken unions.”

Georgetti said that there can’t be
legitimate co-operation if workers
don’t have the choice of forming a
union.

“The employer community must

understand that there can be no co-
operation between unionized work-
ers and employers if every attempt
by workers to form a union is met
with hostility.”
The Fed is calling for a one step
union certification process: if the
majority of bargaining unit employ-
ees sign a union check-off form, that
should be it - they should not have
to go through votes or be subjected
to employer intimidation.

Georgetti cited recent polling sta-
tistics which found that 32% of non-
union workers were interested in
joining a union and that 42% would
be interested if there was a guaran-
tee of no employer reprisals.

“Tt is their (unorganized workers)

right, and not the employers, to
decide to join a union and bargain
collectively for job security, safer
working conditions and reasonable
wages and benefits.”

“A signature on a mortgage gets
you a loan - not a vote on a loan. A
signature on a credit card gets you
a bill - not a vote on a bill,” said
Georgetti. “And a signature on a
union card should get you a union -
not a vote on a union!”

Georgetti also said changes are
needed to recognize that workers in
smaller units need protection as
well.

“We need to get rid of undemocra-
tic automatic decertification proce-
dures that are designed to help
anti-union contractors.

Georgetti said that the legislation
must have teeth to stop unfair
labour practices such as employers
who fire workers for organizing a
union.

“There is no financial penalty for
employers’ anti-union actions and,
consequently, no incentive to obey
the law,” said Georgetti.

For first collective agreements,
the Fed recommends that first con-
tract arbitration be provided in case
there is no contract after an agreed
time period.

To help prevent confrontation,
the Fed wants labour legislation
which will prohibit the use of scabs.

Georgetti said that every time
scabs are used the dispute becomes
bitter, long and at times violent.

He said that business in Quebec
has accepted successful anti-scab
legislation for 14 years. Georgetti
said that scabbing, in addition to
affecting the labour dispute, nega-
tively effects the entire labour rela-
tions climate in the province.

The Fed also demands that work-
ers have the right to effectively
picket an employer when a strike or
lockout occurs in order to put eco-
nomic pressure on.

¢ Leyland strikers, seen at union rally, fought company scabs and police
harassment for over 8 months until a settlement was reached in May 1989.

Leyland workers demand
anti-scab legislation

No group of workers know the
effects of that scabs can have more
than the 80 members of Local 1-367
(now 1-3567) who were on strike in
1988-89 in Pitt Meadows, B.C.

Workers at the plastic container
manufacturing plant were on the
picket line for over 8 months while
the employer used police, security
guards, and scabs to break the
strike.

In front of the Labour Minister’s
review committee, union members
Allison Fraser and Sheila Funk tes-
tified against legislation which
allows strikebreaking.

“It’s a story of heartache and dis-
illusionment,” said Sister Fraser.
“The employer's use of scabs effec-
tively takes away workers’ rights to
join a union and collectively bar-
gain.”

Sister Funk said the laws are
unfair and that the strikers had to
confront the scabs because their
jobs were being taken away.

“I broke the law and I had never
broken the law in my life, but I had
no choice,” said Sister Funk. “I don’t
ever want to be put in that position
again.”

Scabs, many of them young stu-
dents, were brought in vans with
blacked out windows. Every move
the strikers made was under survel-
lance of the employer’s security
apparatus and, at night, bright
lights bombarded the picketers’
shack.

Dave Tones, then president of
local 1-367, says IWA-CANADA had
to spend over $100,000 for legal fees
related to the strike.

LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1992/17