Chilean union leader and lawyer pay visit Between March 11-18 the I.W.A. had the privilege of assisting two vis- itors from the Chilean labour move- ment — metallurgical worker Jose Ortiz, the national secretary general of the Central Unitaria de Traba- jadores (CUT), and labour lawyer edro Aravena, both from the capital city of Santiago. ‘he visitors were in Canada to tour labour relations boards in the provinces of Ontario and meet trade unionists from the I.W.A., the United Steelworkers of America, the Cana- dian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Labour Congress. The trip was sponsored by the 1.W.A. International Solidarity Fund, which is also assisting the National Confederation of Forest Workers of Chile (CTF) with an education pro- ject in the city of Concepcion. Both the CTF and the I.W.A. have initiated an effort to assist the CUT in reviewing its position on labour law reform. Chile’s labour laws pro- hibit free trade unionism in Chile. “Chilean workers and are having a really rough time of it,” said national I.W.A. president Dave Haggard. “They are pinned under a pile of repressive labour laws that make it virtually impossible to advance.” “We think it’s a very useful exer- cise to help the Chilean labour move- ment have a good look at its own positions on labour law reform (see article below) and examine our labour laws in Canada to see if there are things that they might apply to their own system in the future,” said Hag- ard. “The Chilean labour movement ows what it wants in terms of gen- eral demands and we think they can benefit from being exposed to Canada’s labour laws.’ In Toronto, the two visitors met with Bob Navarretta, national direc- tor of arbitration and resources and Oscar da Silva, an I.W.A. Local 700 member from Canac Kitchens, who acted as interpreter. They met with Rick McDowell, chairman of the Ontario Labour Rela- tions Board and got an good overall picture of how the board functions and the way the state regulates the relationship between employers and trade unions. “When we heard from the Chileans we found that what little protective language that they might have in the labour code in their country is hard to enforce,” said Brother Navarretta. “It’s very difficult for them to get jus- tice.” Mr. McDowell answered all parte: nent questions and explained that under the Harris government in Ontario, in the future there may be a combined board of the employment regulation agencies. He explained that, before the Har- ris government, that the Ontario Federation of Labour used to have a voice and input into choosing the board’s vice chairs. Navarretta said the visit was impor- tant because the Chileans could sense the shift in the administration of the Ontario Labour Relations Board that occurs when there is a right wing 3 ° At the B.C. LRB, Jose Ortiz and Pedro Aravena (third and fourth from left, standing), met with registrar Lisa Hansen, vice chairs Jan O’Brien and Laura Parkinson (seated I. to r.), and standing (1. to r.), arbitration bureau director Kevin Rooney, LRB chair Stephen Kelleher, translator Julio Barraza, and labour lawyer John Baigent. government in power. “But regardless of the changes that have occurred in the Labour Rela- tions Act, the officers and staff at the Board try to be a service to the par- ties and I think it was important for our guests to see that,” added Navar- retta. On their Ontario visit they met with CLC representative Winnie Ng and had some general discussions on the functions of the Ontario office of the central labour body. Later they met with Steelworkers Humanity Fund staffer Fern Valin, and legal counsel Rob Healey, to dis- cuss labour law issues in general. Before leaving Ontario Ortiz and Aravena met with I.W.A. national fourth vice president Wilf McIntyre, Local 700 president Ron Diotte, local union officer Barb Noftall, national safety director Tom Lowe and staffers at the national union’s Toronto office. There they had general discussions and found out about the I.W.A.’s structure in eastern Canada. In B.C. the visitors where met by rominent labour lawyer John Baigent who arranged a tour of the B.C. Labour Relations Board. 4 There they met with board chair- man Stephen Kelleher, registrar Lisa Hansen, vice chairs Jan O’Brien, Laura Parkinson and Kevin Rooney, director of Collective Agreement Arbitration Bureau. The Chileans got an overview of the board with special attention to its structure, the Labour Relations Code, Dispute Resolution, Collective Bargaining, Collective Agreement Mediation and Collective Agreement Arbitration. Continued on page seventeen Unions heing eliminated in Chile say reps The Chilean labour movement is disappearing said Jose Ortiz, secre- tary general of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) at a meeting of trade unionists, labour lawyers and activists in Vancouver spon- sored by the Trade Union Research Bureau and Co-Development Canada. Brother Ortiz, accompa- nied by Chilean labour lawyer Pedro Aravena, were in Canada as a part of a project to assist the CUT review and refine its position on labour law reform. The project, spearheaded by the National Confederation of Forest Workers and the I.W.A., kicked-off with the visit of the two CUT repre- sentatives to Ontario and B.C. (see story above). Chile’s repressive labour laws . allow employers to fire union lead- ers and rank and file members vir- tually at will. Last year only 9.9% of the Chilean workforce belonged to a union of any description, down from 19% in 1992. In 1999 nearly 50,000 workers were fired for union activity and 230 union leaders were dismissed. The cases of those leaders are still outstanding in civil courts two years later. Between 1989 and 2000 unions disappeared from 6,000 workplaces in the country. “It is not that workers don’t want to unionize,” said Ortiz. “It’s that when they organize they are thrown out of the plant.” Chilean workers are governed by labour laws which virtually give employers free reign. Those laws are largely descendent from former General Augusto Pinochet’s Labour Plan of 1978, which were codified into the Labour Code of Chile. “In our way of understanding there is no democracy in a country where unions are persecuted,” said Ortiz. “If there is not union free- dom, all of the rights of workers are impossible to protect.” “What we are asking (the govern- ment) for in Chile is what workers in other countries have,” said Ortiz. The CUT is demanding that the government of Ricardo Lagos intro- duce a Labour Code which respects two important conventions of the International Labour Organization - Convention 87 (freedom of associa- tion) and Convention 98 (freedom of collective bargaining). The Chilean government ratified both conven- tion in 1998 but has yet to apply them in labour laws. ¢ Since 1992 Chile’s struggling labour movement has lost nearly half its members said Jose Ortiz, the CUT’s sec- retary general (second from right), here seen with labour lawyer Pedro Aravena (right). The CUT has eight other major demands. They include calling for the penalization of anti-union prac- tices, and the end dismissals for broadly-defined “needs of the com- pany.” The labour movement wants the ability to organize and bargain- ing sectoral and industry-wide agree- ments. The CUT also wants an end to the use of strikebreakers and changes which will ensure that union lead- ers and workers can’t be fired for union activity. Continued on page seventeen 16/LUMBERWORKER/April, 2001