LABOR Strike to ‘heat up’ Continued from page 1 dispute. He stated that he had only been able to “sharpen the areas of difference” between the industry and [WA. Those differences remained fundamental as Forest Industrial Realtions made it clear that it would not put any proposals on the table on the contracting-out issue unless the IWA first agreed to accept a major change in the work week. Ending a news blackout imposed on the mediation talks early this month the [WA issued a news release Monday outlining it position on the new hard-line stance adopted by the companies. “The industry revealed an insurmounta- ble stumbling block,” the news release said, ‘they were going to teach us a lesson’ for striking. As part of ‘the price we had to pay’ for a reasonable solution to the contracting- out crisis, the industry demanded radical changes not only in the areas primarily affected by eeohracting out but in sawmill production. “They demanded, as a kind of penance, that we agree to six-day production in the sawmills and plywood plants, with Satur- days at straight time,” the release stated. “This proposal would mean, among other things, the elimination of casual over- time rates throughout the province, the employment of casuals at jobs unavailable to union members and the loss of dozens of second and third shifts in communities in every region of B.C. “Worse, it added, “representatives of Southern and Northern companies which had long ago dropped any such demands, now joined Forest Industrial Realtions in insisting upon hours-of-work concessions which, if agreed to, would eliminate many “And the industry insisted that we agree _ to the proposals, for every area, even before seeing their proposals on contracting-out or pensions,” the release emphasized. FIR president Keith Bennett confirmed that the employers had taken that position, telling reporters Monday, ‘““We are not wil- ling to make public our bottom line on contracting-out until the TWA has moved significantly on flexibility.” Kube emphasized that it was important that people understand what the employers are seeking in the forest dispute. “It’s awful what they’re demanding — they’re asking the IWA to take something on faith but first they have to give up any control over hours,” he said. Considered a major factor in the newly dug-in position of the employers is the announcement by Premier Vander Zalm following his election Oct. 22 that he would give the IWA and the employers three weeks to settle or face government interven- tion. He put MLAs on notice that they should be available in mid-November in case the legislature had had to be recalled to pass back-to-work legislation. Clearly the union, which has already nearly four months invested in the strike, would have the most to lose with back-to- work legislation since the employers would be relieved of any economic pressure on them to settle. “The chief executive officers of about eight giant forest conglomerates, a handful of men, are holding this province’s econ- omy at ransom so that, our of sheer vindic- tiveness, they can get a pound of flesh from their employees,” the [WA release stated. “In doing so, they are defying the govern- ment and the superior courts and the people of the province who have entrusted so much of their forest resources to them. ““We have done everyting in our power to reach a fair settlement,” it said. ““But we cannot submit to vindictiveness.” Council of unions urged The Hospital Employees Union called Monday for the establishment of a joint council of health care unions to promote solidarity and develop more effective bar- gaining co-ordination among the various unions in health care. The call came following a meeting of the union’s provincial executive Monday, called to consider contract proposals in the union’s long standing dispute with Hospital Labor Relations Associa- tion (HLRA). The HEU is one of three B® unions in the health care field currently , considering media- JACK GEROW tors’ contract terms in what has been a critical bargaining year. HEU communications officer Diane Lake said the joint council proposal was prompted by the bargaining line-up this year and by what she called the “outrageous demands from the employers that some unions have had to face. “There was a feeling that if we got together, it would be difficult for HLRA to knock off each union individually,” she said. Lake said that HEU secretary-business manager Jack Gerow would be raising the issue with the various unions as well a the B.C. Federation of Labor this week. In addition to the HEU, the largest union, several unions hold certifications in health care, including the Operating Engi- neers, the B.C. Nurses Union, Health Scien- ces Association, representing lab tech- nologists and radiologists, Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing ambu- lance paramedics and the Professional Association of Residents and Interns. 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 29, 1986 Three of those unions, the HEU, HSA and BCNU, are currently considering mediators’ terms for new collective agree- ments, and are expected to put them to membership votes early next month. In the case of the HSA, the proposals will go out to the membership with an executive recommendation for rejection. The union, representing some 5,500 members, last week suspended its escalating strike against B.C. hospitals to conduct the vote on the contract proposed by Industrial Inquiry Commissioner Fred Long. HSA communications officer Howie Smith said Long’s report, which calls for a three-year agreement with increases of 10.2 per cent, “doesn’t address the wage gap” that exists between health professionals in B.C. and those in Ontario who already earn 14 to 18 per cent more. Lake said that the HEU executive would be meeting Thursday to consider its recommendation on the HEU contract proposed by mediator Don Munroe. The three year pact calls for wage increases of $40 a month April 1, 1986; $20 a month Nov. 1, 1986; a 2.7 per cent increase June 1, 1987; and a final three per cent increase April 1, 1988. Lake said that the vote would likely be held Nov. 10. Also voting on a mediated settlement are members of the BCNU who have been without a contract since April, 1985. The outcome of the vote won’t be known until Nov. 6, but Compenation Stabilization Commissioner Ed Peck has already thrown doubt on his approval of the contract terms, emphasizing that the wage control lid will not be loosened for heatlh care workers. Still to reach even a tentative contract are 700 ambulance paramedics, members of CUPE 873 who applied Oct. 17 fora media- tor to resolve their bargaining impasse. International Woodworkers Cana- dian regional president Jack Munro charged that the proposals contained in the draft report of the Forget Commis- sion on Unemployment Insurance were “the most vicious attack on the unem- ployed since the 1930s. “The report that we saw will savage the whole unemployment system, cause the permanent layoff of 3,000 federal public sector workers, and reduce the benefits to, in many cases less than $100 per week,” said Munro, one of two labor representtives on the commission. “There was no way we were even pre- pared to_consider what the report con- taine ae Munro’s comments made as part of an official statement by the B.C. Federa- tion of Labor, echoed the remarks he and the other labor representa- tive on the com- mission, United Steelworkers rep- resentative Fran- _ ces Soboda, had made in a minor- Fe ity report. Both the min- ority report pre- / fe pared by Munro cio. “oe and Sbeda and JACK MUNRO the commission’s main report were to be issued formally next month by commis- sion chair, Tory MP Claude Forget. But the minority report was somehow leaked to the news media and shortly thereafter, the report itself was also leaked. The proposals immediately raised a Sa in the House of Commons. The Canadian Federation of Inde- pendent Business immediately accused the Canadian Labor Congress, as well as Munro and Soboda of leaking the doc- uments, prompting an angry denial from CLC cnt Shirley Carr. or Peis could be altered final report was tabled i in Par- aving the report’s main objec- changes that Forget _ might ma t will not be acceptable to labor,’ declared B.C. ay ct ~ “Claude Forect| Ree Shown his hand — his whole attitude is anti-worker,” he _ said, calling on Prime Minister Brian E Mulroney to “relieve him of his job.” ___ Andstein warned that the draft report ‘seen by the labor commissioners “would _ all but destroy the unemployment insu- _Yance system and force thousands of | unemployed Canadians into poverty.” ___ In their minority report, Munro and - Soboda warned that the Forget report _ Proposes sweeping changes to UI: _ @ Full UI benefits would only be __ available to those who have worked a full _ 52 weeks, rather than the current 10 to 14 actually represented as a be: by the Business Council oF since the 1930s’ week entitlement period. Work off after less than 52 weeks wou benefits cut according to the worked. Thus someone laid off weeks would be entitled to on cent benefits. @ Fishermen would be strip their right to unemployment ins' with the new regulation to be p: over five years. Insurance Commission would substantially. @ The average cut in benefits in the neighborhood of 30 pe higher in the areas of high une ment. @ Some 47 per cent of those l UI would get only $100 a week. “Seasonal, short-term and workers, those most in need of ] tion, would be the hardest hit and its would be reduced in some ¥ about 78 per cent of all unempl claimants,” the minority report S! Munro and Soboda also _ Forget of a punitive attitude tow: jobless, noting that a “blame-the: approach permeates the whole re is an obsession that is not based hard evidence or data.” While benefit cuts are pro Forget’s report apparently ad increasing employee UI pre equal those of employers, rather # current 60-40 employer-employe® He does suggest an increase UI rate from 60 per cent of salé 2/3 but the proposal is more tha? by the cuts that will result from ing the entitlement period. “Tt is indicative of the mislead spurious nature of the report aS that such a draconian cut in two dissenting commissioners ©! “harsh and devastating cuts myths over realities and the i of a fanatical few over the Canadians.” Overall, the cuts proposed would reduce UI costs by 25 - $3 billion a year. Business groups and the T long sought to make drastic | in UI, both to cut federal cos create a gaping hole in the. 0 net so as to force the une work for any wage they me : Carpenters delegate Mi the Vancouver and_ Distr Council last week that the $3 proposed was ‘particularly “since it was exactly the figut Issues in its submission to ™ sion.” The BCNI represents corporations in the ae Smith urged unionists to be % = in Fi Forget to fight the proposals “all the way down the ne.”