LABOR LRB case hangs over unions A Labor Relations Board ruling could have repercussions throughout the trade union movement despite settlement of the dispute that triggered the case in the first place. Local 115 of the Newspaper Guild and the Joint Council of Newspaper Unions at Pacific Press, publishers of the Sun and Pro- vince are still awaiting a ruling on a two- month-old case involving a boycott of advertising from Famous Players Theatres Ltd. Members of the Guild and the Joint Council at Pacific Press had refused to han- dle advertising after the B.C. Federation of Labor issued a hot edict against the theatre chain on behalf of locked-out members of Local B-72 of the Theatre Employees Union. Famous Players challenged the unions’ ad embargo before the LRB, but in a deci- sion brought down Nov. 2, board panel chair Shona Moore ruled that the theatre chain did not have standing to bring the case before the board since it was not the employer of the workers who were refusing to handle the hot advertising copy. However, Moore stated in her ruling that Pacific Press, where Guild and Joint Coun- cil members work, could bring the same case before the board. Accordingly, Pacific Press filed its application Nov. 14. And now the publishing company has declared that it will appeal if it does not obtain a ruling declaring that the ad ban is illegal. Guild Local 115 administrative officer Roy Tubbs said Thursday that Pacific Press production and employee manager George Townsend had informed the union that the company would pursue the case further if it did not get a favorable ruling. “He told us that they didn’t care how long it took but they had to have an answer on it,” said Tubbs, adding that a decision against the union would have serious con- sequences for unions throughout the pro- _ The employers’ case rests on the new definition of a strike as laid down in the amendments to the Labor Code pushed through by the Social Credit government last May. : The company argued that by refusing to TEU PICKETS AT FAMOUS PLAYERS.. after lockout settled. handle the advertising from Famous Play- ers, the Guild and the Joint Council unions effectively “extended the labor dispute to a _ secondary site, namely the Pacific Press Ltd. site” and were therefore engaging in an ille- gal strike under the terms of the amended code.” If that position is upheld in Moore’s rul- ing, it could throw into doubt not only the right that trade unionists have in their col- lective agreements to refuse to handle hot products but also the hot declarations issued by the B.C. Federation of Labor. Significantly, Pacific Press is pursuing the case even though the lockout at Famous Players — which prompted the LRB case — was settled last month. TEU members won few gains in the new three-year agreement which was termed “a disappointment” by union business agent Derek Jones. But they did come out of it with “our membership solidified and our union strengthened,” he emphasized. For the majority of TEU members, most of whom are young people with no trade union experience, it was the first time on a picket line. The contract calls for increases of two per cent in each of the three years and also ‘hot products’ issue remains before LRB provides some gains in non-monetary areas, including technological change and the right to honor picket lines put up by other unions, said Jones. But the union was forced to give up its time-and-a-half premium for Sunday work and had to accept that some bargaining unit work will periodically be performed by management personnel. But without the support of the Guild, the Joint Council and other unions as well as the Vancouver Labor Council, the B.G Federation of Labor and Operation Solid- arity, the union could well have been broken. That was the outcome expected when Famous Player launched the lockout, Jones said. “We were up against a big company,” he said, noting that both Famous Players and its parent, Paramount, are owned by the huge U.S. multinational, Gulfand Western. “Famous Players management didn’t even consider our members to be trade unionists,” he said. ““They thought we’d be finished after a week on the picket line. “But out members put up a big struggle. They kept up the picket line and turned a lot of theatre patrons away. Our union came out a lot stronger for it.” Printing trades merger close TORONTO — A tentative merger agree- ment between the International Typo- graphical Union and the Washington-based Graphic Communications International Union was reached Jan. 8, ITU officials at union headquarters in Colorado Springs told the Tribune last week. At press time no details of the tentative agreement were being published. Bill Frazee, administrative assistant to ITU president Robert McMichen, said further information would be released after the merger proposal was considered and endorsed by the respective union executives. Once approved by these bodies, the - unions will then set into motion the simul- taneous referendum votes of their members on the merger proposal. The breakthrough came right on the Jan. 8 deadline, set by the September ITU con- vention. That convention adopted a resolution from McMichen giving the executive 90. days in which to negotiate a merger with the GCIU or another AFL-CIO ‘union, or in the event of failure in this regard, to conduct a referendum vote on an earlier proposal that would bring the ITU into the Teams- ters union. If endorsed, the merger would bring the ITU’s 77,000 active and retired members into the 21,500-member GCIU, itself the product of years of mergers by the Litho- graphers and Engravers, Bookbinders, and later, printing trades workers.. Graphic arts workers have long sought 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 16, 1985 . the creation of one union in the industry in order to confront increasing monopoly con- trol, facilitate the organization of the unor- ganized, and strengthen their collective bargaining clout in the defence of jobs and conditions being wiped out and eroded by the introduction of new technology. The road to an ITU-GCIU merger has been somewhat torturous. Ironically, it began as the ITU was about to put the finishing touches on a merger agreement with the Newspaper Guild in August 1983. The Guild at its convention, had earlier voted 96 per cent to merge with the ITU after a seven-year courtship between the two unions. But, with Guild president Cha- rles Perlik virtually waiting in the wings to address the ITU’s San Francisco conven- tion, Teamster union president Jackie Presser, with the support of an ITU leader- ship that had already signed a tentative merger pact with the Guild, put forward a proposal to turn the ITU into a printing department of the IBT. Under this influence, the convention voted against putting the ITU-Guild merger to a referendum vote, and the ITU leader- ship opened a period of internal turmoil -within the union in both the U.S. and Can- ada. 5 The Canadian ITU convention delegates were unanimous in their support for merg- ing with the Guild, and voted with those delgates favoring the referendum. They would go on to play a key role in fighting to prevent the Teamster takeover of the ITU, and stubbornly worked for a merger with the GCIU. : McMichen, an opponent of the Teamster sell out, was forced to wage a six-month battle to assume the presidency of the union to which he was elected in November, 1983. Incumbent Joe Bingel, who had lost to him by some 5,000 votes, challenged the results . and stalled the recount in an effort to push through the Teamster takeover. A US. federal court issued an injunction last May barring any merger negotiations ~ by the past ITU executive until the outcome of the re-run election, it had ordered was known. : In June, McMichen and most of his run- ning mates who had campaigned against Bingel’s deal with the Teamsters defeated Bingel and most of the pro-Teamster can- didates. : Pi See SGP AE BLA OO RP ele 8 eae bebe Wins wl ak Rei ed Ee oes ee ee res ry See ee ete EF 8) i900), 6-0 Solem tig a eb aia ve Trades vote demands pact be scrapped Under pressure from the Building , Frades, Construction Labor Rela- tions Association and Laborers Local 602 agreed to hoist a separate concession-ridden contract on resi- dential construction pending the out- come of further negotiations on a cross-trades agreement. The decision to shelve the. pact came just two days after the Building Trades Council voted unanimously to call on Local 602 and CLRA to scrap the agreement, failing which it would take the issue to the Labor Relation: “Board or the courts. ; Gautier said following the council meeting Jan. 9 — attended by repre- sentatives of other Laborers locals — that members were unanimous “in their condemnation of this agreement and shared a feeling that Local 602 had been led down thé garden path.” The separate agreement, signed by the Laborers and the CLRA Dec. 21 but not made public until two weeks later, calls for 30 per cent cuts in . standard construction wage rates, an increase in the work week, elimina- tion of travel time and the abolition of four statutory holidays among other concessions. It is limited'to residential construction work, including apart- ments up to three storeys, but a clause in the deal allows a committee to recommend extending the scope of the agreement “as market conditions dictate.” But if the deal is shelved, it has not been scrapped. Rolly Gordon, who signed the pact for the Laborers, said that if a Building Trades agreement is not reached, his union will revert to the. separate agreement. The CLRA has put a-rough time limit of some two to three weeks on reaching an agreement. That could put the issue back on the table again since CLRA will clearly be looking for similar conces- sions to those it got from Local 602 while the trades have made it clear that those terms would be unaccepta- ble as they-undermine many basic industry standards. Gautier also reiterated that the concessions would do nothing to: increase the union share of residential work since however low wages and standards were cut, the non-union sector would go still lower to maintain its bidding edge. The legal questions still remain, however, ‘since the Laborers’ agree- - Ment, apart from breaking the solid- arity of the trades, violated the Building Trades Bargaining Council constitution which stipulates that the council is the sole bargaining agent for the trades. It also violated a memo- randum signed at the time of the last construction industry agreement stat- ing that the council would enter into aA egotiations with CLRA ona distinct :2sidential agreement. Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. VS5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186. ee ee Postal Code lam enclosing 1 yr.$140 2 yrs. $2501 6mo.s80 Foreign 1 yr. $200 Bill me later Donations PAAR Re 9.8 Op 8) eA .e20s wo. 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