hes Strike ended but war goes on EDMONTON — Alber- ta’s striking nurses began returning to work Feb. 13 after voting 82 per cent to end their 19-day strike for wages and improved work- ing conditions. The nurses waged a determined fight against reactionary Tory legisla- tion denying them the right to strike, and in the process of their battle exposed a crisis in hospital funding that combines cuts to services while lav- ishing more than $1 bil- lion on what nurses des- cribed as a_ politically motivated construction program. Some 50 nurses through- out the province face jail terms and/or $1,000 fines for civil contempt charges laid by individual hospi- tals, while the Alberta Nurses Association was charged by the provincial government with criminal contempt for taking strike action and was fined $250,000. That was fol- lowed Feb. 18 by a further fine of $150,000. Many in the labour movement are bracing themselves for further attacks against the nurses and their union because of the militant example they showed to public sector workers by defying unjust laws and defending the right to strike. The mood among the nurses and their suppor- ters in labour and _ the community was summed up by an Edmonton nurse last week who commen- ted: “Just because the strike is over the concerns haven't stopped. The war is just begun.” Free trade could boost arms budget TORONTO — The - leader of Ontario’s 80,000 Steelworkers warned par- ticipants to a recent union conference on Peace and the Free Trade deal that closer economic integra- tion between Canada and the U.S. will draw Cana- dian military- industries closer to the U.S. military industrial complex. “Military-based: indus- try will become more important in Canada under the Mulroney trade deal,” Leo Gerard told the conference. 6 « Pacific Tribune, February 24, 1988 Labour Notes He added that growth in the military industry would tie Canada more and more closely to the U.S. military, and “any truly independent foreign policy role for Canada quickly becomes untena- ble.” He also predicted an increase in military spend- ing would follow this development, noting how “military spending is the only area of industrial pol- icy consistently exempted from policy restrictions in the deal.” Gerard warned that increased militarization would impede the use of public policy to promote the development of high technology industry, re- gional development and direct encouragement of research and development, despite studies that show military spending is the least effective means of job creation. “The only thing to do is to stop the deal, and the way to do that is to defeat Brian Mulroney in the next election,” he con- cluded. Freedom of press curbed in Sudbury SUDBURY — Exer- cising their trade union rights to back striking nurses in the community, reporters at the Thomson- owned Sudbury Star have had their press freedom trampled down by their publisher. The reporters were told by publisher Maurice Switzer that they could not cover the strike be- cause the Joint Council of Newspaper Unions, the bargaining agency for the Star’s workers, had re- cently declared its support for the nurses and prom- ised to kick in $100 a month to the strike fund. Switzer charged the unions with threatening the paper’s integrity by taking sides in the dispute. A spokesperson for the Northern Ontario News- paper Guild said the pub- lisher’s action was dictated by image considerations. The appearance of objec- tivity was more important than objectivity itself. Considering the hands- off policy the Star usually takes in regard to Inco and other major employ- ers in the community, management’s sudden concern over objectivity in the face of a just fight by nurses for better condi- tions, leaves Star workers and the labour commun- ity cold. _ CUPW, By MIKE PHILLIPS OTTAWA — The unions rep- resenting letter carriers and inside workers at Canada Post have been thrown into exploratory discus- sions on unity by a recent decision of the Canada Labour Relations Board. While representatives for both the Letter Carriers Union of Can- ada and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers were anxious last week to maintain the unity that was forged between their organiza- tions by last year’s battles with the post office, two approaches to the CLRB decision were evident. CUPW vice-president Daryl Tingley said his union was “pleased” with the decision. “It goes to our long term objective of one union for postal workers,” he said in an interview. At LCUC headquarters, Mike Villemaire said the letter carriers were “not overjoyed with the deci- sion.” But he stressed the need for both unions to co-operate in work- ing something out that will keep the interests of the members of the two organizations as the upper- most concern. Exploratory meetings of the leaders of both unions were launched on Feb. 15 to see what kind of working agreement can be fashioned to iron out the differen- ces between them. Canadian Labour Congress pres- ident Shirley Carr has indicated that she would like to meet with the parties, in the wake of the CLRB decision, presumably to offer the congress’ auspices in reaching an amicable agreement. The issue came to a head Feb. 10, when the board concluded a two-and-a-half year review of the bargaining units and bargaining agencies at Canada Post. The federal Crown corporation in May of 1985 had requested the review but tried to have it stopped two years later when the board ruled that rural mail carriers were eligible to be included as a bargain- ing unit. In May, 1987, however, CUPW applied for a continuation of the review. The Feb. 15 decision reduces the original 26 bargaining units and eight bargaining agencies (unions) to four bargaining units and leaves it to the existing unions to sort out among themselves who those four will be. The four units determined by the board now include: @ One encompassing the mem- bers of the Canadian Postmasters Association; e@ The operations bargaining unit, including the workers cur- rently represented by CUPW, LCUC, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the General.Labour and Trades groups of the Public Service Alliance of Canada; @ White collar workers in the PSAC and the Professional Insti- tute of the Public Service; e A unit for supervisors. CUPW was the only organiza- tion before the CLRB asking for cu ‘ Ah, differences still exist. one union, though it had revised the position in May in support of : the creation of two units — one each for inside and outside workers. The letter carriers,‘ Villemaire said, asked the board to maintain the status quo. The options left to the unions in the newly-created operations unit are limited: merger of all the unions into one organization; the forma- tion of a bargaining council; or a representation vote of all the workers in the unit with the winner taking all. The council idea was tried once before, but it was dissolved in 1974 after more than a decade of life. Its critics, including both LCUC and CUPW say it was unworkable. Vil- lemaire said the letter carriers wanted out because the very nature of the structure meant that the largest organization would neces- sarily have its key issues projected as the most important on the bar- gaining table. Postal automation brought the focus of struggle more directly on inside workers who were con- fronted with fundamental issues of job security, health and safety and technological change to work out at the bargaining table and in the political arena. During the same period, letter carriers were focused POSTAL WORKERS’ RALLY DURING CUPW STRIKE ... picket line solidarity opened new roads to unity among postal unions but — é on different needs and bargaining issues. Neither union expects the issue _ to be resolved easily, but both are stressing the need for good will in pursuing an amicable arrangement _ that will fit the best interests of al] _ postal workers in the new bargain- — ing unit. “We have to be optimistic,” — Tingley said in summing up the — CUPW stand, “because it is in the — best interests of all concerned to find an amicable solution... in the end we face two choices, an amica- ble solution, or a representation — vote with winner take all and an — unfortunate period of internal — strife.” Villemaire sees the shadow of Canada Post management and the — federal government lurking some- — where behind the Board decision, — the move — He suggested that seemed designed to deliberately pit — the two postal unions against each — other in the wake of unified and _ militant strikes and in the labour — movement’s battle against the Tories to privatize the postal ser- — vice. “You have. to wonder how — much of a hand Canada Post and the government had in the decision © since the outcome seems to be so much in their interests,” he said.