LABOUR

Continued from page 1

@ Develop an ongoing political and edu-
cation program to involve the membership
and the community in the campaign for
democratic labour legislation; _

® Work with affiliates to co-ordinate
bargaining in all sectors;

© Reaffirm the mandate of the federation
“to take job action to ensure the survival of
the union movement.”

Delegates also voted unanimously to
back a composite resolution against scab-
bing which:

® Demanded that all levels of govern-
ment pass anti-scabbing legislation;

® Condemned the use of scabs by
employers;

®@ Demanded that police forces not act as
strikebreakers;

®@ Demanded that the provincial and fed-
eral governments amend labour legislation
to ensure the right of workers to refuse to
handle goods and services provided by scab
labour;

® Pledged the federation and affiliates to
“take all necessary steps to stop the use of
scabs in B.C.”;

@ Called on each affiliate to commit itself
to assisting all workers threatened and vic-
timized by their employers’ use of scabs.

“We have no other choice but to say to a
bad law: we will not be bowed,” B.C.
Government Employees Union president
John Shields told the convention to
applause. “The boycott is our flag of
defiance.

“Come this spring, we are going to take
several steps forward — all unions, arm in
arm together,” he vowed. “We are going to
make gains at the bargaining table and we
are going to make them in the face of law.”

The 1988 bargaining round, in which
several major contracts expire covering
workers in the forest industry, government
and municipal workers, hospital workers
and the construction trades, is expected to
be the decisive test of Bill 19 and the IRC.

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‘B.C. Business Council president Jim Mat-. -

kin has already signalled corporate employ-
ers’ intentions to seek increased “flexi-
bility — an employers’ term for conces-
sions — and many are undoubtedly already
considering using the restrictive sections of
the legislation against the trade union
movement.

IWA-Canada secretary Gerry Stoney
outlined for delegates a scenario for forest
industry workers that would see the union
faced with binding arbitration similar to
that devised by arbitrator Stu Hodgson dur-
ing the 1986 strike —if they were to
comply with Bill 19.

“That scenario isn’t just for the
IWA — it could happen to anyone if they
go along with this legislation,” he said.

“But I’m sure I speak for all the [WA in
saying it ain’t going to happen that way,” he
declared.

“We're going to work with federation
and the affiliates to boycott Bill 19 and
continue the boycott until it’s withdrawn.”

The federation convention also demon-
strated a new resolve, particularly by public
sector unions, to press for increases in wages
and benefits, denied under years of wage
controls. It is a campaign that is likely to put
further pressure on the administration of
the IRC, particularly if unions are effective
in working out co-ordinated bargaining
strategies.

Contracts covering 26,000 hospital
workers are also coming up in the spring,
Hospital Employees Union delegate Jack
Gerow told the convention, ‘‘and we need
to do more than hold on to what we’ve got.
We deserve more and we’re going to have to
fight for it.

“But unionists have to realize what
they’re up against,” he warned.

“It’s no accident that we’ve had the res-
traint program and Bill 19 and_privati-
zation — it’s all part of the corporate
agenda,” he said. “The so-called social con-
tract has been unilaterally cancelled by the

0-ordinated bargaining seen in 1984

KEN GEORGETTI ... opening B.C. Fed
convention.

corporate sector and we’ll have to fight for
everything, using the traditional weapons as
we have done in the past. _

Underlining the role played by the IRC,
Gerow told the convention that he had just
been served by an IRC order prohibiting the
union from taking strike action at a long
term care facility in Prince George where
HEU members had earlier staged a one-day
walkout.

“But we will tell everybody here, and we
will tell the IRC: if we have to go on strike,
we will do it; if we have to break the law to
win a collective agreement, then we will
break the law,” he declared to applause.

Federation secretary-treasurer Cliff And-
stein also affirmed the federation’s intention
to resist attempts by employers to use scabs
during the upcoming bargaining.

“The federation pledges that as unions go
into bargaining next year, we will not permit
the government of this province or the
employers of this province to scab our
jobs — we will stop it,” he vowed.

UFAWU delegate Jim Rushton pointed
to the action by unionists in support of the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers in
Prince Rupert as an example of how the
labour movement could fight organized
strikebreaking.

With community support, the local
labour council “‘went beyond simple mes-
sages of support,” he said. “We declared
that there would be no scabbing, that the
post office would close. We warned that if
there was any scabbing, it would result in a
war that would be long lasting.”

Unlike post offices elsewhere in the coun-
try, the Prince Rupert post office was closed
throughout the strike, he said.

“The message is — the employers have
changed all the rules and we have to change,
too. We have to stand up.”

This year’s convention, despite efforts by
the IRC to claim widespread breaches of the

-participation.”

TPIBU |

B.C. Fed boycott, demonstrated clearly
unity that exists among trade uniol
against Bill 19 — unity that reached all
point June 1 when 350,000 workers sta
off the job to protest the anti-labour bl

The week-long meeting, the federatit
32nd, also saw delegates seated from!
Labourers and the Plumbers for the
time since the Building Trades broke ¥
the Canadian Labour Congress in 1980:
number of non-affiliated unions, includ
the B.C. Nurses Union and the Be
Teachers Federation are also working Wi
the federation’s boycott support commit

In his opening address, his first since!
election as president last year, Ken Gee
getti cited the June 1 one-day strike, calli!
it “‘an historic day.

“On that day, 350,000 workers told
government in no uncertain terms that}
19 was an unmitigated disaster.” a

Since that time, the boycott of the legis!
tion launched by the federation
“breathed new life into the labour mov
ment,” which is beginning new organidlf
and working with non-affiliates and col
munity groups to force the repeal of t
legislation, he said. :

The Bill 19 campaign also figured prom
nently in the executive council’s report, 0!
of the longest and most detailed documet
to be presented to a B.C. Fed convention

The council wound up the report with
10-point action program, intended to es¢
ate the boycott and put new legislation
the agenda. 1

“One year ago, we developed a suppe
program to assist the IWA in their figh
against the multinationals’ attempts —
contracting-out ... ,” the report state
“Any action campaign to defeat Bill 19 an
win fair labour legislation will succeed 0
if it has the same degree of commitment 4

The program calls for:

® Development of co-ordinated bar,
ing, based on individual affiliate’s review
bargaining strategies, coupled with fe
ation-convened meetings of unions in ne
tiations and co-ordinated picketing;

®@ Co-ordination of the activities (
unions involved in disputes by the boy
support committee;

@ Adoption by affiliated unions
motions pledging support to other uni
involved in disputes resulting from the bo
cott or from employers using the IRC;

® Renewed efforts by the federation
affiliates to organize the unorganized;

® Education of union members on
impact of Bill 19, privatization and th
employer attack, utilizing various material

@ Development of a comprehensive pub
lic campaign calling for the repeal of Bill 1
and its replacement by fair labour legis
tion;

®@ Local actions, including lobbies,
support of new labour legislation;

© Regular meetings among federati
officers, labour councils and local unions;

@ Public information meetings, held 1
conjunction with labour councils and |
unions, to encourage public support;

© Continued work by the federation wi
community groups in campaigns agains
privatization and cutbacks. |

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