The campaign against Canada Post’s privatization program is expected to heat up again over the next several weeks as the Crown corporation moves ahead on it still- secret plan to franchise or contract out pos- tal services in two stations in Vancouver as well as stations in Victoria and New West- minster. Reported to be high on Canada Post’s privatization agenda are Stations A and B in Vancouver, Station E in Victoria and the main post office in New Westminster. Sta- tion A, located in the heritage Sinclair Cen- tre has been at the same site for more than half a century and was recently renovated extensively. Canada Post management has so far refused to confirm or deny that wicket ser- vices at the four locations will be franchised or contracted out, stating only that leases are due to expire in the summer and fall and “options are being considered.”’ The Crown corporation has also shrouded in the same secrecy its costs during the recent strike by the Canadian Union of Pos- tal Workers. But documents obtained by CUPW last week from an Ontario postal operation have shown that Canada Post spent $70 million hiring strikebreakers, beefing up security and hiring helicopters to move mail during the 19-day strike. The sum is more than half the $128 mil- lion deficit that Canada Post has claimed is the reason for its privatization program. That the corporation would spent that amount in only a few weeks has dramati- cally underscored union charges that Can- ada Post’s primary objective is to break the union. * But CUPW has already launched its campaign to put pressure on the federal government and Canada Post to keep the B.C. post offices in the public sector and to retain full services. Marg Bezuk, regional co-ordinator for CUPW’s privatization campaign, said Fri- day that the Vancouver local had garnered support from various community groups in the area served by Station B, located at New sub rates now in effect Campaign to heat — up as Ganada Post moves to franchise in B.C. Gore and Hastings in the downtown east- side of Vancouver. Petitions have also been launched against franchising and groups are being asked to write Harvie Andre, the minister responsi- ble for Canada Post, to oppose any contracting-out of postal services, she said. Further efforts are planned over the next several weeks to mobilize community groups and public opinion against post office privatization. : The corporation’s secrecy has hampered the union’s efforts although there is little doubt about its plans. “Canada Post isn’t telling us what they’re doing but we certainly believe that they’re planning to move services into the private sector in all these stations,” Bezuk said. Canada Post may be forced to be more forthcoming as a result of a decision by an Ontario arbitrator who ruled Feb. 15 that Canada Post must consult with CUPW before its franchises a postal operation. The ruling is limited but it will compel the cor- poration to provide at least some informa- tion to the union before services are sold to the private sector. Completely disregarded in Canada Post’s plans is the level of postal service to the public — which is particularly evident in the planned closure of the New Westmins- ter post office. The lease on the building, located at Sixth and Columbia streets, is held by Public Works Canada which has already declared that the post office must vacate this year. “We certainly smell rats here,” said Bezuk. “A federal government department decides not to renew a lease to a Crown corporation — which just conveniently fits into the government’s and Canada Post’s plans.” It is not known yet whether wicket services will be contracted-out but CUPW has little reason to believe that they won’t be. Also included in the process is a plan to move 80 per cent of the mail handled by the plant to the Vancouver post office for sort- ing. “Already 17 part-time positions will be made redundant,” she said. “Tt will mean more delays for mail and a reduction from the current levels of ser- vice,” she noted. “Canada Post will say that it is still meeting its service commitments — but that’s only because it has changed its commitment to 48-service from the pre- vious 24 hours.” BEE SSSR << Te ! y | | I RY FRMS LIN i he SE I Ta I Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street I I Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 I - NN ee ens oe eck eee I SPOR 5 ry eae A a eee : eat i ee Postel Gode™.. . 23 ee I I tam enclosing lyr. $200 2yrs. $350 3yrs.$500 Foreigniyr. $320 I : Bill me later ~Donation$........ ; L READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR | ey es 12 + Pacific Tribune, February 24, 1988 Labour Notes HEU takes layoffs issue to Victoria The Hospital Employees Union has pledged to take action in a few days if the provincial government does not halt the layoff of 117 licenced practical nurses, orderlies and clerks at Van- couver General Hospital. Some 100 HEU members picketed the legislature Monday while HEU bus- iness manager Jack Gerow was pres- enting a brief from the union’s Local 180 to Health Minister Peter Dueck calling for a re- vamping of the province’s health care system. Dueck did not agree to halting the layoffs. The cutting of 117 jobs at VGH, and lay- offs in other B.C. hospitals, are part of a MacDONALD plan to replace health care teams with registered nurses. In its brief HEU Local 180 says stu- dies have shown that the system does not provide a higher standard of patient care and is not cost-effective. It urges that the plan be cancelled and that more LPNs be hired. The brief calls for the replacement of the college- based system with an apprenticeship program jointly administered by the health ministry and the union, and fora comprehensive study of nursing needs in the province. Union president Bill Macdonald told The Province newspaper in a recent letter that “The elimination of licenced practical nurses, orderlies and other highly trained health care workers will not help balance the books at VGH or any other hospital. “What it will do is close beds,” he charged. Macdonald noted that RNs earn about 30 per cent more than the other health care workers. Therefore, to save money, the hospital will have to replace those jobs with 25 per cent fewer RN replacements, he wrote. VDLC urges conference on raiders The Vancouver and District Labour Council called on the B.C. Federation of Labour Feb. 16 to convene a special meeting of all unions, including non- affiliates, affected by the activities of two rump unions, the Canadian Iron — Steel and Industrial Workers and the - General Workers Union which have been signing sweetheart agreements with employers. Marine Workers vice-president Bill / Scott, who proposed the motion, said - that the trade union movement faces a renewed threat from the two groups, particularly the CISIW, because of new certifications it has gained in Alberta and northwestern B.C. CISIW was established in 1986 by Frank Nolan, a former business agent of Local 712 of the Ironworkers who — left the union with $24,000 in union funds after members repudiated him for a concession agreement signed with Amca International on a proposed pro- ject in Nanaimo. Although initially rejected by the Labour Relations Board as a non-bona fide union, CISIW has since put several certification applica- tions before the Industrial Relations Commission. All the applications are based on — sweetheart deals with employers, in- volving concessions on wages, benefits and trade jurisdictions. Like CISIW, the General Workers of B.C., headed by former Labourers Local 602 business agent Rocco Sali- turo, has gained notoriety by signing — what are called “wall-to-wall” agree- ments — contracts which enable con- struction employers to put up projects without the traditional trades and wage rates. “These guys just go into the front — office and tell the boss that he’s going to be organized sooner or later and it might as well be with them, since that way he’ll get all the concessions he wants,” said Scott. Although the Marine Workers clashed with Nolan at one shipyard operation last year, the main threat posed by Nolan and Salituro is in the Building Trades, Scott emphasized. He said a start could be made on a program, to fight them by bringing the affected unions together for an ex- _change of information “‘and to see the threat that we’re facing.” oe But beyond that, he said, the federa- tion should draw up a course of action, including assistance to the Building Trades and to other locals affected. Fed rally reaffirms IRC boycott Trade unionists vowed to continue labour’s boycott of the Industrial Rela- tions Council during a demonstration outside the IRC’s new Vancouver offi- ces Monday. Some 100 representatives of several unions staged the lunch-hour picket outside 1125 Howe St., where the council, established by the anti-labour Bill 19, has rented five floors at $16 per square foot. B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Georgetti hit IRC chair Ed Peck for deciding to appeal a B.C. Supreme Court decision that has a major impact on the Socred government’s privatiza- . tion plans. “That’s not proper, we think it’s uncalled for, and we think it’s totally contrary to the laws of our land. A judge can’t appeal an overturning of his decision, so why should Peck be able to?” Georgetti asserted. The B.C. Supreme Court upheld the right of former government laundry worker James Verrin to quit his job and collect full severance benefits after the service in which he worked was privat- ized in 1985. The court ruled that no institution can dictate where an employee must work. Said Georgetti: “Our boycott’s still on, it’s totally effective, and even giving their people an early lunch so they didn’t have to meet us isn’t going to stop us from protesting this law.”