Building Trades workers take meeting program as they go into the Coliseum May 23.

More than 6,000 Building Trades
workers filed into the Pacific Coliseum May
23 to give their leaders the same message
Expo workers had given them the week
before.

They’re prepared to shut down construc-
tion in the fight against the Labor Code
amendments and the contractors’ efforts to
impose non-union conditions on them.

Union construction throughout the
Lower Mainland — including the work on
the ALRT system — came to a halt at
noon and remained shut down throughout

the afternoon as the Building Trades
booked off to attend the “defiance day”
rally.

It was the first protest walkout staged in
defiance of the Labor Code amend-
ments — but Building Trades president
Roy Gautier pledged that there would be
more.

“Our backs are against the wall — we’re
going to have to take on the fight and get the
support of the rest of the unions in the
province,” he told reporters following the
meeting.

Walkout vote next month

Members of the Canadian Paperworkers
Union and the Pulp, Paper and Wood-
workers of Canada will be voting next
month on a call for a three-day protest
Strike.

If the action is approved, it will begin
June 18 in protest over the continuing com-
pany stonewalling of negotiations and the

Socred government’s Bill 18 which strips
workers of the right to strike and allows for
the cabinet, with legislative approval, to
impose a contract.

It would also be in defiance of the back-
to-work bill. “But when there is unjust
action by government, you have to take a
stand,” said PPWC president Stan Shewaga.

B.C. Federation of Labor president Art
Kube stated May 16 that if the Building
Trades engaged in job action, “they will
have the support of the federation.”

The rally, which was closed to the press,
focused on the Labor Code amendments
but also was slated to deal with current
negotiations with the Construction Labor
Relations Association as well as the contin-
uing dispute over non-union contractors at
the Expo 86 site.

Talks on a new contract — the current
one expired Apr. 30 — with CLRA have
gone nowhere in the face of CLRA
demands for sweeping concessions on
wages, hiring procedures and working con-
ditions, and strike votes among the Building
Trades unions were expected. CLRA has
already been given a mandate by its constit-
uent employers to call a lockout.

Hearings were also continuing at Tribune
press time on an application by CLRA fora
Labor Relations Board cease-and-desist
order against the Building Trades to block
any further shutdowns.

White backs
FRG strike
over hours

TORONTO — Canadian United
Auto Workers director Bob
issued a telegram of support to the 2: ¢
million member IG Metall Union if
West Germany for its battle to win the!
35-hour work week. ;
| The UAW head sent the solidarity.
meesage when the Metall Union
launched its series of escalating Wa
| kouts May 14. To date some 250,
workers are embroiled in the Wes
German labor movement's fight for a
| 35-hour work week with no loss in pay
| as a means of creating what the unio
estimates could be one million ne
} jobs.
White pledged the UAW’s full supe
port for the metal workers strike an@
| called the fight for shorter work time
“critical” issue for trade unionists the
world over. Reduced work time is being.
projected as a priority issue on thé
forthcoming contract talks between the
| union and Ford and General Motors.
| Most of West Germany’s auto pa
| -have been shut down since May 14
Employers have countered by locking
out some 65,000 workers in the Stul
tgart region and the metal industty
employers association has threaten
to extend the lockouts if the met
| workers’ strike continues.

Talks between the employers and the
| union were slated to take place May 24.
| Union leaders are standing firm before”
| a barrage of propaganda and abuse
from the employers, and the media thee
control.

| The metal workers have the backing
j of other unions in their fight, including
| the militant paper and publishing
workers union.

The strike has shut down the
Daimler-Benz plant, BMW, Audi and
the largest Opel plant in the county”
| Volkswagen is expected to be clo:
down around May 28.

With unemployment at 10 per cent
the metal union’s response is an exam"
| ple of workers tackling the economic »
crisis from a point of view that seeks 4
solution in their interests and not in the -
| interests of the employers. For the
| workers jobs are the number one issue;
while the employers place the unem-

cnemnantibailiiiailia

AIS SG a A A ON RR RAR

| ployment crisis a definite second to
| their ee for profits. ;

Where would we be without our
supporters?

Many of our readers have heeded the
call we’ve put out in the last few issues, and
have responded to our note of alarm with
donations that show a spirit of sacrifice
and commitment to B.C.’s working class
paper.

Of those, a number of individuals have
given contributions that call for special

mention. Topping the list this time, as he
does most years, is Alex McKitch, whose
$3,000 donation will help keep the Tribune
fighting for another year.

And from Gerry Delaney, who wrote,
“My hand was shaking, but my heart was
steady,” we received a contribution of
$1,090.

Others have been equally generous,

including Ed Dotzler ($1,040), Mary and

Walter Gawyrycki ($1,800), Mona Mor-

gan ($1,262) and John Tanche ($1,421).

They’re joined by dozens of others, too
numerous to mention by name, whose
contributions make them all members of
the “500 Club.”

There’s usually a “but” at this point,
and here it is: although we’ve come a long
way, we're still short — at $37,183 — of
what was achieved by approximately this
time last year.

In short, the Tribune could use a bow

more 500 Club members.

Just as we need to “hold the line”
against those regressive measures, so we
must work to ensure the Tribune is around
to be an integral part of the fightback.

a
|; Here’s where we stand f§

GREATER VANCOUVER
Bill Bennett 800 356
Burnaby | 5,800 888
Coquitlam 2,600 1,770
Kingsway 7,000 3,116
New West. 1,800 419
Nigel Morgan 2,500 _
Niilo Makela 700 132
North Van. 3,000 1,841
Olgin ‘650 14
Richmond 1,400 965
Seamen 400 448
Van. East 10,500 9,211
Van. Fishermen 800 74
_West Side 4,000 2,141

FRASER VALLEY
Chilliwack 350 20)
Delta 800 300
Langley 700 426
Maple Ridge 2,800 1,498
Surrey 5,000 1,733
White Rock 1,200 1,741

OKANAGAN .
Kamloops 900 88
Penticton 600 3197
Shuswap ~ 750 414 —
Vernon 1,300 440

N. COAST/INTERIOR
Correspondence 2,200 1,600
Creston 400 614
Fernie 250 200
Powell River 600 202
Sunshine Coast 550 267
Trail 850 265

VANCOUVER ISLAND a
Campbell River 1,700 834
Comox Valley 1,100 195
Nanaimo 2,200 1,005
Port Alberni _ 1,500 508
Victoria 2,500 T5234
North Island 400 385
Miscellaneous 1,031

37,183

"12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 30, 1984

‘ies