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working conditions.

BCTF sets

Sar Continued from page 1
: defeated by most of thesome 700 delegates.
In adopting several recommendations of
the task force, teachers also voted to seek
full bargaining rights within the context of
both historically developed provisions in
the School Act and protections accorded
under the B.C. Labor Code.
_ B.C.’s teachers are the only group in
‘Canada who do not have such rights under
law, and one of the few public sector
_ employee organizations lacking that right.
The BCTF filed a complaint with the Uni-
ted Nations’ International Labor Organiza-
tion, outgoing federal president Pat Clarke
noted in his speech to the assembly.
~The ILO ruled that the BCTF complaint
was valid, Clarke related in discussing cur-
rent teacher negotiations.
He said: “If we acquiesce in bargaining
this spring, we are perpetuating the impres-
sion, consistently purveyed by the govern-
ment, that this annihilation of collective
bargaining and meaningful arbitration
works and that we therefore accept it as a

_ fair process while international law con-
_ demns it.”

Clerks gain

After 28 months on the picket line,
__ workers at Canadian Tire in Prince George
_ are going back to work with their first col-
lective agreement but there’s still a long
campaign ahead to keep the union in the
store.

Members of the Retail Clerks Local 1518
unanimously ratified a two-year agreement
based ona sawoff of the contentious issue of
the union shop. Under the new pact, strik-
_ ing workers form the core of the union but
union membership is optional for those
_ who were hired after the strike began. New
employees hired following ratification must
join the union although they can choose to
withdraw.

The settlement ended the bitterly fought
strike which began Dec. 5, 1983 when Tom
Steadman, Prince George franchise owner

_of the huge retail chain, rejected a union
shop provision, calling it “forced union-
ism.”

The contract “isn’t a win or a loss, it’s a
settlement,” Retail Clerks president Bryan

- Denton told the Tribune Mar. 27. “The
union shop provisions are provisions we

can live with. We’ve got a big job ahead to

win over the other workers but I think there

are features in the contract which will help
us do that.”

The two year agreement will give strikers
an immediate $1.25 to $1.50 an hour
_ increase over what they were earning before

the strike and the increases over the life of
the agreement “are in the neighborhood of
_ five percent,” Denton said. In addition, there

“12° PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 2, 1986

_ Cards raised in affirmation, delegates to the B.C. Teachers Federation pass.
resolutions, including statements outlining teachers right to strike and bargain over

demands

Clarke urged school boards “‘not to hide
behind the (Compensation Stabilization
Program)” and to reach “fair settlements”
with their teachers. And he echoed a theme
of his administration in urging a continued
alliance among teachers, parents and trus-
tees against Socred education cuts, noting
that some 60 of the province’s 75 school
boards have filed “recovery” budgets with

the education ministry.

“T have set out what I believe we should
be doing from now until an election: con-
tinue our alliances, maintain the high
ground we have as defenders of children’s
rights to quality education, and recognize.
the support we have for that position,” he
said.

Joining Elsie McMurphy in the top lead-
ership were other candidates noted for their
advocacy of action against cutbacks.
Former second vice-president Alan Craw-
ford beat Mike Lombardi for first vice-
president in a close vote, while member-at-
large Moira MacKenzie defeated Colin
Scott for the second vice-president’s posi-
tion.

issue of fair wae
‘not finished ye

B.C.’s cht 16 woe contractors were
handed a new weapon in their anti-labor
arsenal March 26 when the provincial
Supreme Court struck down Vancouver’s
fair wage bylaw.

In a ruling on a petition filed by the
Independent Canadian Business Associa-
tion (ICBA) and a local electrical contrac-
tor, B.C. Supreme Court Justice John
Spencer declared that city council exceeded
its powers in passing the bylaw.

But the ruling has brought a vow from
the group that initiated the bylaw — the
Committee of Progressive Electors — that
the fight to establish union-level wages on
city contracts is far from over.

‘We'll move to appeal it, and if we have
to do so, we’ll find a way around (the rul-
ing),” said COPE’s senior alderman, Harry
Rankin.

A decision to appeal the ruling must be
made by city council.

B.C. Building Trades Council pieadent
Roy Gautier said building tradesmen were
“bitterly disappointed” over the court deci-
sion and said the council hoped the city will
appeal the judgement.

“It won’t deter us from seeking fair wages
on the municipal or provincial level,” Gaut-
ier told the Tribune.

The petition to strike down the bylaw
was filed last June by the ICBA and Axel
Gringmuth, owner of the Vancouver-based
E.T:S. Electric Ltd., and an ICBA member.

When city council adopted its wage
bylaw last May, it did so under Section 174
of the Vancouver Charter which states that
successful bidders on city construction, ren-
ovation or demolition projects must pay
their workers “‘not less than the wages or
remuneration generally accepted as current
at the time.”

The ICBA, a national organization out-
spoken in its advocacy of anti-union “right
to work” legislation, argued in the petition
that a phrase in Section 174 limited the city’s
powers to set wages.

The petitioner maintained that the

Canadian Tire foothold

are “some good clauses covering seniority
and personal rights,” he noted.

Denton added that there “‘wasn’t a lot of
urgency” on Steadman’s part to settle, since
he was able to keep the store operating “by
exploiting the 30 per cent unemployment in
Prince George.

“I don’t think that he would have been
able to keep the store open 10 or 12 years
ago when there wasn’t high unemploy-
ment,” he said.

The compromise agreement was finally
reached when the Clerks brought mediator
Ken Albertini in and got agreement to arbi-
trate the union shop issue.

Eleven strikers were still on the picket line
when the agreement was signed although
two have been disputed by the company
and their cases will go to arbitration.
Another 35 people were working in the
store, and they must now decide whether or
not to join the union.

Denton said that once. everybody was
back to work, the local would begin imme-
diately to introduce the non-members to the
union. “We'll be working closely with
them,” he said.

Winning them to the Clerks will be cru-
cial since it is unlikely that Steadman’s —
and Canadian Tire’s — opposition to
union organization has changed with the
settlement. The stand taken by Steadman
signalled an increasing trend among
employers to challenge union shop provi-
sions that were made general throughout

the trade union movement four decades
ago.

The Prince George picket line was the
scene of several incidents — including one
in which shotgun shells were found in the
picketers’ fire barrel — and throughout the
strike court injunctions frustrated many
efforts to mount an effective boycott of
Canadian Tire stores elsewhere in the pro-
vince.

The parent company also headed off
attempts to tie Steadman’s outlet legally to
the national chain dispite evidence showing
that the store was the recipient of several

incentive programs not available elsewhere

in the country.

However, the boycott did cut the chain’s
business and a concerted campaign mounted
by the Clerks and the B.C. Federation of
Labor last November added to the pressure
to settle.

Denton said the boycott of Canadian
Tire has now been withdrawn.

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READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LAB

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phrase which defines contracted wot! ‘
“any work which the city itself might"

applies only to jobs for which the a ~
the equipment and expertise, rather | °
jobs which the city might contract 0

Justice Spencer agreed, citing $
clauses in previous city charters in W
phrase did not appear. Noting that®
restriction is not contained in similar@
of the Municipal Act, which gove
other B.C. urban centres, he wro
not apparent why the legislature sh
gle out the city for a more restricti
cation of its minium wage

.compared to those of every other #
pality.

“In my judgement, when council f
its resolution in terms which made! it’
cable to all construction con
exceeded the power given to it by thes
ture under Section 174 of the City
the justice ruled.

“In my respectful judgement, thats
does not give council the power ire
minimum wage but instead req
ensure by contract that its contract
not less than what is generally reo
current wage level at the time.”

Justice Spencer also noted Gringav if
claim that the vast majority of cont gi
construction work through 1984 un i
1985, was non-union, and that nom
wage rates are as low as $8 an now!
laborers.

The interpretation of the judge’s 6
is that non-union rates, rather that
comparable to the unionized work:
must be considered as “the current
level.”

When the city enacted its wage by#
May it set the rates paid its
workers — represented by the 4
Union of Public Employees, Local 1¥™
as the “fair wage” although CUPE
still below wages earned by Building
workers in construction.

The city also hired a fair-wage
sioner to oversee implementation
bylaw, a position it made permane?
vote last month. In an accompanyilié
lution council also lowered the cost ¥¢
projects to which the. bylaw applit
$30,000 from the former $200,000. —

The bylaws were initiated a
including CUPE and the 17-union y
B.C. Building Trades Council, we
city to help stop the province-wide an
low-wage contractors. Vancouver's D vf
patterned after that of the city of 1

The move sparked the opposit
right-to-work contractors, many © p§
belong to the Independent Canadia®
nessmen’s Association.

Gringmuth, who spearheaded the
paign to quash the bylaw, solict
from other businesses in a letter last
which he said he was “foaming ®
mouth.”

“Free enterprise and competitio®:
if let alone...Without free enterPy
might as well learn Russian,” he W!? jf

Gringmuth and the ICBA contrat ist
law firm of Jordan and Gall, noton?
its anti-labor cases.

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