LABOR Stakes high in TORONTO — Operating under the theory that the best de- fence is an offense, lawyers for Eaton’s got pretty offensive Jan. 15 when they tried to convince the Labor Relations Board that it was the union and not the company that was bargaining in bad faith. The Retail Wholesale and De- partment Store Union has been exposing Eaton’s bargaining strategy all month at a series of hearings before the Ontario Labor Relations Board charging the retail giant with bad faith bargaining. Union lawyers have told the board how Eaton’s has dragged’ out negotiations with the RWDSU without making a wnit- ten wage offer right up to Nov. 30 when the 1,100 workers in six southern Ontario stores took their . fight to the picket line. - In hearings two weeks ago, ‘tan outrage’, and in his written submission to the three member Labor Relations Board panel re- peated the union’s accusation that Eaton’s ‘‘engaged in surface bar- gaining and has no intention of concluding a collective agreement.” The board is preparing its writ- ten decision on the union’s charge that Eaton’s broke the province’s labor relations laws in the way it has taken part in contract talks. _Eaton’s RWDSU strikers on the six picket lines outside the strike-bound stores. The company’s hatred of unions and its arrogant paternal- ism are notorious to Eaton’s workers, the labor movement and the general public. Since the de- feat of the organizing drive of the early 50s, Eaton’s has spared no effort to keep the workers from isn’t fooling the- sds SUPPGRY STRIKING WORKERS SUPPORT - STRIKING» ee Eaton’s strike Strike support committees are being. organized throughout the country to boost the strikers’ morale and hit Eaton’s as hard economically with the boycott as is possible. On Feb. 2, women will rally in Toronto and other centers to draw attention to what’s at stake for labor in the Eaton’s fight. Women have a special in- terest in the strike because most of the retail industry workforce is female and subject to-the usual wage and other types of dis- crimination women are constant- ly fighting against. Eaton’s has used every trick in the book to try and frustrate the drive to organize in their stores. Now it is pulling out all the stops to try and break the union and show the unorganized workers the company’s dictatorial power is unbreakable. TRIBUNE PHOTO —MIKE PI The strikers.are answering this with a courageous and militant union lawyer Jim Hayes accused beter the ‘ The union re resentin 1,500 striking Eaton’s workers is Eaton’s of refusing to make a P g 9g OLRB arguing the company is bargaining in bad faith. organizing themselves to secure better wages, working conditions wage offer so that it could show the non-union work force the company had no intention of giv- ing the union staff more money. Later on Jan. 15, Hayes charged that the company drag- ged the contract talks out so that it could set up a bargaining pattern that would see the anniversary date of the contract fall after Christmas, when the company is less vulnerable to economic pressures. An Outrage Hayes called Eaton’s charge the union bargained in bad faith and benefits from the stingy but highly profitable retail corporation. The common threat running through the strikers’ explanations for joining the RWDSU is an ex- pressed need for dignity on the job and the security and job pro- tection that can only come with union organization. Arbitrary, Dictatorial - Many workers complained of a dictatorial management, which throughout the negotiations has kept insisting on the right to base layoff and recall decisions on workers’ appearance and their “‘customer profile’. With the union knocking at the doors of other retail industry giants as Simpson’s, the Bay, and even profitable pigmies like Hon- est Ed’s, the stakes are high on the outcome of the battle at Eaton’s. A recognition strike has evolved into a massive confronta- tion between the retail -industry, ripe for organizing, and the entire trade union movement. Labor needs to win at Eaton’s to send a signal to big business and the To- riés in Ottawa that workers are going to fight not’ only to keep what they’ve already won through tough and bitter strug- gles, but to also prove they can expand their organization and capacity to extend living stan- dards and democratic and trade union rights. - The Canadian Labor Congress’ declaration of war on Eaton’s and the country-wide strike solidarity . and company: boycott campaigns reflect the importance of what’s riding on the outcome of the seven-week old strike. strike. Their strength grows with each daily indication of support — from union members, their local unions, labor councils and pro- vincial labor federations from one © end of the country to the other. As the solidarity campaign in Toronto and other centers in © southern Ontario is showing, the more locals ‘‘adopt’’ an Eaton’s store to picket, either in support of the strikers, or to spread \in- formation on the boycott, the stronger is labor’s power to bring _ Eaton’s down to earth and the recognition that workers have rights. By MIKE PHILLIPS He heads the world’s largest trade union organization, but the vast majority of Canadian workers couldn’t tell you his name. Ibrahim Zakaria, a Sudanese railway worker, is the general secretary of the World Federation of Trade . Unions, (WFTU), the only global labor body that brings together unions from socialist, capitalist and developing countries. With its 206 million members, in 83 countries, and 91 organizations, the WFTU is only rivalled by the relatively smaller International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, primarily the organi- zation of unions based in Western Europe, North America and the rest of the capitalist world. “Definitely the most important issue facing workers ‘today is the question of unity in the international labor move- ment’’, Zakaria told the Tribune in a re- cent exclusive interview. The fight for peace, the struggle against the transnational corporations, the battle for jobs and the resistance to being saddled with the consequences of capitalism’s worst crisis since the Great Depression, are among the key questions the world’s workers can and should unite around, he said. “What's lacking is unity of action around such issues’’ the WFTU leader ‘said, emphasizing that this is a goal the federation has been pursuing since it was founded in 1945, on the basis of the world labor committee forged in’ the fight to defeat fascism. \ 1949 when the U.S., and Britain, led That global labor unity was smashed in | many of the western European labor centrals out to form the breakaway In- ternational Confederation of Free Trade. Unions. Pretext For Split “The split was based on the wrong assumption that there can’t be any co- operation between trade unions in the so-called ‘free world’ and the trade union movement in communist countries’, Zakaria said. ‘‘Of course this was just a pretext for the split. The main issue was, and remains, whether or not the trade union movement should follow a policy of class struggle or accomodation to the demands of capital. “There is a change taking place today within the reformist-led trade unions, where under increased pressure from their members because of the economic crisis and the toll it is taking on their lives; they are obliged to take more mili- tant actions than they had preferred to take previously.” Relations between the two organiza- tions couldn’t yet be described as pro- ductive, but they do meet occasionally through the United Nations, in and around such agencies as UNESCO and > the Food and Agriculture Organization. ‘‘There is some slight co-operation in the International Labor Organization, especially on the industrial committees, but it’s not like real co-operation’’ he observed. : ‘The pressures of the international capitalist crisis however are forcing the ICFTU leadership to undertake projects that draw the two organizations into parallel action if not productive cooperation. One such area is the struggle for peace. ‘‘Up until five years ago, many trade union leaders in the ICFTU considered that the struggle for peace wasn’t a trade union issue. Now it: is seen more and more as prime trade union work,” he said. Solidarity With Miners And, while the ICFTU may be reluc- tant to cooperate with the WFTU, Zakaria noted the excellent relations the federation enjoys with other trade union- bodies, such as the International Con- federation of Arab Trade Unions, the Organization of African Trade Unions and Cepustal, the Latin American trade union centre. fs The WFTU’s immediate and compre- hensive solidarity with the British min- ers’ strike is a hallmark of its commit- ment to international labor solidarity and militant class struggle. ‘‘We were the first to declare our support for the Na- _ tional Union of Mineworkers’’, Zakaria noted proudly. “That support has extended all the way from a solidarity ship with food and other supplies in October, the truck con- voy organized by France’s largest and most militant trade union central, the CGT, (WFTU’s largest western Euro- pean affiliate), and financial assistance from around the world, notably from the socialist and developing countries. The WFTU launched its campaign for the British miners in March, right after the NUM began its country-wide battle. The ICFTU, to which the NUM is af- filiated, went into action in support of the miners somewhat later. ““We responded immediately, because we understand the significance of the bat- (For WFTU, world labor unityiskey tle the British miners are engaged in. This isn’t just a strike of 180,000 British min- ers, but a symbol of the fight being waged by workers throughout the capitalist world against government and big busi- ness attacks on a very basic human right —aworker’s right to ajob”’ Zakaria said. To Benefit All “‘When I see the brutality with which the British government is fighting the miners, it reminds me of the old days and how the British army behaved in Su- dan’’, he recalled. “In fact, this criminal attack against the miners is also about which concept of trade unionism will prevail, and what the trade union movement is going to stand for in Britain, especially on such crucial issues as the employment question.” - The fight for peace and solidarity with the miners shows that steps toward closer international labor cooperation are being taken. ‘‘There are healthy signs of this process developing’, Zakaria noted. The British miners, for instance, have been working with the CGT for the past two years towards creating a unified con- federation of miners. In this, as in other areas, where unions belonging to either of the two main world labor bodies, come into contact around common interests, Zakaria said, political disagreements shouldn’t bar joint action. ““No one is being asked to renounce their beliefs or ideology,”’ Zakaria said. ‘“‘What we in the WFTU want; is that where we share an identity of interests such as in the fight for peace and jobs we should be able to act together for the world.”’ benefit of all working people in 2g 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 23, 1985