IMPORTANT CHALLENGE TO AIB Paperworkers’ strike is key By MIKE PHILLIPS Br Seg A breakthrough | seems immanent in the monumen- ..tal six-month struggle which has pitted the Canadian Paperwork- ers Union against the paper industry in Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces. Whether it will result in a victory or a defeat for the workers is an open question as reports of a settlement within the govern- ment guidelines between the union and the Eastern Canada Newsprint Group in Quebec have been announced. The strike which in some areas was launched as early as April 30 of last year, has been carefully monitored by the labor movement as a key struggle in the fight-back against the Tru- deau government’s wage cutting legislation and the drive to eli- ‘minate the trade union move- ment’s right to free collective bargaining. In a statement urging all of its affiliates to answer an appeal for funds on behalf of the striking paperworkers, Canadian Labor Congress president Joe Morris said that the CPU was “in the vanguard of the labor move- Greer won't cross picket lines meeting cancelled TORONTO — The. scheduled of Germaine Greer. _ appearance at the University of Toronto, - Jan. 26, never happened when she refused to cross picket lines set up by striking student coun- cil workers. ' Greer, who was to speak at Convocation Hall where a crowd of 1,500 people were waiting, refused to cross the lines and a spokesman for the Student’s Ad- _ ministrative Council, the group that sponsored the meeting, told the audience she may speak Feb. 6 instead. The eight SAC workers, mem- bers of CUPE 1222, have been on strike against the students’ coun- cil since Jan. 16, when talks broke down within hours of reaching an agreement. SAC ne- gotiators walked out of the talks when they did not agree to em- ployee demands of distribution of wages. Transit Continued from pg. 5 _ speak up and take action to sup- port the bus drivers in this strike, councillor Zuken said, “the bus drivers made every last minute effort possible to end the strike.” He went on, “the position of the ICEC is clearly designed to come onto a colli- sion course with the union.” Zuken cited, the arena expan- sion proposal which the ICEC is expected to push through council Jan. 28. The initial cost of the expansion is estimated to be $11-million, but with deben- tures and interest the figure is expected to climb to anywhere from $26 to $30-million. Zuken noted that this will be reflected on the tax bill of home owners which include the 1,250 bus drivers and maintenance work- ers on strike. He charged, “there is no con- cern within ICEC to avert this ' ment’s struggle against the at- tempts of the federal govern- ment and its Anti - Inflation Board to destroy the hard won rights to free collective bargain- ing between employer and em- ployee.” He added, “they (the union) are fighting not only for themselves but for all other working people whose rights are being threatened.” The settlement in the Eastern Canada Newsprint Group _in- volves about 3,500 workers at four Quebec pulp and paper mills. The companies involved, Domtar Ltd., Quebec North Shore - Paper Co. Ltd., Reed Paper Co. Ltd., and McLaren Co.- Ltd., have signed a_ tentative agreement with the CPU which is within the government’s gui- delines. The three-year pact which has yet to be accepted by the Wage Cutting Board will give the workers a 14% wage in- crease in the first year, 10% in the second year, and 8% in the third year on a base rate cur- rently standing at $4.82 an hour. If this settlement is allowed by the board, it will leave ap- proximately 5,500 paperworkers in Quebec still on strike. Observers are looking very closely at the situation in the in- dustry to see if this settlement is going to set a pattern in the other pending negotiations in- cluding 25,000 Ontario strikers. Should this happen it would mean a defeat for the union which has taken as its main ob- jective in this fight, parity with the woodlands workers who won | a settlement of 24% prior to the introduction of the wage cont- rols. Historically the mill work- ers and the loggers have main- tained comparable wage levels; however with the CPU being squeezed by the controls and with the -present settlement in Quebec, the mill workers will find themselves falling behind the woodlands workers. In this light the current battle around the settlement with the Irving Pulp and Paper Co., in New Brunswick will take on even greater importance. It was announced Jan. 24 that the Irving Company wants the Anti-Inflation Board’s decision to roll back a 23.8% wage increase, the figure agreed to by the union. to 14%, referred to the newly appointed administrator Donald Tansley for a ruling. The settle- workers strike. When we consider their squandering of public funds on Trizec and on the big develop- ers, and this $30-million expan- sion, it clearly shows their pri- orities and that they have no concern for what is needed by the taxpayers of Winnipeg. A remark made by a council- lor at the emergency Council meeting may reveal what City Council is relying on to bring the strike to an early end. Pre- mier Schreyer, he said, had in- dicated that, if necessary he will legislate the transit employees back to work. Noting that approximately 185,000 people per week use the bus system, Zuken said, ‘while councillors are driving around in their warm cars, it’s going to be the workers, students, shoppers, and ‘pensioners who are going to be left out in the cold. They’re the ones that rely on the bus service.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 30, 1976—Page 10 > et ment which is to cover a two- year term and in which the wage settlement will be fully applied in the first year was signed at the end of November. This decision follows the an- nouncement by AIB chairman Jean-Luc Pepin that the admin- istrator would be called in to rule on the board’s decision un- less the company complied with the AIB’s decision on the settle- ment by Feb. 2. The outcome of the adminis- trator’s ruling, though it will be subject to a legal challenge b the union in the courts, coul very well spark a major confron- tation between the trade union movement and the government over the issue. A ruling support- ing the AIB’s decision would virtually mean the end of the free collective bargaining system | and a brutal suppression of labor’s democratic rights. In Ontario, it is- well worth noting that on Jan. 17 in Toronto . a meeting was held of 130 deleg- ates representing some 10,000: workers from 72 different locals where the decision was made by the union to remain on strike until the bargaining objective was attained. The meéting furth- ed decided that if a settlement could be reached with the com- panies the union would maintain its pickets until the settlements were confirmed by the Anti-In- flation Board. The key factor in the success of the union in reaching its goal will continue to be the support both moral and financial of the trade union movement. The CPU is relatively new, having secured its autonomy in June 1974 from the United Pa- perworkers International Union. Though the separation from the parent international was amic- able, it left the national union with very little in the way of financial assets. In fact the ac- tions of the companies in pro- voking the strike in the first place and stalling in the negotia- tions have been seen by many observers in the trade union movement as a Clear attempt to weaken or destroy the Canadian union. Support from the CLC and re- cently from the Ontario Federa- tion of Labor, which is recom- mending to its affiliates that they contribute to the strike fund on the basis of $1 per week per member, is seen by the CPU as a welcome initiative in trade union solidarity against the common enemy, the pulp and paper car- tel, and its agent the federal government. So far reports from various parts of Ontario indicate that several thousands of dollars have been collected for the strike fund. The determination and resolve of the striking paperworkers is highlighted by the fact that this strike which in some areas has gone on for six months has been fought without strike pay. A hard struggle is being fought which touches on all of the main. questions of vital con- cern to the trade union move- ment. The outcome depends on the strength which the trade union movement can muster to support the paperworkers in their fight against the erosion of living standards and in defence of their collective bargaining rights. peace settlement there. tine Liberation Organization. U.S. vetoes UN mid-East vote UNITED NATIONS —The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on the Middle East Jan. 26, saying the motion would set one-sided conditions for a The resolution affirmed the right of the Palestinians to establish an indeendent state and called for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands occupied in the 1967 Mid-East war. (The UN General Assembly has previously passed motions similar to both these points.) The Security Council resolution also had a phrase asserting that all present coun-. tries in the Middle East had a right to exist. Voting for the resolution were Pakistan, Benin, Panama, Guyana, Romania, Tanzania — who sponsored the motion — and the Soviet Union, France and Japan. Britain, Sweden and Italy abstained, and China and Lybia did not participate in the vote. Israel did not participate as it was boycotting this session of the security council — which was‘a special Middle East debate — due to the participation of the Pales- Nationalize assets | Continued from pg. 5 wholly owned subsidiary of Mc- Donnell Douglas of California for which it constructs wings and other aircraft parts), by several hundred million dollars during its period of operations in Canada. “It has stood silently and cal- lously by while the 6,000 work- ers employed by this corporation have been laid off over the past three years. “The Douglas Corporation is using publicly announced inten- tion to lay-off 800-1,000 workers to try to elbow its way into the consortium being put together by the Canadian government to participate in the construction of STOL aircraft and the Canadian complement of production aris- ing from the $1)4-billion Cana-. dian government contract to Lockheed of U.S. for tgs for ‘ NATO. Neither the interests | of the Canadian people nor those McDonnell Douglas workers wi be served by such a move. “The Canadian: Governme should step in and national the assets of McDonnell Douglas for which the public has paiC many times over, and fit it into} a public Canadian aero-space dustry guaranteeing the jobs oly the present and laid-off workers] at the plant. a “Such a corporation shou produce STOL aircraft as n projected as well as patrol 2 craft necessary for the defen of our country. ; “But the future of a Canadia ne a aero-space industry lies in the, ‘ development of civilian aircraft; and equipment that will be need- 0" ed in a world moving towar¢ detente and immense econom growth in which Canada must = prepared to share.” I N ‘ { Basford orders retrial Morgentaler gets bail MONTREAL — Dr. Henry Morgentaler was released on bail here Jan. 26 pending his retrial on a charge of perform- ing an illegal abortion. His pre- vious conviction on the charge sent him to jail 10 months ago. A second trial was ordered Jan. 22 by Justice Minister Ron Basford, a day after the Quebec Court of Appeals upheld a jury’s acquittal of the Montreal doc- tor on a similar charge. The retrial order also came hours after the Professional Cor- poration of Physicians in Que- bec suspended the doctor‘s medi- cal licence for a year due to the 1974 conviction. _The Quebec Court of Appeals decision was a complete reversal of the ruling two years ago when, in an_ unprecedented judgment, it reversed a jury’s ac- quittal of Dr. Morgentaler. The» judgment, and a subse- quent refusal for Morgentaler to appeal to the Supreme Court caused an uproar across Canada due to the method used to con- vict him. In the most recent case, de- fence lawyer Claude-Armand Sheppard had said Morgentaler should. be acquitted because the abortion, performed in 1973. in the doctor’s Montreal clinic, was necessary for the patient’s health. Although Judge Claude Bisson had advised the jury not.to ac- . cept that defence, the jury chose to ignore him on that’ point and acquit Morgentaler. The Crown appealed the case but the judg- ment was upheld. DR. HENRY MORGENTAL In Morgentaler’s tr trial on first charge, the defence had ™ ferred to Section 45 of the Cl minal Code. Section 45 protec! from prosecution anyone performs a surgical operation another person for that perso benefit and uses reasonable ¢ and skill and has regard for state of health of that person The Appeal Court overtu the jury’s acquittal in that ruling that Section 45 did apply to abortions. : Morgentaler has bec known throughout Canada his crusade for freer abo laws .and his defence of many abortions he perform outside of the offcial procedu (He readily admitted his tions.) He still faces three ~m' charges on performing _ille abortions, but in light of B ford’s retrial order it is not cl if and when the Crown will tinue with htese proceedings.