Inco strike may be turning
point for Cana

One month on the bricks at Inco, and as Steelworkers’ Local 6500
president Dave Patterson says in this exclusive interview with the
Tribune, morale is high among the strikers in a battle which could

become the most significant strike of the decade.

Tribune — How is the morale and
determination of the strikers?
Patterson — That 61% that voted
to reject the agreement was fully
aware of the consequences of re-
jecting and of the possibility that,
if there was going to be a strike, it
was going to be a long and bitter
one.

The morale is good. Even the
39% that voted to accept are sup-
porting the strike. A lot of people
are just fed up with Inco, and a lot
are still stunned about the offer
and how cheap the company was.
Tribune — Obviously Inco work-
ers face one of the toughest
strikes seen in Canada in a long
time; how has the solidarity be-
hind the strikers been developing
in the labor movement, and the
community?
Patterson — The response has
been good so far, even despite the
fact that no appeal has gone out.
We've received telegrams of sup-
port from across the U.S. and
Canada which indicates that a lot
of people have their eye on what’s
going on. It’s going to be a major
battle and a major victory for
Canadian labor if it’s won.

You see a lot of small mining
companies in the Canadian Min-
ing Association looking at the
strike and saying it’s the major
development of the 70s. Possibly,
it might develop into the major
strike of the decade in terms of
what is going to happen to collec-
tive bargaining.

This might be the strike that
turns everything around.
Tribune — The media has tried to
pit young workers against the
older guys, saying the bulk of the
61% strike vote came from young
workers. Is there just as much de-
termination to win the strike by
the guys with 20 and 30 years
experience as there is by the
younger workers?

Patterson — Look, when the

layoffs took place Inco said we
shouldn’t worry too much about
them because the majority of
those guys were all young.

It doesn’t matter what happens
in any major labor dispute there
are always scapegoats. What
people need to remember is that
the guy who’s got 20 years service
is no different than the guy who’s
got five.

The 20-year man is looking to
get out of the industry, he wants a
good pension plan. The guy with
five years is looking at the com-
pany and saying: ‘‘I want job sec-
urity. If I don’t have it there’s not
much sense in me staying.”’

The majority of the guys in our
industry now have got three
years. You can’t classify them as

_transient youth.

There are enough older people
in this workforce who can re-
member the days when there was
no union. And a lot of those guys
know that without the union
representing them in this work-
force they don’t stand a chance.
You go right back to the 30s.

When Inco comes out and
starts attacking job descriptions
and job security, and your senior-
ity provisions, grievance proce-
dure, etc., the older workers
know that’s the type of fight they
went through to get organized.
They couldn’t have had the type
of seniority provisions they have
now, unless they took the com-
pany on.

Every time there was a major
dispute between Inco and the
union, regardless of which union
it was representing the
employees, it’s been over issues
that have been hard-fought gains.

The monetary issue at'this par-
ticular time is not the important
factor. The important factors this
time are the pension plan,
supplementary unemployment
benefits, long term disability plan,

Steelworkers Local 6500 presi-
dent Dave Patterson.

and all those things that contri-
bute to job security and the wel-
fare and benefit plan.

Tribune — Has there been any
change in the union’s position
now, compared to where the
negotiating committee stood prior
to the strike?

Patterson — We’ve been out fora
month. There’s no way we’re
going back to a one-year propos-
al. It would be just plain stupidity
and suicidal to say we’re going
back to a one-year agreement
then find ourselves in one hell of a
lousy position next year, nine
months down the road.

We go back to an agreement
that says we’ve got to have job
security. We’ ve got to have things
rolling in the second and third
years of that agreement that are
going to benefit our members, and
not put them in a precarious situa-

. tion.

Inco says they’ve got 10
months and they’re going to wait
us out, then freeze us back to
work. They might do that, but the
strike will cost them too.

First, when there’s a strike they :

lose a lot of employees, because
the workers are just going to take
off. Secondly, they’ ve just blown
every cent they’ve put into
employee relations because

Manitoba liquor workers
conducting first strike

WINNIPEG The 390
employees of the Manitoba
Liquor Commission (MLCC)
closed down the province’s 40
liquor stores Oct. 10 after having
voted in favor of strike action at a
meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

Bill Jackson, president of the
Manitoba Government
Employees Association (MGE-
A), which bargains for the liquor
workers, says that the main issue
concerns money. ‘‘The strike
concerms wages and little else. It’s
crystal clear that for the past five
years we've had restraint. We've
done our part. We don’t want to
fall any further behind,’’ Jackson
said after the strike vote had been
taken.

He also said that Manitoba
Liquor Commission employees
were now the lowest paid in
Canada. The strike marks the first
legal work stoppage of MLCC
workers. Two years ago MLCC
workers staged rotating strikes to
protest an AIB wage rollback.
PACIFIC E

The workers have been without
a contract since Jan. 1, 1978.
Since they still fall under AIB
controls, the union is asking for
only a 6% for the first 12 months
of the contract. The union is de-
manding an 18 month contract
with a 6% increase in the first 12
months and 11.3% in the next six
months. The liquor commission is
offering only a 12 month contract
with a 6% increase.

**The commission's offer is
ridiculous,” said a worker on pic-
ket duty. ‘‘The 12 month contract
would expire at the end of this
year, so we would have to start

negotiating a new contract almost ~

immediately. If the last set of
negotiations are any indication,
we would then have to wait
another nine or ten months before
getting a decent increase.’’ The
MLCC has stuck stubbornly to its
offer despite the fact that a concil-
liation officer, appointed by the
provincial government supported
the union’s position.

—Betober 20, 1978—Page 8

All liquor that is consumed in
Manitoba goes through the
MLCC. The provincial govern-
ment gets $5.2-million a month in
profits from liquor sales.

The general feeling in Manitoba

labor circles seems to be that the.

provincial Tory government’s
hard line against liquor workers is
only part of its efforts to keep
wages in the public service as low
as possible. Given present levels
of inflation, the wages of most
provincial | government
employees are actually declining
each year despite nominal wage
increases.

Georgia Falzarano, a Winnipeg
teacher, was reported in the Win-
nipeg Tribune saying she was
sympathetic to the liquor com-
mission workers, even though a
strike would inconvenience her.
‘The teachers were held back to
a 6% increase by the AIB guide-
line and someone has to break
that kind of low increase, even ifit
takes a strike to do it’’, she said.

dian

bucks. Thirdly, after this is all

labor

they’ve proven that they aren’t
interested in the etnployees,
they’re just interested in the

over they’ ve still got a community
here...

The community hasn’t seen
Inco take anything but wealth out
of this area. Inco’s raped the land,
the people, the economy, the
country, and now they’re saying:
“Because of our Guatemalan op-
erations, and our Indonesian op-
erations we’ll liquidate. Just try to
take us on.”’

Well, people have taken on
larger corporations for a lot less.
It’s going to be a tough strike. It’s
not 40 below zero yet, but when

% | the temperature starts dropping,

and those buildings start freezing,
everything out there in the mining
quarter is going to be frozen up.
And, that ain’t a pleasant sight.

You know, half of those yo-yos
and time keepers they’ve got
pushing pencils at Inco as bosses
couldn’t run a mine. They don’t
know anything about it.. The only
people that can run a mine are
those guys. that are on strike.
Tribune — What kind of support
have you been getting from the
community, and from across the
country?

Patterson — The expression of

solidarity with the strikers from
this community is quite simple to
understand. The majority of
people in this town either know
someone, or have. brothers, sis-
ters, fathers, uncles who work for
Inco. They’ve lost relatives —
seen them die working for Inco.
They have mothers, and aunties
who are widows from Inco. They
look at it and say: ‘‘God, how can
a company that bloody rich treat
their employees like dirt?’’

The people of Sudbury are
pretty proud of their heritage. The
labor movement in this town is
one of the hardest fought labor
movements anywhere.

Small businessmen know they
can’t make it without the guys at
Inco. Also, the wives’ support
committee is certainly a plus
factor.

The women in this town work
for Inco just as much as the men
do. They make the lunchpails,
wash the clothes — they see their
husbands come home — they’re
sometimes notified they have to
go to the hospital, their husbands
have been hurt in a mining acci-
dent. They have to get up in the
morning with their husbands
when they’re going in on early
days — 5:30 a.m., and when its 40

below.

Those wives have said: ‘‘Look,
the only way we’re going to win
this strike is to stand behind our
husbands.”’ They’ve said: ‘‘The
only way we can beat this thing is
to get together collectively and
decide: this is how we can stretch
a meal; or, we’ll have to pool our
money together and go out and
buy in ‘bulk to save money.”
That’s pretty healthy.

We had a group of university
students last Thursday (Oct. 5)
who blitzed the entire Sudbury
region with the Sudbury support
committee. \

Every time there’s a decision

made -by that company, they’re -

not just taking on 11,700 guys at
Inco — they’re taking on their
wives, families — everything.

In terms of the Canadian labor

nationalization.

_Tush of support all at one time

Dave Patterson,
president of
Steelworkers’ Local |
6500, on strike agains!
the giant Inco Metals.
in Sudbury, tells in this
interview the inside —
story of community,
family and labor
Solidarity behind the _
Inco strikers. And
there’s no generation
gap, he reveals. Next -
week: Patterson talks
about governments, —
technology and

Perera eter etaier test Tad
movement, we’re expecting !

start flowing in, and it’s just gO
to be a constant stream. The
help we can get is money.
We have a hell of a financl®
commitment on our hands and We
have to pay out almost half a
lion dollars a month just to keel
the benefits going. There’s ™
way we’re going to let our peop
sit out there with no OHIP cove!
age, and no life insurance cove
age. a
Ifa person needs drugs, if he $”
diabetic or suffers from cancel
there’s no way that any of us C4!
sit and look. This is 1978, not thé
1800s or early 1900s. . -
Tribune — What would f
6500 consider to be a fair setU@
ment in the area of pensions? ,
Patterson — We have a number:
targets to aim at. Algoma’s sitti}
there, Stelco’s sitting there,
the iron ore industry in Queb
sitting there. In Quebec it’s 30
out. Looking at Stelco and /
ma, Stelco has 35 and out as
Algoma, but they wona red
from retirement at 62 to
Right now we’ve got.
want retirement at 5
looking at over $700. -
Look at it in terms
economics to the guy v
to retire. If he’s lookin a
pension plan that produces
month when he retires,
1978 and the cost. of living
far, has gone up 31%. .
What you’re actually saying
that guy is: “‘OK retire. T:
your pension at $460 and
31% right off the top” —
that’s what he has to live on.
He’s expected to take a pensid?
now, on a pension plan thal
worth one-third less than it waS)
1975. And that’s crazy. People i”
ing on fixed incomes can’t be &*
pected to survive out there in
jungle with a pension plan tH
doesn’t meet the poverty level:
I look at these coupon clippe®
and corporate agents like Job?
McCready and J.N.. Cartel
McCready’s pension is going. ie :
be $75,000 and Carter’s $125,000

thus