POST OFFICE WAITS PARLJAMEN

_ CUPW

set for

contract fight

OTTAWA — A contract for
postal workers.

This five-word slogan sums up
what the 23,000-member Cana-
dian Union of Postal Workers
(CUPW) has been straining all of
its efforts toward, since the brutal
crushing of the week-long

-wide postal strike in 1978
by the federal Liberal govern-
ment.

The issues, the federal
government tried to crush under

its own ‘‘iron heel of ruthless-
ness’’ with Bill C-8, the law ram-
med through parliament ordering
CUPW members .to return to
-work, have refused to disappear.

Little wonder. The
‘settlement’ following C-8,
which Judge Lucien Tremblay
imposed on postal workers, pro-
duced a net drop of 41 cents an
hour in postal workers’ purchas-
ing power, and broke with past
practice by dictating different
wage increases for every different
classification. Thus, Tremblay
disrupted the historical relation-
ships between mail handlers, mail
dispatchers and postal clerks.

Nothing was done of course, by
the federal government to address
the problem of ensuring that

stal workers aren’t adversely
affected by the introduction of
technological change. The
‘tagreement’’ forced upon CUPW
by law made inroads into contract

age, weakening protection
that did exist, and Post Office
management consistently refused
” to live up to even its own agree-
ment.

On top of it all, the government
jailed CUPW leader Jean-Claude
- Parrot, and placed other CUPW
leaders On probation for carrying
out their union responsibilities
and urging postal workers to defy
- an evil and unjust act of parlia-
ment. ae
. CUPW Proposals Rejected

When federal conciliation

board chairman Germain Justras -

comes down with his report May
2, on the submissions placed be-
fore him by CUPW and Treasury
Board, the scene will be set for
another test of strength between
CUPW, its supporters and the
federal government.
Given management’s obvious
determination to rely again on
parliament, rather than conduct
serious and honest negotiations
with CUPW, a postal strike
within a week, or shortly after,
Jutras’ decision seems inevitable.
Treasury Board rejected
CUPW’s contract proposals out
of hand, scorning all non-
monetary proposals and submit-
ting a wage offer of 6% increase in
the hourly rate, retroactive to
Jan., 1980. In addition the
employer wants to fold in the 79
cents the workers are already en-
titled to under the present cost of
living adjustment, but only to be

effective as of April 1. The COLA ©

would continue throughout 1980
as longas it didn’t exceed 40 cents
an hour.

Also, the employer wants to
saddle the union with take-aways
from the current agreement such
as shortening the length of time a
worker can file a grievance from
25 to 15 days, increasing the
37'/2-hour work week for
employees presently working it,
to 40 hours; prolonging, at

management’s discretion of the
10-day limit provided by the con-
tract for including an unfavorable
report in a worker’s personnel
file; and, protecting the seniority
of workers who leave the bargain-
ing unit to join management.
The government also wants to
weaken language restricting the
use of casual and part time labor
and to nullify contract language
which sets seniority as the criter-
ion for selecting annual leave
periods.
To Protect Real Earning
CUPW has simply picked up
where they left off in 1978 to sec-
ure justice for postal workers.
Noting that the last time postal
workers negotiated a wage in-
crease was on July 1, 1976 the
union is determined to win for its
members a wage hike designed to
improve and protect the real earn-
ings of postal workers lost as a
result of Tremblay’s imposed ar-
bitration. CUPW is demanding an
immediate fold-in of 79 cents an
hour cost of living allowance ef-
fective Jan. 1, 1980, with a $1.09
an hour wage hike taking into ac-
count the 51 cents lost because of
Tremblay’s arbitration and a 68
cents an hour wage increase.
The union is also demanding a
full COLA, or one cent an hour
increase for every point increase
in the consumer price index, to be
folded into the basic salary every
six months. CUPW wants to cor-
rect the imbalance created by
Tremblay in the wage relation-
ship between the various
categories. Postal clerks would
have a one cent an hour increase
while mail handlers an adjustment
upward of 10 cents an hour.
And, for every month beyond
Jan. 1, 1981 the basic ‘postal
workers salary will be adjusted by
an amount equal to 1% of the
highest wage scale ‘applicable to
the bargaining unit.
To create more jobs within the
Post Office and to counter the
adverse effects of technological

change, postal workers are de-

manding a 35-hour work week
and full job security. CUPW also
wants a ban on all electronic
surveillance of workers, and a
variety of fringe benefits
improvements such increased
overtime pay to discourage the
scheduling of overtime work.

The Post Office estimates that
the 35-hour work.week would add
another. 7,500 jobs to the opera-
tion and has flatly refused the
proposal. - ;

More Injuries than Army

The right to refuse unsafe work
is another key demand in the cur-
rent contract talks. CUPW points
out that the Post Office’s accident
rates are a national disgrace. An
internal post office report on in-
juries in 1978-79 showed that Post
Office workers are twice as likely
as members of the armed forces to
receive a disabling injury, and
more than seven times as likely

members of the RCMP to-be in-

jured on the job.

Canada Post accounted for 53%
of all disabling injuries in the en-
tire federal civil service and,
compared to the private sector in
is twice as high in injury rates as
private industry in Ontario.

If it takes another strike to sec-
ure justice, CUPW shows every
sign of being ready for that too.

t

The Post Office is “offering” CUPW at 6% Increases including COLA, increased work hours, more company
power to discipline workers, nullifying of some seniority procedures and increased use of casual labor.

Defeat bloc

* d a “
a a ee? |

*

vote at CLC

The Executive Council of the
Canadian Labor Congress will be

_ trying, once again, to introduce a

system of bloc voting, to the CLC
convention this year.

Resolution C-1, proposed by
the executive would make possi-
ble, by decision of one-third of the
delegates to any convention, a roll
call vote on any issue before the
convention, other than the elec-
tion of officer.

The proposal tracks the one
that was turned down at the last
CLC convention except for two

.modifications. The first is that it

would only apply when requested
and supported by a show of hands
vote of at least one-third of the
delegates present, and second,
unions could only vote for locals
represented .at..the..convention,
not their totat membership irres-
pective of their presence at the
convention. :

These modifications were ob-
viously made by the CLC leader-
ship hoping that they could thus
overcome the small margin of de-
feat they suffered at the last con-
vention.

It is clear that the present CLC
leadership is determined to intro-
duce bloc voting into the conven-
tion as the first major step to-
wards changing the rank and file

character of the CLC. ae

Reckless Campaign
Such a major change in the
rules of the CLC surely should
have been submitted to the af-
filiates of the CLC much earlier in
order to allow for the kind of dis-
cussion necessary prior to the

- convention. Failure to do so

leaves the leadership open to the
suggestion that they sought to
avoid full discussion. :

One is reminded of the almost
reckless campaign of the Ontario
Federation of Labor to ditch the
annual convention for one to be

held every two years. The leader- . |
ship seemed convinced that if

they came back to the annual
convention often enough with
their proposal it would eventually

wear down the opposition and .

they would get their way. In fact
the results were the opposite so
that the last time the matter came
before the delegates the vote
against was so. overwhelmingly
against it is now off the agenda.

It is to be hoped that the re-

sponse of the delegates to the -

CLC convention will be the same
to the bloc-voting proposals of the
leadership.

If one listens to the arguments
of the leadership in favor of the
proposal, the impression is left
that such a proposal would widen

the democracy of the convention.
It would, they assert, end the
situation where a minority of the
affiliates to the CLC make deci-
sions at conventions, and allow
for the weight of the entire mem-
bership to be brought to bear.
Should Honor Decisions

If, indeed the leadership is so
concerned about the rights of the
membership and its ability to, in-
fluence decisions at conventions,
it could begin with honoring those
decisions when they are made.

The last convention decided
overwhelmingly in favor of the
Congress conducting a major
campaign on the shorter work
week. The convention was. no
sooner over when Dennis
McDermott. publicly debunked
the whole idea and wiped it off the
agenda for Canadcan workers.
Nor was this by any means the
only mandate the leadership left
lying on the order paper.

In fact however, the real impact
of bloc voting on the Canadian
trade union movement is not hard
to perceive. ;

It wil tend to wind down the

‘attendance at the conventions

and place in the hands of the top
structure of leadership the power
to vote for the entire membership
on crucial issues. Under existing
circumstances this can only have
the effect of strengthening the grip
of the right wing on the conven-
tion and its decision making
powers.

The tendency is more and more
to labor experts who replace the
role of the membership. This has
led to a situation where large
unions have difficulty getting a
quorum of 50 members to local
meetings. Some go months with-
out membership meetings.

The present desperate situation
in the auto industry is a case in
point. The Canadian industry is
literally going belly up. Windsor is
becoming a disaster centre. Oak-
ville is now moving on target and
St. Catharines is also being hurt.

Chrysler is begging the gov-

ernment for half a billion dollars, -

Cabinet ministers are scurrying
around trying to pretend to do
something about the crisis, a
small group of union leaders have
been scurrying back and forth to
Ottawa

But, what about the thousands
of autoworkers faced with ruin?
What steps have been taken by
the union to mobilize them into
action? Thirty or forty thousand
angry autoworkers at the steps of
the parliament buildings are
morely likely to be. heard, loud
and clear, than a few leaders, cap
in hand, knocking on the doors of
cabinet ministers.

The need in the Canadian trade
union movement is for a great ef-
fort to re-engage the rank and file
in responsibility for the conduct
of the movement. In the critical
period we are now in, this is im-
perative.

Bruce Magnuson is known
across Canada and beyond its
borders for Labor Scene, the
column he has written on a
regular basis since. April 1971
— and on various occasions in
the late 60s.

Over the years, Labor Scene
has become familiar to and has
been used by Canadian trade
unionists and workers in gen-
eral, as‘a reliable guide to the
politics of labor, to labor action
and organization.

Reluctantly, we’ve acceded
to Bruce’s request to be freed
from the rigorous deadlines
known to every columnist con-
scious of the need to be on top
of developments in his field. In
Bruce Magnuson’s case the
column has been just one of
many duties.

These few words are meant
to express appreciation, not
only for’a serious approach to

Magnuson writes 30

deadlines, but for the content
and clarity of those hundreds
of weekly messages to Trib
readers. Bruce has given us a
consistent working-class ex-
position of the problems and
tasks of workers and, on the
basis of Communist Party poli-
cy, pointed the way to solu-
tions. :
Readers will have noted that
for the past few issues, Labor
Scene has been in the able
hands of Bill Stewart, no
Stranger to the Tribune’s
pages, who will now be writing
the Labor Scene column. This
week’s Labor Scene is an indi-
cation that Bill is wasting no
time in coming to grips with the
chief concerns of working
people across Canada today.

Speco

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 25, 1980—Page 5

——