Mass rally hears resounding opposition to Socreds

But labor action program missing

It is a positive achievement that
3,500 people attended the rally of
the B.C. Federation of Labor held
in Vancouver on March 7. The rally
proved a number of things. First, it
proved that the trade union
membership can be mobilized
against anti-labor legislation, Se-
cond, that there is a strong desire
among the most active sections of
the trade union movement to take
political action in. order to
guarantee the defeat of the Socreds
in the next provincial election.
Third, that while many active and
militant trade unionists favor the
NDP as the electoral alternative to

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

the Socreds, there is a growing
understanding that the NDP is not a
labor party and that the trade union
movement should maintain its in-
dependence in relation to. all
political parties.

Jack Munro of the International
Woodworkers of America was the
wind-up speaker and he got the’best
response from the crowd. He spoke
strongly in favor of supporting the
NDP in the next provincial election,
but conceded on several occasions
that organized labor has had its dif-
ferences with the NCP and will like-
ly have more differences in the
future.

Bill King, NDP MLA for
‘Revelstoke Slocan and the minister
of labor in the Barrett government,
got a big hand when he pledged that
if the NDP formed the next govern-
ment, it would repeal Bill 46. Bill 46
was introduced December 9, 1978
to end the strike lockout in the West
Kootenays, but Section 11 amended
the Essential Services Dispute Act
to cover employees of regional
districts, municipalities, colleges
and provincial institutes and school
board employees. However it is
significant that King did not com-
mit the NDP to the repeal of the

Essential Services Disputes Act in
its ‘entirety and to the restoration of
full collective bargaining rights for
all public employees.

King said Bill 46 is unworkable
and that an NDP government
would promote better cooperation
between employers and unions. He
did not spell out what forms this
cooperation could .be expected to
assume.

This raises a very important ques-
tion. If the Essential Services
Disputes Act is unworkable for
those brought under its jurisdiction
last December, does it not follow it
is also unworkable for those
previously covered by the act? The
Essential Services Disputes Act,
consolidated January 20, 1978,
listed the following as being covered
by the act at that time:

Fire-fighters’ unions.

Health care unions. °

Policemen’s unions.

Employees of B.C. Buildings

Corporation.

@ B.C. Ferry Corporation.

@ B.C. Hydro and Power
Authority.

@ B.C. Systems Corporation.

@ Emergency Health Services

Commission.

@ Government of British
Columbia.

@ Insurance Corporation
of B.C.

@ Workers’ Compensation
Board.

All in all, some 100,000 public

employees in B.C. have had their
collective bargaining rights (in-
cluding the right to strike) drastical-
ly weakened. For all practical pur-
poses, they can strike legally only if
the cabinet permits them to do so.

Obviously, as shown by the pro-
gression of the Essental Services
Disputes Act (under. NDP and
Socred governments) the right to
strike is indivisible. Once it is taken
away from one group of workers,
the rights of all workers are in
danger. In the opinion of this
writer, the, Federation should have
utilized the rally to demand the
repeal of the Essential Services
Disputes Act in its entirety and call-

IWA meet sets demand
for $1.50 an hour hike

A key set of contract talks will be
Opening in April when the Region 1
of the International Woodworkers
of America places its demands on
the bargaining table for a $1.50 an
hour increase over a one-year agree-
ment plus a number of other
benefits including a_ reactivated
cost-of-living adjustment clause.

The demands were hammered out
at a three-day contract conference
Thursday, Friday and Saturday in
Vancouver where close to 200
delegates debated several hundred
resolutions before finalizing the list
of some 44 demands.

In addition to the wage increase,
the 47,000-member IWA is calling
for a master contract with a com-
mon expiry date for the coast and
northern and southern interior, pay
regions for several categories in-
cluding fallers and tradesmen, a
guaranteed income plan for loggers,
employer contributions to a union
research and safety fund, and the
introduction of an industry-wide

system of ‘‘banking’’ time off to.

enable workers in different sections
of the industry to shorten the work
week or year in the way best suited
to their part of the industry.

IWA regional president Jack
Munro said that the union would

. controls—and

also be seeking the reactivation of
the COLA clause—taken away by
the federal government’s wage con-
trols—to offset continuing in-
creases in the cost of living.

Giving major impetus to the 1979
forest talks will be a widespread
membership demand for substantial
increases to make up for purchasing
power lost over the three years of
the hefty profits
which all of the major forests com-
panies enjoyed—only a portion of
which was attributable to the
devalued Canadian dollar.

MacMillan Bloedel, the giant in
the province’s forest industry, saw
its profits increase 163 percent in
1978 while B.C. Forest Products,
the second largest, increased its pro-
fits over the previous year by 97
percent.

In the case of MacMillan Bloedel,
sales were up only 18 percent—in-
dicating that the devalued dollar
figured only marginally in the profit
hike.

“The industry is in excellent,
shape,’’ Munro emphasized.
“‘They’ve made a hell of a lot of
money for a long time now.”’’

The coast IWA contract expires
June 14 while the southern interior
contract goes until June 30 and the
northern interior until August 31.

BILL KING AT FED RALLY ..

ed for full collective bargaining
rights, including the right to strike,
for all public sector employees.

Police, firefighters and hospital
workers, and any other workers in
the more sensitive areas of the
public service should all have the
tight to opt voluntarily for binding
arbitration if they so choose, and
with no restrictions. That choice
should be binding on the employer.
This right to opt for voluntary ar-
bitration is currently applicable to
unions representing firefighters,
police and health care workers,
after ‘‘bargaining in good faith’’.

It is also applicable for other
employees covered by the act after
the cabinet instructs the- Labor
Relations Board to designate
“those facilities it considers
necessary or essential to prevent im-
mediate danger to life, health or
safety, or an immediate threat to.
the economy; or when a 90 day
‘cooling off’ period is ordered.’’

If the right to choose binding ar-
bitration voluntarily were granted,
free of all restriction imposed by the
Essential Services Disputes Act, it
would be a much better deal for
public sector employees and for

labor in general. In the long run, it

would be better for the public too.

In a policy statement adopted by
the B.C. Federation of Labor at the
November 1977 convention there
was the following: ‘‘That in order
to ensure the delivery of services
which are truly essential to the life, -
health and safety of the public, the
B.C. Federation of Labor will
establish an ongoing ‘Emergency
Services Advisory Council’ com-
posed. of representatives of the
Federation executive council and
unions involved in the delivery of
emergency services, and that this
council will guarantee the continued
delivery of those emergency services
in line with the practice of the trade
union movement.

It could be argued that some
unions in the public sector
(representing a minority) are not af-

. pledged to repeal Bill 46 but no com-
mitment to stike Essential Services Act off the statute books.
—Fred Wilson photo

filiates of the Federation and that 2

this could present problems.
However, experience has
demonstrated that the Federation is
influential _enough to establish
workable machinery to involve in-
dependent unions on a mutually
satisfactory basis.

Judging from the address to the
rally by Jim Kinnaird, president of
the Federation of Labor, the labor
movement has good reason to
believe that if the Socreds are re-

‘elected and form the provincial

government, they will enact so-
called right-to-work _ legislation.
That would mean outlawing com-
pulsory union membership where
the majority in a bargaining unit so
decide; and the elimination of
union hiring in the construction in-
dustry, where it is very necessary
because of the nature of the in-
dustry.

In the opinion of this writer, a
vital ingredient was missing from
the Vancouver rally—namely the
projection of industrial action .in
Opposition to the Essential Services
Disputes Act in order to round out,
support and give sharper focus to
parliamentary action. For example,
the 1977 convention of the B.C.
Federation of Labor adopted the
following course of action:

@That the trade union move-

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 16, 1979—P;

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ment boycott the activities of 1
Essential Service Advisory Agel
established in Bill 92 and that
trade unionists serve on the Agent
e@That the trade union moy
ment boycott the activities of ai
fact finder appointed under Bill $
~ @That this convention guarant
any affiliate of the Federation mai
imum possible support, if after co

Federation officers, it chooses |
defy a cooling-off period ord
under Bill 92.

e@ That any affiliate which,
consultation and approval o ¥ ;
Federation officers, finds itself
contempt of court for reaso
relating to the passage of Soci
Credit anti-labor legislation, W
receive the fullest possible Suppo
of the Federation.

@ That any affiliate which, af
consultation and approval of i
Federation officers, wishes
boycott a hearing or activity of th
Labor Relations Board because
the board’s intervention-as a rest
of a politically motivated order®
the provincial government, ;
receive the fullest possible sup
of the Federation. *

If this program of action we
implemented, along with aggressi
political action to defeat #
Socreds in.the provincial electio
organized labor could Z
decisive gains.

Personally, I was disappointed
the presentations made by Shir
Carr, executive vice-president off
Canadian Labor Congress —
Grace Hartman, president of
Canadian Union of Publ
Employees, Canada’s largest unic
Carr didn’t seem to know wh
was at and Hartman’s speech
much less to the point than som
her. previous speeches in Vai
couver. Basically, Hartman advai
ed a right-wing social democral
line, even to the point of ridiculif —
the legitimate demand of the peop
of French Canada for a new
dian constitution based on th
equality of the two founding n
tions. a
It was a serious shortcoming thi
no speaker dealt with big busing —
groups such as the Employen
Council ‘of B.C., the Canadii

Construction Labor Relatiof
Association, the Mining Associ
tion, and the forest monopolit
Their influence on government!
the field of labor relations is coh —
siderable. There is an’ ongoil
struggle between labor and cap
and the Socred government in Vi
toria, irrespective of any shifts
backtracking because of poli
expediency, will ultimately op
favor of serving the interests of b
business. .

But having said all that, | a
close by stating again that fl
negative was outweighed by th
positive. Organized labor is on ff
move to defeat the Socreds. It h
once again shown its great potent
for moving politics to the left.