"TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON

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BRITISH COLUMBIA

Canada Post is wasting taxpayers’

money on court appeals and attempting to -

silence public debate about postal service
In its relentless push towards confronta-
tion with the Canadian Union of Postal
Workers, Marion Pollack, president of the
Vancouver local of CUPW said Tuesday.
4 CUPW members across Canada re-
ceived letters from Canada Post last week
Warning that they would face disciplinary
action if they continued to participate in
union demonstrations outside postal sta-
tions calling for improved and expanded
postal service.

_ The letters, which referred several times
to “picketing harassment,” claimed that

the criticism and public comment about

Postal service made by CUPW members
Could “seriously prejudice” the image of
Canada Post in the public eye and threa-
tened discipline “up to and including dis-
charge” if they took part.

But the union and union members
won’t be intimidated into silence, Pollack
declared.

“Canada Post doesn’t want us to
engage in the public debate about postal
service,” she said. “But as postal workers,
we have the right and the obligation to
take part in the debate about postal issues
and to tell people what we think is wrong
with postal service and how it can be
improved.”

“And Canada Post is certainly not
going to tell our members what they can

do in their time off,” she added.

Pollack said that the union’s national
office would be taking the letters before
the Canada Labour Relations Board,
Locally, a policy grievance has been filed.

Although not directly related, the letters
were undoubtedly a reflection of the cor-
poration’s frustration at the decision by
the CLRB Sept. 1, ruling that employees
of a postal franchise in a Willowdale,
Ontario drug store were entitled to the
same wages and benefits as CUPW
members under the union successor provi-
sions of the Federal Labour Code.

But Canada Post and Harvie Andre,
the federal minister responsible for the
post office, soon made clear their disre-
gard for a negotiated contract, announc-
ing Sept. 2 that the ruling would be.
appealed to the Federal Court of Canada.

But that appeal is “a waste of taxpayers’
money” and only demonstrates that the
corporation is concerned solely with cut-
ting union jobs and wages, Pollack said.

She pointed to past cases where the
court has considered CLRB rulings, not-
ing that the number of instances where a

POLLACK

Postal workers have the
right to say what is wrong
with service

CUPW national president Jean-Claude
Parrot called the decision a “‘major victory
against cheap labour and privatization”
because it thwarted — in this case at
least — the drive by Canada Post to pri-
vatize wicket service and push union jobs
into the low wage sector.

Parrot said the decision, if followed by
Canada Post, could be a key factor in
heading off a strike since the franchising
plans by the corporation have presented a
formidable obstacle in negotiations.

decision has been overturned “is negligi-
ble.

“They’re wasting taxpayers’ money to
go to the court, “ she said. “But it should
make it clear to people that the whole
purpose of franchising is to get rid of the
union.”

Canada Post has announced plans to
open up franchises in some 50 centres, at
the same time closing Canada Post centres
and eliminating CUPW members. No

| CUPW hits employer intimidation

franchises have been opened in this pro-
vince so far but a number of union jobs in
wicket service have been contracted out to
drug stores and other retail outlets.

The Sept. 1 CLRB decision was fol-
lowed by a ruling Tuesday by a Toronto
arbitrator that casuals, including so-called
replacement workers, hired by Canada
Post must, under the union shop agree-
ment, be paid union wages and must pa’
union dues by checkoff. The ruling,
prompted by a grievance filed by CUPW,
has also been interpreted to mean that
replacement workers’ names should be
made available to the union.

The ruling prompted consternation
from Canada Post officials, including
Vancouver representative Mike Bradshaw
who questioned how the decision would
be implemented, noting that Canada Post
uses its own staff to train coders as well as
private outfits.

His comments gave further substance
to union charges that the corporation is
training scabs in preparation for a
strike — a strike that the union says could
be averted if Canada Post would carry out
the spirit of the CLRB decision and aban-
don its franchising program.

Pollack said that the CUPW national
office has called for a resumption of bar-
gaining on the basis of the decision and
has urged that the conciliation commis-
sioner re-enter the talks.

“But as of noon today — Sept. 8 —
there was no response,” she said.

A number of community organizations
have phoned us recently to express concern
Over a review of the city’s community grants
process, recently announced by Ald. Carole
Taylor. She sent a letter to community
organizations which received community
grants indicating that the grants process and
funding priorities are being reviewed, and
that organizations are invited to briefly
express opinions.

Given the tough experience most com-
munity groups in need of funding have had
from NPA councils over the years, we aren’t
surprised that concerned groups have asked
us, “What are they up to?”

We won’t know the answer to that ques-
tion for a couple of months. But COPE
shares the concern over the review and will
be watching to ensure that it doesn’t
become a political exercise to prepare the

ground for cutbacks in community service

grants and funding.

The NPA has long complained that the
community grants budget is too large. In
fact, it is less than one per cent of the city’s
budget — just $2,293,000 in 1987. This
mere fraction of city expenditures, however,
provides at a very efficient cost an enor-
mous range of badly needed community
services.

The NPA, of course, has a remarkably
different attitude towards supporting the
causes of the business community. A reveal-
ing contrast in priorities was displayed ear-
lier this year when the NPA decided to grant
$50,000 to an organization promoting
cruise ships coming to Vancouver (the pro-

ject subsequently folded), and then to reject

a grant of $1,000 to assist low-income
women to attend a conference on the Uni-

._ ted Nations Year of the Homeless.

One part of Ald. Taylor’s letter under-

lines our concerns over the review. She
lauds the change in the community grant

_ appeal process, set by the NPA this year, as

an “improvement.” This new process forces
organizations to appeal the recommenda-
tions of staff, before a vote and a decision by
council. Appeals of decisions made by the
NPA majority will only be heard in emer-
gency situations.

This effectively denies most organiza-
tions an appeal. If Taylor has more
improvements like this in mind, community
organizations will face some real troubles.

The timing of the review is also a prob-
lem. Her letter arrived in most offices in the

@ City council should set 'a community
grants budget based on the social services
needs of Vancouver.

e Community grants should maintain a
balance of services to address a variety of
social needs, rather than cutting back in
some areas and concentrating funding in
other selected areas.

e@ Community grants should be approved
by a majority vote of council rather than by
the present requirement of eight. votes.
Council spends millions of dollars by simple
majority votes, but requires a two-thirds
vote to make a contract for service with a
community group.

third week of August, while the deadline for
response is Sept. 4. Community groups
have told us that the time allowed is impos-
sible, particularly for organizations with
executives or boards that meet monthly. We
have advised groups to reply that the dead-
line is too tight and that they will respond
after they have had time to properly consi-
dered the matter.

Why the rush? If the NPA is planning to
bring in a whole new policy on community
grants, it should not be on the basis of a
hurry-up review and a hidden agenda.

Without knowing exactly what the NPA
is planning, here are some positive sugges-
tions for consideration:

Libby Davies
Bruce Eriksen

@ All organizations should have the right
to appeal the decision of city council on
their grants, after council has voted for a
first time.

id To provide greater security and stabil-
ity of community services, some grants
could be for two years.

e@ The application form should be
streamlined to require a minimum of statis-
tical information relevant to the service that
funding is requested for.

These are only a few suggestions that we
will pursue. We will do our best to keep you
informed about what develops in this
review of the community grants process.

Defence

policy
focus of
EAR meet

A public meeting on the federal
government defence white paper
— which Defence Minister Perrin
Beatty has been invited to ad-
dress — will kick off End the
Arms Race third annual peace con-

~ ference Sept. 18-20.

Lydia Sayle, conference co-
ordinator for the 230-member
peace coalition, said the aim of the
conference is to unify the peace
movement around two national
campaigns: the Canadian Peace
Pledge and the campaign for
nuclear weapons free zones.

Workshop and plenary sessions
for the three-day meeting will focus
on “Alternatives to the White
Paper: A positive policy for world
peace” and “a sane defence policy
for Canada” as well as strategies
for organizing and action on the
two peace campaigns.

All conference sessions are in the
Woodward Instructional Resour-
ces Centre at the University of B.C.

The public meeting, set for 8
p.m. Friday night, will focus on the
government’s white paper “Chal-
lenge or Commitment: A Defence
Policy for Canada” and organizers
have invited Beatty or a represen-
tative of his ministry to speak.
Speakers from the peace move-
ment include C.G. “Giff’ Gifford,
national chairman of Veterans
against Nuclear Arms.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 e 3

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