Labour Striking public sector workers in Quebec got a hand of solidarity from unionists in Vancouver Tuesday as delegates to the Vancouver and District Labour Council voted to send a message of support to the Quebec workers. The motion came as the Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa escalated his propaganda war against public sector employees, calling on the province’s voters to give him a man- date in the Sept. 25 vote to show “who is the boss in Quebec.” In ademagogic appeal to Liberal election workers Tuesday he declared: “*What is at stake in the Sept. 25 election now is: Who runs Quebec? Will it be the public’s interests and the democratic authority, or certain groups vying for private interests?” Bourassa followed those comments Wednesday with a warning to unions to settle at the current offer or the negotiations would be suspended Friday until after the vote. The ultimatum left open the possibil- ity of legislated action: But it is precisely the stand taken by the Liberal government and Treasury Board’s refusal to address the issue of pay equity and the continued erosion of wage levels that has sparked new militancy among public sector workers. Ata press conference last week, Monique Simard, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN in French) told reporters: “Some sections of the public sector (have experienced) a 25 per cent decline in purchasing power since the beginning of the decade.” Simard, at the press conference with Lor- raine Page, president of the Centrale de Venseignement du Quebec (CEQ), the Quebec teachers’ federation which is bar- gaining with the CSN, said that wages for private sector workers fell an average 10 per cent over the years 1982-88, while public sector employees saw their pay decline by 15 per cent. Pay equity is also a key issue, with some 82,000 women entering the public sector with base wages almost $2,000 less than male employees in similar positions with similar experience. More thana quarter of those women will never attain the starting wage set for male- dominated positions, CSN leaders have pointed out. More than 225,000 public sector workers, members of the CSN and the CEQ, have + Que. workers challenge Bourassa’s ultimatum taken strike action across the province, although 43,000 public servants and the 95,000-member Federation des affaires sociales (FAS) suspended their strike tem- porarily earlier this week in an effort to get negotiations on track. Several thousand unionists were back on the picket lines Thursday. In addition, the 40,000-member Quebec Federation of Nurses, which had been on strike, was to announce the results of its ratification vote Sept. 22. The vote was still in question since the government has refused to remove the $25 million in fines it imposed under anti-labour legislation. Quebec public sector workers face the crippling restrictions of legislation which lays down strict essential service conditions on job action and imposes severe penalties for any infraction. Bill 160, passed by the Liberal govern- ment three years ago, levies fines, arbitrarily removes seniority from striking employees and appropriates three months dues for every day of participation in an illegal walk- out. But it is almost impossible for Quebec workers to carry outa legal strike because of earlier legislation passed by the Parti Quebecois government which stipulates that essential services conditions must be met before a strike can proceed, and limits strikes over pay disputes to the first year of two and three year agreements. The PQ government’s Bill 37 specifies that unions must submit a list of employees who will remain at work to a Bureau of Essential Services which must approve the. list before strike action can be taken. The bureau can withhold approval indefinitely. In fact, the FAS did not have that appro- val when it launched strike action, posing the threat of fines and other sanctions sim- ilar to those imposed on Quebec nurses. Simard last week rejected government claims that the public was being harmed by the unions’ action. The strike “is not to remove the government, and it’s not to bother Mr. Bourassa. And we will not jeo- pardize the population’s safety and health,” she said, emphasizing that essential services are being maintained in Quebec hospitals. Simard and Page also emphasized that the government'and Treasury Board pro- voked the current situation with their ref- usal to bargain in good faith when the election was still some distance away. Labour key, Hewison tells KDLC KAMLOOPS — Labour has the pivotal role in opposing the “Tory onslaught” on the Canadian people, the leader of the Communist Party of Canada told the Kam- loops and District Labour Council on Sept. 18. CP general secretary George Hewison said that since the signing of the Canada- U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Jan. 1, 50,000 Canadian jobs have been lost while “social programs have been assailed.” “Now the Tories are moving to imple- ment massive tax hikes. People have been lied to by the Tories, they’re angry, and their anger is growing,” Hewison told the dele- gates. Hewison’s talk, at the council’s invita- tion, marked the first time a Communist leader has addressed Kamloops Labour Council in several decades. The right-wing forces are hoping to defuse this anger, but Conimunists say labour must not sell itself short, Hewison told council delegates. “We don’t have to choose between lower 12 « Pacific Tribune, September 25, 1989 taxes and enhanced social programs — we can have both,” he said. “We need genuine tax reform. If we called in even a portion of the deferred taxes currently not paid by the large corpora- tions, billions of dollars could be realized.” If the privatization of profitable Crown corporations were halted, and a “‘made-in- Canada interest rate policy” were estab- lished, billions more dollars could be found, Hewison added. Hewison, in town to introduce the party’s “Stop the Attack on U & I Campaign,” said the government’s attack on unemployment insurance is really directed at the trade unions. “Their aim is to replace the contributory program with a labour mobility scheme in the interests of international big business, as dictated by the reality of the free trade agreement,” he said. “Labour has the most to lose under the Tory assault, and the most to gain by uniting Canadians opposed to the plans to restructure Canada,” the CP leader said. Public sector strikes highlight new issues What began as a sleeper of anelection in Quebec has caught attention both in and outside the province. Making the difference was the intervention of :the working class in the political process. The strike by 40,000 nurses has presented the incumbent Liberal government with a dilemma. Suffering a wage and benefit roll back under the Parti Quebecois (PQ), Quebec health-care workers were determined to catch-up in this round of negotiations. To attain their goal the nurses defied the government’s essential services strike ban. This in turn inspired other health- care workers to follow suit. The election provided an Opportunity to apply the maximum public pressure to ensure the government brought more monies to the bargaining table. As the Liberals scrambled to work out a settle- ment with the nurses, some 300,000 other public sector workers were waiting in the wings prepared to take strike action. These unions also face severe sanctions under the law. Unfortunately, Quebec workers, en- raged by the Bourassa’s punitive actions Although the union has been in a strike position for the past month the union has avoided’ a full-scale strike (which in the past has always resulted in back-to-work legislation) and has instead gone ona four-day week and is working- to-rule in an effort to pressure the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to drop its demand for part-timers. The transit slowdown has caused some backlash from commuters who are caught in the middle. of the clash. If the union is to be successful, creative solu- tions will have to be found to build solid- arity between transit workers and users. For example in Europe, workers faced with similar situations have refused to collect fares — this not surprisingly won the support of passengers. Applied here, such a move would 'win rider support for the union’s cause and hit the TTC where it hurts — in the pocket book. There is another issue in the TTC sta- lemate which has received little to no attention. The provincial government is getting off scot-free in the debacle. Pro- vincial support for Metro’s public transit John MacLennan eee against the strikers, have little alternative to the Liberals on voting day. They have tried the PQ and been bitterly betrayed. The Quebec New Democratic Party maintains a deafening silence on events. Only the Communist Party of Quebec (PCQ) has come out solidly behind the unions’ demands. Nor has Quebec labour presented a common front in support of its public sector members. Quebec Federation of Labour president Louis Laberge didn’t help the situation by publicly telling the nurses their strike would only help the Liberals. The comment was hard to believe, considering Laberge, as part of the Common Front in the early ‘70s, was jailed for the same thing, by the same government, headed by the same pre- mier. It’s certainly time for labour to seriously consider the proposition advanced by the PCQ. It’s in the cam- paign, calling for a coalition of progres- sive parties which will support and defend the demands of the peoples and labour movements in the National Assembly. In Toronto, transit workers are locked in a dispute over the hiring of part-time workers. Their union, Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), see this as the thin edge of the wedge that will see their members’ job security under- mined. LABOUR IN ACTION system has declined steadily since the mid-Seventies. Then, 25 cents got you anywhere in the city, the system was run- ning at capacity and was making a profit. Now, riders have come to expect the annual five-cent fare increase, ridership has dropped proportionately and the commission finds itself in a constant deficit. Since the part-time issue revolves around the TTC saving money, it’s time the Ontario Liberals were called on to pay their share. But part-time work goes beyond the job security and safety concerns the union has been stressing. The pressure to turn full-time jobs into part-time, is becoming one of escalating importance. For employers, part-time work is an inexpensive, flexible alternative to full time jobs, with full-time wages and benefits. Business has been successful in turning almost the entire service sector work force into part-time — and is now eyeing part-time work in the public and industrial sectors in a big way. It’s all part of the free trade, neo- conservative agenda where the human costs of labour — a living wage, health and safety, family and personal life — are to be avoided. No local, union or labour federation can take on such’an agenda on its own. These workers need unity and solidarity as never before. Their demands are just and deserve all Canadian workers’ sup- port. 09 @ 0: Br One) 60 ete 10) ese ens: 0. eee 8 © ewe eee eee coe cee ete eo ee 8 ee ewe ewer rere sre eee ewe Postal Code lamenclosing 1yr.$200) 2yrs.$350 3yrs. $500 Foreign1yr. $320 Bill me later Donations........ Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 bee et ne Set at ee er er eet te Yee a ee Sa E l J