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TABOR

FARMERS TO SUE
CN-CP RAILWAYS

_SASKATOON — The Na-
tional Farmers Union plans to
launch a class action suit against
the Canadian Pacific, and Cana-
dian National Railways, the NFU
said last month. On behalf of
Canadian Wheat Board permit
book holders in the prairies reg-
ion, the Class Action will be
launched to reclaim damages suf-
fered by wheat farmers in losses
of grain sales and high penalty
charges for late shipments be-'
cause CN-CP didn’t provide the

at Board with enough rolling
stock. Because of this, the Wheat

Board couldn’t fulfill all its export
sales commitments in the 1977-
78, and into 1978-79 crop years.

TTC ELECTRICIANS
BREAK OFF TALKS

TORONTO — Charging the
Toronto Transit Commission with
bad faith bargaining, negotiators
for Local 2, Canadian Union of
Public Employees, ended contract
talks on behalf of 168 electricians,
last week.

The CUPE contract with the
TTC expired March 31, with the
union entering a so-called ‘“‘legal’’
strike pnsition June 30. The elec-
tricians want a 10.8% wage hike in
a 27-month pact.

IWA HEAD WANTS
SETTLEMENT

PRINCE ALBERT — Bud
Massey, president of Local 1-184
International Woodworkers of
America called on Saskatchewan
Labor Minister Gordon Snyder
May 2, to appoint a conciliator to
investigate a contract dispute be-
tween the local and Moose Jaw

IN BRIEF

Door and Sash Co., Ltd. With the
first anniversary on May 9, the

* Moose Jaw Sash and Door strike

is the longest in Saskatchewan’s
history. Massey said the concilia-
tion request was to demonstrate
the union’s desire to get a settle-
ment. ‘‘It is now up to the -com-,
pany to indicate their good inten-
tions ... we would like to set a
goal of achieving a settlement be-
fore May 9,”’ Massey said.

OPSEU TO VOTE |
ON CLC LINK

TORONTO — The executive
board of the 60,000-member On-
tario Public Service Employees
Union is recommending to next
month’s union convention that
OPSEU affiliate to the National
Union of Provincial Government
Employees (NUPGE). OPSEU has
long favored joining the Canadian
Labor Congress, of which NUPGE
is a member, but the CLC in the
past refused to accept direct af-
filiation because OPSEU refused to
join NUPGE. The move, if ratified

by the convention, will allow .

OPSEU to play a long-awaited and
welcome role in both the CLC and
the Ontario Federation of Labor.

CiVIC WORKERS
STRIKE IN SOO

SAULT STE. MARIE —
Some 60 city parks and recreation
workers went on strike May 6,
rejecting the city’s inadequate
wage offer.

The members of the Canadian‘
Union of Public Employees broke
off talks with the city, May 2, re-
jecting a two-year pact which
would leave the workers with tiny
9%, and 8% wage increases each
year.

SdIT1IHd SIN — OLOHd SNNGIEL

TORONTO — Members of the Toronto focal of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers greeted the news of
their president’s jailing by setting up information pickets outside both major postal facilities In the city.

An injury to one is a challenge
to all — says postal union head

‘But if this is the price that
must be paid for being a dem-
ocratic militant union, represent-
ing the interests of the member-
ship, then surely it is well worth
paying. For faced with the alter-
natives of struggle or capitulation,
we have no choice but to continue
the struggle.”’

*

ak Mik

Speaking about the struggles
waged by unions like the United
Electrical workers (UE), and the
Canadian Union of Postal Work-
ers, and of the attacks against such
labor organizations, CUPW presi-
dent Jean Claude Parrot called for
‘new strategies ... new ways of
thinking’’ by organized labor. The
Tribune believes it is appropriate
at this time to-excerpt and repro-
duce these and other observations

| Oshawa auto workers vote $30,000 a month to strikers

Labor solidarity pushes Inco

_ TORONTO —The kind of sol-
idarity recently shown to the
Sudbury Inco strikers by 15,000
Oshawa auto workers is what
forced the U.S. multi-national to
negotiate with United Steelwor-
kers Local 6500.

Local 222 United Auto Work-
ers, with Inco strike leader Dave
Patterson present, voted May 3 to
donate $30,000 per month, to the

‘Inco strike fund. The auto work-

ers, who themselves face negotia-
tions in the fall for new agree-
ments with the U.S. auto
monopolies, agreed to a
pay cheque-dues assessment of
two dollars per member per
month to help the Inco strikers
continue their historic struggle
against the company until victory
is won.

The auto workers’ decision
came just three days before the
local 6500 Steelworkers negotiat-
ing Committee announced a tenta-

- tive settlement, pending ratifica-

tion by the Sudbury miners and
smelter workers, had been
achieved.

Vote on Proposal

Sudbury steelworkers were
considering their response to the
proposed agreement, as the
Tribune went to press May 10.
Vote results on the proposed

three-year pact were expected to
be announced after the weekend.

If ratified, the agreement will
provide a 71 cents an hour wage
hike over the term. Continuation
of the current cost of living es-
calator clause is estimated to
bring in $1.65 over the life of the
agreement.

Other improvements include a
two dollar increase in the monthly
calculation of pension benefits,
and full pension benefits after 35
years service regardless of age. A
new long term disability plan pro-
vides a minimum $270 a month
above Canada Pension Plan or
Workmen's Compensation Board
benefits. In addition to other im-
proved benefits, Inco withdrew
its union-busting demands during
the talks which would have crip-
pled the grievance procedure.

The UAW Local 222 Inco |

strike assessment followed a do-
nation of more than $1,440 dona-
tion presented to Local 6500 by

-the United Electrical Workers

(UE) at the UE biennial confer-
ence in Peterborough, April
26-29.

The first cheque for $30,000:

from Local 222 was presented
May 5 to the Inco strikers by
Oshawa UAW president Ted
Murphy. Local 222 had previ-
ously netted more than $9,000 for

the strikers in two plant gate col-
lections.

Determined to Beat Company

Thanking the Oshawa auto
workers May 3, Patterson said it
was because of this support and
the tremendous solidarity shown
by working people across the
country that the Sudbury miners
and smelterworkers were able to
continue their struggle against
massive odds to wrench a decent
contract from the greedy multi-
national.

Patterson said the Inco strikers’
morale was high, and their deter-
mination to beat the company was
strong. He told the auto workers
many of the strikers had been
without a pay cheque for more
than 10 months becuase of the six
week layoff the company im-
posed on the workers before the
strike began. :

The Inco strike, he said has
brought the labor movement
closer together. He added that
victory against Inco was achieva-
ble if workers across Canada con-
tinue to stick together the way
they have so far.

Patterson pledged that when
and if the Oshawa auto workers
need strike support in the future,
they will always be able to count
on the help of the Sudbury Steel-
workers.

made by Parrot April 28 at the

UE’s biennial conference, held in

Peterborough.
x * *

‘*Today we are entering into a
critical period in the historic
struggle of the labor movement.
Our right to strike, our right to
negotiate, our. right to decent
employment, our right to indexed
pensions, our right to unemploy-
ment insurance, our night to
health care, our right to higher
education our right to privacy —
all our rights 3, are under increasing
attack from a business-govern-
ment coalition dedicated to con-
frontation and determined to in-
crease private profits at the ex-
pense of public welfare. ;

‘In order to succeed to fulfill
their dreams of creating a tightly
controlled, low wage, northern
Banana Republic, the govern-
ments and corporations under-
stand that they are confronted by
one major obstacle — the strength
and power of the working class as
represented by the trade union
movement. And this is why they
have jointly turned their energies
to weaken the basis upon which
the labor movement rests — the
right to collective bargaining and
the right to strike.

‘*The first thing that we must
recognize is that despite the cur-
rent recession, the employers as a
class have grown stronger and
more organized . . . they also have
the state of the economy to use
against workers.

‘This present attack on the
working class cannot be ac-
counted for by a chaiige of at-
thtude on the part of the
employers ... What has changed
is the employers’ assessment of
their own power. They know
that while they. have organized,
and while they have grown
stronger, the labor movement has

‘not built and consolidated its

strength on a national basis. This
is the situation that confronts the
labor movement and it is our abil-
ity to deal with this class warfare
as preached by the employers
which will determine the fate of
workers for generations to come.
‘Needless to say the failure of
the labor movement to defeat
wage controls was a clear indica-
tion to business and government
to escalate their attack on the
trade union movement. Instead of
agreeing to a system of tripartism,

they proceeded to advance their
schemes of industrial democracy
at the local level while toughening
their stand at the bargaining table:
‘*The complete failure of tripar-
tism can be seen by the fact that in
the documents presented by the
CLC Executive to the delegates
at the CLC convention in April
1978, the word tripartism simply
does not appear ... To comple-
ment the collective bargaining
struggles of the labor movement,
the CLC convention also decided
to actively enter the political pro-
cess ... Since that time we have
seen the labor movement
mobilize its resources behind the
NDR >
‘But while we may support the
initiative of the CLC to carry out
this mandate from the conven-
tion, the question remains —
what about the other mandates,
what about the mandate to
mobilize support of collective
bargaining rights, what about the

‘mandate to promote the shorter

work week? Were not these
policies also passed by the dele-
gates to the last convention?
Should they not also receive the
same attention from the Congress
and the trade union movement?
‘‘Whatever the outcome of the
election May 22, the fact remains

that electoral action on its own is

not adequate to defeat the current
attack on collective bargaining.

‘*The challenge before us is to
increase our industrial strength in
response to the employers’ offen-
sive. Certainly political action is
an important part of the process,
but this action should comple-
ment our struggles at the work
place, not become a substitute for
them.

“The challenge before us is not
simply to pass resolutions calling
for a more vigorous CLC which
will unite the entire strength of the
working class into a fighting force
to support particular struggles ...
The task before us is to ensure
that these resolutions become a
reality.

“Of course there will be dif-
ferences of opinion concerning
priorities and strategy. But these.
differences should be handled in a
fraternal way — in the knowledge
that the enemy is not those who
desire change within the labor
movement — the real enemy is to
be found in the corporate board
rooms across the country.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 18, 1979—Page 5

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