&f[ORONTO — After six
aths pounding the pavement in
f the John Inglis plant here,
‘striking workers voted 3-1 to
ept a contract which held back
h for concessions by the
;-owned subsidiary.

ing into negotiations Whirl-
J Corp. had demanded a
-year wage freeze, revoking
cost-of-living allowance
gotiated in a previous contract
| provision for a 20 per cent

-up on the line.

"Referring to themselves as the
(rst victims of free trade’’, the
workers Carried out their strike
jon under threats from the
npany that in the event of a
ateral trade pact withthe U.S.,
ould close its doors, if conces-

TORONTO — Graham Cable
lost. another attempt before
Ontario Labor Board to have
union decertified at its west
peration.

‘ftwas the fourth board decision
king the Communication and
Nectrical Workers in Canada,
ino this time demonstrated that a
association of scabs did not
stitute legitimate represen-
for employees.

C national representative
Dowhaluk said the board ag-
4 with the union’s position that
Cable Television Workers

jation is ‘‘a disguised at-
apt to decertify the union’’.
We showed that the associa-
.n had no intent to bargain on

sloyees’ behalf... and that it

Contract at Inglis plant

CWC wins fourth case
against Graham Cable

faith and another over the firing of

sions were not accepted.

The union took its message to
the public in a leafletting of major
department stores, urging con-
sumers not to buy _ Inglis-
produced appliances.

Local 2900 of the United Steel
Workers managed to increase
their pension and benefit package
and win 45-15-15 cent increases in
a three-year package.

Local president John Hersh
called the contract a ‘‘victory’’
for the union, but warned that
jobs were still on the line if free
trade goes through. Inglis is a
‘holding operation’? for Whirl-
pool; their U.S. plants are better
equipped and able to produce 10
times more than the Toronto
operation.

it could not be effective,”’ said
Dowhaluk.

The ResHeanK one iaaGed TORONTO — Federal parolee to $8,100 under the
last March, eight months after the parole officers showed up in _ new plan.
HES Sas formed pacstike athe disguise demonstrate When word was leaked to

workers returned to work June 2
under federal first contract legis-
lation.

The CWC has two more cases
pending against Graham before
the board, involving the com-
pany’s failure to bargain in good

six strikers.

Under first contract legislation
scabs who worked during a strike
retain their jobs and must be rep-
resented by the union: Dowhaluk
says the local is doing its best to
heal wounds inside the work-
place, but Graham, notorious for
its anti-union stance, is setting up
every possible roadblock.

services to the John Howard
demonstrations.

Union hits privatization

against the Mulroney govern-
ment’s plan to contract out
federal parole services to the
John. Howard Society. This is
merely a first step, they
charge, in a scheme which will
eventually eliminate all federal
parole services and turn them
over to community agencies or
contractors who subscribe to
‘Parole for Profit’’ practices.

Figures obtained by the
Union. of Solicitor General
Employees, representing the
parole officers, indicate the
cost to taxpayers will increase
from the present $1,750 per

Disguised parole officers took part in protests, Sept. 24, against Ottawa’s plans to contract out parole
Society. Officers were told they would be fired if they took part in the

about a

the Solicitor General’s office
demonstration,
employees were warned not to
take part. Written statements
were circulated reminding
them that as federal govern-
ment employees, they did not
have the right to criticize
government policy. Workers
were required to sign state-
ments that they had read and
understood this restrictive law.

.A+ special team of security
police was sent from Kingston
Penitentiary to videotape
employees as they left work so
that if they took part in the

TRIBUNE PHOTO —.'OSE KAUFMAN

bn

demonstration wearing masks,
they could be identified by
their clothing. The team also
videotaped the demonstration
itself and regional management
stood across the street to add
to the intimidation factor.
Speaking to the group, Bill
Camche, president of USGE,
Public Service Alliance of
Canada, said ‘‘Mulroney is
using banana republic tactics.
We have the trained staff to do
the. job.”’. Metro Toronto
Labor Council president Mike
Lyons expressed his full sup-
port to the demonstrators not-
ing the plan was ‘‘a stupid idea
and, of course, it came from
the Mulroney government.”’

so infiltrated by management

By MIKE PHILLIPS

RLIN — The Gainers strike and
nadian labor’s fightback against free
de, deregulation and _ privatization
brought to the floor of the world’s
yest labor parliament last week.
peaking on behalf of the 15-member
dian delegation to the 11th World
Union Congress, Dick Barry,
lent of the United Electrical Work-
‘union and delegation leader under-
ed the appeal for unity and inter-
al labor solidarity against the
nationals expressed in the draft
ytement before the congress.
‘As Canadians we have experienced
wisions brought about by the frag-
ation of the international trade
ion movement,”’ Barry said. ‘‘Our at-
dance here reflects both the will-
mess of the World Federation of Trade
ions to take a lead in seeking unity and
ater desire for unity among trade
sin Our country not associated with
though sponsored by the WFTU, the
Vorld Congress attracted delegates from
S affiliated to all three labor centrals
ding the International Con-
ion of Free Trade Unions and the
Confederation of Labor. Dele-
and observers can vote on policy
nents, but election of WFTU

rs and financial decisions can only
dertaken by WFTU affiliates.

his address to the congress Barry
> of the all-out assault on trade
rights by the neo-conservative
s and corporations, but

stressed the growing resistance of Cana-.
dian workers to the erosion of their living
standards. He noted the Canadian Labor
Congress’ recent move to back the
Canadian Peace Alliance as well as the
CLC’s mobilization against free trade,
deregulation and privatization.

“Individual trade unions as well as
major central labor bodies are intensify-
ing their efforts to join together in cam-
paigns of political action and trade union
solidarity in the quest for economic
change,’ Barry said, noting how “‘the
heart of labor’s program is very similar to
the program enunciated in the WFTU
congress document.

That document sets out a comprehen-
sive action program for the entire global
trade union movement. It.centres on the
fight for peace and disarmament, jobs,
economic and social progress in the de-
veloping countries and the defence of
trade union rights. :

“The chief target of the 11th World .

Trade Union congress is to contribute to
the cause of unity, to enable the world
trade union movement to accomplish its
historic task to hasten human progress, ”
the document says.

In his opening address, WFTU general
secretary Ibrahim Zakaria issued an ap-
peal for united action among the three
trade union centrals, particularly on the
fight for peace and in defence of union
rights.

“Today all trade unions, regardless of
ideology, see peace as important union
business,”’ he told delegates. But, he.
said, it isn’t enough just to recognize the

role of trade unions in the peace fight.
*‘What’s lacking is world trade union co-
ordination and unity of action by the
world trade union movement on this cru-
cial issue,’ Zakaria said, pledging the
WFTU’s readiness to meet with any
trade union organization at any time in
pursuit of such unity and action.

The WFTU peace program calls for a
complete test ban on nuclear, chemical
and bacteriological weapons as well as a
ban on the militarization of space.

The congress appealed to world trade
unions to step up united actions against
the arms race to support the UN’s world
disarmament campaign. Andit pledged to
support any initiatives that will lead to
negotiated disarmament, particularly
citing the USSR’s proposal to completely
eliminate nuclear weapons by the year
2000.

The same kind of trade union coordi-
nation is needed, he said, in defence of
trade union rights and against the trans-
national corporations. As the congress
unfolded, it became clear, particularly as
the delegates from capitalist countries
took the floor, that the neo-conservative
assault on trade union rights is global in
sweep.

The bargaining table, Zakaria said, has .

become the concessions table as far as
international big business is concerned.”’
They want total power to strangle the
people and squeeze maximum profits out
of them,”’ he charged.

Indrajit Gupta, general secretary of the
All-India Trade Union Congress gave a
supplementary report that specifically

dealt with the battle for trade union
rights. He said that big business and
governments are waging a two-pronged
attack against gains workers have
achieved through struggle, and against
their collective bargaining rights. This
involves forcing concessions on the one
hand and attacking them on the other
with legislation, courts and police.

This generalized attack is part of an
effort to impose undemocratic, dictato-
rial methods on the running of the econ-
omy and society, he said. Trade unions
in this offensive, ‘“‘even those who stand
for cooperation with employers and for
‘peace’ with big business, are not to be
tolerated unless they are prepared to
collaborate unconditionally.”

The capitalist forces now consider that
with the growing unemployment they
have created and the resulting drop in
trade union membership, plus the likeli-
hood of further job losses due to tech-
nology, trade unions can be so weakened
that their role in society can be elimin-
ated.

‘Hence the intensified efforts we see
in many countries today,” Gupta said,
adding that the issue now is whether
labor will let this offensive succeed or
fight to defeat the offensive so labor can
impose its democratic rights to intervene
in the economy and society.

“There is no choice other than to
fight,’’ the WFTU leader told delegates.
“Trade unions owe it to themselves as
well as to society to defeat this offensive
against working people’s rights.””

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 1, 1986 « 7