LABOUR Petition moves downtown By the end of the province-wide petition campaign against Bills 19 and 20, more than 100,000 signa- tures from the Lower Mainland alone will have been collected, Frank Kennedy estimates. The B.C. Federation of Labour campaign, which ends July 6, was given a special boost Tuesday when major trade union leaders pressed passers-by for signatures in an effort organized by the Van- couver and District Labour Coun- cil. “We're aiming for a maximum number of signatures from a max- imum number of people to show the premier that it’s not only labour people who oppose his bill, but all kinds of British Columbi- ans,” Kennedy, VDLC secretary, said. Attending the signing effort were B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Georgetti, federa- tion secretary Cliff Andstein, B.C. and Yukon Building and Con- struction Trades Council president Roy Gautier, United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union presi- dent Jack Nichol and labour coun- cil president Doug Evans. Kennedy said that Gautier’s local of Carpenters Union, Local 452, has procured 38,000 signa- tures on its own. Fishermen’s Union business agent John Radosevic gathers signa- tures on Bill 19 petition in downtown Vancouver. Georgetti, praising the Van- couver Labour Council for its “outstanding job” in the petition campaign, said he has found an “80-per cent response” in favour of the petition, which asks the Socred government not to “proceed” with Bill 19, the Industrial Relations Reform Act. Georgetti said he found “over- whelming” opposition to the pro- posed act even in strong Socred- Conservative territory. “Proceed” now means procla- TRIBUNF PHOTO — DAN KEETON mation, since the bill passed third | reading last week. But even if Bill 19 is proclaimed, “the battle con- tinues,” Kennedy vowed. ‘Two levels’ of justice hit Continued from page 1 Four Vancouver postal workers were fired Monday for picket line activities, Andrus reported. “There weren’t: even police charges against them. But there’s no way they’re staying fired, because until they’re reinstated, there’s no settlement.” By Monday there was no word on whether police had filed charges against the scab postal driver who struck down two women pickets on the line in Prince George early last week. One woman was dragged 100 feet, losing skin off her back. Another is still hospitalized and in intensive care with spinal and head injuries and broken bones. Failure on the provincial Attor- ney-General to act swiftly brought harsh words from B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Georgetti on June 26. He noted that although the RCMP were inter- viewing witnesses, “our informa- tion is that none of the approx- imately 50 people who witnessed the incident have been called or interviewed by anyone.” “It seems that the Attorney- General has set two levels of justice for the province. If you’re on a lam enclosing 1 yr.$160 2yrs.$280) 6mo. $100 Introductory offer, 3mo. $3 Foreign 1 yr. $250 Bill me later 0 READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR legal picket line, you can be dragged off to jail and charged within hours for the most petty “But if you run over a picket with a trailer truck and send that picket to hospital with broken bones, you can expect police pro- tection and be allowed to walk around free with no charges pend- ing against you,” Georgetti com- mented. Last week the B.C. Fed an- nounced it was meeting with all postal unions after the Prince George incident. Georgetti said then that “Canada Post in British Columbia has expanded this dis- pute to include every union member in this province. If Can- ada Post wants to see a strike, then we will show them one.” But so far the federation has yet to announce whatever strategy was struck at the meeting. Meanwhile, reports that welfare recipients were threatened with los- ing their benefits if they refused to take job offers from Canada Post emerged from London, Ont. Another report stated Canada Post in Winnipeg was offering its regular workers televisions and microwave ovens “for perfect attendance records.” The Conservative government initially rejected calls for a media- tor from Canada Post (June 21) and Canadian Labour Congress president Shirley Carr (June 24). LCUC general vice-president Mike Villemaire charged June 24 that the government’s refusal was a stalling ploy to prepare strike- breaking legislation. “By the looks of it, Canada Post will never reach financial self- sufficiency after what they’ve spent and are spending to smash our union,” he said. Andrus said union leaders are estimating that Canada Post has spent more than $100 million so far in attempting to break the strike. Damaging figures in the poll reported last weekend is credited with the government’s sudden tur- naround in appointing a mediator on Monday. Union solidarity that has been manifested across the country showed itself strong in Toronto last week when hundreds of members of local unions surrounded a warehouse to prevent scabs from leaving the plant with deliveries. “There’s no way they’ve moved any mail anywhere we’ve walked out,” Andrus stated. “I think our members have done a terrific job fighting these scabs.” The Alberta Federation of Labour had a support rally set for July 1. fm el Se / ee Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. VSK 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 ii et ee ek ee oe Wo a ee ee ee ee eee) = & > = & eo 6G es 2 0 gb Oh FO kG 2k) See OR © Se tS ec op a 0 6 ee, 0 0 0.8 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 1, 1987 ee CNTU framed for picket line justice MONTREAL — The police assault on the Confederation of National Trade Unions, (CSN-CNTU), which has seen the arrest of three CNTU staff members and the exposure ofa police spy in the union’s ranks smacks of state vengeance against the central for its drive for justice in the picket line murder of Gaston Harvie. “That’s labour’s response in Quebec following the June 4 arrest of four CNTU staff reps in the wake of a se- ries of hotel bombings to which the authorities allege the unionists were connected. The hotels were owned by Paul Malenfant, the union-busting owner of the Manoir Richelieu, the site of a long-festering dis- pute that has become a water- shed struggle for the entire la- bour movement, here, against union busting. The Manoir had been owned by the province, but was sold to Malenfant, who fired the 107-member staff in an effort to get rid of the union. The CNTU fought back with massive pickets including one, 17 months ago, in which Gaston Harvie, the husband of a strik- er, died after being beaten and choked by Quebec Police. A hasty inquest cited the cause of death as accidental but the union pushed for a sec- ond autopsy which showed - Harvie’s death to have prob- ably been caused by a blow to the head received when police got him in a choke-hold. This prompted the government to hold its own inquiry. Though a coroner confirmed police re- sponsibility for Harvie’s death, the Bourassa Liberal govern- ment has refused to press charges. Larose on hit list Five days after the original arrests, police swooped down on CNTU offices here and in Quebec City seizing boxes of information relating to the Ma- noir battle. The arrested of- ficials were refused bail and kept behind bars. It transpired that the fourth, Marc Boisvin, is said to have been an RCMP agent in the union’s ranks for more than a dozen years, and is believed now to be working for the Canadian Security and Intelli- gence Service. A June 8 press report quoted government sources stating that CNTU president Gerald Larose was among those the authorities originally intended to arrest, but didn’t because of the dangerous political fall-out. He has called the police ac- tion a frame-up to get even tith the union for pursuing the Harvie case and the CNTU’s exposure of police respon- sibility. Organized labour in Quebec is rallying to the central’s side. At its June meeting, the Mon- treal Labour Council, a Que- bec Federation of Labour af- filiate, adopted a resolution expressing solidarity with the 180,000-member CNTU, and condemned the use of agents and provocateurs as well as po- — lice on union offices. The Parti Communiste du Quebec issued a_ statement from its executive committee, June 10, pledging total ‘‘soli- darity with the CSN against state terrorism.” It charged the Bourassa . government of ‘‘sowing the il- lusion of neutrality with re- spect to a vengeful but sup- posedly independent Securité Quebec, (the provincial police force),’’ but concluded: ‘‘We aren’t dupes. The police and the government are two com- ponents of the same state.”’ State terrorism These deliberate state ac- tions, the statement continued, “‘are part of a new wave of state terrorism crashing down on the Canadian trade union and labor movements.’’ The PCQ linked the attack to the labour battles waged in New- foundland, Alberta, New Brunswick, B.C. and now with the letter carriers coast to coast. “Let’s not forget about the 1,500 workers who’ ve been ar- rested on picket lines over the past few months; the death of Gaston Harvie in police cus- tody; nor Canada Post’s plans to deploy hundreds of scabs to replace the strikers and smash the postal unions,’’ the state- ment noted. While condemning blind ter- rorism which only sets the stage for permanent repressive attacks against the working class, the PCQ called for the unconditional upholding of the principle of presumed inno- cence before guilt is proven. The party stressed that the labour and progressive move- — ments have nothing to learn about democracy from the bourgeoisie and its institu- tions. Whatever democratic gains working people have been able to achieve from the beginning of the century have been won through their trade union and political organiza- tions. Working class unity “The trade union movement remains the main bulwark for the defence and promotion of democratic rights which are continually under attack by big business governments at home and abroad,”’ the party stated. ‘**The Communist Party calls on its members to join the whole democratic and pro- gressive movement to unite in solidarity behind the CNTU and to redouble their support for the Manoir Richelieu workers,”’ the PCQ declared. —