Company attempts to break IBEW local in. Kitchener KITCHENER — Entering its tenth week, the workers at Strike-bound Onward Manufac- turing Ltd., here feel that the bat- tle “‘is a strike that has to be won for the labor movement in Kitchener.”’ ‘The workers’ mostly women, members of local 2345 Interna- tonal Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), are striking the Company which assembles vac- uum cleaners, for a first contract. he union was organized last year and certified Dec. 2 by the On- tario Labor Relations Board. The company, whose name Contradicts its reactionary be- havior throughout the talks, has Opposed every attempt by the Workers to assert their rights” through their union. Onward op- Posed the original application for Certification but it was upheld by the OLRB who ruled that a peti- tion requesting the board to reject TABOR SCENE By BRUCE MAGNUSON _ The fact that the last two con- Ventions of the United Steel Orkers of America have been __ held amongst the bright lights and Sambling casinoes of Las Vegas, stead of the basic steel centres Of Pittsburgh and Chicago, is clear €vidence of the growing isolation Of the I.W. Abel administration from its membership. The tactical -Manoeuvring. and concessions Made to the growing demand for democratic reforms, as well as the Tough-house tactics used to beat down and terrorize all opposition at the 18th Convention, further dicate that the Abel leadership - Stunning scared of defeat in com- ng elections on February 8, 1977. __ ltis now 12 years ago since the tuxedo leadership’’ of the cor- Tupt David McDonald presidency Was ousted in 1965. That was the year I.W. Abel moved up from S€cretary-treasurer to president. he issues on which he won that Office were McDonald’s high- handed disregard for the interests Ol the membership, the lavish ex- Penditures of union funds and, b-knobbing with the anti-union a of the steel and mining indus- _ Abel’s contribution has been an Intensified pursuit of bureaucratic Cadership and class .col- aborationist policies and tactics. ; 1S productivity drive has cost the steelworkers over 270,000 Jobs. But the ability of the work- €ts to fight back has been crippled y the unions voluntary surrender a the right to strike. In the mean- ‘me steel prices have risen much More sharply than most basic in- dustrial commodities. The result has been a higher inflation rate ~ along with astronomical corpo- Tate profits. To add insult to in- Jury, workers in the basic steel Industry in the U.S. have no all- Mclusive membership votes on Union contracts. : _ Challenge to. Abel In this coming election the chal- ne to the policies of the Abel €adership comes from the rank- 4nd-file as well as from members Of his own staff and administra- - _ lon. The key issues remain as be- the certification application was company inspired. Onward has also been using scab labor since the strike began having hired 10 new people off the street the first day. The company stalled for nine months after certification before presenting an offer in concilia- tion. The offer, 10 cents an hour on signing and 10 cents and hour every six months for two years would bring the starting rate for the 52 employees up to $3.40 an hour at the end of two years. The local labor council has cir- culated a letter to all of its af- filiates asking for support for the Onward campaign. IBEW inter- national rep Lena Kress has ap- pealed to Kitchener-Waterloo labor to join the women on their picket line. Mass pickets have been organized at the plant gates and the local building trades unions are planning a mass rally fore inner union democracy ver- sus a leadership that has lost touch with its members and are pursuing class collaborationist policies and tactics. But since Abel himself is retiring after the election, neither he nor all mem- bers of his administration will be on the ballot next February. The team whichseeks toreplace I.W. Abel’s team will be headed up by Lloyd McBride from St. Louis, where he is a director of a small district of the union. At 60 years of age, McBride seeks the presidency of the USW of A on the same class collaborationist platform as I.W. Abel. To facilitate the election of the McBride slate, the last Conven- tion in Las Vegas made some structural.changes at the top. To placate a demand for black rep- resentation in the top leadership of the union, a second vice- presidency was created. Ap- pointed to fill this position was Leon Lynch, a black man who holds the mandate until June, 1977. The two vice-presidents will be designated for administra- tion and human affairs. Another structural change was dividing the office of secretary- treasurer into two positions. All of these positions will be up for election come next February. The National Steel Workers Rank and File Committee has de- manded that a Latino steelworker be chosen for the second new spot on the administration. New Ball Game The McBride candidate for Secretary is Lynn Williams, a Canadian, who is now director of district #6. The McBride candidate for tre- asurer is Frank McKee, another district director. The McBride candidate for vice-president (administrative) is Joe Odorcich, a Yugoslav,. and; Leon Lynch, the black man, who will run for vice-president (human affairs). = Running in opposition to McBride for the office of presi- dent is Ed Sadlowski, age 38, from Chicago. He 1s presently di- Steel elections issue restore right to strike Nov. 26 outside the plant gates. ‘‘This is an important strike’, Kress said. There are people coming into this city and starting plants because they believe it is not a militant city. Its becoming tough to organize in this city.” Onward is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Eureka Co., which manufactures Eureka and Viking vacuum cleaners. The union in the company’s main splant in Bloomington, Illinois has stopped shipment of parts to the strike bound plant where the workers would normally assemble them into finished ‘products. The Kitchener plant also is involved in the distribution of Speed Queen products. Despite prolonged efforts by management to demoralize the strikers, picket line moral is very high, and given firm support by local labor the workers feel con- fident of eventual victory. - rector of district #31, a position he won by hard struggle against the Abel leadership’s class ccl- laborationist policies. A court case over irregularities in the first vote led to a second ballot in which Sadlowski won handily over his opponent. The Sadlowski candidate for secretary is Ignacio Rodrigues, president of the USWA local at American Can in Los Angeles, and a Latino. The Sadlowski candidate for treasurer is Andy Kmec, presi- dent, Staffmen’s Organizing Committee (SOC). The Sadlowski candidates for vice-presidents are: Oliver Montgomery a black staffer in the research department at the Pittsburgh USWA headquarters, and; Marvin Weinstock a staffer in Youngstown. As can be seen quite clearly, there is this time what amounts to a new ball game, with a strong alternative top officer slate ready to reclaim control for the mem- bership on February 8. , The important issues for the U.S. membership are the removal -of the Experimental Negotiation agreement and the restoration of the right to strike. Along with this is the democratic right to an all- inclusive membership vote for the ratification of contracts in the basic steel industry in the U.S. as is already the practice in Canada. In short, the essence of the com- ing vote is to elect a leadership that will restore to the member- ship the control of their own un- ion. For Canadian steelworkers, it is equally important to preserve the gains that have been made through ,hard struggle over the’ years, to win the right to self- determination, and to extend this to the point where Canadian au- tonomy means something. Theal- ternative to this can only be to have this autonomy taken away, to be replaced ‘by complete domi- nation and control from Pittsburgh, USA. — The last of two articles. QUE. HYDRO STRIKE ENDS MONTREAL — The two- week Hydro-Quebec strike ended Nov. 14 when Canadian Union of Public Employees leaders repre- senting 9,500 Hydro workers asked their members to return to work. Claude Morrisseau, chief negotiator for the union, said agreement was still to be reached on ademand for the right of work- ers to submit individual griey- ances to arbitration in cases of layoffs and wage cuts. CARR GREETS QUE. LIBERALDEFEAT — VANCOUVER — Shirley Carr, executive vice-president of the 2.2 million member Canadian Labor Congress, told delegates to the B.C. Federation of Labor Conven- tion here Nov. 15, that labor must keep up the pressure against the wage-cutting program because _ ‘we have the right to protest and we are not going to lay down our arms for the liberal government.” Commenting on the Quebec election results later, she said the liberal defeat was due in part ‘‘to the concern people felt about the continuation of the federal controls program.”’ N.B. NURSES COULD STRIKE FREDERICTON — The next step in contract negotiations be- tween New Brunswick’s nurses and the provincial Treasury Board could lead to a strike if the nurses vote to turn down a con- ciliation board report, Glenna Rowsell, a spokesman for the -New Brunswick Nurses Collec- tive Bargaining Council said Nov. 10. Conciliation board talks aimed at reaching a contract agreement adjourned Nov. 9. The board must present its re- port by Nov. 20. LUMBER WORKERS RESOLVE TO GO ON BURNABY, B.C. — Striking workers at Adanac Lumber here ‘are determined not to give up on their seven-week strike, union spokesman Keith Sheedy said Nov. 12. t LABOR ™ BRIEF He said the company has refused to negotiate with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and has also refused to give backpay to two employees who were fired for union activities and later ordered re-instated by the Labor Relations Board. LABOR STRENGTH SHOWN IN SPAIN MADRID — Hundreds of thousands of workers staged a one-day strike against Spain’s post-Franco government Nov. 12, in the biggest show of labor strength in years. Club-swinging: police clashed with strikers in a do- _ zen locations including Madrid and Barcelona. The strike, organized by the Co-ordination of Union Organiza- tions and backed by Socialists and Communists, was called to protest a government wage freeze and to demand political and union freedom. WOODWORKERS VOTE STRIKE THUNDER BAY — About 1,200 northwestern Ontario woodlands workers with the Abitibi Paper Company Ltd., members of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, voted overwhelmingly in favor of strike action, Nov. 15. The union awaits a ministry of labor report, which would give the workers a legal right to strike after 16 days from the report’s is- suance. The workers, who are seeking a two-year pact, have been without a contract since Aug. 31. CFCW TO PROTEST BELL REQUEST TORONTO — An intervention in the Bell Canada application for an increase in telephone rates will be filed by the 24,000 member Cana- dian Federation of Communica- tions Workers, it was announced Nov. 12. The CFCW includes the Federation of Telephone Work- ers of B.C. (CLC) and the Com- munication Workers of Canada (CLC) which is currently in negotiations with Bell. ‘We will be filing this interven- tion with the sole purpose of de- fending the interests of our mem- bers’’ said Boris Mather of To- ronto, federal chairman of the CFCW. MADRID — These workers at the Chrysler Espana Plant, joined hun- dreds of thousands of their brothers and sisters Nov. 12 in a one day general strike protesting a government imposed wage freeze and de- manding political and trade union freedom. The strike was the largest show of national union solidarity and strength since the welcomed death of fascist dictator Franco. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 26, 1976—Page 5 a