‘the same

The attitude of the post office
“*hasn’t changed one iota since
1978”? and unless something
changes in the conciliator’s
report, we’ll be coming to this
council for support,’’ the presi-
dent of the Vancouver local of
the Canadian Union of Postal
Workers told the Vancouver
Labor Council Tuesday.

Lloyd Ingram told delegates
that the federal conciliator ap-
pointed in the postal talks was
expected to bring his report
down May 2, following a re-
quest for an extension.

“But if the report is anything
like those in past years, it won’t
be acceptable,’ he warned.
“And we'll be coming to this
council to give us the kind of
support that it gave during the
1978 strike.”

The CUPW president said
that the employer’s offer put on
the table during negotiations

“amounted to nothing more
than rollbacks in the contract —
which would take us back to the
contract we had in 1977. °

“And the so-called wage of-
fer would have given us even less
buying power than we had in
1976,”’ he said.

Elsewhere in the labor council
meeting, delegates voted to refer
to the executive a controversial
motion which would have add-
ed the council’s name to an ad-
vertisement, to be run in Quebec
papers, asserting the right of
Quebecois to self sccermnizia
tion.

The motion sparked a con-
tentious debate, before the
referral, however, as delegates
pointed out that the ad, coming
in the midst of the Quebec
referendum on sovereignty
association, would have pro-
found implications in that vote.

George Hewison, secretary of

LABOR SCENE

PO bargaining stand

as in '78’

the United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union, said that
both the CLC and the B.C.
Federation of Labour had long
been on record as supporting the
right of Quebec to self-
determination but emphsized
that the placement of an ad now
‘would complicate the situation
when the referendum has
already made things pretty
cockeyed.

“T’ve watched the referen-
dum debate and it’s pretty clear
that there is no real choice for
working people,”’ he said ad-
ding that neither Levesque nor
Ryan ‘‘is any friend of labor.”

Council president Syd
Thompson, who said that he |.
wouldn’t ‘‘touch the motion
with a ten-foot pole,’’ began by
affirming Quebec’s status as a
nation but drew the comment
that he “‘sounded like a legion-
naire’’ when he thundered: ‘‘I
fought for this country and I’ll

do anything to see that it isn’t }-

broken up.”

Carpenters delegate Lorne
Robson won applause when he
told the delegates that they
should ‘‘wait to hear from our
Quebec brothers and sisters who
will be voting in one month’s

’ time in the referendum.

“T think we need to sit down
and discuss it carefully with our
brothers and sisters in Que :
he said, suggesting that that
could be done at the CLC con-
vention in early May.

“The problem is that they
haven’t had equality with their
counterparts in English-
speaking Canada — and that’s

~ the problem we have to address.
_ We have an obligation to
see that the wrongs of Quebec
working people are righted —
and that the working. class in
Canada is united,’ he said.

About 300 supporters of the
B.C. Government Employees
Union administration were bus-
ed to the Fishermen’s Hall in
Vancouver Tuesday to take over
a meeting called by the BCGEU
Open Caucus, a committee of
union members critical of the
lack of inner union democracy
and of the recent contract settle-
ment signed by the union.

The 300 overwhelmed the
about 30 people who turned out
to the caucus meeting and pro-
mptly voted to remove Open
Caucus spokesman Phil Lyons
from the chair and replaced him
with BCGEU president Norm
. Richards. The meeting then

Hundreds bused to take
over BCGEU caucus meet

proceeded to pass several
resolutions condemning the
Open Caucus.

The Open Caucus distributed
a leaflet called ‘‘Building not
Wrecking’’ which criticized the
last contract for its length, lack
of COLA protection and
percentage increases rather than
across the board. The leaflet
also rapped union secretary
John Fryer for his comments on
the nurses’ settlement and called
for changes in the constitution
to make staff representatives
responsible to the membership
and to give locals control over
union finances and the right to
elect convention delegates. .

eiBUNE

Read the paper that fights for labor

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 18, Senos: slaie: 12

| Attacks on RNABC pact

Last week I dealt with the nega-
tive reaction of John Fryer, general
secretary of the B.C. Government
Employees Union, to the proposed
settlement for the registered nurses
employed in general hospitals.

In that context I wrote the fol-
lowing, in connection with the B.C.
of the Federation that the air would
suggest to Kinnaird and the officers
of the federation that the air would
be cleared if they issued a forthright
statement congratulating the Reg-

istered Nurses Association for their —

44 percent settlement. Otherwise,
many public employees will associ-
ate them, however incorrectly, with
Fryer’s position.””

Subsequently, a representative
of the Federation phoned to tell me
that the president and secretary-
treasurer of the Federation had
both issued public statements in
support of the nurses shortly after
the proposed settlement was an-
nounced, although no press release
was sent out. I am, of course, very
pleased that senior officers of the
Federation took a constructive,
trade union position, as compared

' with the negative position of John

Fryer, who, incidentally, is also an

_ officer of the Federation.

However, it should be noted that
irrespective of the position of the
top officers of the Federation,
Fryer has continued to go public in
his opposition to the nurses’ settle-
ment. In Fryer’s letter to the editor
of the Vancouver Province, pub-
lished April 14, I found the follow-
ing complaint:

“The anticipated settlement is
already sending shock waves
through the industrial relations sys-
tem and, in my opinion, will con-
tinue to do so.

“Nurses have had collective bar-
gaining rights for many, many
years in B.C., and it would have
been much less disruptive to the
system if negotiated settlements
contained on-the-line wage agree-
ments during those years instead of
forcibly feeding a 44 percent lump
through the system all at once with
the inevitable resulting reverbera-

. tions.”

From what I can gather, there is
a rising dissatisfaction among

- BCGEU members over last year’s

negotiated settlement which tied
their union to a three-year agree-
ment, with only eight percent in-
creases in each year. In my book,
that is an internal matter which the
union itself must resolve. How-
ever, when the top negotiator and
spokesman for the union publicly
attacks the nurses’ settlement, then
it becomes a matter for public de-
bate. :

John Fryer is faced with the fact
that 2,700 members of the Regis-
tered Nurses Association and the
Registered Psychiatric Nurses As-
sociation want an increase of 39
percent over 27 months, to estab-
lish parity with the nurses in general
hospitals. These nurses work in in-
stitutions which employ thousands
of workers who belong to the
BCGEU. That fact is the source of
Fryer’s headache.

As the rotating strike of nurses
employed in provincial govern-
ment institutions began to spread
last week, the following statement
appeared in the Province April 9.

“A government official sai
B.C. Government Employees Un-
ion officials, who represent 40,000
government employees, many in
health care, have warned negoti-
ators they will take immediate ac-
tion if Government Employees Re-
lations Bureau (GERB) gives the

echo employer cee

nurses more than the union settle-
ment of eight percent compounded
over three years.

‘‘And Mike Davison, director of
GERB, said a Labor Relations
Board arbitration in 1976 awarded
government nurses comparable
wages and substantial benefits to
those of the BCGEU — something
the nurses had fought for.”’

Then there is comment from °

Davison: ‘“‘We fear a backlash
from BCGEU if we destroy this

LABOR ©
COMMENT

BY JAK PRIEMES

=,

differential which a third party Has
decided and ruled fair.’’

Every experienced trade union
negotiator has had this argument
thrown at him, in one form or an-
other — by spokesmen for the em-
ployers. In effect, government ne-
gotiators in this case are arguing
that because group A was happy to
accept a wage settlement in 1976
which placed it in a specific rela-
tionship to Group B in the matter
of compensation, it has no right in
1980 to attempt to tie its wage scal-
ed to group C who — and this is im-
portant — have the same or similar
qualifications and responsibilities.
If that argument were accepted by
labor, what would become of the
concept of free collective bargain-
ing? And who would decide what
was a precedent for all time, and
what was not a precedent?

It should be noted that another

‘BCGEU spokesman, Robbie Rob-
inson, was quoted as follows in the
Financial Post of April 12:

“We feel our settlement was in
the real world of industrial Tela-
tions. Many of our people work
alongside nurses. If there’s enough
pressure, and it becomes apparent
we can’t keep our members on the
job, then the government will have
to look seriously at the situation.”’

This is either a cry of despair or
an invitation to the Socred govern-
ment toadopta hard linein relation
to the nurses in provincial govern-
ment employment. You are free to
draw your own conclusion. What
appeared to be a good deal in 1976
doesn’t look so good in 1980 and
the 2,700 registered and psychiatric
nurses are governing themselves ac-
cordingly. It’s as simple as that.:

In the intervening time, the cost
of living has escalated sharply and
wages for nurses have fallen behind
in relation to the wages of substan-
tial groups of unionized workers,
including cleaners and practical
nurses in hospitals.

The B.C. Federation of Labor is
to be commended for meeting with

representatives of the 2,700 nurses —

and agreeing that its affiliates will
honor all picket lines established by
the nurses. The nurses, in turn,

‘have agreed to abide by Federation
policy, which means giving suffici-
ent notice before any picketing that
would involve members of Federa-
tion affiliates. Both the Registered
Nurses Association and the Regis-
tered Psychiatric Nurses Associa-
tion are independent unions and
are not affiliated to the Federation,
unlike the BCGEU.

The fact the Federation is pursu-
ing a policy of supporting the
nurses speaks well for itself and
should expedite the process of
drawing the nurses closer to the

_paper in B.C., why not senda che-

main body of the trade union
movement and, eventually, into
Canadian Labor Congress and its
provincial federation and
councils. f
|

I would suggest to John Fryer
and his staff that they should cease
all attacks on the proposed settle- 4
ment for nurses in general hospitals
and declare their full support for
the 2,700 nurses employed in pi —
vincial’ government institutions: —
Failure to do so will mean givilg —
encouragement to GERB to take? —
hard line, and it will accomplish
nothing for BCGEU members. ~

When GERB negotiator, Mike
Davison is reported in the vane
ver Sun April 9 as saying he didn't
believe BCGEU members “would
take very kindly’ to being put out
of work if the nurses put up picket
lines, it is time for John Fryer to
clear the air and make a fo!
statement in support of the nurses: ”

The BCGEU members can only _
gain, in the long run, if the nurse
do better‘in negotiations than the
BCGEU did. If Fryer and his stat
were to support this position open-
ly in front of their members, they
would gain more respect than DY —
continuing to attack the nurses and
giving the impression that they al —
running interference for GERB
and the Socred | pinichinames in vi
toria. aa

As these lines are being written,
the provincial minister of labor is
expected to respond to a request i
from the 2,700 nurses that an in-
dustrial inquiry commissioner Dé ~
appointed in order to try and effect —
a settlement. The nurses have pro-
posed that the mediator bring |
down non-binding era
tions and they have indicated that
there would be no strike during the
commissioner’s term of office. 2

This will be my last Labor Com |
ment until I return froma vacation
in Britain and France. I wish. to
thank those readers who have sent |
letters in response to my articles, in-
cluding those who were critical of
certain things I wrote. its have
more letters! g

Also, the Tribune is now involv-
ed in its annual sustaining drive, — A
with a target of $65,000. If you
wish to help keep the Tribune going —
as the number one, left-wing labor —

Pada

que or money order to the paper, — ;
c/o Jack Phillips, Labor Com- 4
ment. Every donation, big or —
small, will be acknowledged and
deeply appreciated.

May Day rally
set for May 4

Mike Darnell, Prince Rupert _
alderman and northern represen- —
tative for the United Fishermen |
and Allied Workers Union, Bur- —
naby. NDP MP Svend. Robinson ¢
and Communist Party leader —
Maurice Rush will headline a list of
speakers at the May Day rally in ~
Vancouver, slated this year for
May 4, 2 p.m. at the Templeton
High School, Auditorium, 727 —
Templeton Drive in Vancouver.

Joining them on the platform __
will be Brian Hadden, one of the —
members of the observer team at —
the historic elections in Zimbabwe, _
and one of the Boise Cascade —
strikers from Ontario where —
members of the Lumber and —
Sawmill Workers have been onthe
picket line since July, 1978.

babesica