IWA strike support key on Fed agenda

Continued from page 1
then used by the employers in Alberta to gut
the Building Trades in that province.

@ In May, workers at the Gainers plant
in Edmonton went on strike when owner
Peter Pocklington declared their agreement
at an end and unilaterally imposed wage
cuts and a two-tier pay system. The police
‘attacks on strikers and scab-herding pro-
duced scenes reminiscent of Chile, with
hundreds of unionists arrested and charged.
The strike, which Pocklington has vowed to
break, spread to this province when
members of the United Food and Commer-
cial Workers at three B.C. plants walked
out to defend their right not to handle scab
products from Edmonton.

ein June, the Okanagan-Mainline
Municipal Labor Relations Association
imposed a lockout on members of the Can-
adian Union of Public Employees in several
Okanagan municipalities in a dispute over
contracting-out of civic workers’ jobs.
When Kamloops council decided to keep its
employees working, citizens of B.C. wit-
nessed the incredible spectacle of a court
ordering the municipality to fall into line
with the employers bargaining agent and
lock its employees out as well.

@ On July 14, in what is by far the most
critical dispute in the province this decade,
the International Woodworkers launched a
selective strike in an effort to win security
against contracting-out of IWA jobs. The
strike is of decisive importance because of
the increasing employer use of the practice
of ‘contracting-out as a means of cutting
costs and reducing the effectiveness of
unions — or eliminating them altogether.
Naw, 18 weeks after the strike was
launched, the employers are still adamantly
refusing to move on the issue and appear
determined to starve the union out.

@ Two weeks after the election of his
Social Credit government, Premier Bill
Vander Zalm set new priorities for his min-

isters, including the privatization of the _

Liquor Distribution Branch, the deregula-
tion of various government functions and a
review of the labor code that many expect
will include proposals for increasing the
minimum number of employees for a bar-
gaining unit.

@ In Ottawa, the Mulroney government
is moving along its corporate agenda of
privatization, deregulation and free trade
negotiations. The latest act was the re-
introduction of the National Transporta-
tion Act and the Motor Vehicle Transport
Act, both aimed at deregulating the trans-
portation industry, reducing safety and
forcing down levels of service and wages.

That mounting attack on the labor
movement, both from the employers’ side
of the bargaining table and from the “free
market” policies being pursued by all levels
of government, provides the backdrop for
this year’s executive council report, to be
presented to convention delegates at the
opening session next week.

But despite opening remarks that
emphasize that many federation affiliates
“have spent the last year fighting for their
existence,” the report does little to focus the
labor movement’s attention of the employer-
government front that is arrayed against it.

The report will also do little to dispel the
uneasiness that has been growing among
many trade unionists because the federation
has not responded to the employers’ attack
with as much vehemence as it has been
delivered.

That has partly to do with the “no con-
frontation” policy pushed by the leadership
of both the NDP and the federation in the
months leading up to the provincial elec-
tion. In fact, except for the hard-hitting brief
on government policy presented by B.C.
Fed officers to Premier Bill Vander Zalm
following his assumption of the Socred
leadership, the labor movement played
almost no independent role in raising policy
issues during the election campaign.

Whatever the reasons, the promises that

Members of various South African solidarity groups, including Sou
demonstrated outside the first ministers’ conferencein Vancouver Nov. 20 to press the federal government on sanctions
against South Africa. The anti-apartheid groups are holding a major rally for sanctions Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. at Tupper High
School Auditorium, 419 E. 24th Ave. Jay Naidoo, secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, will also be

addressing the B.C. Fed convention Dec. 2 at 10 a.m.

BF EDS.GET y.
S SERIOUS!

ABOUT
SANCTION

thern Africa Action Coalition and SACTU Solidarity,

TRIBUNE PHOTOS — SEAN GRIFFIN

s

were made following the 1984 federation
elections that the new leadership would be
“action-oriented” has not been realized.

Certainly the federation has organized a
number of successful conferences on issues
of importance to trade unionists, notably
the historic meeting in Nanaimo between
union representatives and representatives of
Native groups in the province. The two-day
conference led to the formal adoption of a
joint statement on land claims that will
undoubtedly bea model for the trade union
movement across the country.

But federation action in taking critical
issues such as contracting-out and deregula-
tion out to the public has been far less vis-
ible.

There has even been a step away. from
federation policy in some instances. This
year’s executive council report devotes con-
siderable space to the concept of “commun-
ity-based economic development” including
workers co-ops, and credit unions as part of
labor’s economic alternative and as a
response to plant closures.

While co-ops provide an alternative in

some sectors of the economy and in some

regions, they do not address the key issues
of control of resources — including finan-
cial resources — and the domination of the
economy by multinational corporations.

_In past conventions, the federation has
passed several resolutions on plant closures,
on winning public control of resources and
developing diversified secondary industry.
But those policies have been little publicized
and labor’s economic alternative remains
largely on paper.

In key disputes, the federation officers
have been frequently been called upon to
co-ordinate picketing and issue hot declara-
tions. But co-ordinated action, spearheaded
by the federation itself on behalf of an affil-
iate involved in a critical dispute, has been
increasingly pushed into the background.

Yet the past year has demonstrated that
hot declarations and boycotts are them-
selves not enough. The growth of the non-
union sector and the fact that once isolated
companies like Kerhoff are working in con-
junction with anti-union multinationals like
Hyundai makes it vital that the trade union
movement develop new strategies that
combine mobilization of the membership
with public education and above all, action.

12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 26, 1986

There are some indications that the fed-
eration is moving out with some proposals
for campaigning by the labor movement.
Appended to the executive council report
this year is a policy statement on free trade,
privatization and deregulation that outlines
in some detail the impact of free trade on
various sectors of the B.C. economy and
concludes with an 11-point program for a
campaign by the B.C. Fed. Coupled with
the initiatives from the CLC, the campaign
could have a significant impact in derailing
the Tories’ free trade steamroller.

Similarly, a new initiative by the leader-
ship in proposing that a new “community~
liaison director” be added to federation staff
could also be useful in re-establishing Oper-
ation Solidarity’s links with community
groups — as long as the proposal indicates
a new focus by the federation and not just
another department. The trade union
movement’s standing with community
organizations has diminished considerably
since Kelowna, but it is vital that it be rebuilt
if the labor movement is to counter the right
wing populism being peddled from Victoria
and Vancouver city hall.

The six-point program of support for the
IWA, endorsed by the federation confer-
ence of unions Nov. 4 was also an important
action that demonstrated unionists’ deter-
mination to stand behind an affiliate on an
issue which is decisive to the whole trade
union movement. The federation also fol-
lowed that conference with a hot declara-
tion against all logs from strike bound
operators.

That program had been held in abeyance
pending the final report of the three-
member commission of inquiry appointed

FIRIBONE

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earlier this month by Premier Vander Zalil) >
But the report has now been delivered
both FIR and the IWA and IWA region#ll]
president Jack Munro has called ita “majol '
disaster” for the union which fails 0 |
address the central issue. “4

FIR president Keith Bennett stated that}
the employers were prepared to “hold ov |
till spring” and Vander Zalm has indicated

ae

that he will not move to legislate an end (@
the strike. Undoubtedly, the forest comp
ies have made it clear to the premier 4
they are prepared to hold out in an attems
to starve the union membership into SU]
mission.

Clearly the trade union movement ¢
not allow that to happen. If the WA
have the right to defend its members’ J@
from contracting-out, the role of the B
Federation of Labor will be decisive, just
it was decisive in 1981 in winning an agt
ment for the Telecommunications Wors
Union. =

If this federation convention can take@aa®
six-point program and develop it into@ ‘old ;
ted program of action to win a victory # |
the IWA, it will be a significant achie™
ment. i

The message that should come out of th
convention is that the trade union me
ment will continue to rely on its traditio?
militance and solidarity to defend the 1B 7
and conditions of its membership; th#
will continue to promote labor’s owA™ 4
nomic program and alternatives, bas
the policies laid down by convention,
that any attempt by right wing governmen
to use their election mandate to attack jab
rights will be met with a unified —
vigorous — response. :

2yrs. $280) 6mo. $100