BY GEORGE HEWISON

_ Now that the picket lines are down, the
Job of assessing the results of the Operation
Solidarity/Solidarity Coalition campaign to
date begins. There is no doubt that a clear
Victory for the time being has been won by
the B.C. Government Employees Union,
considering that the objective of the Social
Credit government and the B.C. Employers
Council on July 7 was the dismemberment
of that union. That victory was largely made
Possible by the unity of the union combined
with the solidarity displayed by the rest of the
trade union movement and the community
groups linked within the biggest coalition in
B.C, history.

Less clear is the situation facing B.C.
teachers who demonstrated ovewhelming
militancy to a surprised government in their
walkout despite threats by government
courts. True, while it appears there will be no
direct reprisals against teachers, it remains to

seen whether or not they will enjoy full ex-
€mption from the provisions of Bill 3 and
whether they will be forced to make up time
lost while they were on strike.

Even bigger questions are posed for other
Public sector unions such as municipal,
transport and health care workers. For ex-
ample, municipal workers who were poised
to strike Nov. 14, are unclear about the fate
Of their negotiations which in the case of the
Lower Mainland have dragged on for more
than a year with no results.

Nor is it only the public sector workers
Who are looking beyond Nov. 13, the Bill
Bennett/Jack Munro summit meeting, to
Consider what lies in store for them. The
Wood industry talks have been stalled for
Months by the employers’ adamant demand
for concessions, and other private sector
Unions face a similar situation at the bargain-
ing table. Amendments to the Labor Code
designed to shackle labor have been moved
Up on the agenda, and will be introduced ear-
ly in 1984, according to Premier Bennett.

The nine point program laid out at the

“An effective fightback pro-
9ram based on the lessons of the
Struggle to date will provide a
decisive rebuff to the Socreds,
the Fraser Institute, the
Employers’ Council and those
Who would seek to disunite the
biggest popular movement in the

Province’s history.”

Kelowna meeting was viewed with alarm by
the community groups and many in labor as
lt appeared to echo the seductive and split-
Ung overtures of the premier during his
fireside chat when he adjourned the
legislature in late October.

These same community groups who
Quickly rallied to the side of labor during the
farly days of July and the budget announce-
Ment are thus bracing themselves for
another round of attacks.

In that context, any delays in preparing
for the next round of struggle could be fatal.
b An effective fightback program adopted

y the B.C, Federation of Labor convention
’sed on the lessons of the struggle to date
Will provide a decisive rebuff to the Socreds,
€ Fraser Institute, the Employers Council
and those who would seek to dis-unite the
pjesest popular movement in the province’s
Story,
What are those lessons?
© most obvious and positive one is that

labor united with its democratic allies can:

°fce the government to retreat. Secondly,
Sven leadership, the workers and the com-
pe uity will respond. Throughout, however,
$589 appeared to be a tendency on the part
the leadership to underestimate the depth
Selings at the grass roots.

dra Major deficiency was the reluctance to
in W the Private sector unions into the strug-
Publi € issue was billed as an attack on the
tra € sector rather than an attack on the
of 1, won movement. As a result, in most
the large rallies, many private sector

‘ac oS Were not involved. Even in the

inating strike strategy from Nov. 1-8.
Uni Ving the public sector, private sector

hee leaders were told that they would

Me involved only if union leaders were

Charged

Or jailed or workers were legislated

B.C. FED CONVENTION

Maintaining Solidarity essential

ng

back to work. Again, private sector workers
were seen only in a support role for public
sector unions, and while many private sector
unions did prepare their membership for the
“inevitable”? showdown, many others (given
the lack of overall leadership) perhaps

breathed a sigh of relief that their individual

unions were not tested.

The consequences of a strategy of 2%
years of low key campaigning by labor dur-
ing which time thousands of private sector
workers were given their layoff slips has
created a climate of uncertainty and fear in

most job sites. Shop Stewards, and on the .

j ivi have been subjected to all
BLS pataatient while the bosses’ pro-
paganda constantly bombards the workers.
Workers are fed the line that they are respon-
sible for the economic mess and must bear
the cost of improving the situation; that ee
are fortunate to havea job; and that the ci
service is too fat and responsible for the tax
load on the private sector workers.

the Operation Solidarity campaign In the
public sector and bas
prehensive economic @
native based on expansion,
and further layoffs. : ‘

What is called for.is mass meetings ©
stewards ee local officers so that these

to meet stepped-up gov't attacks

unionists can appreciate that they are not
isolated and their problems are not unique to
a particular job or industry and so that the
discussions on the attack on labor and the
need for a labor alternative can be focused.
Regrettably, the private sector unions have
not been actively brought to the front lines.
This shortcoming needs addressing — now.

The labor movement in the province, in
the next forseeable period, can expect
stepped-up attacks not only on union con-
tracts but also on the movement’s very ex-
istence, as union-busting lawyers move from
certification to certification.

Where the Labor Code provides some
modicum of protection for unions, expect
the Employers’ Council to seek the necessary
amendments to remove such obstacles.
Areas such as the right to political protest
and that covering decertification pro-
cedures, for example, have alread been
targeted. 2

During a recent Labor Relations Board
informal hearing, my opponent (from a law
firm specializing in labor law from the
employers’ side) told me that his firm has in-
creased the number of practising lawyers by
40 per cent over the past year and still can’t
keep up with the work load. Clearly the war
is on.

That war can’t be won by tripartite con-
sulation over changes to the Labor Code —
not when both the government and big

- business are bent on crippling if not destroy-
ing the trade union movement.

It can’t be won by allowing individual
unions to be picked off one at a time. It can’t
be won by isolating the trade union move-
ment from its natural allies in the communi-
ty, allies whose interests closely parallel those
of the trade union movement.

It cannot be won by keeping large sections
of the rank and file completely in the dark
about the overall strategy being followed,
especially when the only other source of in-
formation is the employers’ media.

It can’t be won if we heed the call of the
president of the Canadian Labor Congress
to launch a raiding binge against the
Building Trades unions ‘“‘to relieve them of
as many units as possible.”’

Instead, the blueprint for victory has
already been laid out. Operation Solidarity
clearly scared the pants off James Matkin,
and other members of the Employers Coun-

cil and the Socreds because the movement it.

“The war can't be won by
tripartite consultation over
changes to the Labor Code, when
government and big business are
bent on crippling, if not destroy-
ing the trade union movement.

created was unprecedented in putting the
organized strength of the labor movement
with its strike weapon behind political
demands. As such, it had immense potential
for social change. Through Operation
Solidarity, B.C. workers found that extra-
parliamentary politics can be a powerful
tool.

The B.C. Federation of Labor convention
needs to keep the Operation Solidarity
machinery intact and ready for action; to
maintain its organic unity and to give a com-
mitment that all its members will be mobiliz-
ed in support of those workers still facing the
employers and in support of the community
which had given its backing to the labor
movement but now feels let down over the
events in Kelowna.

As part of that mobilization process, we
will have to go further than we did before.
We will need that economic alternative pro-
gram. And we’ll need the total commitment
of the whole labor movement, in both the
private and public sectors, that the gains of

, the movement over the past 50 years will not
be piecemealed away.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 30, 1983—Page 3