AFL-CIO convention more Meany policy? By GEORGE MORRIS George Meany’s very much belated retirement will most likely take the spotlight in the AFL-CIO’s convention in Washington on November 15. That, of course, may likely sidetrack treatment of the major problems facing-the working class. Meany’s closest associates, particularly Secretary-Treasurer Lane Kirkland and Executive Assistant Thomas A. Donahue, will work to make the convention a testimonial for the 85-year- old president. In such an atmosphere, there will be an effort to grant every wish of Meany, for choice for the two top offices and in relation to AFL-CIO policies. Kirkland has been acting like the crown prince in recent months, and undoubtedly Donahue sees a chance to be the secretary-treasurer. That would ensure the same old reactionary team in the AFL-CIO’s general office and con- tinuation of the policies that dominated since Meany’s assump- tion to the presidency in 1953, and in the many years under William Green and Samuel Gompers before him. We are, in fact, nearing 100 years of conservative class- collaborationist bureaucratic rule over U.S. labor’s major centre. Such misleadership over nearly a century has left the U.S. work- ing class in the shamed position as the only workers in a de- veloped country who don’t have their own political expression and must play the shell-game of picking lesser evils between the two parties of the bosses. : The U.S. labor movement is still infected with much.of the racism that plagued the unions for most of their history. The unions are still restricted by a network of legal hamstrings. There is still no national health bill. There is still not one national union headed by a Black person or a woman. The percentage of unionized workers is down to 19.7% of the U.S. workforce. The U.S. has the biggest unemployment of any industrial country — hardly ever now below 6% of the work force (six million) even in ‘‘prosperity”’ time. A Sinful Testimony It would, indeed, be a shame and unconcealed cynicism, to bring the delegates to Washington for a Meany testimonial, in ee of such crisis in the labor movement that he leaves behind im. The really important question is: What will the leaders of union who in recent years and months have spoken loudly for the need of a change do at the convention? Will they just join in the testimonial? Will they just take it for granted that Meany’s wish must be honored, as though the AFL-CIO were an inheritance to parceled out to his heirs? If they cave in with the assumption that this is a ‘‘solemn moment”’ and ‘‘not the time”’ to go forward, then they’ ll miss the bus. The stand-in for Meany, and the machinery he leaves behind him, will consolidate to continue ‘guardianship of the status quo,”’ as the late Walter Reuther once described the circle around Meany. Kirkland’s “Stock Rises” ‘Acting President’ Kirkland already gave an example of what Could be expected from him when he rammed through the execu- tive council — with 12 members absent — approval of the “‘ac- Cord’’ with the Carter Administration, tying labor to an *‘austeri- ty” policy. And it was clearly a step to commit the AF L-ClO to an endorsement of Carter for another term, although it is well known that some unions, if not most, have other preferences. The Wall Street Journal like most capitalist papers, has been backing Kirkland for the AFL-CIO president by taking his elec- ton” for granted. WSJ observed (Oct. 9) that ‘*Kirkland’s Stock Ses” in the Carter camp because “he was so reasonable in Style” and ‘‘compromised on substance”’ during the ‘“behind the Scenes bargaining” for the “historic accord.’ WSJ said that the Carter negotiators were ‘especially impressed with Kirkland’s aCceptance of a period of ‘shared austerity’ implying necessary Worker sacrifices.” ee Are the unions agreeable to leaving Kirkland to negotiate National patterns for wages and living conditions? Is he fit to head the U.S. labor movement for his *‘style”’ of dealing with the other "Side and the agreement to continuation for a 7% raise limit when Inflation is running above 14%. Ironically, WSJ noted that it is doubtful if Meany would have agreed to go that far in compromis- ‘Ng — that's how ‘‘good”’ Kirkland is! Aside from the fact that Kirkland is extremely conservative, he never had a base in the labor movement. Meany took a fancy to him after the war and | €mployed him as a clerk. a es aes he got to qualify him for the presidency of the AFL- George Morris is a veteran labor reporter and columnist for the Daily World. George Meany OTTAWA — The federal gov- ernment has forced another group Radio Ops want higher wages of workers it negotiates with to- strike so it can use the law to order them back to work. This time it involves some 1,200 Radio Operators in the Pub- lic Service Alliance of Canada who have been on legal strike since Oct. 16. Ina legal position to strike since Aug. 28, the -ROs couldn’t take the frustrating non-negotiations the Treasury Board was dragging them through. Wages are the issue; with their salaries falling way be- hind the inflation rate, the radio operators feel their skills and qualifications deserve to be rec- ognized with a substantial wage hike. | The federal government, on the same day locked out the non- designated ROs, prompting the PSAC to charge Ottawa under Section 8 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act with illegally locking them out. Designated workers under the federal legisla- tion are those whom the govern- ment determines perform essen- tial services involving safety and ‘security and are not allowed to take strike action. Workers locked out The government has desig- nated some 678 ROs as essential, and the remaining 476 are non- designated. Section 8 of the fed- eral law gives non-designated workers the right to strike legally but doesn’t allow the government to lock them out. The Oct. 16 vote launched a legal work slow down to which the government responded by locking out the non-designated workers who were just perform- ing those jobs which are essential to maintaining public safety and security. A forced aircraft landing Radio operators picket government offices. in Quesnel, B.C., where the government lockout had forced closure of the airport, highlighted the danger Ottawa’s bad bargain- ing stance posed to the general travelling public. On Oct. 29, the designated ROs agreed to return to work in an ef- fort to"resolve the contract fight. But federal Treasury Board scut- tled the effort by offering some 950 ROs less money than the union had rejected massively in an Aug. 21 concilliation board re- port. PSAC president Andy Stewart charged Oct. 31, ‘‘it is clear that Treasury Board’s offer was not an attempt to solve the contract dispute because it knew full well the radio operators would not be able to accept less than was origi- nally found insufficient to meet rising living standards. On Nov. 5, the federal govern- ment got an injunction to stop all designated ROs from taking part in the strike. However, i Fynn, a designated RO has ~ sought a court order to stop the - injunction on behalf 600 other de- signated ROs across Canada. Fynn and the union argue he and _ the 600 were not given the proper notice that an injunction was being sought by the federal government. The law requires that the ROs receive 48 hours notice of the injunction hearing. PSAC says only 18 radio operators got such a notice. The application to stop the injunction. was expected to be heard in federal court, Nov. 15. Dennis McDermott, president of the Canadian Labor Congress called on the 2.3 million member CLC to throw its full support be- hind the striking radio operators, Nov. 7:0 Escaping union, boss admits TORONTO — A Westin- ghouse official has admitted to the Ontario Labor Relations Board that escaping its responsibilities to the union was a major factor in the company’s decision to decen- tralize its Switch Gear and Con trol Division. : Cecil MacNeil, vice-president of the company’s Switch Gear and Control division told the board hearing on union charges of unfair labor practices against the company, that having a union-free, ““management- controlled’” environment would boost productivity and let Wes- tinghouse make its decisions without union intervention. The union, the United Electri- cal (UE) workers in its complaint heard before the board last month, has charged Westing- house with “‘anti-union’’ intent in relocating the Switch Gear and Control Division to other Ontario centres. The UE charged that by forcing the workers to re-apply for their new jobs at the new Sites as new employees the company is effectively locking them out, in violation of the agreement. MacNeil told the board the company saw the strategy of gain- ing a ‘*management-controlled”’ working environment as the means of giving the company a fresh start in the market place to beat the competition. Instead of a union agreement, the company would provide the workers with what it thinks they need and deserve in the way of job security, ‘‘fair’’ pay, working conditions and fair treatment. MacNeil produced the com- pany manual for its new employees outlining the benefits Westinghouse would provide in their non-union ‘‘management- controlled’’ environments. No- thing was said in the booklet con- cerning seniority rights, grie- vance procedures or most of the other basic human rights and conditions the security of a union agreement guarantees the work- ers. The new management- controlled environments would also foster greater collaboration between labor and management, the Westinghouse vice-president told the hearing. Citing Japan and other countries where similar class collaboration experiments have been in place for a long time MacNeil noted drily: ‘‘It amuses us now to hear of people coming into work singing the company song but it won’t amuse us for long if that is what we have to compete with.”’ The Westinghouse move will end the jobs of 700 Hamilton workers in the Switch Gear and Control Division. MacNeil told the hearing the company’s move to Perth, Alliston- and Monunt Forest, Ontario, will destroy the jobs of some 200 Westinghouse workers, with the remainder, he believed, to be absorbed in other Hamilton Westinghouse opera- tions. However, union spokesmen say the company has never given the workers any guarantees this will happen. : The UE, as a result of other testimony presented at the hear- ing by MacNeil has amended its charge against Westinghouse to include bad faith bargaining. The union says Westinghouse viol- ated section 14 of the Labor Rela- tions Act by not informing the UE of its plans to decentralize Switch Gear and Control during the re- cent contract talks and the four- — month strike the workers had to conduct to get an agreement. MacNeil testified that during the talks and four-month strike with UE Local 504, Westing- house didn’t tell the workers of its plans, even though management knew what was in the works at the time. charges against Westinghouse are far-reaching for the union and the labor movement in general. UE director of organization Art Jen-. kyn said following the hearing — that the charges, ‘‘cut to the very heart of whether a corporation can arbitrarily pull up stakes and move to other locations and avoid existing. collective agreements and bargaining rights, because of its desire to avoid unionization in its new plants.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE— NOVEMBER 23, 1979— Page 5 The implications of the UE’s :