UFAWU MEMBERS WALK OUT. .
forces arrayed against union.

. LRB hearing indicates scope of
—Geoff Meggs photo.

Combines investigator
shows at LRB hearing

Cobtinusd from page 1

What has emerged from the
hearings, however, is the scope of
the offensive against the UFAWU
by employers, strikebreakers and
the Combines branch, all of which
had representatives at the LRB
hearings.

The sudden appearance Oct. 12
of Combines investigator Simon
Wapniarski ~ and Arthur
MacLennan, Crown prosecutor in
the Combines case against the
UFAWU, both of whom turned up
while the room was darkened to
show a CBC news film as evidence,
forced UFAWU members to walk:
out, fearing that any evidence
would find its way into confidential
Combines files.

The extent of the forces arrayed
against the union became apparent
as various witnesses PGA
members as well as others — took
the stand to give their testimony.

One of the witnesses was Jerry
Spitz, president of the employers’
group, the Fisheries Association,
who appeared on behalf of the PGA
to corrorborate its claims that the
effect of the blacklist was that the
UFAWU refused to handle fish

from boats on the list or to provide
other services to them.

A significant PGA witness was
Ken Williamson, a former

manager of the organization, who”
‘appeared earlier this year on the

CKVU-TV program The Van-
couver Show advocating “‘right-to-
work”’ legislation.

The ‘‘right-to-work during
strikes”’ theme was a dominant one
at the hearings, according to
UFAWU business agent Bill
Procopation who told delegates to
the Vancouver and District Labor
Council earlier this month that
evidence presented showed that
many fishermen had joined either
the PGA or the Pacific Trollers
Association, another non-union
group, “‘with the specific intent of
fishing in the event of an industry-
wide strike.”

Although both groups maintain
that they are merely ‘‘independent
fishermen’’, the evidence
presented at the hearings has
given substance to the suspicion

widespread in the industry that -

both organizations are committed
to assisting dissident fishermen in
scabbing during strikes.

Gov't action in post office |

aimed at all public service

The silence of the Canadian
Labor Congress leadership in
respect to the postal strike has
been deafening.

According to well informed
sources, Dennis McDermott,
president on the CLC, recently sent
the following telegram to all af-
filiates: ‘‘Please withhold com-
ment on the merits of the current
postal strike till the Congress
clarifies its position.”

Now, CLC affiliates are.
demanding action from the
leadership. For example, the

recently concluded B.C. provincial

convention of the carpenters’ union =

voted full support for the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers and called
upon the CLC leadership to speak
out and to mobilize the trade union
movement. It is reported that a
special meeting of the CLC
executive council will soon be held.

While New Democratic Party: '

members in parliament voted
against the legislation ordering
‘postal workers back to work, its
leadership has done nothing to
build up support for them. Judging
by the statement by MLA Bill
King, former minister of labor
under the NDP government, the
party is not* supporting the
strikers, at least at the official
level.

The Vancouver Sun of October 21
quoted King as follows:

-“T hope the union will recognize
the right of Parliament to pass
laws and go back to work. I think
that if they feel the law is wrong
and unjust, they should seek to
change the government and
change the law, but I think one
must obey the law. He

When 23,000 postal workers feel
compelled to engage in civil
disobedience because they believe
a law to be unjust, they have a
right to expect more from the
leaders of the New Democratic
Party. When they read statements
like that made by King, they must
come to the conclusion that the
leadership of the B.C. Federation
of Labor is right in refusing to give
the NDP unqualified support.

Dave pr secretary-
treasurer of the B.C. Federation of
Labor, in urging the CLC to call a
special meeting,of its executive
council to discuss support for the
postal workers said: ‘‘Going to the
courts to get injunctions is not
going to resolve this dispute in a
satisfactory manner.” He further
stated that ‘‘the dispute can only be
resolved at the bargaining table.”

The postal strike is part of the
growing resistance to the drive
against living standards, working
conditions and trade union rights
initiated by big business and by

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

governments hostile to labor.

This strike demonstrates the
determination of Canadian
workers to maintain and, if
possible, improve their living
standards. On the other hand,
there is a massive public relations
campaign by the Trudeau
government and big business to
turn public opinion against the
workers and to legislate com-
pulsory arbitration in place of
collective bargaining in the public
service.

The Financial Post of October 7
carried an article on post office
automation by J. Herbert Smith, a
consulting engineer and. former
chairman of Canadian General
Electric. Two quotations should
throw some light on the current
dispute: ©

“In 1976, postal employees in a
center such as Toronto were

sorting mail by hand, with only the

simplest mechanical aids, in-
volving a_ processing-equipment
investment of $600 per employee.
Two years later these same em-
ployees are operating highly
mechanized, complex mail sorting
equipment with an investment per
employee exceeding $20,000.

Fed maps plan fo

Sakuiaiea from page 1
government to begin serious
negotiations immediately ;
eA newspaper advertising
campaign in support of the postal
workers;

e A call for support of, and co-
ordination with any program of
action outlined by the Canadian
Labor Congress;

e The co-ordination of public and
trade union support of the postal
workers to assist them in achieving
a decent settlement of their .con-
tract dispute.

The Federation conference came
amidst a barrage of punitive ac-
tions against CUPW by the federal
government which has adamantly
refused to enter contract talks.

On Tuesday, postmaster-general
Gilles Lamontagne added another
threat to those already contained
in strikebreaking legislation when
he told an audience of Toronto
businessmen that CUPW members
could face mass firings if they
continued their defiance of the
back-to-work law. His an-
nouncement was given thunderous
approval at the business gathering.

The following day, the govern-
ment stepped up its campaign as
RCMP officers conducted raids on
CUPW offices in several centres
across the country, seizing letters,
minutes, telexes and other
material, presumably in a bid to
find correspondence which would

point to CUPW officials having
counselled defiance of the law.

The arrest warrants and formal
laying of charges which also came
Wednesday following earlier
warnings, voiced in the House of
Commons by justice minister Otto
Lang, that the government would
pursue the punitive sections of the
Strikebreaking law ‘‘to their
conclusion.” —,

CUPW members had also been
subject to court injunctions,
brought down in several centres,
which forbade picketing of post
offices. In Vancouver, the in-
junction hearing continued
Wednesday following a Tuesday
adjournment sought by defence
counsel Stuart Rush who pointed
out that he had received -some
prosecution affidavits only half an
hour before the hearing opened.

Despite the formidable cam-
paign against them, however,
CUPW members have demon-
strated remarkable determination
to achieve an equitable settlement
of their 18-month-old contract
dispute and have won
widespread support throughout the
labor movement.

The RCMP raids and the arrests
prompted Canadian Labor
Congress president Dennis Mc-
Dermott to break the Congress’
silence on the dispute, when he
blasted the federal government for
“overdramatizing”’ the dispute.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—October 27,1978—Page 12

back postal union

McDermott had earlier been
criticized for the Congress’ failure
to lead the way in support for the
CUPW strikers and for the
executive council’s failure to map
a program of action on the strikers’
behalf.

At the meeting of the Victoria
Labor Council last week, Stan
Darlington, Victoria CUPW local
president and a member of the
national executive criticized the
CLC’s inaction and told delegates,
“McDermott calls himself a street
fighter — but we’re not fighting the
street, we’re fighting the boss.”

_ Unionists have responded to the
call for support, however, with
local unions, a_ provincial con-
vention of the Carpenters and labor
councils adding their voices to that

of the B.C. Federation of Labor.

The Canadian Union of Public
Employees has also made its union
offices and facilities available to
the postal workers all across the
country.

A strong statement voicing
support for CUPW and con-
demning the federal government
’ was issued last week by the central
committee of the Communist
Party, meeting in Toronto.

“By adopting strikebreaking
and union-busting legislation,
the parliamentary majority of
Liberals and Tories acted in

contempt of legislation adopted in

1967 which gave postal workers the
right to strike,’’ the statement
said.

“Instead of taking punitive
action against postal employees,
Parliament should rescind its anti-
labor legislation and bring about a
just settlement of the dispute in
line with the legitimate CUPW.”

The committee’s statement said
that the parliamentary majority
and the Senate ‘‘were the ones who
acted illegally, not the Workers and
their union.”

It also called for the Ee iiial
from the cabinet of “those men
whose ineptitude and irrespon-
sibility brought on the present
crisis.’”

“Employees working for years
in a quiet, non-mechanical, people
intensive climate were overnight
working in a-factory with a high
noise level in the midst of complex
machines. Little wonder that the
stress from such a change in work
environment is showing up im
employee and union conduct.”

One year ago, CUPW president
Jean-Claude Parrot gave an in-.
terview to the same newspaper.
Among other things, he said:

“Since 1962, there have been 14
postmasters-general and 25 studies |
into postal problems. But while
most of the studies have advocated
turning the post office into a crown
corporation, almost all the PMG’s-
had ~ ignored their recom-
mendations and gone about their
business of waiting in their little
ivory towers for the day they’ll by

moved to bigger ivory towers.

“Since the signing of the last
agreement in 1975, the Montreal
local has filed 10,000 grievances

“and there are as many in the rest of

the country. We _ got more
ajudication than the rest of the
public service. In the last two
years it has cost the employer
three quarters of a million dollars
in reimbursement to our people
because they were suspend

unjustly. If a new guy gets involved
in the union, he will be fired durii
his probation period.”’ ee

He also pointed out that the post
office is run by the department of
public works, which looks after the
plant equipment; the public ser-
vice commission, which does the

hiring; and the treasury boa

which negotiates wages.
The union has called for the

establishment of a crown cor-
poration that would be the sole

authority responsible for the

operation of the post office, a

corporation authorized to negotiate

and sign collective agreements on
compensation and issues arising
out or work relationships.

The post office management
over many years has created chaos"
by ignoring the legitimate
grievances of the workers and by
refusing to bargain on the vital
issue of automation and job
security. This, together with the
hard-nosed attitude of the cabinet
in respect to compensation when
the cost of living is outstripping
wage increases, is at the
background of the current strike.

All of organized labor should be
mobilized in support of the
strikers. The political situation
today is such that the Trudeau
government can be compelled to

initiate meaningful negotiations.

The Communist Party has —
declared its support of the striking

postal workers. The NDP should do
the same. The situation calls for
all-in unity and the maximum
degree: of solidarity.

: Enclosed

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