Labour

Labour Notes

KDLC rejects part
in business group

The Kamloops and District Labour
Council has rejected an overture by the
newly-privatized Kamloops Economic
Development Corporation to participate
in the corporation’s advisory board of
directors.

Delegates to the
council voted Sept.
18 to turn down a
request to name a
representative to
the corporation be-
cause the econo-
mic development
body, formerly
appointed by city
council and head-
ed bya city-employ- i
ed director, had KERSSENS
been privatized by right wing Kamloops
mayor Phil Gagliardi. The corporation,
headed by businessman Robert Gordon,
was given a two-year contract by Kam-
loops city council to provide economic
development, despite the opposition of the
labour council.

Labour council secretary Jack Kerssens
said in an interview that the labour move-
ment would not take part in a committee
whose members “want to make it appear
that they have labour on side, even if it’s
only on paper.

“It’s not the intention of the labour
movement to be used by the business
community,” he said.

The council didn’t close the door to

future participation in an economic devel-
opment advisory committee — but only
if it is returned to city hands would the
council take part, Kerssens said.

Both Kerssens and former labour coun-
cil president John Harper had been
members of the old city-appointed com-
mittee which several years ago had been
instrumental in developing Kam-Plan, a
plan for the future development of Kam-
loops.

“Some delegates didn’t think we should
take part in the committee under any cir-
cumstances, but John said that it had
proved useful in the past,” Kerssens noted.

“Not that the committee agreed with us
all the time, but at least when it was run by
the city the labour movement had a say,”
he added.

Kamloops was hard hit by the recession
in 1981-82 “but it’s never really picked up
since that time,” the labour council secre-
tary said. The Weyerhauser sawmill, a key
employer in the city, has reduced its work
force as a result of technological change
and B.C. Tel has cut its payroll through
automation and the centralization of its
operations elsewhere in the province.

And despite Gagliardi’s much-publi-
cized claims about job creation, the situa-
tion has not improved under his administra-
tion, Kerssens noted. “Gagliardi’s still
living in the ’50s and ’60s — he doesn’t
have a clue as to what’s going on today,”
he said.

The labour council represents some
8,000 workers in the Kamloops area,
including members of the IWA-Canada at
Weyerhauser, the B.C. Government
Employees, Telecommunications Work-

ers, Canadian Union of Public Employees,
Hospital Employees Union and Steel-
workers at Afton Mines.

OTEU begins job
action at S. Rail

Members of the Local 378 of the Office
and Technical Employees (OTEU) last
week began selective strike action at
Southern Rail, the privatized company
which was formerly the rail division of
B.C. Hydro.

Backed by a 96 per cent strike vote, the
union imposed an overtime ban at the
company and pulled two computer opera-
tors off the job.

The railway, which is now owned by
ITEL Rail Corporation of San Francisco,
has demanded deep cuts to employees’
pension benefits while putting only a 4.5
per cent increase on the table for a one-
year contract. The union is pressing for a
two-year pact with increases of nine per
cent in the first year and 8.5 per cent in the
second.

OTEU Local 378 president Anne Har-
vey called the company’s demand for con-
cessions in pension benefits “another
concrete example that privatization hurts
working people in B.C.” B.C. Hydro sold
off the rail division to the U.S. company
last year last year.

The rail company owns a network of
track from Chilliwack, Abbotsford and
Sumas, Wash. to New Westminster, and
holds the exclusive handling rights for cars
shipped through the Annacis Island auto
loading facility.

Strike vote set
at food outlets

Local 1518 of the United Food and
Commercial Workers was set to take a
strike vote among some 8,500 UFCW
members at Safeway, Woodward’s and
other food outlets across the province
Sept. 28 and 29.

Local 1518 pres-
ident Brooke Sun-
din said the employ-
ers’ continuing
demand for con-
tract concessions
forced the strike
vote after several

months of bargain-

ing. Pog
“For the first / 7 ;

day of negotia- —

tions, the employer SUNDIN

has demanded unfair rollbacks that our
members are not prepared to accept,” he
said in a statement. “The only route left.
open to us at this time is to take a strike
vote.”

A new factor in the negotiations this
round is the cut-rate contract signed
between the Great Canadian Superstore,
which opened operations in B.C. only this
year, and a newly-established Local 777 of
the UFCW which was set up by the
union’s international office. Local 1518
and Local 2000, which represents meat
utters in Safeway and other stores, have
challenged the validity of the contract.

; CLC charts more free trade job losses 2

While the federal government continues
to claim an unexcelled job creation record
before international forums, the job losses
resulting from free trade continue to climb,
the Canadian Labour Congress declared as
it released the latest list of companies which
have shifted operations to the U.S.

“We are moving from a branch plant
economy to a warehouse economy,” CLC
president Shirley Carr said in a statement.
“More jobs are moving south every day.”

According to the Congress, the number
of jobs lost in Canada as a direct or indirect
result of free trade has climbed to 55,550.

The latest casualties, as outlined by the
CLC, include the following:

Canron Inc. — (U.S. owned) closing
down its railroad maintenance equipment
division in Etobicoke, Ont. and shifting
production to its plant in Columbia, South
Carolina. (20 jobs.)

Burling Canada, Inc. — (U.S. owned)
closing its Bramalea, Ont. carpet manfuac-
turing facility and will supply Canadian

market from plants in Georgia and Virginia.

(450 jobs)

Hartz Canada — (U.S. owned) closed its
manufacturing facility (pet foods and
related products) in St. Thomas, Ont. and
moved production to U.S. plants — ware-
housing and distribution facilities remain.
(26 jobs)

Picker International Canada Inc. — (U.S.
owned) closed its Bramalea, Ont. plant
which makes x-ray equipment, transferring

_ production to Cleveland, Ohio (160 jobs)

International Playing Card Co. — closing

its Windsor, Ont. playing card plant and
moving production to Cincinnati, Ohio. (35
jobs)

Star Suspension Industries — (U.S.
owned) downsizing and closing its fastener

manufacturing facilities in Mississauga,
Ont. retaining only a packing and distribu-
tion centre. Products will be supplied
mainly from the U.S. parent plant. (32 jobs)

Woodbridge Group — (U.S. owned) plan-

“ning to shift production of car seat compo-

nents from Mississauga, Ont. to Juarez,
Mexico. (unknown job loss)

Bendix Safety Restraints — (U.S. owned)
moving its production of seat belts from
Collingwood, Ont. to plants in Alabama
and Mexico. (400 jobs)

Marr’s Leisure Products — (U.S. owned)
closed its Edson Boat Division in Brandon,
Man. and moved production to Newberry,

Takahashi Industries — closed its inte-
rior door manufacturing facility in Van-
couver, B.C. Some of this production will
shift to a recently purchased plant in Seattle,
Washington. (25 jobs) ;

Executive Dental Supply — planning to
shift its entire production from Vancouver,
B.C. to a plant in Pullman, Washington.
(job loss unknown)

ITW Shakeproof — (U.S. owned) closed
its fasteners manufacturing plant in Missis-
sauga, Ont. and moved production to a
plant in Tennessee. (45 jobs)

Advance Gibson Canada Ltd. — (U.S.
owned) during a 17 week strike announced
it was closing and moving production (cir-

South Carolina. (40 jobs)

COVER OF B.C. TRADE MINISTRY'S ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE
jobs lost to U.S, because of trade deal has reached 55,000 according to CLC.

"ee oe
... number of

cuit breakers and electrical switch compo-
nents) from Windsor, Ont. to Puerto Rico
and Pennsylvania. (36 jobs)

Progress Co. — (U.S. owned) trans-
ferred part ofits electrical goods production
in Ville St. Laurent, Que. to its plant in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company
was bought by an American Company in
1987. (75 jobs)

_K.T. Industries — downsizing in Win-
nipeg, Man. and expanding production at a
new plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. (20 jobs)

Northern Telecom — was planning to
close its telecommunications laboratory in
Toronto, shifting this work to facilities in
Dallas, Texas and California. This follows a
series of restructurings which have seen
nearly 1,500 Canadian jobs disappear so far
this year. It seems, that public outcry has
forestalled this move for now.

United Maple Products — (U.S. owned
by multinational Borden Inc.) closed its
maple syrup and milkmate production in
Delta, Ont. and shifted it to a newly
acquired plant in Vermont. (18 jobs)

Canadian Coleman Ltd. — (U.S. owned)
closing down its Etobicoke, Ont. manufac-

turing facility (campaing equipment and
heating systems) and transferring produc-
tion to plants in Kansas and Texas. It will
retain. warehouse and distribution facilities
(214 jobs)

Leviton Manufacturing — (U.S. owned)
shutting down its manufacturing facility in
Montreal, Que. and transferring production
of electrical goods to undisclosed locations
in the U.S. (175 jobs)

Schlegel Canada Inc. — (U.S. owned)
shutting its auto industry weather stripping
plant in Burlington, Ont. and transferring
production to Tennessee and Oklahoma.
(104 jobs)

- Pacific Tribune, October 2, 1989 « 7

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