Hor endan_l LABOR Cleaners target Tories for living wage TORONTO — The 28 striking Canada post 2leaners and their union are making life as mis- erable as possible for the Mulroney Tories and their reactionary government. ‘‘Our aim is on the Tories and the government’, local CUPW officer Andre Kolompar, said last week outlining the way in which the strikers and the union have escalated their campaign for a first contract by mounting pressure against the real source of the conflict — the Tories’ contracting out policy. *‘Brian Mulroney is complicit in the exploitation of these people, it’s the Tory government’s con-” tracting out policy that has resulted in putting the cleaners in this situation.” The situation, in short, is that the cleaners have been fighting for a union contract these past seven weeks that they hope will raise their starvation wages above $4.50 an hour, and will begin to give them a measure of job security and dignity. Judging from their determination, and high mo- rale, the cleaners are made of tougher fibre than the chiselling contractor that employs them — Cana- da’s Capital Building Services Ltd. — or the Tories whose policy condemns the mainly immigrant workers to a life of grinding poverty. The last meeting with the company broke off Feb. 11, Kolompar said, with the employer walk- ing out. ““They were challenging things that we had signed on the first day of other agreements we’ve already negotiated at other locations’, he said. ‘*Things like the no discrimination clause, or the clause that sets out who their contract with the union will be and who our contract with the com- pany will be — they say they have a ‘problem’ with shah “Feb. 12, backed by a delegation of labor, women’s and democratic organizations, including Ontario Federation of Labor secretary-treasurer Sean O'Flynn, the cleaners were essentially eject- ed by police from the Tories’ national headquar-. ters, which ironically is located in the same build- ing as CUPW’s Ontario regional office. However, on the 16th, the strikers were able to get federal privatization minister Barbara MacDougal to meet a cleaners’ delegation. Even MacDougal had to agree that $4.50 an hour wasn't good enough to meet the cleaners’ subsis- tence needs and she suggested that while she was a confirmed advocate of contracting out, the clean- ers’ plight “‘may’’ be a case where the policy doesn’t work. Labor in action — GEORGE HEWISON The union is making sure the opposition in the Commons will be calling MacDougall to account. Vancouver cleaners settle An “amicable agreement” between two unions has resolved the three-month long strike by union- ized janitors at the main Vancouver post office. The agreement provides an across-the-board wage hike of 10 cents an hour for all wage classifica- tions, and gives the 32 employees a health and safety plan, until the contract for post office cleaning comes up for tender in late April, 1988. The settlement also gives the employees of A&A Service Co. a new union: the Service Employees International Union, Local 244. Local 244 representative Hank Horn said Local 602 of the Construction and General Workers Union — also known as the Laborers — did not contest an agreement signed between the SEIU and A&A. A&A employees began a legal strike Dec. 3 last year after the company refused to negotiate a first ‘contract. A&A, which Horn described as a 25-year old double-breasted version of Best Cleaners, won the Contract to clean the post Office in a low bid last year. The Laborers, which had represented the pre- vious firm, succeeded in signing up A&A employees. Horn said the incursion of non-union firms into the bidding process “has virtually destroyed the union sector of the industry.” He also charged that the post office “is taking part in this privatization which is really union- busting.” Meanwhile, the president of the Vancouver Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Marion Pollack, said postal unions are fighting the suspen- sions of some 300 workers who respected the jani- tor’s picket during a mass support rally in January. EDMONTON — “‘After six months and a great deal of money, they really have done very little,’’ is the reaction of Alberta Federation of Labor president Dave Werlin to ‘‘judges”’, AFL says: change the law! Over 200 persons attending a public meeting were con- stituted as a jury. The “‘defence”’ ““prosecution”’ listened as five Albertans testified about their experiences in either organiz- ing a union or keeping one in that province. They told of sexual harassment and threats of job loss, of forced overtime, unfair dismissals and wage rollbacks. and recommendations proposed last week by Alberta Labor Minister Ian Reid and a nine- person committee. “IT think they missed a splendid opportunity to do something quite useful,’’ Wer- lin said, adding that the review fails to deal with labor stan- dards and the right to strike for large segments of the prov- ince’s workforce. Werlin’s remarks were bolstered by the findings of a mock trial held the same eve- ning of Reid’s press con- ference at which the recom- <— The ’’jury’’ found Alberta’s labor laws guilty of 1: denying workers the right to engage in collective bargaining and; 2: denying workers the protec- tion of minimum employment standards under the law. “‘The report offers: no recommendations to deal with the root problems, that is to reaffirm the strengthen collec- tive bargaining process,’’ AFL research director Winston Gereluk told the Tribune. He said that the labor movement’s | mendations were unveiled. DAVE WERLIN “Change the Law’’ campaign will continue. CLC mid-term report card] As the Canadian I’hbor Congress approaches the mid-point between constitutional conventions, it’s high time to render an- interim verdict on the performance of the officer corp of Canada’s. leading labor body. It’s the moment for handing out the bouquets and brickbats and for grading the performance of those sisters and brothers so that next year’s convention doe sn *t arrive like the : proverbial ice-cold shower. First, in the fight for peace, the Congress has now affiliated tal the Canadian Peace Alliance and has sent out an appeal to all affiliates to do likewise. Vice-Presidént Dick Martin is co-oidinaitg : ing the CPA work along with staffer, Murray Randall. Points were deducted for allowing the International Affaire : Department to “‘creep’’ back onto the scene. Grade: “‘B+’’ Elsewhere on the international scene, it’s not quite so good The will of the last convention on international trade union ex changes and unity is being frustrated by a Cold War mentality a the top. Deadly games are ‘still being played around support fo SACTU in South Africa, and the CST in Nicaragua. : Congress officials are talking i in two directions at once: aim to satisfy both the ICFTU hierarchy on one hand, and at the same time the Canadian workers. Grade: ‘‘D”’ and a guarantee ol Jerr wre ariel Good job on Free Trade ; = the scheg paper adopted at the last convention dealing: wit _ Free Trade, De-regulation, and Privatization, the Congress of- ficers have performed well. They have launched a country- campaign on Free Trade which has helped stimulate the fight! in areas 8 where: previously it did not exist. re be a ranking officers’ meeting of all affiliates Mote 1 12th to launch Phase Two. A final mark will large depe ‘on what is proposed from this meeting, and if and he oo is aah for the Third Shamrock Stan die = lone in future to auras labor victories, particula with a agen workers at the bargaining fable this year. ee : : . the +h peers ar ey the Congress lead ship has done nothing, so far, to popularize labor's alternative economic program adopted by last year’s convention. With o half a term to do, nobody has heard about labor’s alternati _ program. Yet this remains crucial to getting Free Trade off t agenda and the employers off labor’s back. Therefore it’s cruc to an overall Postings mark for incumbent Congress officer oS crate oe. “Prod the (estaracdals oe on trade union unity, the officers have been cautious, som times too cautious, not to offend certain right wingers who cou only march in step to the needs of the times with the aid of ac. _ prod. It is reasonable to march as quickly as the unity of the t - union movement permits. But it is also leadership to poke enlighten those who would retard the entire movement. _ The acne officers need to exert the tremendous manda last convention on those fost tinue in the big business camp around the Tory st -al apace Careers be cuits cae months union movement has played a role in forming opinion to date, but it could do much more to mobilize galvanize the Canadian people for peace, independence and 1 policies of full employment and prosperity. By the time Officers of the Congress come up for re-election next year, t es should be those befitting leadership: A+. - 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 25, 1987 re Ee RR