SOON SN 2 ® 3 @ Settling accounts with SORWU An Account To Settle is the story of the United Bank Workers (SOR- WUC), published by Press Gang Publishers of Vancouver. The pub- lishers describe themselves as ‘“‘a feminist printing and publishing collective established in the spring _ of 1974.” It is an attractive book with excellent cartoons running to 128 pages that tells the story of how a group of women bank workers made a determined effort to organ- ize branches of the chartered banks in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Although they were defeated, they fought a good fight and many positive lessons can be learned from their defeat. In an article published in the Tribune Dec. 9, 1977, I wrote the following in connection with or- ganizing the major, chartered banks: .‘‘According to available statistics, there are 7,200 bank branches across the country, in ev- ery province and from the Ameri- can border to the far north. Of the 145,000 full-time employees, 107,000, or 73 per cent are women.”” I pointed out that the United Bank Workers, chartered by the Service, Office and Retail Workers Union in B.C., had played a signifi- cant role in obtaining official bar- gaining rights for 21 branches in B.C: and Saskatchewan. I also gave them credit for the fact that it was in response to their applica- tions for certification that the Ca- nadian Labor Relations Board had ruled that an individual branch was a unit appropriate for collective ~ However, 1 also made this ob- servation: “‘It will take the active support of the entire trade union movement to make a major ad- vance in organizing-bank workers. Labor will come into head-on colli- sion with the most concentrated complex of financial and industrial power in the country, with the dis- advantage of having to organize workers at some 7,000 locations.” In August, 1978, SORWUC is- sued a pamphlet to announce that its United Bank Workers section had decided ‘‘to stop negotiations with five banks in B.C. on behalf of members in 24 branches for which they were certified as the bargain- ing agent. At that time, they claim- ~ ed to have 700 members in the banks, of whom 400 were in non- certified banks. The SORWUC statement made the following, key points: 1) UBW had been involved in negotiations for eight months. 2) The union was unable to raise the money necessary to continue negotiations. ‘ 3) They were disappointed in th lack of support from the Canadian Labor Congress. (UBW is not an affiliate of the CLC.) 4) While they were not giving up, they realized that they were too small to take on the banks. They Address City or town Postal Code 1 year $10 [) ~~ Lam enclosing: 2 years $18 [| 6 months $6 (_ would work to build a stronger or- ganization of bank workers in order to win the support of work- ing women and men necessary to organize the banking industry in BG. The pamphlet also elaborated on the difficulties encountered by UBW: ‘‘Bank management has been successful in convincing bank employees to wait and see what the union can get, realizing that so long as they wait and see the union (as a small minority ‘of bank employees) cannot be successful. The banks encouraged division among bank workers by portray- ing the union as a third party. They have put pressure on employees in various way: anti-union meetings in the branches, and withholding “wage increases and benefits from certified branches. Twenty-four branches cannot do it alone.” (There are some 800 branches in B.C.) With no money in the treasury, no funds to pay the wages of nego- tiators taken off the job or to hire more experienced negotiators, and LABOR COMMENT ‘BY JACK PHILLIPS with unpaid legal bills amounting to $30,000, UBW came to the end of the road. : Jackie Ainsworth, vice-presi- dent of UBW, told the news media they were faced with the choice of going on strike or signing ‘‘a lousy contract.’’ She went on to say that the union could not afford a strike without the full support of the la- bor movement, including the CLC, which had launched its own cam- paign to organize the banks with a $1 million campaign fund. Ainsworth also said that most unionized branches would apply to have the certification cancelled in order to take advantage of wage in- creases and improved benefits which the banks gave to non-union employees, but withheld from em- ployees where UBW had won bar- gaining rights. It should be noted that when the UBW appealed to the Canadian Labor Relations Board to declare this withholding to be an unfair labor practice, its claim was rejected. : UBW was told that it had the right to bargain for the member- ship in the certified branches.’ Therefore, wages, benefits and working conditions would have to be settled through collective bar- gaining. But the banks, in negotia- tions, stalled in every possible way and used every trick in the book to deplete the financial resources of the union and to discredit and un- dermine the organization. All these difficulties and prob- Old New Foreign 1 year $12 C Donation $ PETAR ETE EER PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 21, 1980—Page 12 ~ =. Oe ee ee en es ee a ee lems are described at some length in An Account To Settle. The book was written by a group of writers who were active fighters in the bat- _ tle of the banks: Jackie Ainsworth, Sheree Butt, Charlotte Johnson, Helen Potrebenko, Denise Pupard, Jean Rands, Linda Reed, ~ Ulryke Weissgerber and Dodie Zerr. All were clerical workers and most were bank employees. Much of the book is written in the first person, dealing with per- sonal experiences, giving a graphic picture of how every bank where they attempted to organize present- ed special problems in personal re- lationships. The average bank had 10-15 employees and the employees in nearly every case were divided as to who should be excluded from the union on the basis of manage- ment functions. or closeness to management. Management, on the other hand, sought to exclude as many employees as possible from the bargaining unit. The book describes in some de- tail, and not without humor, the grass roots techniques used by UBW. The key, of course, was the involvement of bank workers themselves in the organizational. campaign. In addition, volunteers . from other unions and sympathetic _ groups were utilized to distribute leaflets to banks. The trade union movement, including CLC unions, made substantial donations in cash. Between October 1976 and July, 1978, unions contributed more than $50,000 to the UBW campaign, of which $20,917 came from unions affiliated to the CLC. It is significant that CLC unions were collectively the largest union donors from April 1977 to January 1978. From February 1978 to July 1978, however, they were the smallest, largely because the CLC had entered the field with its own campaign to organize bank workers.- : The final chapter of the book is entitled, ‘“The Balance Sheet,’’ and sums up the battle of the banks. It points out that: as a result of the UBW campaign, salaries were rais- ed and working conditions and TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO— SEAN GRIFFIN ae ae D UBW secretary Jackie Ainsworth (left) and SORWUC rep Eliza Godley at 1977 press conference . bank certifications but the union’s plans were not to be realize fact that our leaflets and bargain- ing demands deal directly with the - specific problems of working benefits were improved, but that much remains to be done. On page 113 we find the following: ‘‘We still earn much less than the average B.C. wage. Our seniority is not recognized in relation to trans- fers, promotion or job security. There is no effective grievance pro- cedure and bank workers will fall behind again if the banks believe that the threat of unionization is The appendix to the book is a re- production of correspondence be- tween SORWUC and the CLC, in respect to the bank organizational campaign, covering the period from July 5, 1977 to Jan. 17, 1978. The philosophy of SORWUC is contained in this quotation from a letter to Shirley Carr, CLC vice- president, Oct. 6, 1977: ““We view SORWUC not only as a union but as part of the movement for wo- men’s rights. This is not to say that -we wish in any way to exclude men or discriminate against men. Men are active and welcome in our union. But women workers should stand up for themselves. We be- lieve that -women should control the unions in which they are the majority. We are convinced that the main reason women clerical workers and service workers are hesitant to join unions is that exist- ing unions are seen as another set of institutions dominated by. men. SORWUC’s success is due to the women, and we are seen as an or- ganization of working women or- ganizing ourselves.” This feminist approach to union organization should be weighed up against the failure of SORWUC to win the battle of the banks. The 1979 directory of trade unions pub- lished by the B.C. ministry of labor reported a total membership of 301 for SORWUC, of whom 250 were women. Out of this total, only 50 were listed as bank workers. The B.C. Government Employees Union (CLC) was listed as having 43,180 members, of whom 19,465 were women. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CLC), was listed as having 26,086 members in- Cluding 10,757 women. Then, there is the independent Hospital Em- -ployees Union with 21,097 mem- bers, of whom 16,845 are women. These are only a few examples, that prove that working class organiza- tion should be based on unity be- tween men and women workers. It is a fact that the best examples — bank workers can give to prove that their wages and working conditions are substandard are to be found in collective agreements that cover both men and women, including the agreements of the three unions listed above. _ : : It is significant that a CLC letter to SORWUC Dec. 14, 1977, pro- posed that the United Bank Work- ers should apply to join the na- tional bank structure of that body. The CLC promised “‘if this were to happen we would be prepared to look at the financial obligations - outstanding in connection with the applications for certification of the United Bank Workers.”’ On Jan. 17, 1978, SORWUC replied, as fol- lows: ‘‘Your suggestion that the UBW section of SORWUC split from SORWUC and apply inde- pendently for. affiliation to the CLC was rejected unanimously by our executive.” ; I believe the SORWUC leader- . . UBW won the right to bank for an’ active organization ship madea mistake in not gol their members in the banks in or to convince them to switch to CLC union for bank emplo: Instead, they left that membe unprotected and at the mercy management that is notori anti-union. I understand the. ings of SORWUC activists, al how this would have been a hal thing for them to do, but soms times we have to overcome feelings in the interests of t workers. a By all means read An Accoul To Settle, if you can obtain a copy: The main conclusion I came to # ter reading it is that there is a plaw® women basing itself on the need t¢ protect and advance the interests working women, but as a broad movement assisting the trade movement and in helping organize women. SORWUC OF the other hand, bases itself on tif non-class concept that workillf women need special trade unio for women, because, they arg our society, including trade institutions, is dominated by mi They fail to grasp the fact that working people, men and wom! face the same class enemies must therefore strive for unity 0 working class basis. Whatever the faults of the ¢ (and there is much room for cism) it still offers the main around which we can build a unt! trade union movement in Ca in the long min. This is a fact of that SORWUC has failed to un stand in its search for the ideal, fect union for women workers mass movement like the CLC nearly 2.5 million workers (me and women). should never & equated with certain right-winf leaders. It is much more than that Ifsome of the critics who are tty” ing to reshape the Canadian Labo! Congress by building unions in of position to that body were working inside it, fighting for policy, they could make a much more posi contribution, at least in my nion.