Labour Continued from page 1 @ B.C. Teachers Federation, whose 75 member locals will see contracts expire June 30. Following their highly successful certifi- cation drive, they will be bargaining for the first time as unions, under labour legisla- tion. @ Canadian Union of Public Employees whose contracts covering school board employees in several B.C. school districts expire June 30. © B.C. Government Employees Union. The master contract, covering more than 32,000 members, expires July 31. ® Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers, whose contract covering 1,750 workers in the Kitimat smelter expires July 23. © B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers. The collective agreement with the ferry corpora- tion expires Oct. 31. © Hotel, Restaurant, Culinary and Bar- tenders’ Union. Contracts covering 7,500 hotel employees expire Oct. 31. Right across those bargaining sectors is a membership demand for catch-up wage increases and job security that has been expressed repeatedly in union bargaining - conferences. Over the past five to seven years, workers in both the: private and the public sector have been held to wage increases in the 2-3 per cent range, with many having to accept wage freezes in at least the first year of multi-year contracts. In the private sector, double-digit unemployment and the slump in the province’s resource industries have curbed wage increases while in-the public sector, right wing government cutbacks have kept wages and salaries well below the rise in the cost of living. “There has been a steady decline in real earnings over the past six or seven years,” said Dave Fairey, a research economist with the Trade Union Research Bureau. At the BCGEU bargaining conference last month, union researchers emphasized that union members have been falling behind for most of the last 10 years, with the result that BCGEU wages are now about 15 per cent behind comparable rates elsewhere -in the public and private sector. Over the last five years, according to IWA-Canada researchers, union wood- workers’ wages went up only 12 per cent in total, while increases in the cost of living were in excess of 20 per cent for the same period. es: Government figures for the last two years tell the same story. According to Statistics Canada, the average weekly wage in British Columbia went up only two per cent from November, 1985 to December, 1987. For the same period, the cost of living went up by 6.5 per cent in Vancouver and 8.4 per cent across Canada. At the same time, corporate profits have been climbing steadily over the last six years and last year reached record levels, particu- larly in the forest industry. Fairey cited StatsCan figures: showing that corporate pre-tax profits went up 74.2 per cent from 1981 to 1987. But that only hints at the profit-taking that occurred last year and in the first quarter of 1988. The Globe’s Report on Business Maga- zine reported June 10 that profits for the top 1,000 companies in its survey increased pre- tax profits by 52 per cent over 1986. According to the Financial Post, profits among the 94 companies it surveyed increased by an average 48 per cent in the first quarter of 1988 — but in the forest industry, that increase was 75 per cent. Throughout last year, forest companies chalked up record profits: ®@ MacMillan-Bloedel, up 111 per cent to $281 million profit; @ B.C. Forest Products, now owned by the New Zealand multinational, Fletcher- Challenge, up 250 per cent to $140 million; 6 e Pacific Tribune, June 15, 1988 Industry profits spur deman ® Canadian Forest Products, a Cana- dian Pacific subsidiary, up 307 per cent to $106 million; ® Crown Forest, also owned by Fletcher- Challenge, up 163 per cent to $101 million. In the metals industry, Alcan Aluminum pushed up profits by 56 per cent last year — a Statistic which will inevitably fig- ure prominently in negotiations with 1,750 members of CASAW at Alcan’s Kitimat smelter. whose contract comes up July 23. Significantly, those. profits, which are now well above the level of the pre-recession period, have been achieved with work for- ces which are considerably smaller than they were before 1982. : The forest industry has acknowledged that it has to put some money on the table in the current bargaining situation. But there is still the issue of the contracting-out from the 1986 strike and although the MacKenzie Commission report on contracting-out has recommended terms that could be the basis for settling that issue, the companies have made it clear that they want concessions on flexibility and shift scheduling in return. That will mean the erosion of long- standing conditions. and the potential for further job losses which won't sit well with workers in the manufacturing sector. In the public sector, the Socred govern- ment has already drawn the lines on a dis- pute with public employees by dictating the limits on wage increases and by pushing ahead with its plans to introduce sweeping privatization of major public services. The government budget brought down in May laid down a figure of 2.8 per cent for increases for B.C. teachers and BCGEU members — a figure which is substantially less than what is likely to be on the table in other negotiations and far below the 15 per cent increase that BCGEU members need to catch up to current rates. The BCGEU’s bargaining conference in April also called on the union to make job — security and protection against job losses resulting from privatization a priority in 1988 bargaining. That will include efforts to strengthen existing clauses restricting con- tracting-out where it would mean layoffs, and efforts to strengthen protection against privatization of government services where the only saving would come from cheaper, non-union wages. But the issue that will clearly dominate negotiations across the bargaining sectors will be wage increases. The steady loss in purchasing power over the last several years and the growing demand for a share in some of the record profits that are being chalked up has created substantial rank and file pressure for catch-up increases. “Workers are coming out of the dol- drums in which they’ve had to take 2 or 2 2 * per cent increases while they see the cost of living going up far more. Now they’re seeing corporate profits going way up, “said B.C. Federation of Labour secretary-treasurer Cliff Andstein. “That does translate,” he said, “and peo- ple are clearly willing to take a stand to win wage increases.” In the public sector, “where wages have been held down for a long time,” he added, “there’s no lack of willingness to go all the way.” ¢ Andstein said that the B.C. Federation of Labour had held a number of co-ordinating meetings among unions in bargaining. They have included a special strategy committee, made up of the major affiliates in bargain- ing, as well as meetings of all affiliates who are at the table.” So far, the meetings have been for the purpose of exchanging information but Andstein noted that there had also been a request that unions check with the commit- tee before concluding an agreement so as not to prejudice one another’s contracts. “It’s a first step,” Andstein said. ““That’s not to say that there will be any vetoes but if one union is about to settle in the neigh- bourhood of, say, five per cent, we don’t want another union in the same sector sign- ing an agreement for less.” 5 The federation’s co-ordinating role will become increasingly important over the next several weeks, particularly if any employer — or the government itself — resorts to using Bill 19 at any stage of bar- gaining. More than anything, the unity of the labour movement will be critical in this important bargaining round. A co-ordi- nated effort to win maximum gains across the private and public sector could not only begin to reverse the decline in workers’ incomes, but could also put renewed strength into the trade union movement — and help change the politics of this pro- vince. The legislative str The Industrial Relations Act is a strait- jacket that the government and employers designed to pull tight around B.C.’s labour movement. Most of the Act deals with col- lective bargaining. Its objective is to prevent ’ strikes, limit picketing, and to break strikes if they commence. There is not a single provision of the Socred labour law that gives an advantage to a union in a dispute with an employer. But there are a multitude of ways in which the employer, working with the govern- ment, can gain the upper hand during bar- gaining. The minister of labour and the Industrial Relations Council are always present and part of the bargaining process, even if they sometimes take a low profile. In fact, the law orders that the employer notify the IRC when bargaining commences, and the IRC is then required to keep the minister informed. : A usual first step in difficult negotiations is to request mediation. In the past this was done by mutual agreement. Under the Industrial Relations Act, the employer can order mediation. And until the mediator reports in 20 days, no strike or strike vote is allowed. However, without any request from the employer or the union, the Industrial Rela- tions Council can intervene in the negotia-- tions and order mediation, order “a fact finder” or order “a public interest inquiry board.” A “fact finder” is a person that would inquire into the issues in bargaining and write a report about them. Like a mediator, the fact finder has 20 days during which strikes are ruled out. The “public interest inquiry board” doesn’t prevent a strike from occurring, but it can certainly interfere in a union decision to go on strike or to stay on strike. This inquiry is supposed to write a report on the issues in a dispute, which takes into account “the public interest.” To ensure that such an inquiry will be a genuine anti-union circus, the government can also appoint a “public interest advocate” who will appear aS 2 third party. This inquiry is mandated to write “recommendations” for settling the dispute, and the IRC can then order that the union vote on these recommendations. _ There is still another way that the Socred labour law can prevent strikes. Any employer can have the IRC force the union to take a vote on the employers’ last offer, and no legal strike can occur until after this is done. This is a very useful technique for employers to explore and exploit potential divisions within the union membership. Once the union has tried to bargain, gone through mediation, had a fact finder’s report and voted on the boss’s last offer, and still has no acceptable agreement, it can do what it likely would have rather done in the ; beginning — take a vote and go on strike. That is, unless the employer has already decided to lock out the union. The law dictates what kind of a strike vote a union can take, It must be supervised by the IRC and according to its regulations. After a strike vote, a union must give 72 hours notice, and wait 48 hours until after a mediator or fact finder has booked out. Picket lines are the result of a strike or lockout. The union wants a strong picket line that prevents normal economic activity by the employer. The employer, naturally, wants to continue operations and starve out the union. The employer has two main ways to defeat the purpose of the picket line. The first is to bring in scabs. (see below) The second method is to divert opera- tions away from a picket line or to continue to market the product produced by scabs or management personnel. The apparent answer to this would be to put up more picket lines. But the govern- ment has severely restricted where picket lines can be placed. Picketing is legal only at the primary site of the struck employer, providing no other employer is in any way affected. For all practical purposes, all pick- eting at any other location is banned.