With just less than one week to go
before the CLC National Day of
Protest, local trade unionists are
stepping up their efforts to ensure
the greatest possible participation
in the demonstrations scheduled
for October 14.

Delegates to the Vancouver
Labor Council were told that all
preparations were finalized’ and

_ that now the job was ‘‘to make sure
that October 14 will be a day to be
remembered.”

Garth Brown, delegate from
Local 217 of the IWA outlined the

, Friday, October 8, 1976

20°

Vol. 38, No. 40

drive on for Oct. 14

ame 6 ‘

final plans-Ser October 14. He said
that demonstrators would
assemble at eight locations
throughout the downtown Van-
couver area and will march from
the various assembly points along
different routes to the Anti-
Inflation Board’s Vancouver of-
fices in the Pacific Centre and then
on to a mass rally in the Queen
Elizabeth Plaza.

He said that the eight assembly
points were: Fishermen’s Hall,
City Hall, Victory Square, Sunset
Beach, beneath thenorth end of the

Granville Street Bridge, foot of
Smithe at Taylor Way (below the
north end of the Cambie Street
Bridge), the intersection of Alberni
and Jervis, and Granville Square.
As well, the B.C. Teachers
Federation would be marshalling
its members in the parking lot at
the BCTF headquarters at 6th and
Burrard.

Brown said that demonstrators
would assemble at 8 a.m., and that
if anyone was unsure as to where
they were to go they should contact
their local union or labor council.

Delegates were also told the
Canadian Labor Congress has
arranged for a massive national
radio advertising campaign to be
aired from October 9-14. Ralph
Bower, director of public relations
for the CLC, wrote the council that
the campaign will be heard on ‘‘at
least one radio station in each
major centre of the country.”

A number of council affiliates
reported on developments in their
unions including Local 217 of the
IWA, and Local 258 of the In-
ternational Brotherhood of

eiBUNE

Electrical Workers, both of which
stressed that all of their efforts
have been directed towards
“suaranteeing that October 14 will
be a complete success.”’

In another development, the
Joint Council of Railway Unions
announced that the bulk of B.C.’s
rail industry will be shut down on
October 14, as the council has
decided to offer full support to the
Day of Protest. The announcement
put to rest rumors in the daily
press that the rail unions would
oppose the National Day of
Protest.

| ame

Vancouver postal workers were the first to man picket lines Monday as members of the Canadian Union of
Postal Workers across the country began their series of 24-hour rotating strikes to protest the failure of the
post office to live up to provisions in the collective a

‘Destroying agreement’ says CUPW

greement relating to technological change. (See story).

—Mike Gidora photo

After nearly 10 months of trying
to force the Treasury Board of
Canada and the Canadian Post
Office to live up to the provisions of
its contract with the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers, inside
postal workers across Canada
have launched a Series of 24-hour
rotating strikes.

On Monday morning about 1700
postal workers at Vancouver’s
main post office left the job in the
first of the 24-hour strikes
demanding that the Post Office
adhere to the provisions of article
sa in their contract which was

signed following last year’s 43 day
postal strike. Article 29 was in-
serted to deal with the long stan-
ding disagreement over the im-
plementation of. technological
change within the post office
system, and stipulates that no
technological changes may be
introduced by the Post Office
without first prior consultation
with the union or having the
question settled by a special ad-
judication committee.

Following the Vancouver
walkout, post offices in Ottawa and
Brampton, Ontario, were closed as

: Japan A-bomb council —
to visit October 20 _

; i Gieenitives from the Japan Council against ‘A and H bombs
_are expected to visit Vancouver later this month as part of a tour to.
“mobilize support against nuclear weapons and against construction of

e Trident nuclear submarine base at Bangor, Washington. =>

_ Although full details of the delegation’ s tour have yet to be an-

uunced, trade unionists are expected to meet with the represen-

tives during a special meeting arranged for October 2). The group
illbe in Vancouver from October 20to26.

: Delegates to the Vancouver and District Labor Council Tuesday

lorsed a motion calling” on the ‘United Fishermen and Allied

ae nea in

Blais forcing walkouts

the inside workers left their jobs.

Through the dispute over
technological change has sim-
mered on since the end of last
year’s Canada-wide postal strike,
and in fact was a major issue in
that strike, it was brought to a head
last week when the Treasury

Board announced that it intends to

ignore the decisions of the special
adjudication committee, if, in the
opinion of the board, the com-
mittee’s decisions might con-
travene the Public Service Staff
Relations act.

The establishment of the special
adjudication committee was a key
point in the 1975 contract set-
‘tlement, and it has been sitting

under the chairmanship of Saul
Frankel since August. after the
Post Office and CUPW had been

‘unable to negotiate solutions to a

number of problems arising from
the $1 billion automation and
mechanization program. of the
Canadian Post Office.

Immediately following -the
Treasury Board decision, CUPW
vice-president Jean-Claude Parrot
charged the Treasury Board with
trying to destroy the collective
agreement.

“No sooner did Bryce Mackasey
leave the cabinet and the position
of postmaster-general than the

see POST OFFICE pg. 2

UBCM proposals
draw labor fire

Delegates to the Vancouver and
District Labor Council have made
it clear that they are not prepared
to stand aside and allow the
provincial government to in-
troduce ‘‘right to  work’’
legislation.

The council debate was promp-
ted by a letter from Terry
Thompson, secretary of the Port
Alberni labor council which drew
attention to a number of
resolutions adopted at the recent
Union of British Columbia
Municipalities convention which
called’ upon’ the provincial
government to introduce
legislation which would ban the
uffion shop, commonly called
‘right to work’’ legislation, and
called for a curbing of strikes in
essential services.

Thompson wrote that the UBCM
resolutions were a ‘‘most blatant
attack’’ on trade union rights and
called upon the entire labor
movement to “get serious about
electing trade unionists’ to local
government.

Council secretary Paddy Neale
told delegates that he had obtained
a copy of a brochure which was
being prepared by the Independent
Construction. and Businessmen’s
Association of B.C. which ‘“‘extols
the virtues of right to work
legislation.’

“This insidious propaganda is
part of a concerted campaign
going on now in the province of
B.C. which has two aims: one is the
introduction of right to work
legislation, and the second is a
drive towards creating a non-union
labor force,’ Neale stated.

He said that the situation was
particularly critical in the con-
struction industry and that now
about 60 per cent of all construction
going on in the Fraser valley was
being undertaken by non-union
labor.

“This situation we’re finding
outselves in is simply a con-
tinuation of the right to work at-
titudes of the Socred government
in Victoria.”’

CLC regional education director
Art Kube told the delegates that he
objected to the use of the term
“right-to-work’’ legislation.‘“There
are about 180,000 people in this
country that don’t have that right,
and we’restill fighting for the right
of this country’s unemployed to
work. What we’re talking about
here is the right to work for less.”’

Kube said that the labor
movement must begin to fight back
now, and not wait for the

legislation to be introduced before
a counter attack was _ initiated.
“We have a B.C. Federation of
Labor convention coming up, and
this council should be preparing
resolutions for presentation to that
convention on this matter.”
Other delegates pointed out that
the main thrust and call for this
type of legislation was coming
from local governments, and that
the labor movement should use this
see COUNCIL pg. 12

Next Tribune
appears Wed.

The Tribune supports the
National Day of Protest, and next
Thursday we'll be out in the rallies
with the thousands of other British
Columbian workers, so our office
will be closed on October 14.

As well, Thursday is normally
our printing day, so next week’s
Tribune will be out a day earlier
than usual, late afternoon on Oc-
tober 13. Special bundle orders can
be picked up then, but if you can’t
get down to our office on Wed-
nesday afternoon, our friends and
supporters will be at all the rallies
around the province distributing
some 20,000 copies of our paper.

Next week’s issue will contain a
number of special features in-
cluding a comprehensive study of
the Anti-Inflation Board by the
economists at the Trade Union
Research Bureau, and the story of
Vancouver's first general strike in
1918.

~ INSIDE:

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