aes ne a ni dene Ligne ae NTT 8 tee se RRO eesinoe

Gary Swann, Port Alberni,
writes: Kerry McCuaig’s article
about reproductive hazards in the
workplace (Tribune, May 8,
1981) was very interesting.

Toxic substances in the
workplace and the environment
Present a serious health hazard
and must certainly not be viewed
as a problem for women workers
alone. Recent scientific evidence
indicates that 50° percent of
Miscarriages and 83 percent of

_ birth defects are caused by defec-
tive male sperm. The defective
Sperm is caused, at least in part,
by toxic substances.

Many sawmill workers are ex-
Posed to a known mutagen
(causes genetic defects) when
handling lumber treated with the
anti-stain chemical pen-

_ tachlorophenol (PCP). PCP has

‘The Tribune welcomes letters
to the editor. They should: be
typed or written legibly and
should bear the writer’s name and
address.

. ie Letiers

been found in the seminal fluid of
100 percent of the men tested. It
also bioaccumulates in sperm

cells at levels 20 to 40 times higher
than those found in semen. The
presence of this known mutagen

Opposition voiced
to military taxes

Dan Cooperstock, Toronto,
writes: I recently sent the follow-
ing letter to the minister of na-
tional revenue, and enclosed a
copy with my tax. form:

I am fundamentally opposed
to my tax dollars being used for
military purposes. I believe that
Canada should set an example to
the world by totally eliminating
all ‘defence spending’’. As a step
towards that I urge the setting up
of a Peace Tax Fund into which
those people who wished to could
divert that portion of their federal
taxes that would normally go to
the military. The money in this
fund would then be directed to

research, education and develop-
ment. This would be similar in
principle to allowing conscien-
tious objectors during wars to
choose alternative service of a
non-combatant, humanitarian
nature.

Since there is as yet no such
Peace Tax Fund, I have deducted
8.55 percent of my federal tax of
$379, or $33.94, from my tax, and
instead remitted that amount to
the Canadian Peace Research In-

stitute, a registered charity. The ©

figure of 8.55 percent is, as best I
can calculate it, the percentage of
overall federal expenditures
which the Department of Na-
tional Defence budget represents.

Toxic chemicals ‘hazard to everyone’

in reproductive fluids is obviously
dangerous.

A recent study conducted by
the University of Washington was
concerned with the possible ef-
fects of PCP on reproductive out-
vome. The wives of both exposed
and non-exposed sawmill
workers were questioned regar-
ding their reproductive histories.
Due to the small scope of the
study the scientists were reserved
in their statements but indicated
that ‘‘exposed’’ pregnancies ap-
peared to have a greater risk of
adverse outcome (spontaneous
abortion, birth defects). This is
certainly cause for concern for
any sawmill worker exposed to
this chemical. It should certainly
be isolated from worker exposure
if not totally banned. ;

I have recently completed a
literature review on PCP, outlin-
ing its hazards to the environment
and to human health. I could
make it available to readers. (RR
2, Batty Rd., Port Alberni, B.C.
V9Y 7L6.)

Group urges

-achieve a new order of things.

assistance
for Grenada

Eileen Jefferson, Vancouver,
writes; As a member of the
Canada-Grenada Friendship
Society I would like to let your
readers know that the society
welcomes new members.

The society was formed in
Toronto in the fall of 1980 and its
aims are to promote friendship
and understanding between our
peoples through information,
education and cultural channels.

Free Grenada has just
celebrated the second anniversary
of the revolution and the tiny
country is working very hard to

Having had the honor of atten-
ding the festivities during the an-
niversary I want to appeal to your
readers to support Grenada in
every way possible. .

Membership applications to
the society may be obtained by
telephoning 731-0836 or by
writing directly to: Canada-
Grenada Friendship Society, PO
Box 315, Station O, Toronto,
Ontario M4A 2N9.

bona fide organizations for peace

‘Keep the door open,’ labor council urges —

Continued from page 1
labor council, stated, ‘The Federa-
tion is . . . continuing to press the
CLC to accept such a solution or a
Variation of it.”’

_For both the Federation and the
labor council, the resolutions were
prompted by widespread concern
over what might happen if the 12
Building Trades unions were
Suspended immediately from the
two labor bodies.:

When the deadline passed Apr.

30 without the Building Trades

either affiliating to the new CLC
Structure or paying the outstanding
Per capita, the CLC executive
Council suspended’ them from the

ngress. Letters were later sent
Out by the CLC executive instruct-
Ing all labor councils and provincial
federations of labor — all of which
are chartered by the CLC — to
Comply with the Congress policy
and suspend the Building Trades
locals from their ranks as well.

In advancing their resolutions as

_ 4n alternative, both the Federation
_ and the 60,000-member labor
_ Council emphasized their ‘‘desire to

Maintain the unity of the labor
Movement.’? And it was that

‘Message which was underscored by

delegates in the council debate
Tuesday.
“I want to make it clear that I

ieve that the Building Trades in-
ternationals are absolutely and

_ Completely wrong in what they are

doing and that the CLCis absolute-

lyand completely right in opposing

It, said Lore Robson, whose
Union, the Carpenters is one of the
12 suspended from the CLC.

“At issue,” he told the council
Meeting, ‘‘is the right of Canadian
trade unionists to elect their dele-
Sates to a CLC convention and to

Speak on the floor of that conven-
tion.” i

The dispute between the CLC
and the Building Trades interna-
Uonal has centred on the demand
Of the Building Trades to limit the

Size of, and rank and file participa-

on in, CLC conventions and to

‘tip local unions of the right to

and send delegates, reserving
that right instead for the Canadian

headquarters, in turn controlled
from Washington.

“The Building Trades interna-
tionals want to turn CLC conven-
tions into a bureaucratic,
undemocratic machine,’’ Robson
said.

“But,’’ he warned,”’ if we throw
the Building Trades out now, we
will unite them behind the interna-
tionals.

“If you say dogmatically ‘chuck
them out’, you will put them right
into the hands of the internationals
who are right now trying to set up
another divisive trade union
centre,’’ he declared.

Robson, the secretary of the

15,000-member Provincial Council
of Carpenters, reiterated that the
CLC was “right on’’ in its position
of the issue of democracy but said
he had to ‘‘question the CLC ex-
ecutive council’s way of handling
the dispute.”’

A key problem, he said was the
new Building Trades structure
which was to be set up by the CLC.
If the Carpenters or other Building
Trades union had affiliated to it,
they would have been charged with
“dual. unionism”? by the interna-
tional headquarters and possibly

ed from the union. :

In the Building Trades, all locals
and councils are chartered directly
from Washington, so the threat of
expulsion is a potent weapon.

Another problem with the new
structure, Robson said, was the
provision that only the craft locals
could affiliate. Many Building
Trades unions, including the

to explain the issues.

LORNE ROBSON .. «need time

Carpenters, have several industrial
locals whose members work. in
manufacturing plants, and they
would be excluded from the CLC
Building Trades structures.
“How could we accept division
in our own ranks and at the same
time fight for labor unity?’’ Rob-

“son asked, referring to the CLC

separation of.craft and industrial
locals.

Because of that, the Carpenters
provincial council took a cheque
covering the per capita for its entire
B.C. membership of 15,000 to the
B.C. Fed. That cheque is now on
deposit, in keeping with the policy
adopted by the Federation’s execu-
tive May 1.

The Carpenters Union has also

been holding membership meetings

throughout the province and is
conducting a referendum vote in
which members will be asked if
they are in favor of the provin-
cial, and district councils and locals
doing everything possible to main-
tain unity in thelabor movement by

remaining in all labor bodies and_

by urging the Carpenters interna-
tional headquarters to pay up the
outstanding per capita.

‘‘1’m sure that when the vote is
in, it will be 99 percent in favor;’’
Robson predicted. “‘If you go to
membership, and explain the issue,
you can win them — but it takes
time.

“We've got to keep the door
open, until the problem can be
solved.’’

The only opposition to the labor
council action came from Art
Kube, regional director of educa-
tion for the CLC and Garth
Brown, assistant education di-
rector and a delegate to the council
from the International Wood-
workers.

Both cited the constitution of the »

labor council which permits affilia-
tion of only those locals whose un-
ions are affiliated to the CLC.

“The simple question is: do we
abide by the constitution?”’ Brown
asked. ‘‘And that’s a serious ques-
tion.

Kube argued that allowing the
Building Trades locals to remain
seated in the council while they are

suspended from the CLC would be
“playing the game of the Building
Trades internationals.”

He said he recognized the ‘‘se-
vere strain’ on the labor council
that suspension of the Building
Trades locals would entail but
warned that allowing them to re-
main seated with full voice and vote
would ‘‘weaken the pressure on the
Building Trades in Washington.”

‘As I see it, this resolution is not
the way to put pressure on the in-
ternationals,”’ he said. ‘“You are
taking away from the CLC thelittle
bargaining strength it has left.”’

Earlier, Marty Smith, another
delegate from the Carpenters
Union, had told the council that
Building Trades locals which sup-
ported the CLC position needed
time to explain the issue to their
members and get them to put press-
ure on their internationals to re-
solve the dispute.

“Tf the Building Trades are forc-
ed out now, we won’t have that
time — and the positions will be
hardened,”’ he said.

Heemphasized that therank and
file of the Building Trades ‘‘don’t
want a split — but they don’t com-
pletely understand the issues either.

“We need time — and I think
that the flexible position of the Fed-
eration and the labor council will
give it to us,’’ he said.

Al Engler, a delegate from the
Canadian Brotherhood of Rail-
way, Transport and. General
Workers, told the meeting that he
didn’t see how allowing Building
Trades locals — ‘locals which had

Nothing to do with the undemo-

cratic decisions of their interna-
tionals — to remain seated in the
council would weaken the CLC po-
sition. :
“Constitutions and bylaws are
made in the long term interests of
the organization,’’ he commented,
‘and if a rigid dotting of the ‘i’s”’ is

going to be divisive, then I think we

have to be flexible. And this resolu-
tion does provide for flexibility.’’

IWA delegate Doug Evans, a
council vice-president, also backed
the resolution noting that ‘‘if
there’s a door open, then you
should use it.’

Council president Frank Ken-
nedy emphasized that the issue was
“probably the most important
since the council was set up 25 years
ago.”

He said that the resolution
would be sent to councils all over
the province and affiliated unions
would also be urged to take it up,
thus increasing the pressure for a
resolution to the dispute.

He also indicated that McDer-
mott and international Building
Trades representative Ken Rose
had been close to a resolution
earlier this month when discussions
were held in Vancouver with B.C.
Fed president Jim Kinnaird as
mediator. ‘‘All that was outstand-
ing was how much money was go-
ing to change hands,”’ he said.

Although Kennedy cited no fig-
ures, the contentious figure was re-
portedly $400,000 which Rose had
offered as settlement. McDermott
rejected it, however, as being far
short of the $700,000 in outstand-
ing per capita owned by the Build-

At the same time, the Building
Trades internationals have moved
closer to the formal establishment
of a rival Canadian Federation of
Labor which, although it will be
anything but Canadian, will cer-

‘tainly be deeply divisive.

Fishermen’s delegate George
Hewison pointed directly to that
danger in his remarks, warning of a
“serious danger of that labor
movement taking a giant step back-
wards.

‘*We believe that the loss of the

Building Trades would be an irrep-

arable loss —to this council and the
labor movement,” he said.

He told delegates that they need
only look at the. strike by Tele-
communications Workers or civic
workers — in which Building
Trades solidarity was a decisive ele-
ment — to ‘‘see how critical the
Building Trades are.”’

He emphasized that pressure
was mounting for .a solution
‘which Canadian trade unionists

can accept.

“Right now, the overriding need
is for unity,”’ he said. ‘‘And we’ve
got to be flexible to get that unity.”’

" PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 22, 1981—Page 3

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