Seertiactions -eltra left
— cloud issues in IBEW 213°

The daily press recently carried a
report that the trial for damages
against Frank Stevens, © business
manager of Cement Masons Inter-
national Union Local 919, will not
proceed. According to that news
story, Stevens delivered a satisfac-
tory apology to union officials Jim
Kinnaird, Roy Gautier and Mike
Parr who had instituted the action
for damages.

The action .arose out

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

of

statements carried in a Vancouver
Sun article, July 7, 1978, ins which
Stevens charged that the three
leaders of the B.C. and Yukon
Building Trades Council had at-
tempted to favor certain unions in
contract negotiations with the
employers’ organization.

Personally, I believe it is much
better when such questions are settl-
ed within the labor movement itself,
and not by a court of law.

I also believe that Kinnaird,
Gautier and Parr were unfairly
criticized by Stevens, and that the
published statements by Stevens
were grossly unfair and should
never have been given to a reporter
for the Vancouver Sun.

But the differences within the
ranks of the seventeen construction
unions which led to the statements
by Stevens still remain, and could
return to haunt the next round of
negotiations. ~
_ However, there are circumstances
under which court action is
justified. Let me give one example:
If a person, union member or non-
member, made a statement to the
press that a labor official, identified
by name, had stolen, say $10,000
from union funds, that labor of-
ficial would have good reason to in-
stitute legal action to clear his
name. However, if union officials
took legal action every time they
were accused of spending union

JIM GEE-.. .. former president
defeated, with help of ultra left.

funds unwisely, or of not strictly
conforming to the rules laid down
pertaining to record keeping, the
courts would find their work load
greatly increased. Such matters are
better left to the internal procedures
and checks of the trade union
movement itself. Basically, the
standard of accountability in the
handling of funds in the Canadian
trade union movement is no less
than what prevails in the communi-
ty as a whole, and much better in
many cases.

Now that Kinnaird, who became
president of the B.C. Federation of
Labor last November, is satisfied
with the apology from Stevens, he
may be able to help his own union,
Local 213 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
to settle a messy, internal situation
without going to the court.

As an aftermath of the hard-
fought election campaign in that
local of some 3,800 members, nine
members have .been charged inter-

‘

nally under the union trial pro-
cedure and eight members have had
an action instituted against them in
Supreme Court.

The outcome of the election gave
Cliff Rundgren his third, three-year
term as business manager when he
defeated Jim Gee in a run-off elec-
tion. Gee had served a three-year
term as president prior to the elec-
tion. Rundgren received approx-
imately 55 percent of the vote and
strengthened his support in the ex-
ecutive board.

It is reported that the business
manager of this local receives about
$30,000 a year in wages and approx-
imately $5,000 in fringe benefits. As
business manager, he has the sole
authority to hire and fire the nine
assistant business managers who
work under his direction. Each of
them also receive about $30,000 a
year in wages and benefits, I am
told.

The constitution of the IBEW
gives the business manager more
authority than any other member of

CLIFF RUNOGREN...

re-
elected to business agents post.

the executive board and a very

strong power position in relation to |

the executive board as a whole.
This, of course, accentuates the
struggle over policy which frequent-
ly takes place. This struggle comes
into sharper focus during an elec-
tion campaign, particularly if there
are groups who strongly disagree
with the policies, style of work and
performance of the _ business
manager and his assistants. It must
also be said, because union
members are people and not angels,
that such conflicts may be ag-
gravated by selfish motives and
deep-going, personal animosities. -

Left-wing and _ progressive
members in a situation like that try
to lift the debate to-the level of ex-
amining policies in relation to the
real needs of the membership and
the labor movement as a whole.
Sometimes this is not an easy thing
to do, particularly when they
themselves are the target of a dirty
campaign, or when_ ultra-left
elements engage in a far-out, mud
slinging campaign against the ad-
ministration.-Such actions by the
ultra left leave many honest
members with the mistaken idea
that the responsible left and their
progressive friends are somehow
associated with the ultras.

Although Jim Gee refused to
comment on the election, other
members told me that the campaign
literature put out by a third group
within the local hurt the campaign
of Gee and his supporters and gave
the edge to the Rundgren forces. In
the main, the hotly contested posi-
tions were won by a slim majority.

It is this third group which is
reported to be the target of internal
disciplinary actions and civil actions
in the court.

This group it is said, is responsi-
ble for a circular put out over the
name of the ‘‘United Committee
for Democracy in the Local.’’ The
circular is short, in constructive
policy and long in mud slinging,
with charges of misappropriation of
funds, a “‘special relationship’’ bet-
ween a union officer and a temale
office employee resulting in finan-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 14, 1979-- Page 12

cial gain to the latter, and general
mismanagement.

Gee and some of his supporters
also had garbage thrown at them in
this pamphlet, but they are not lay-
ing any charges, I am told.

Judging by the amount of space
given to the defense of Terry Simp-
son and his ultra-left friends in the
union, it is reasonable to assume the
sponsors of the circular are, to say
the least, sympathetic to the Simp-
son crowd.

In May 1975, Simpson and eight
other members were charged and
later convicted by a union trial com-
mittee. Sentences
suspension of membership
privileges for periods ranging from
two to fifteen years, with Simpson
drawing a fifteen-year suspension.
However, he was successful in his
appeal to the 1978 international
convention of the IBEW and was
reinstated. In January, 1979, Simp-
son was elected to the local. ex-
ecutive board as a representative of
the wiremen’s unit, but was dis-
qualified for being in arrears in pay-
ment of dues. .

If many of the members in Local
213 are confused about what took
place during the election campaign,
it is understandable. For example,
the circular put out by those friend-
ly to Simpson was signed ‘‘United
Committees For Democracy in the
Local,’’ while a leaflet put out by
Gee supporters was signed ‘‘Com-
mittee for a Return to Democracy
in Local 213.” :

To add to the confusion, some
candidates received the printed en-
dorsement of more than one of the
groups that were in bitter opposi-
tion to each other.

Be that as it may, the fact re-
mains that Cliff Rundgren has in-
stituted an action in Supreme Court
against Terry Simpson, Keith Apps,
Paul Yorke, Alfred Huston, Robert
Duffy, W.A. ‘‘Dusty’’ Rhodes,
Richard Mathews and Sharon
Boudier. (Some say that his own
campaign tactics left much to be
desired and much to be criticized.)
. According to the Vancouver
Registry office of the Supreme
Court of British Columbia, in a
document dated June 13, 1979,
Rundgren is claiming damages,
costs and an injunction against fur-
ther defamatory statements, and in
particular allegations that:

1. ‘*C.D. Rundgren _ has. seized
control of the $500,000 strike
fund.”’ 3

2. ‘*C.D. Rundgren spent
thousands of dollars of your money
in a vain attempt to silence his op-
position in the union.”’

3. ‘C.D. Rundgren controls
strike funds to the exclusion of our
elected trustees. No one knows
where the money is, or how much
interest is drawn — except Run-
dgren.”’

Whether this action will go to
trial or whether it will be discon-
tinued in return for a written retrac-
tion remains to be seen.

One thing is certain: problems
like joint negotiations, unemploy-
ment in the building trades, full
Canadian autonomy for the IBEW
and the big social questions con-
fronting the labor movement are in-

evitably downgraded in the kind of »

a situation which has prevailed in
Local 213 for many years. Too
many members are fighting each
other instead of uniting to come to
grips with common problems.

No matter which way the internal
and external charges are disposed
of, those basic problems will re-
main. In the long run, the members
themselves will come up with the
answers and will isolate those who
advance right wing opportunistic
policies, along with the ultra-ieft,
who, objectively, are tools of the
right wing. ~ .

ranged from.

4
et

MUNRO...

Guarantee jobs to get
B.C. resources —Munrt

Continued from page 1

A resolution.submitted by 1-217
president Syd Thompson condemn-
ed the actions of PP WC members
from the MacMillan Bloedel Har-
mac operation in Nanaimo for
picketing IWA operations in Van-
couver for three days during the
balloting on the new collective
agreement in July. The resolution
calling for observance of B.C.
Federation of Labor procedures for
secondary picketing, was over-
whelmingly supported by the con-
vention, but not before some
delegates objected to the vindictive
tenor of the attack on the PPWC.

Munro also wanted endorsement
of a hard line position with Building
Trades unions over a jurisdictional

dispute and in his speech to the con-’

vention told Building Trades
representatives that they could ‘‘go
jump in a lake.”’ :

The IWA leader inferred that
part of the problem stemmed from
the union of Building Trade unions
in the Building Trades Council, and
suggested that the IWA and other
industrial unions should form an
“industrial union’s council.’’ A
resolution to that effect had yet to
be debated at Tribune press time.

The about 200 delegates declined
to take up Munro’s fighting stance
with the Building Trades, however,
and a resolution calling on the
leadership to meet with the Trades
and work out a jurisdictional pact
carried the convention over the op-
position of Munro and other
regional officers.

Monday, Munro gave major at-
tention to the union’s forest policy
to be distributed widely throughout
the province. ‘‘I urge you to do
everything you can to get a vastly
expanded forestry program going,”’
he urged delegates, ‘‘Help convince
MLA’s and MP’s that the forests in

PACIFIC

RiBUN

_ hard line on PPWC, Building Trades.

- and pulp has contributed to If

Fred Wilson

Canada are in trouble and wet
correct that situation.” :

The union is calling for
reforestation program, fin
primarily by the provincia
federal governments, and for pf
sions to ensure that logs are assia) |
ed to their highest end use. H

The use of peeler logs for rT

scale layoffs in the plywoo
dustry, Munro charged, and in
of assurances from the governil
that corrective measures would
taken a ‘‘greater number of lay®
are threatened.”

Departing from official
policy, Munro proposed that ©
tracts between the government! §
multinational corporations allo
the exploitation of B.C.’s resou
should be tied to guarantees
employment. ‘‘It is a disgrac
our most valuable natural reso
are assigned to be exploited
private companies who gi¥
guarantee whatever about emp
ment,’’ he said, ‘““We have
away our most precious mi
resources and energy sources
Kitimat, of incalculable value, °
there isn’t a contract obli
anyone to provide a single jo

IWA international pres
Keith Johnson addressed del
Tuesday and stressed the i
tance of restrictions on the &
of logs to Japan and other
tries. Log exports and
reforestation have resulted 1
closures and the loss of 4,000
industry jobs in the Pacific
thwest of the U.S., he said.

Johnson, a Canadian, sp?
length about U.S. politics
associated himself and the in
tional union with the movem
draft U.S. senator Edward Ké
for the 1980 presidential electl@

Address
City or town
Postal Code

SENOS NN NG NUNN

Read the paper that fights for labor

oot
a

avS Sie 010 40% wh. 0 O/ete 2 0 0 ule we 8 9 © © be o'r 0 8h.) bone Ree
Pe We ey he se ee A ae

| am enclosing:
1 year $10 (1) 2 years $18 6 months $6 1
Old New () Foreign 1 year $12 0
Donation $

SOAR AEA LES

Pee tee te ek a