—— Boo-boo hammers hospital workers MONTREAL — With fewer workers on the streets than the complement absent from Quebec health care institutions during summer vacations, provincial premier Robert Bourassa rammed Bill 160 through the National Assembly, Nov. 11, in a bid to halt their fight for a decent contract. Bill 160 has been described as one of the most repressive pieces of labor law ever hurled at the trade union movement. Bourassa brought the hammer down on the Confederation of National Trade Unions in order to block the CSN’s plans for a series of 24 hour strikes in defiance of legislation denying them the right to strike. The law makes it possible for an employer to strip away a whole year’s seniority for any worker who is absent or fails to ‘‘carry out his duties’’. It directs a whole series of exhorbitant fines against unions and individuals ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 a day for union officers exercising their leadership of a work stoppage and rapidly escalating personal fines from $25 to $1,000 and $10,000 for what amount to picketing a hospital. It also provides for suspending the Rand Formula, for a period of 12 days for every day or part of a day of strike action, and ina total reversal of Canadian legal practice, unions held liable for damages for breaking Bill 160 would be assumed guilty until they could prove their innocence. Health care workers are among the 300,000 public sector workers who’ ve been negotiating these past 18 months for anew pact replacing the agreement that ended Jan. 1. Wages are a key issue with the unions demanding a 5 per cent increase and the government offering 3.5 per cent. CSU president Gerald Larose last week linked Bill 160 to the government’s embarassment over the killing of CSN member Gaston Harvey on the Manoir Richelieu picket line, last month at Point au Pic. : Other 24 hour work stoppages were staged in June and at the end of October by unions affiliated to the Quebec Federation of Labor. CSN officials called off the planned job actions in order to formulate a unified response to this vicious attack on labor by Quebec's neo-conservative government. SACTU calls for sanctions TORONTO — The South African Congress of Trade Unions reported Nov. 11 that despite our government's limited sanctions against the apartheid regime the value of South African imports soared by 49 per cent in the 13 months since Ottawa announced its first sanctions. “The Canadian government can and must do more than just make token gestures against the apartheid regime’’, SACTU Canadian representative Peter Mhlangu said last week in re- sponse to the trade figures recently released by Statistics Canada. ‘‘How many more trade unionists must be detained? How many more of our people must be killed in the streets before the Canadian government stops this economic appeasement of apar- theid and shows real leadership by imposing meaningful sanc- tions? Some two-thirds of the total value of the $358-million in South African imports into Canada was concentrated this year in five leading Canadian companies — Wardair, Eldorado Nuclear, Atlantic Sugar, Courtaulds and Fischer Brothers. SACTU researcher Ken Traynor noted that the $72.5-million value of Wardair’s import of planes and spare parts cancelled out the estimated $75-million impact of the government’s decision to cancel agricultural imports from the racist regime, a point that External Affairs Minister Clark used as a somewhat bizarre rationale for the increase in imports. Traynor went on to suggest that perhaps the only real outcome of Ottawa’s limited sanctions, thus far was to invite business to stockpile South African goods. In B.C. the Vander Zalm government has doubled its wine imports in a bid to circumvent the sanctions. Traynor noted that with a Dec. 31 deadline, when according to the federal sanctions all wine admitted into the country before Aug. 5 will have been delivered, wine shipments entering Vancouver since May have ranged from 80,000 to 170,000 kilograms compared to the average shipment of about 40,000 kilos. Vancouver longshoreman Rico Williams, a member ofBiGs Anti-Apartheid Network, was fired Nov. 4 for refusing to handle nine containers of South African wine. Under mass public pres- sure his employers re-instated him. The B.C. premier angered anti-apartheid activists Oct. 31 by welcoming South African ambassador Glenn Babb to Victoria. They saw this move and the provincial liquor board's large orders as a propaganda win for the racists in Pretoria. ; Mhlangu called on Canadian trade unionists to step up de- mands for full economic and political sanctions against the racist regime. 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 19, 1986 James Clancy By MIKE PHILLIPS TORONTO — In re-electing James Clancy to the presidency of the 87,000-member Ontario Pub- lic Service Employees Union, last week, delegates to the 1986 con- vention gave him a clear mandate for leadership, but they didn’t give him a blank cheque. With a solid 59 per cent vote margin over his opponents, com- munity college clerk Suzie Val- lance, and math teacher Bill Kuehnbaum, Clancy strode to victory Nov. 8 with 492 votes to their 196 and 147 respectively. Clancy’s victory was as hard fought-for, as it was well organ- ized, benefiting from all the ad- vantages available to an in- cumbent. His opponents campaigned ef- fectively against what Kuehn- baum called Clancy’s ‘“‘im- perial’’-style presidency. Though all candidates tracked many of the same issues, the presidential con- test showed a rich leadership po- tential in the union and two dis- tinct visions of where OPSEU should be heading. Clancy and his followers spoke of exploring ‘‘New Frontiers’’, projecting the image of a union riding ‘‘the top of the wave of a new unionism that’s out to re- make this province ... a union that’s not afraid to stick it to the bosses.” In the end this was the vision the delegates chose to unite around — a vision expressed in the union’s battles for pay equity legislation, political rights for civil servants, vigorous reform of On- tario’s occupational health and safety administration, and in the campaigns now on the launching pad suchas the right to bargain on pensions, and control over the introduction of tech change in the workplace. Be prepared — They'll Act But Vallance and Kuehnbaum were right on target as they hit Clancy's leadership for down- playing, if not actually ignoring the indispensible right to strike of the union’s 62,000 members who _work directly for the provincial government. They campaigned for OPSEU as a democratic, rank and file union with a leadership dedicated to building a solid base of in- formed, active members, militant Bill Kuehnbaum - stewards, and skilled leaders at every level from bottom to top. The convention voted to fund both the strike and the defence funds on an equal basis, adopted a budget that was based on a one- and-a-quarter per cent increase, then instead of supporting the dues increase with the required two-thirds majority, voted the proposal down by a margin of 440 to 294. The equalization of the strike and defence funds was claimed as a victory by the forces in the union who have opposed the build-up of a large strike fund on the grounds that most OPSEU members can’t use it. Clancy’s opponents, Kuehnbaum in particular, re- jected such false reasoning as a cover for backing away from the fight for the right to strike in the public service. Stressing that the strike weapon is the only real bargaining power the union has, Kuehnbaum told the convention: ‘‘We need to prepare for the day when the members will act — and they will act.” Critical Support In fact, the need for a segre- gated strike fund first arose out of a 1979 strike situation which in- cluded the illegal walk out of cor- rectional services personnel that winter. Clancy’s election showed the membership’s willingness to unite around his vision for the union. But the defeat of the dues in- crease, and the substantial sup- port by delegates for the Vallance-Kuehnbaum critique, indicated that this support isn’t unconditional. In addition, the convention confirmed them to the third and fourth vice-presidential spots on the executive, with Val- lance drawing her largest vote for the third position. A first time delegate from Northern Ontario shared what seemed to be on the minds of a good number of delegates. ‘‘I re- ally see a pyramid at the top, and I hear a lot of cliches ... But you need a union with good grass roots, building solidarity and educating the members. “You need to involve the members — I recognize the need for some public relations, but it isn’t the top priority. The mem- bers need to know what’s going Suzie Vallance: on and our leaders have to be able to inspire us to move together she said. OF: The convention reflected 4 SEU’s growing maturity union, with the unanimous $4 port the delegates voted for . Gainers strikers, and the oy vention’s resolution of solidat? with the Newfoundland Assit tion of Public Employees: manding the immediate Te a and pardon of jailed NAPE ple dent Fraser March. j ANew Page But few of the 166 resolution submitted to the conventio# the floor due to the way the oa tions and internal questions ; of finances and the constitul dominated the proceedings: And of those which did ©) before the delegates, none “4 with such key labor issues oy nuclear weapons testing ba” the Canadian Labor Cone, country-wide campaign @ ad? the neo-conservative 4 4 focussing around the fight 9° je free trade, privatization 4” regulation. oat Nevertheless there wre definite mood among the nd! gates seeking to unite aro 13 leadership promising militar’ si tion. Both of the defeate od | dential candidates indica” i willingness to work WH, leadership on a principle? the Suzie Vallance, said It ey convention and in an 19 following the vote. ““1™ terested in perpetuating any sions in this union, but!" bu a tougher union.” ea" This presents the Clancy pail with a clear opportunity ‘eg OPSEU into the kind of fen force the members nee their interests. ._- this Essential to achieving | nation be the burying of any ine yi to reprisals against stale aut us) the current leadership. posi And, by addressing the ere ally for more decision-making, the Oe ing of the stewards renewal of the right t© str {0 public service wor er cha priority a new, impo ” ould in OPSEU’s history written.