LABOUR

By KERRY McCUAIG
TORONTO — Ontario labour
delivered its strongest warning yet
o the Mulroney government,
hreatening to occupy plants and
efusing to handle goods of com-
‘panies who shut down plants in the
event of a free trade agreement

th the United States.
In a unanimously adopted pol-
icy statement, the Ontario Federa-
tion of Labour launched an action
plan committing it to initiate an
Ontano-wide coalition in opposi-
0n to the deal. °

_ The paper calls for lobbying pol-
“wuicians at all three levels of
wevernment and reaching every
wnion member in the province
‘through a direct phoning and mail
campaign.

___ Calling the pact “a blueprint for
disaster,” OFL president Gord
ilson warned the 1,600 delegates
€eting in convention, Nov. 23-26,
that labour was engaged in “the
‘toughest fight of our generation.”
he federation is committing an
additional $400,000 to the free
rade fight — its most expensive
single-issue campaign ever. It
cludes a public relations cam-
paign IMvolving a TV special, an
advertising blitz and an informa-
10n Office, which Wilson says will
pVe Unionists the “ammunition to
ire the fatal shots at arguments
at Support the Mulroney deal.”
abour’s strategy includes con-
vening a conference in the fall of
mext year to “prepare a blueprint
40F €conomic renewal and devel-
opment,” under the principle

_ “People over Profits:” |
In his first’ opening address to a

«

convention as OFL leader, Wilson
emphasized the importance of
pressuring Ontario Premier David
Peterson to take a strong stand on
the issue.

‘*Mulroney’s deal fails to meet
four of Peterson’s own six condi-
tions — in agriculture, culture,
the auto pact and political
sovereignty,’’ Wilson noted.

‘Ontario voters also deserve a
commitment from Peterson that
he will not introduce legislation
that would implement the deal
within provincial jurisdiction.”

Accusing the Mulroney
government of being ‘thigh hand-
ed, condescending and untruthful
with their critics’, the labour
leader challenged the prime
minister to call an election —
“sive Canadians a chance to speak
to the largest snow job in his-
tory’’, he said.

In a lengthy debate following,
heads of the affiliated unions
which make up the federation’s
677,000 members, took to the
mikes to pledge their support for
the program.

“Free trade is the implementa-
tion of the right wing’s agenda’,
charged Gerard Docquier of the
United Steelworkers. ‘‘It’s Re-
gan’s economic constitution for
North America’’.

Calling Mulroney ‘“‘the best
prime minister the United States
ever had,” the head of Ontario’s
200,000 steelworkers accused the
government of lying to
Canadians.

“Mulroney said he was going to
give us jobs, jobs, jobs. He didn’t

say they would all be in the Un-
ited States’’.

Canadian Auto Workers leader
Bob White, a noted opponent of
free trade since it was initiated at
the Mulroney-Reagan Summit of
1985, warned that Canada “was at
a crossroads.”

Noting that ‘“‘workers were still
confused’’ about free trade, in
possible reference to polls indicat-
ing that 44 per cent of traditional
New Democratic Party sup-
porters, also back the pact, White
called for trade unionists to be-
come active ‘‘in the fight for our
future.’

Dick Barry, president of the
United Electrical Workers and
newly-elected vice-president to
the OFL executive, urged ““wide-
spread opposition to make it
politically impossible for Mul-
roney to succeed with his agen-
da’’.

Leading a union which has al-
ready been hit by free trade
through plant shutdowns and
economic restructuring, Barry
urged labour to ‘‘work out the de-
tails of our economic alternatives
to answer the claims made by the
free traders. We must put forward
our agenda, an agenda which puts
working people’s needs at the
centre,’ he said.

Speakers warned that the
agreement would seriously affect
the most vulnerable in society.
Alex Dagg of the International
Ladies Garment Workers Union
said the deal would put ‘a nail in
the coffin’ of garment workers’
jobs.

An educational director for a

union which is 80 per cent immig-
rant women, Dagg spoke of
government arrogance in the face
of workers’ entreaties.

In a meeting between the union
and Tory minister of privatiza-
tion, Barbara McDougall, a single
mother of three children, making
$7 an hour in the garment indus-
try, told the minister her job
would be lost under free trade.

‘“McDougall told this woman
— ‘this is your opportunity to
look. for new Opportunities’,”’
Dagg related.

‘Does the minister now know
how insensitive government re-
training programs can be for
women and immigrant workers?”’
she asked. ‘‘This woman is
doomed to working for wages
lower than those she now
receives’.

While delegates listened intent-
ly as union leaders outlined the
devastating affect of the deal, it
was a local president who brought
them to their feet in a call for a
general strike.

Speaking to a resolution calling
for the OFL to organize a mass
demonstration at Queen’s Park,
Sheelagh MacDonald of UE said
‘“*the Mulroney government has
to be brought down with num-
bers. If we want an election we
have to make sure we’re out by
the millions.

‘*Tf we have to, we have to shut
down the country ... we have to
have a general strike. We have to
take our country and our future in
our hands’’.

The federation’s call for a

(OFL sees job action over free trade

province-wide coalition got a
boost from John Faiteux of the
Canadian Teachers Federation,
who announced the 210,000-
member federation had voted to
oppose free trade and to
financially support the Pro-
Canada Network.

As the Canadian Federation of
Agriculture joined in condemning
the deal, Wayne Easter, president
of the National Farmers Union

accused the government of

“attempting to divide Canada
along regional lines’’.

Easter told delegates the Tories
were engaged in a campaign of
“‘disinformation and deception’’
to push the pact.

“They are out to destroy all the
policies we’ve managed to put in
place over 60 years of farm strug-
gle. They are attempting to turn
the family farm into an industry
ripe for American corporate
takeover.”’

And Bishop Remi de Roo, of
Vancouver, the Catholic
Church’s best known proponent
of social justice called the free
trade debate a ‘‘struggle for the
heart and soul of our nation’’.

He urged broadening the de-
bate to include questions of
democracy, an equal division of
the country’s wealth, and a com-
mitment to global peace and
justice.

“‘We need a new vision of
labour’, de Roo said to applause.
‘“‘Not as a commodity to be sold
cheaply on the market place but
to press for the right of every
able-bodied person to be engaged
in creative labour’’.

Union wants MacDonnell

__ As the Tribune went to press
the head of MacDonnell Douglas
COrporation was meeting with
deacers of the Canadian Auto
Workers union in an attempt to
facilitate the return to work of
3,500 employees at its Downs-
ew plant.
The workers have been sitting
in the cafeteria for the past week
n 4 Work stoppage which began
NOV. 18. Members of Local 1967,
they are exercising their right to
efuse unsafe work under Bill 70,
‘the province’s health and safety
legislation.
CAW is accusing the U.S.-
‘based aerospace giant of flaunting
adian law by ignoring labour
ministry orders to act on 212 safe-
y Violations and by threatening to
withhold the pay of workers in-
olved in the sit-in. Under Bill 70,
omMpanies are required to con-
tinue paying workers.
The top level meetings between
the union and MacDonnell Doug-
las may indicate the corporation is
softening its stance. At the begin-
‘ning of the dispute, the local union
‘leadership was escorted from the
plant when they attempted to
‘meet with the company.

Triggering the action was the
_ \corporation’s lack of urgency in
jdealing with the work orders,
says Gregor Brash, a mainte-
nance worker.
“They were handed the list of
infractions and told us not to wor-
“ry, to just go on working, never
mind our health,’’ he said. Much

of the problem centres around the
facility’s ventilation system. The
corporation, which makes wings
and tail sections for commercial
DC-9 aircraft, has a long-standing
order to update the system to re-
duce the amount of aluminum
dust in the air.

DAN MCNEILL. . . “‘to allthose who
died . .. we’re sorry we didn’t start
the fight sooner.”

“You can walk into areas and
see the dust hanging in the air.
You can smell it,’”? says Brash.

The union became alarmed
when it examined the death rate
of its retirees. Of the 2,700 people
who retired in the past 15 years
only 700 are still alive. Last year
10 workers died of cancer, includ-
ing a union executive member.

Seeking independent medical
advice, the union contacted the

Ontario Occupational Health
Centre. Over the past three
months it has examined 120
workers and found lung dysfunc-
tions in 25 per cent.

Aluminum dust is known to
cause fibrosis of the lung and has
been associated with brain dis-
orders such as Alzheimer’s dis-
ease.

Other toxins in the plant, in-
cluding dioxin and cyanide in
paints are acute hazards. _

Although the workers in the
study have signed medical release
forms asking for their records

from the corporation’s doctors,

the company is refusing to for-
ward the information.

Brash says the union is charg-
ing the two doctors involved with
misconduct before the College of
Physicians and Surgeons.

Glenn Biddell, a'skilled trades
worker who retired from Mac-
Donnell Douglas three years ago,
told the Tribune that workers are
expected to work with unmarked
chemicals.

“They are not told what they
are working with. They are not
told how to handle the chemicals
properly. The company was well]
aware of problems with the ven-
tilation system but never in-
formed us.”’

Biddell says the system has a
faulty design. The intake valve is
situated so close to the exhaust
fans that the air simply recircu-
lates the fumes and dust through-
out the plant.

Douglas charged

When the issue hit the floor of
the Ontario Federation of Labour
in an emergency resolution, 1967
delegates provided an inside view
of a corporation described as the
“‘worst kind of arrogant member
of the military-industrial-com-
plex.”

“This corporation has no re-
spect for its workers, for their
elected representatives or for the
Ministry of Labour,’ charged
Carole Phillips, a national rep
who negotiates with MacDonnell
Douglas.

Bob Nickerson, secretary
treasurer of CAW, said the com-
pany had offered a return to work
plan where 2,500 would be ac-
cessed and returned to work next
Tuesday, with the remaining
1,000 back on the job by Friday.

“They're crazy,’’ he added,
reporting that the company has
consistently shunned union de-
mands to establish safety pro-
grams in the plant.

Machinist Dan MeNeill told del-
egates, that union members who
refused work were forced to leave
the plant and stand outside in
below zero temperatures before
being allowed into the cafeteria to
wait for government inspectors.

The move was an attempt by
the corporation to have the work-
ers go home, undermining their
case under the legislation, which
only allows workers to move to a
safe area on the work site.

In a soft spoken but emotion-

packed address, McNeill called
on delegates to ‘‘stop the slaught-
er in the workplace.”

“To all those who died because
they worked at MacDonnell
Douglas, we’re sorry that we
didn’t start this fight sooner.”’

Plant worker Glynn Wood gave
a five-point list of demands the
company would have to meet be-
fore work resumes. It includes
complete access to information
on substances used in production;
‘examination by independent
medical personnel]; safety training
programs conducted by

union-chosen experts; redesign of
the ventilation system; and prose-
cution of management “for know-
ingly ignoring safety concerns.”’

CAW REP CAROLE PHILLIPS ...
“the worst kind of arrogant mem-
ber of the military-industrial com-
plex.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 2, 1987 e7

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