LABOR

Trail strike targets Cominco stand

TRAIL — Backed by 94 per cent
strike votes, members of five locals of the
United Steelworkers put up picket lines
at Cominco’s operations in Trail and
Kimberley May 9 to back demands for
retention of the union’s hard-fought
COLA clause, improvements in pen-
sions and job security language that
would give unionists some measure of
protection from the devastation of their
jobs through technological change.

Although the strike — launched Sat-
urday with a skirl of bagpipes at Comin-
co’s smelter — has none of the bitterness
of last summer’s forest industry walkout,
it is very much a dispute sparked by
corporate dictates.

In the last offer tabled before the
strike, Cominco demanded that the
-union’s COLA clause be tied to the price
of zinc in world markets and has resisted

pension and severance improvements for
the Cominco workforce which has been
cut by one-third over the last six years
through a government-financed moder-

“What it means is that we could end
up with nothing unless the cost of living
risés and zine prices go up astronomi-
cally,” Dean said.” If the cost of living
goes up and zinc prices stay the same, our
members would lose. And if the cost of
living stays the same while zinc prices
rise, they would still lose.”

What makes it all the more galling for
Steelworkers members is that the union
has supported Cominco in its bids for
government financing of modernization
programs even though Cominco employ-

ees have paid dearly in jobs. : :
“Th kf that we’ve done our part. Now its their
e work force hasbeen cutby 1,500 tury to give,” he said.

since 1981 and we’re facing the net loss of On Monday, members of the five
another 100 jobs when the lead moderni- locals agreed to seek new bargaining

zation program is completed,” Dean meetings with Cominco through provin-
cots - -__ cial mediator Vince Ready. Although the
Cominco, now owned by the mining _ locals, covering production and mainte- _
multinational Teck Corporation, received = nance workers in Trail and Kimberley,
financing from both senior levels of supervisors at Kimberley as well as office —
government to carry out its moderniza- workers in both centres, do not bargain
tion as well as tax breaks from local _jointly, they agreed to make joint repres-

company made $26 million profit overall

for the first quarter of 1987, including $5

million from its metals division. The
Trail smelter itself netted $7.5 million
“profit for the same period.

Ironically, company representatives
still complain publicly about depressed
metal prices and the need to trim payroll
costs accordingly.

“Prices are up, productivity is up but
our members are way down,” Dean
responded, “And we're still turning out
record amounts of zinc.

“It’s time the company recognized

slap in the face” for union members who
have supported the modernization pro-
gram and have worked to increase pro-
ductivity, said Steelworkers Local 480
recording secretary Miles Dean.

“We've taken the position that we’ve
done our part to help the company
out — and now we want some recogni-
tion for it,” Dean told the Tribune in an
interview.

The union is seeking retention of the
existing COLA clause, negotiated after a
four month strike in 1974, as well as
improvements in pensions and job secur-
ity language. The current agreement
gives union members quarterly increases
of nine cents for every 0.35 rise in the
Consumer Price Index.

However, Cominco has demanded a
new formula it euphemistically calls
“participative COLA” which would add
a new condition based on zinc prices. In
the last year only of a three year agree-
ment, workers would get increases based
on either the existing formula or the new

nization program.

The company’s stand has been a “‘real’

May 20 demonstration ‘a decisive step’

The bold call of the Vancouver and Dis-
trict Labor Council for limited job action
May 20 against Bill 19 and Bill 20 escalates
_ the labor movement’s fight for democracy
to a new stage of economic and political
action which could build into a full scale
general strike.

By setting the B.C. Federation of Labor’s
proposed rally during working hours, the
labor council is pushing the Fed’s action
program. However, now it is with the
approval of the federation’s chief officers
who are also prepared to step up the fight-
back and to move into industrial action.

The plan of action unanimously adopted
by the executive council of the B.C. Fed last
Thursday also called for co-ordinated,
regional job action when Bill 19 is reintro-
duced into the legislature — and that will
likely be within days of the 20th. Debate on
Bill 19 has been temporarily suspended
while the government concentrates on
ramming through Bill 20.

Individual unions would then be encour-
aged to take further actions during the
clause by clause debate on Bill 19, which
could be extended several weeks if the NDP
opposition maximizes its ability to delay the
Socred agenda.

The Fed plan leaves open the option of
further strike action as the legislation
approaches passage in the legislature. There
are already voices being raised for a general
strike, and as council secretary Frank
Kennedy put it after the VDLC’s special
conference which issued the call for May 20,
if a province wide general strike is required
to force Vander Zalm to back up, there is
wide support for meeting that challenge.

How far the next stage of industrial
action will escalate, however, can’t be blue-
printed at the moment. It will depend on the
dynamics of the struggle and the leadership
given in the weeks ahead.

The call to action on May 20 is the first
decisive step by the trade union movement
towards the kind of escalating political and
economic action which can defeat the legis-
lation. For the first time, the labor leader-
ship is sending a clear message to union
members that industrial action is necessary
and will be carried out.

12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 13, 1987

company formula, whichever is the
lesser.

But reports from trade unionists around
the province indicate that a much fuller and
more comprehensive message has to go out
province-wide to facilitate the escalation of
action needed. The preparedness of the
Vancouver Labor Council to do everything
necessary to stop the legislation with some
exceptions is far from a provincial standard.
And it is readily accepted by VDLC leaders
that not nearly enough has been done to
galvanize the membership for the kind of
fight ahead.

Altogether, too few unions have yet
taken special steps to mobilize their own
membership. The B.C. Fed vote served a
useful purpose as an educational tool, but
even this was largely restricted to scheduled
union meetings. The B.C. Government
Employees Union was an exception to that
and conducted a full membership vote at
worksites after study sessions on the legisla-
tion. According to BCGEU activists, the
result of that process is a decisive majority
of provincial government employees pre-
pared to take action, even while the
BCGEU leadership discourages member-
ship action in favor of a public relations
campaign.

The Hospital Employees Union on the
other hand, has published its own literature
on the legislation and has called a special
convention of the union for May 22 and 23.
The large numbers of HEU blue jackets
seen at the meetings and demonstrations to
date are a reflection of that leadership.

Neither can it be said that the full unity of
the labor movement needed to stop the
Socreds has yet been forged. In particular,
30,000 B.C. teachers still find it necessary to

qualify their support for the B.C. Fed’s
action plan against Bill 19 with a rider that
they will engage in joint action only if Bill 20
is also a focus of the action plan. That rider

municipalities.
As a result of the rationalization, the

a

was attached to the BCTF’s action plan
adopted Saturday which endorsed moving
into phase three of their escalating program.
Phase three involves further job action in
concert with the labor movement, after
votes to endorse the specifics of those
actions in local teacher associations.

May 20 could be rather critical in this
regard as well, for this job action is clearly
directed at both Bill 19 and Bill 20. Needless
to say, teachers would be justifiably upset
with a call for them to support continuing
economic and political action against Bill
19, if the B.C. Fed has done nothing con-
crete to stop Bill 20.

The Confederation of Canadian Unions
has likewise agreed to participate in joint
action against Bill 19 and 20, but it too has
legitimate qualifications to its involvement.
The CCU understandably would like to be
involved in the decision making, and not
merely assessed $2 per member and
instructed what to do. While the B.C. Fed
has so far been unwilling to establish that
relationship with the CCU, many labor
councils have established working relation-
ships with CCU affiliates.

TRIBUNE

Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186

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READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOR

By far the most important consideration
in building past May 20 towards a general |
strike is the desperate need to politicize the
fight against Bill 19 and 20 and to make the
fightback against these bills the rallying
point for everyone prepared to defend
democracy. +

While much has been made of the serious
economic consequences for B.C. by forcing
the labor movement into a protracted
struggle for its existence, much too little has
been said about the fundamental demo
cratic issues at stake. What precedent 15
there for forcing 30,000 workers to join an
organization they do not want to join, a
Bill 20 does? There is a precedent, but it
takes one back to Germany and Italy in the
1930s. The brutal powers of Bill 19 regard-
ing compulsory arbitration, strike breaking
and union busting and the introduction of
“right to work” laws, likewise are compal-
able only to the anti-union crusades of fas-
cist and neo-fascist regimes.

When these issues are understood and
linked with the social consequences for all
other sections of society in the wake of the
attack on labor, there will be public suppot
for the necessary action now to stop the
assault on democracy. :

Without that understanding, no publi¢
opinion poll will ever show popular suppo!t
for a general strike. The strike may be neces
sary regardless. But if workers and the pub-
lic are told the truth about the principled
issues, and if economic action is blende
with political action involving a broad bas¢
of democratic movements, the people will
stand with labor.

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