Membership, not the courts should solve union il | The headlines in the ac- companying illustration are frightening, coming as they do when the capitalist news media is going all out to paint the labor movement as the villain respon- sible for the economic crisis. They are also frightening because they come when the pressure is on to further restrict the rights of trade unions. When two Vancouver union locals find themselves in the position of airing their internal differences in the B.C. Supreme Court, it is time for sober thought. The Canadian trade union movement, along with those of the United States: and Great Britain (among other capitalist countries) have long held that organized labor should have no illusions about the competency or impartiality of the courts in matters affecting organized labor. The trade union movement, by its very position ina class-divided society, finds itself in constant conflict with those who own, manageand control Canadian industry. It flows from this that labor is also in conflict with the political parties representing the dominant _industrial-financial interests. The courts, irrespective of the personal integrity of this or that judge, are made up of lawyers appointed by political parties representing big business. Their training, outlook, way of life and class position are such that they are worthy upholders of laws designed to serve the capitalist system. Referring to conflicts between labor and capital that end up in the courts, Harry Rankin, who is - regarded by many as Canada’s outstanding labor lawyer, wrote this in his book, Rankin’s Law: LABOR COMMENT BY JACK PHILLIPS “Labor cases, of course, have a unique set of rules. These rules may be described more easily by saying that norules apply, and as a result, class warfare breaks out in the courts. To ignore or avoid the truth of this statement is-to have a wrong perspective of what labor is and what management is. A labor casein court means that a working man faces criminal consequences for defying his bosses, because when the court enters the fray it does soon the side of the employer. So, it no longer is an economic struggle; court interference means that it has become class warfare.” If this is true, and most knowledgeable labor leaders agree that it is, then it follows that in- ternal trade union disputes should be settled within the trade union movement, no-matter how difficult that may be, rather than appealing to the courts. The more we have trade unions, or groups of mem- bers, turning to the courts and to the Labor Relations Board to settle U.S. court decisions threaten port inquiry Cont'd from pg. 1 right now is to determine whether supertanker traffic in Juan de Fuca is either desirable or ac- ceptable, and yet. there is negotiations being conducted elsewhere by the external affairs department which indicates that Canada has_ accepted the inevitability of supertanker traffic, then, clearly this commission here is a meaningless exercise; isn’t that correct? Isn’t that a logical conclusion?” he asked. As phase one of the Inquiry proceeded in Vancouver, perhaps more important developments were taking place in Washington State. The favored proposal of the main oil companies, and Washington governor Dixie Lee Ray, to build the supertanker oil port at Cherry Point ran into more difficulties last week, when a consultant firm employed by governor Ray to study the Cherry Pofnt site declared that a minimum of one year would be required to adequately assess the environmental impact of an oil port at that site. Also in Washington state, the U.S. federal energy board is holding hearings to review a federal law that states that there may be no expansion of oil port facilities west of Port Angeles in Puget Sound. The federal law is identical to a state law. passed by the Washington legislature in the spring, but subsequently vetoed by pro-Cherry Point governor Ray. The legislature, however, may overrrule Ray’s veto by passing the law a second time. Still another development in the U.S. court case surrounding oil tanker im portant is the limitations. Atlantic Richfield Company won a decision from a lower court earlier this year which ruledthat Washington State did not havethe constitutional authority to limit oil tankers in Puget Sound to 125,000 dead weight tons — about one third the size that the super- tanker ports will bring in. That decision is currently being ap- pealed by Washington State in the U.S. supreme court. The importance of the U‘S. decisions underlines the frustrations of |Thompson’s inquiry. With none of the oil port proponents remaining in the inquiry, Thompson will have difficulty gathering the facts. Even then the decisions that count will be made in U.S. courts and cor- porate board rooms. The danger to Canada in the U.S. decisions was emphasized last week by King Lysen, the chairman of the Washington State legislative committees that is fighting governor Ray over Cherry Point. In opposing Cherry Point and Port. Angeles, Lysen remarked that Kitimat, B.C., may be alright. _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE-OCTOBER 7, 1977-Page 8 internal differences, the more we are helping those who would give government, the courts and quasi- judicial bodies the right. to control internal processes, thus destroying or greatly restricting the voluntary nature of unions and their ef- fectiveness in defending the in- terests. of working people. There is a common denominator in the struggles within the Teamsters Local 213 and Laborers’ Local 602 — both are branches of American unions. In the case of the Teamsters, the international president has upheld the removal of the local’s elected secretary-treasurer, as decreed by a trial committee. The secretary- treasurer appealed to the court to have his dismissal stayed until he could exhaust the internal appeal procedures within the union. His opponents, supporters of Senator Ed Lawson, the top officer of the union in Canada, appealed for an injunction to _ restrain the secretary-treasurer from carrying out the duties for which he was elected. The court ruled against Viahovic. But finally, only. the membership ean decide whether the union will be run according to its wishes. Judging by the information available, it would appear that Vlahovic has wide rank and file support in the 8,000-member local. His election to the key post was a big upset for the long-entrenched Lawson machine. However, the threat of the Vlahovic forces to bring about a work stoppage in order to trigger intervention by the Socred government indicates that in their frustration, they were prepared to take help from any source, even if it threatened the long-term interests of the labor movement. Once -the Socred government becomes the arbitra- tor in such internal disputes, the independence of the trade union movement would be greatly compromised. In the case of Laborers’ Local 602, a trusteeship was imposed after a bitter, internal dispute between the incumbent officers of the 6,000-member local and a opposition group with considerable rank and file support. The signing of the collective agreement in- volving a substantial wage in- crease for the membership and also the local elections were held up by a trusteeship decreed in Washington, U.S.A. As it ‘stands now, the agreement has been accepted and formally signed, but the trusteeship has been upheld by the B.C. Supreme Court after costly legal procedures, charges and counter-charges, a union trial and representations to the provincial government. Judging by a recent statement from the trustee representing the international president, the Laborers’ election will be held when the head office in the U.S.A. is satisfied that the outcome will be to its satisfaction. : Obviously, the situation calls for the membership to unite around demands for an end to the trusteeship and for a free and democratic election in line withthe , constitution and _ established practices of the local. There is no savior in Washington or Victoria. Only the membership can restore democracy in the local union. In the long pull, the winning of an independent, sovereign and united trade union movement in Canada will lead to more democracy in ‘unions like Teamsters 213 and Laborers Local 602. That will make it easier to settle internal disputes as they should be settled — by the © membership. ‘citizen’s colaition,”’ ‘| WILL STAY FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS’ Dissident fights firing by Teamsters A Teamsters official who learned Friday that a trial panel had ordered him removed _ has been fie» from office says he'll go to work as usual ~ Monday morning. But Jack Viahovic said * friends with hi~ aome COUT ‘A ER ‘COURT INJUNCT. JON Nick Kiniak ‘ea oresi the loca minis: ‘sreasurer McC Teamster Aa __ AD application by a local af tha T==— Since his elect ron in * quest for a stay of effectiveness by Monday. A 7 © Sunreme Court for an on Labor board # allows rebel] Pate counsel The Jack ‘ond rier i valine os *s gained » ir over Viahovic adjourned aie @ ang cai lake it eat ork i It the o, ; ‘ase rare teal 15 mem. t- International representative takes over Court ejects laborers’ officers The executive of Laborers International thrown out of its NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ... solutions for labor. Kintak was not available for comment. pe injunction gives Warner temporary of th office until legal battles ultimately provide no court judge suspended the order when the local appealed. preme: Court Said Wamer.-W Labor council scores | ‘Citizens’ Coalition’ Delegates to the Vancouver and District Labor Council Tuesday condemned the newly-formed “Citizen’s Coalition” for its in- citement to strikebreak and for its attacks on federal government employees. The council motion, initiated by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers which has been one of the _ targets of the Coalition, also noted that the group was made up of big business representatives. “This coalition is anything but a the CUPW Said. ‘In fact it is made up of the director of the major corporations in this country.” The Citizen’s Coalition sponsored . anearly full-page advertisement in the Toronto Globe and Mail Sep- tember 16 calling on people to write their MPs ‘‘requesting the necessary legislation to make post office strikes and _ other monopolistic union strikes illegal.”’ It also called for volunteers to establisha ‘‘Volunteer Alternative to the Postal Service, or VAPS”’ to scabon postal workers in the event of a postal strike. Elsewhere in the council meeting, delegates voted to en- dorsethe stand taken by the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union in-calling on the federal government to take a sovereign stand in negotiating a reciprocal fisheries agreement with the U.S. More that 300 members of the UFAWU met last Friday and voiced their ccriticism of the secrecy surrounding the current ‘round of negotiations between Canada and the USS. reciprocal agreement. The UFAWU advisor to the Canadian neogtiators had earlier - on 4a been excluded from a preliminary session in Ottawa. Friday’s: meeting of fishermet unanimously endorsed a resolution calling on the union’s advisors not to attend any further advisory sessions on Canada-U.S. reciprocal issues “‘until it is clearly un- derstood and agreed to that they will b2 allowed to sit in on all sessions including all formal neogtiating sessions between Canada and the U.S.” Teachers await ruling Cont'd from pg. 1 time that he ‘“‘may”’ want to wait until the Manitoba case had been determined. With the decision in Manitoba now reached, B.C. teachers are looking for a ruling on their ap- plication. Burnaby Teachers’ association president Craig Bassett, whose association was named in the application, said Tuesday, ‘‘We’re hoping that we’ll be getting a decision very soon.” Bassett pointed out that, at the time judgment was reserved, the court had made no specific reference to.any precedent in the Manitoba case but had clearly implied that. the Manitoba casé would have some bearing on the application by B.C. teachers. He said that his association had beenin touch with the BCTF whosé solicitors were studying the casé and were waiting for word from the Supreme Court. “A decision in our case has bee! along time coming,” Bassett said, noting the nine-month interval since judgement was reserved. “We're hoping that the court will now move on the issue.”’ Thousands of dollars in salary rollbacks are involved since, 1 most cases, the increases weré slashed substantially. Back the paper that fights for labor — S| PACIFIC TRIBUNE SUBSCRIBE NOW oe Clip and mail to: = 101 - 1416 COMMERCIAL DR., VANCOUVER, B.C. V5L 3x9 [| Enclosed 4. em 8 = lye ei $4.50 — 6 mos. — Name ee a ee Adres oo Be parece ee ee ,