“LABOR.

By SEAN GRIFFIN

Union democracy wasn’t the
only victim when the internation- :
al moved in Sept. 27 to impose a
trusteeship on Local 40 of the Ho-
tel, Restaurant and Culinary Em-
ployees and Bartenders Union,
ousting all but one of the local of-
ficers.

. Now the local union threatens

to become the battleground for a
raiding war.

And in the midst of it all, the
union has become a focal point of
union corruption as new evidence
emerges of ‘“‘diversion’’ of union
funds involving Ron Bonar, the
lone union official left in his post
when the international seized
control.

In the wake of the trusteeship
and the appointment of interna-
tional vice-president James Sta-
mos as trustee, the independent
Canadian Association of Indust- °
rial Mechanical and Allied Work-
ers announced it was launching a
raid against the 14,000-member,
local. Days later, the Brewery,
Winery and Distillery Workers
union, an autonomous affiliate
of the B.C. Government Employ-
ees Union, announced it was
working with local vice-president
| Viola Powell, one of the officers
removed by the international, to
set up a new union which would
also be seeking the allegiance of
_ | Local 40 members. That group

| has sought the assistance of the
B.C. Federation of Labor.

Since that time, the Canadian
Brotherhood of Railway, Trans-

port and General Workers, which
already has certifications in the
hotel industry, announced it, too,
would ask the Canadian Labor
Congress for permission to raid
the union. And the Teamsters is
also pondering a raid.

The B.C. Federation of Labor
is to meet to discuss the issue next
week. ‘

The raids have come admidst
disclosure, by Vancouver Sun re-
porter Doug Ward, that funds
administered by a union-con-
tractor committee were diverted

Unity ond democracy the victims
if Local 40 trusteeship remains

The international itself has -
been surrounded by a cloud of
suspicion, with international
president Edward T. Hanley un-
der federal indictment for alleged
corruption. He has been linked to
organized crime figures.

Certainly the pretext given by
the international in imposing the
trusteeship — that the local was
overspending and assisting other
unions in organizing in Local 40’s
jurisdiction. — lacks any cre-
dence. And charges of misuse of
funds lack any credibility what-

— and that union business agent
Ron Bonar’s name was on docu-
ments which authorized the diver-
sion of funds.

Bonar, a former member of the
Seafarers’ International Union,
was left in the local leadership by
the international and remains as
acting local secretary. He is alsoa
member of the executive council
of the B.C. Federation of Labor
although he may have much to
answer for when the Federation
meets next week.

The latest allegation about mis-
use of funds is only the latest in a
number of allegations levelled at
Bonar and former long-time offi-
cers of the union, including for-

-mer president Al Morgan who
was defeated when a membership
reform slate was elected last Octo-
ber.

ANALYSIS

ever, when contrasted with the in-
ternational’s record.

In fact, most observers would
agree that the U.S. leadership of
the union has wanted to move
against the reform leadership of
the local ever since it was elected,
as much to stifle rank and file de-
mocracy as to thwart disclosure
of the leadership’s financial deal-
ings over the years. —= °

A trusteeship hearing has been
set for Oct. 20 in the Royal Tow-

_ers Hotel in New Westminster be-

ginning at 9:30 a.m. But the hear-
ing officer will be appointed from
Cincinnati and ‘‘only evidence
material to the issue of trusteeship
shall be allowed”’ so it is unlikely
that much will come of it to assist
the membership in regaining the
democratic rights stripped from
them when the trusteeship was
imposed a month ago.

There is also the larger: danger
to labor unity, posed by the im-
pending raids and the prospect of
a new round of debilitating juris-
dictional battles. And already
there has been a call for a govern-
ment commission to intervene.

Obviously the trade union
movement itself has to act. In our
view, both the Canadian Labor
Congress and the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor should be demand-
ing that the Hotel and Restaurant
Workers international lift its
trusteeship immediately, restore
the elected officers to their former
positions of leadership and allow
them to continue the job of con-
ducting the union’s affairs.

If there is an investigation
needed of the union’s finances —
and all the evidence points to for-
mer officers, not to those remov-
ed by the international — then it
should be carried out by the labor’
movement itself, with the cooper-
ation of the local. If there are
charges, they will be dealt with by
the responsible authorities.

But the days when U.S. inter-
national can move with impunity
against a Canadian local should
be long gone — a fact which was
even recognized by the Ontario
Labor Relations Board last week
when it ruled in favor of Cana-
dian Ironworkers locals against
their international.

In the case of Local 40, more
than democracy and sovereignty
is at stake — labor unity and the
very image of the labor move-
ment is on the line.

Pearse

The recommendations contain-
ed in the Pearse report on the West
Coast fishing industry will only fur-
ther the efforts of corporations to
seize a monopoly position in the
fishery, the secretary of the
UFAWU has charged.

George Hewison, secretary-trea-
surer of the United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union said the re-
port’s major recommendations of
bidding for licences, a licence buy-
back program and a 50 percent
fleet reduction will erode the in-
comes of most fishermen and
throw hundreds onto the unem-
ployment rolls.

‘‘What we are faced with is a
transformation of the industry into
aspecial preserve for large corpora-
tions,” Hewison told the union
- newspaper, The Fisherman, in an

interview outlining the union’s
stand onthe report. —

In his 20-month, $1.1 million
study University of B.C. gee $2

RIBUN

report cuts jobs: UFAWU |

Dr. Peter Pearse ignored union
suggestions for reducing the cost of
fishing and rationalizing the fleet,
said Hewison.

Pearse’ s chief recommendation

for the first 10 years, and amaqng
fishermen and outside interests —
including corporations not current-
ly engaged in the = after
that period.

‘ “Obviously, in 10 years. you
as the potential for people with
large dollars bidding against fisher-
men who have marginal returns
from a livelihood. You have the
opportunity for a company like
Dome Petroleum or somebody
who wants to build an LNG plant,
say, at Powell River, to be able to
outbid any of the fishermen,”’
Hewison said.

“You could potentially have
people who are interested in off-
shore oil drilling buying up ground-

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 15, 1982—Page 12

fish quotas or halibut quotas Sind
just allowing them to go vacant.
You have a potential situation in
the salmon industry where just a
handful’ of people can basically

control all of the licences,” he

charged.
Hewison also sharply criticized
the buy-back scheme whereby the

federal government would pur-

chase the licence, but not the ves-
sels, of fishermen who wanted to
opt out of the i
“Clearly, you will be left with a
very expensive, worthless piece of
junk at the end of the 10-year pe-
riod. The further we get into the
10-year period, the more those
boats will become worthless.”
_ And that buy-back scheme will
be paid for out of royalties on fish
catches that will ultimately, if not
directly, come out of the incomes
of fishermen, Hewison said.
Under that part of the program,
fish processing companies will be
required to pay so much per pound
on fish that they buy, varying with
the grade and species of fish. But
even Pearse, in a companion inter-
view in The Fishermen, admitted
that those royalty payments would
likely be passed on to the fishermen
in the form of reduced prices.
“The union took the position
during the last negotiations that the
company should pay that out of
their gross income and that the
fishermen should not see their
prices lowered because of that roy-
alty. Pearse gives no guarantee that
that will happen . . . basically, it
means that it’s up to us to fight it
out,’ Hewison said.

Hewison sai the union does not

disagree with a buy-back program | _

‘per se,’’ or some rationalization
of the fleet, but is opposed to
Pearse’s schemes which would
make those fishermen who stay in
the industry ‘‘pay through the
nose”’ for the fleet reduction.

What the UFAWU wants is a_

system that allows fishermen to
earn incomes that reach the earn-
ings of those in industries of com-
parable riskiness, and to allow new
people into the industry when the
goal is reached, the secretary-trea-
surer said. -

“What we are saying is that as
soon as the earnings begin to ap-
proach those of an average in Can-
ada, then issue new licences and
break the monopoly, on the basis

of a waiting list — first come, first

served.”’
Hewison also termed as ‘‘most

dangerous”’ the section of the |

Pearse report dealing with the en-
vironment and fish habitats.

The report does a good job out-
lining the effects of mining, logging
and other industries on the ocean
environment, but its solutions
would limit those who can lay

charges for Fisheries Act violations -

and would allow the federal cabinet
the final decision in contentious
cases.
Such was the case when an
order-in-council allowed the Amax
corporation to dump tailings into
Alice Arm, in violation of the Act’s
provisions, and Pearse’s report is a
“complete whitewash”’ of that and
pes incidences, Hewison charg-

_ federation president. Jim

Fed opposes |
WCB ceiling

The B.C. Federation of
bor met with labor minister Bo
McClelland Oct. 8 to press
federation’s opposition to a
percent limit on spending by the}

Workers’ Compensation
Board.
‘Accidents and industrial d

seases do not conform to si
plistic six percent limits,”’ B. 3
Fed president Jim Kinnaird said)
following the meeting. ‘‘We’
concerned that a six perce
limit will lead to a decrease in a
cident prevention progré
such as work site inspectio
and enforcement.”

He said. that McClelland
“doesn’t agree with our po
tion’’ but noted that the minist
did agree to direct the WCB not
to impose six per cent-limits on
preventive and compensatio
services.

Kinnaird added that the fed-
eration would be “‘closely mont:
‘toring”’ the situation to ensure
no cutback in services.

CUPE retains
Kamloops unit ||

KAMLOOPS — The Cana
dian Union of Public Employ
ees retained the certification for
some 500 Kamloops civic work-
ers following a Labor Relations
Board representation vote last
week.

The independent Pulp, Pape!

and Woodworkers of Canada
lost 243-150 in its bid to repr
sent the civic workers unit, part
of the 1,200-member CUP
Local 900.

The PPWC had aimed the
raid following the imposition of
an administration (tnisteeship)
by the CUPE national executive}
on the local July 7.

No more breaks
at McDonald's

The B.C. Federation of
bor has joined the Saskat
wan and Manitoba federatio
of labor in declaring a consum'
boycott of McDonald’s fa
food outlets because of
multinational corporation’s d
cision to buy hamburger bu
from U.S. rather than Canadia
bakeries.
_ “McDonald’s management!
must understand that the b
of their customers are wor!
people who expect a measure
good corporate citizenship fi
the businesses they patronize,

O

naird stated in announcing th
boycott Oct. 7. am
**We don’t need 50 more pec
ple out of work in this provin
and McDonald’s should unde!
stand that,’’ he said, referring t
the bakers thrown out of wor
at McGavin’s which had t
bun contract before McDo
ald’s moved it to Gai’s, a Seat!
bakery.

B.C. Fed boycotts have t
tionally had a significant im
pact, particularly wherean affi
iate — in this case the Bak
Workers — is directly affec’
A three province boycott is lik
ly to put a major dent in Me
Donald’s trade.

1