LABOR

—

Wood unions highlight unity

By SEAN GRIFFIN

When a top-level union commit-.

tee sits down with MacMillan-
Bloedel chairman Calvert Knudsen
Dec. 20 to press for answers on
M-B policies and layoffs, it will bea
committee backed by all three ma-
jor forest unions in the province
with a combined membership of
60,000.

The conference is the result of a
meeting Dec. 1 in the International
Woodworkers hall in Vancouver at
which there were some 65 unionists
from the IWA, the Canadian
Paperworkers and the Pulp, Paper
and Woodworkers of Canada as
well as the International

and Office and
Technical Workers. They came
from M-B work sites
the province to try and work out a
common response to what one par-
ticipant termed “‘the unanimous
feeling that M-B is jacking its
employees around.”

The that unionists are

movement.

What will come of the con-

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PS POS PEK RE LESLIE LIE IE LIE TEE IEE

Peace on earth

Campbell River, Courtenay
and District Labor Council

Hs IS PR RE PI SRI BS I BIBI PELE PE IE PE ET

Season’s Greetings

from the brothers
and sisters
of the
Vancouver Carpenters
Union, Local 452

May our quest for world
peace be fulfilled

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SERA EAPARA PA RAED PD PALA EA RA PLB EBB SEE EA I AAI

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 17, 1982—Page 20

~ ference with the M-B brass is still a

question mark — and unionists are
already considering the possibility
of taking the issue of government
— but there is no question that the
three wood unions have magnified
their bargaining strength im-
measureably by going in together.

The united action is the first for
the IWA, CPU and PPWC since
the 1975 strike and union represen-
tatives are wary of making
anything more of it than is ap-
parent. But there has been a
positive reaction from all sides on
the joint strategy.

CPU representative Brian
Payne, one of the union’s members
on the task force noted, “‘There’s
been a lot of turbulence, a lot of
battles and a lot of anxiety in our
relations over the years.

“But there was a unanimous
feeling that if ever there was a time
to put aside our differences to work
out a common strategy — this is
it,”’ he said.

No one is making any predic-
tions for future action but if the

jon continues to deepen,
particularly in the forest industry,
unity offers the only real hope for
the three unions which could all be
facing company demands for con-
MEE ES BSE BES IE IS EE LG

for a life with
dignity and
jobs for all

BB i encticvleilions

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Spe YS NSE SOE MOSES HE SOE PST I HSE SS

For a united labor movement in
1982 and full employment

Season’s Greetings from
Officers and Membership

UNITED FISHERMEN and
ALLIED WORKERS UNION

‘

tract concessions when they go to
the bargaining table next year.

The consequences of not seeking
that unity are already evident in the
mining industry.

The hard stance taken by the
mining corporations in seeking
concessions and the first year wage
freeze which the Canadian
Association of Industrial,
Mechanical and Allied Workers
(CAIMAW) was compelled to ac-
cept can certainly be attributed in

part to the bitter acrimony that ex-
ists between CAIMAW and the
United Steelworkers, the two ma-
jor unions in the mining industry.

As the last few months have
demonstrated dramatically, the
drumfire of propaganda from the
employers against wage increases
— and even against unions as an in-
stitution — has increased in intensi-
ty. And in that context, the trade
union movement cannot afford
divisions, whatever jurisdictional
disputes may exist.

Yet even beyond the CAIMAW-
Steel rift, there are deep divisions
within the trade union movement.

The three month-old feud over
Local 40 of the Hotel, Restaurant,
Culinary Employees and
Bartenders Union has not abated.
It erupted again last week the floor

‘of the Vancouver and District
Labor Council, a forum which has
traditionally been free of sectarian
debate.

Three unions, the Canadian
Brotherhood of Railway,
Transport and General Workers,
the Brewery Workers and
CAIMAW are raiding Local 40
which was placed under trusteeship
by its Cincinnati-based interna-
tional office in September. Since
that time, the B.C. Federation of
Labor has called on affiliates to
stand behind Local 40 against the
raids.

Delegates to the labor council
ultimately supported a motion call-
ing for endorsement of the federa-
tion position although it was op-
posed by some CBRT delegates
who insisted on the right to raid
“because it’s our jurisdiction.”’

The Local 40 dispute is one of
the most immediate problems for
the labor movement since the
raiding war threatens to divide the
14,000 union members into
separate certifications, perhaps
even driving some of them into
decertification under economic
pressure from the emplos. And the
jurisdictional wrangles among af-
filiates and non-affiliates alike will
have bitter consequences.

Significantly, it was Homer
Stevens, whose union, the United
Fishermen, was itself raided during

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the years when it was outside the
CLC, who reminded delegates of
the “destructiveness”. of union
raids.

Stevens also urged the federation
to take a tougher stand with the |
Local 40 international ang to press
harder to lift the trusteeship im-
mediately.

Certainly if labor unity is to be
strengthened, the role of the B.C.
Federation of Labor is critical —
and it, too, must be strengthened.

ANALYSIS

B.C. Fed president Jim Kinnaird
has repeatedly called on affiliates to
stop the ‘‘cannibalism’’ over Local
40’s membership and end their
raiding campaigns.

He has also emphasized the need
to bring the Building Trades and
the Hospital Employees Union
back into the federation and to
overcome the bureaucratic
obstacles that stand in the way of
their re-entry.

The need is urgent — with the
suspension of the Building Trades
two years ago, the number of
unionists inside the federation fell
to just 25,000 more than the
number outside.

Bringing the 40,000 members of
the Building Trades and the 24,000
HEU members into the federation
would do more than just add their
respective members — it would
strengthen the base of the labor
central and would also cement the
relationship that has generally ex-
isted between the two unions and
the federation but has recently
become t because of the
separation.

The road back isn’t straight —
for one thing, the Canadian Union
of Public Employees, from which
the HEU separated 12 years ago,
insists that the HEU must re-
affiliate to CUPE to come back in-
to the federation.

But Kinnaird noted in an inter-
view last June, the HEU is not
prepared to go back into CUPE. _

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issue

“And to keep them out of
federation because —
bureaucratic, inflexible attitude
wrong,” he said. ‘

In fact, the membership of
HEU has voted on the issue and
specifically rejected re-affiliatio
CUPE. And certainly uniof
who see the paramount import
of labor unity are going to hav
win support for the idea that br
ing the HEU back into the fed
tion must be the first priority.

Some movement on the
affiliation issue may well i
from the work of the five-metl
CLC commission set up earlier
year which includes Kinnaird.

A solution to: the outstanl
problems of affiliation to the ¢
would obviously be a powerful
petus to labor unity. But this)
vince still has some unique
blems, including the Local
dispute and relations bet’
federation affiliates and affil
of the CCU, which has its !
base in B.C.

‘Still, one thing is clear: wit!
province’s resource-bi
economy in the worst state sin?
depression and the mi
employers in those industries
up to demand concessions;
labor movement can’t affof
suffer the destructive effec
raiding — whatever justifi¢
may be offered.

For the same reason, |
unions in competing jurisdi¢
need to look at ways of coopet
— not only for common bal
ing fronts but also to work |
common program for the
dustries.

As union- representatives
emphasized, the joint action!
IWA, CPU and PPWC of
volves just one issue. But I
beginning. And in the cl
economic conditions, thé
would come a lot faster W”
that cooperation. ;
It isn’t just contracts that #
stake any more. The future ©
labor movement and of thou!
of workers is on the table.

pec se IO PI IE IEPA IEDR LIE IS IE PIECE I EEE

We extend our hand
"g\ in friendship to all

&) working people

3 of the world

and wish happy holiday
peace and a future
of full employment.

NANAIMO, DUNCAN AND DISTRIC
LABOR COUNCIL.

Sr a ss ES SK Se OES LT

Vancouver, B.C. V5L

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Postal Code

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