UFAWU salmon fishermen brought the company back to the table last Saturday and Sunday — after twice
rejecting a one-year agreement — but apparently to little avail as the B.C. Fisheries Association negotiators

hth

—Richard Morgan photo

(at left, facing camera) made virtually no changes to a two-year pact offered two weeks ago. (See story).

UFAWU fishermen spurn
arrogant company offer

Cont‘d from pg. 1
the rejection vote but at Tribune
press time had not received a
reply.
Instead, _ Association chief
spokesman Jerry Spitz told the

news media Wednesday that he

was “‘very disappointed” adding
that the Association “had done
everything it could” and there was
“no purpose in any further
negotiations.” .

The last offer tabled by the
Association belied the claims.that
it “had done everything it could”
with the only change from previous
offers being an increase of one cent
for sockeye, pinks, coho and chums
above a previous two-year offer for
1976 prices.

Insockeye prices, for example, a

two-year agreement tabled by the
companies just before the industry
strike deadline, July 25, offered 60
cents in the first year and 63 cents
in the second year. The one-year
agreement, twice rejected by
fishermen called for a price of 62
cents.

The latest offer tabled by the
companies did little more than
juggle prices listed in previous
offers, calling for 62 cents in the
first year and 64 cents in the second
year. _

The Fisherman commented that
the offer was ‘hardly to be
equalled in its cynicism at a time
when fishermen are faced with
spiralling costs in everything from
ice to lead’ cannonballs (net
weights).”’

Cont'd from pg. 1

Soviets agreed to stay off trolling
grounds in return for port
privileges and trans-shipping
privileges in the Queen Charlottes.
The Soviet Union has scrupulously
lived up to that agreement. It
proved that all problems can be
settled through negotiations in
which the interests of all parties
would be protected. The campaign
launched by Greenpeace to ban
Soviet freighters from B.C. ports
would endanger this agreement
which has.worked to Canada’s
advantage.

The Soviet Union a few weeks
ago voluntarily decided to reduce
its whaling fleet, but it has
repeatedly pointed out that the
problem of conservation and
recognition of boundaries must be
the result of negotiation and
agreement. This opinion was again

_ summed up by the captain of the

Kuilsk in Vancouver when he said:
“We follow the regulation and
treaties and are not in violation of
them. When the boundaries go
further, we'll abide by them.”’
The initial campaign by~ the

_ Greenpeace Foundation for con-

servation of the whales found a
favorable response among most
people. Unfortunately it has used
that goodwill to direct its cam-
paign into something entirely
different. Their campaign is now
degenerating into an anti-Soviet
campaign. At a time when Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau and
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
took the initiative in Helsinki,
Finland on talks which it is hoped
will lead to ending the ban on
Soviet freighters at East Coast
ports, the Greenpeace Foundation

is seeking to intensify the problem
with extension of the ban‘to the
West Coast — and for no logical
reason at all.

If the Greenpeace leaders are to
be consistent with their claim that
they are taking this action to save
the whales, are they also going to
picket Japanese ships and demand

‘that B.C. ports be closed to Japan,

which is one of the world’s major
whaling countries? Why single out
the Soviet Union for their attack?
In fact, as any fisherman will tell
you, the main threat to B.C.’s
fisheries come from Japan which
intercepts B.C. salmon in mid-
Pacific.

The leaders of the Greenpeace
Foundation appear to be exploiting
anti-Soviet sentiment for all it is
worth. Of course, if you are looking
for sensational headlines, there is
nothing surer to elicit the support
and backing of the big business
media than an anti-Soviet attack.
There is nothing new in that. Nor is
there any doubt that many of the
ultra-left elements, who fight
among themselves but have one
thing in common, their anti-
Sovietism, welcome this latest
development.

However, people of goodwill,
who want international agreement
to save the whales and more ef-
fective’ conservation laws to

_ preserve our fisheries, will reject

the campaign by the Greenpeace
Foundation and call on the
Canadian government to more
energetically pursue policies of
detente and co-operation among all
fishing states, with a view to in-
ternational treaties affecting our
coastal and the world’s fisheries.

PACIFIC. TRIBUNE—AUGUST 15, 1975—Page 8

Another factor in the over-
whelming vote for rejection — and
the committee’s recommendation
— was the length of the agreement
with the shoreworkers and _ ten-
dermen having already accepted
one-year parts.

“This posed the problem — and
the danger — of one year contracts
for the wage workers’ sections and
two-year ~contracts for the
fishermen’s sections,” the union
pointed out in a strike bulletin
August 9. ‘“‘The Association, which
is a past master in playing one
section off against another and the
Native Brotherhood and the
Pacific Trollers Association off
against the union, would be able to
exploit the situation to its greater
advantage.”’

After weighing up the situation,
the union determined to continue
the strike.

A B.C. Federation of Labor hot
declaration placed earlier on. all
fish excepting that caught by the
UFAWU will also remain in full
force, the union stated. ~

While fishermen await reply
from the Fisheries Association on
the demand to return to the
bargaining table and present a
realistic offer to end the industry-
wide strike, shoreworkers and
tendermen have registered some
considerable gains in. their
agreements accepted last week.

Shoreworkers will get an in-
crease of $1.10 an hour — excluding
probationary workers — on a
general rate of $4.76, bringing the
wage up to $5.86 per hour in a one-
year agreement. The tradesmen’s
rate goes up an additional 35 cents

an hour with a further increase of
« 15 cents slated for October.

The rate for probationary
workers is slated to go up to $4.85
an hour — an increase of 34 cents.

To tendermen, the companies
increased their pre-strike offer by
$10 a month, bringing the increase
to $170 a month with an additional
$10 a month allotted to certified
captains, engineers and mates.

» An increase of 50 cents on the
grub allowance will give ten-
dermen a daily rate of $6.25.

The employers’ share of MSA
premiums will also be increased to
70 per cent with a similar share to
be assumed on a dental plan
scheduled to be instituted January
1, 1976.

Medical and dental benefits for
shoreworkers are the same as
those accepted by tendermen.

Revisions in statutory holiday
benefits as well as
vacations were also obtained with
increased vacation time going to
those employees with 22 years or
more service. e

annual ’

By JACK PHILLIPS

The Regional Convention of the
International Woodworkers of
America, scheduled to be held in

Vancouver on August 18-22, has:

been postponed to the fall, possibly
to late Oetober.

The reason given for the post-
ponement is that a large number of
meetings will take place in the next
few weeks in connection with the
report of the special mediator. The
report of Mr. Justice Henry Hut-
cheon was to be released as this
issue of the Tribune went to press.

At this point, it is difficult to
anticipate a report that will be
acceptable to the leadership of the
IWA, the Paperworkers Union of
Canada, and the Pulp, Paper and
Woodworkers of Canada. Judging
from the last two IWA settlements
and the reaction of the mem-
bership, it is even more difficult to
foresee a settlement that will find
an enthusiastic acceptance by all
sections of the membership of the
three unions.

The last week has seen a wor-
sening of the relationships between
the leadership of the IWA and the
other two.unions. This followed the
extension of picketing by the
striking PPWC and the PWUC to
some IWA operations. The IWA
has adopted the position of not
striking before consideration of the

. report of the special mediator.

Although there is a joint com-
mittee of the three unions it is a top
level committee which, according
to all reports, seldom meets. It is
significant that the picketing
dispute was not resolved by this
joint committee, but rather in
meetings with the officers of the
B.C. Federation of Labor. The
Federation insisted on the sanctity
of legitimate picket lines and strict

_adherence to Federation policy of”

giving at least 72 hours notice of
intention to place picket lines af-
fecting other affiliates.

a

The wood and pulp dispute has
given yet another example of the
rising militancy of the rank and file
in this time of inflation, rising |
profits and declining purchasing |
power for working people. It haS |
also thrown a spotlight on the
divisions that exist and the
weakness of leaders who follow 4
policy of class collaboration rather
than class struggle. Some IWA
leaders, for example, have voiced —
a rather pathetic hope that the
special mediator will solve all of
their problems this year and have
done very little to mobilize the
membership for a possible strike
Leaders of the other two unions, of
the other hand, have sometimes
left the impression that they are
trying too hard to prove they are
more militant than the leaders of
the IWA.

Once the report is down, the
leaders of the three unions will be
faced with the problem of finding 4
common recommendation for th
membership. Failure to do so, OF |
agreement on a recommendation |
unacceptable to decisive sections |
of the membership, will accentuate
the negative trends.

The release of the mediator’s
report will open the most critical
stage of the wood and _ pulp
negotiations. If past negotiations
are a guide, the mediator’s report —
will be somewhat short of what
would be acceptable but designed —
to make it difficult to get an over-
whelming rejection. That is why
the question of unity assumes such
great importance at this time.

ir

Dinh Ba Thi (left) of South Vietnam and Nguyen. Van Luu of thé
Democratic Republic of Vietnam are shown at a joint press conferend®
at UN headquarters Aug. 5 where they announced their government $
application for UN membership. On Monday the U.S. used its veto if
the Security Council to block their membership on the excuse that
South Korea was not being admitted at the same time. The issue s
expected to come before the next meeting of the General Assembly.

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