LABOR

“CLC call to building trades

OTTAWA — As of April 30, 1981, unless the.
U.S.-based leaders of 12 intemational building
trades unions pay up their per capita dues pay-

_ Ments to the Candian Labor Congress they will be

Suspended from this country’s house of labor.
The CLC at its recent executive council meeting

March 11 unanimously voted to suspend the build-

Ing trades from the congress and its provincial

Tations of labor because of a decision by the

ian leaders of the. construction unions, en-
dorsed by their U.S. general presidents, to try to
bully and blackmail the CLC. into gutting the de-
Mocracy of the congress and transforming that

ay into a facsimile of the bureaucratic AFL-

The decision to stop paying the building trades
Workers’ dues to the CLC was made without any
Prior consultation with the international unions’
Members, though the Canadian roadmen try to
“SUggest the rubber stamp given their decision by
the so-called Canadian department of the AFL-
O Building Trades just prior to the 1980 CLC
convention represents the feeling of construction
workers in Canada.

Canadian body, is nothing more than the
Set-up created by the labor moguls in Washington
0 give the illusion of Canadian autonomy without

substance. All of the representatives to the

Canadian. Building Trades body are appointed |

from Washington and it has no decision-making
Powers.

The three basic demands the trades leaders
Wanted from the CLC were:

e that the building trades establishment should
be able to appoint CLC convention delegates di-

- Tectly, thus by-passing local unions and stripping

them of the right to elect their own delegates and
-Tun their own business.

e that only the affiliated unions and not locals

should have the right to submit resolutions to con-

Vention; .

e and, that the CLC step in and tear down the
building trades structure the unions have set up in

Quebec, which has recently been chosen by build-

ing trades workers in that province as the set-up
they want representing them in collective bargain-

~ Ing under Quebec law. “

In suspending the 12 building trades unions, the
CLC is leaving the door open for individual build-

‘ing trades locals, and provincial building trades

Councils to affiliate directly to the CLC and the

Canadian Building Trades Department it has set

up.

On March 11, CLC president Dennis McDer-
mott said each provincial labor federation will be
called on to set up a building trades council which
will be directly affiliated to the CLC and the pro-
vincial federations. ig

For those in the building trades: who have been
fighting for Canadian autonomy the critical issue is
to maintain labor unity while advancing toward
breaking U.S. domination and control of. their
unions. Some organizations have already indicated
their intentions to affiliate directly. to the CLC if
their internationals insist on leaving the congress.
Others are taking steps to pressure their inter-

- national offices to pay up their per capitas to the

CLC and return to the house of labor in good
standing.

What will be decisive in the long run for the
success of Canadian autonomy is the fact that
through the actions of the Canadian roadmen in
forcing the CLC to suspend the 12 building trades
affiliates, the whole issue and the undemocratic
reasons behind their Washington-inspired moves,
will be a topic for the consideration of the rank and
file building trades workers in Canada. -

For buitding trades workers fighting for Canadian
autonomy the critical issue is to maintain unity.

_ disrupt the rally. The rally was disrupted by Davis’ goons,”

Ne

Sudbury hospital
worker meets |
Davis’ goon squad

SUDBURY — The attempt by a fired hospital worker to.
confront Tory leader Bill Davis at a rally held here last week, was
briefly postponed when the fired: woman worker was pummelled |
and knocked to the floor by Tory supporters.

Kay McNamara, president of Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) Local 1023, who was fired for her role in the
strike last month, told the Tribune that she wanted to tell Bill
Davis that his election call proved that he had no-concern for the
patients. But as she approached Davis at the rally she was stop-
ped by what she described as ‘Davis’ goon squad’’. They were
‘‘very well trained and professional thugs’’; she said.

‘I told them that I had a right to be there, and when I got off the
floor I confronted Davis again. They tried te muscle me away
again, and one grabbed my wrist, but they all backed off when I
bit him.

‘In the shouting match that ensured I managed to tell Davis
that it is his cutbacks that are making the patients suffer. Davis
said he was concerned for the welfare of the patients ,"’ NcNam-
ara related; ‘I told him that as a registered nursing assistant I had
changed more bedpans than hé’s ever seen patients.”’

McNamara attended the rally with 70 hospital workers from
the three Sudbury hospitals. ‘‘We wanted to demonstrate,”
McNamara said, ‘‘to show people why we. struck against the
cutbacks. Here in Sudbury the cutbacks resulted in one floor of
Laurentian Hospital never opening for use; it was supposed to be
for Workmen’s Compensation Board cases. But with the cut-
backs, injured workers are forced to travel to Toronto rather than
receive treatment here. There has also been a deterioration,” she
said, ‘‘of patient care in hospital cleanliness, and sheets are only
changed on a weekly basis. :

‘‘That’s why we attended the rally, to tell Davis that, not to

McNamara said.
McNamara, a single mother with three children at home, told
the Tribune that the firing has had an effect on her family’s
standard of living, but it hasn’t dampened her spirit. She is
confident she’ll get her job back, but only when CUPE, the
Ontario Federation of Labor and the Canadian Labor Congress
work out a common program to get the fired and suspend
workers back on the job, with full back pay... 6. (2 ooe
‘It’s going to require work both in Queen's Park and outside
Queen’s Park, because the Davis government will not intervene
on our behalf without enormous pressure on them.” ; 7

(eee

Unity inseparable from autonomy struggle

Many Tribune readers have

~ asked: Why is it so difficult for

Construction workers to break the
avy hand of bureaucracy im-
Posed on them by Washington?
€r all, other unions with inter-
national headquarters have com-
Pelled some measure of auton-
Omy over their Canadian opera-
tions. Why not construction
Workers? , :
Let me explain. -
Most construction unions have

iring rights. Thatis, you areactu- —

ally hired by the union hall and
S€nt out to fill jobs posted at the

by construction companies.
In order to be hired you must be a

_ Member of the union, or have a

Special permit issued by the
Union. :
This process is extended to the
issuance of what are known as
-travel cards. This travel card can
be deposited in any local in
: or the United States, (if
you can clear the. border regula-
‘tions). If work: is available, and
Not at the expense of members of
local in whose area you have
Presented your card, you can be
Sent out to a job by the hall.
This means that when jobs be-
Come scarce in a particular area
* while they are plentiful in another

~ @rea, the union acts as a clearing

house for. workers guaranteeing

them preference over any outside
help. :

The construction unions also
operate within a building trades

_ unions set-up which regulates the

jurisdictional lines separating the

trades on any jobs and resolves”

the interminable disputes arising
between the trades about jurisdic-
tion.

Undemocratic Constitutions

Most construction workers
have pension plans into which
workers pay quite large monthly

obligatory contributions. Almost ”

all of these plans are structured so
that you lose all your benefits if
you stop working in the trade or
stop being a member of the union.
This also applies to burial benefits
which are common to most craft
unions.

In addition to the above the
construction unions, by regulat-
‘ing the flow of labor into the
industry through the hiring halls,
have kept construction wages at a
fairly high level. Although when
you divide the wage by the actual
time worked it is likely no higher
than for industry as a whole.

- Lastly, the constitutions of
most craft unions are extremely
undemocratic, denying the

- wishes.

membership the most elementary

rights. Committees.and delegates _

to labor councils and_ building
trades conventions are appointed
by presidents of locals. The inter-
national president has almost un-
limited powers to interpret the
constitution, override local union
decisions, seize local union funds
and place unions under trustee-
ship if their actions do not corres-
pond to the international office

Labor in
Action

Taken together these factors
make it very difficult for workers
to break out of the control exer-
cised over their local unions by
the international set-up.

Legal Strait Jacket

In addition to the above, the
Ontario Government recently
passed Bill 122, with the full sup-
port of the building trades leader-
ship, but in opposition to rank and
file sentiment. This bill ties all
locals of each section of the
construction industry in Ontario

to a joint certification and joint
agreement with the equivalent
industry management. That

means, for example, that all elec- .

trical workers now have a single
collective agreement with all elec-
trical contractors in the unionized
section of the industry in the prov-
ince. This in turn means that no
local of any construction trade
could break away from its inter-
national without at the same time
completely separating itself from
the rest of the construction work-
evs and industry in Ontario.
These are the special cir-
cumstances facing construction
workers in their fight- for auton-
omy. They are the multiple
reasons why the Washington
roadmen have been able, up to
this time, to block the aspirations
of construction workers for full
union democracy and Canadian
autonomy. Such aspirations are
just as strong, if not stronger
among construction workers as
elsewhere in Canadian unions.

Unity Is. Key
It is for these reasons that the
question of autonomy in the
Canadian building trades industry
is linked so firmly and inseparably
with the question of unity.
Construction workers realize

there is no future for them in split-
ting their ranks in any and all
directions in pursuit of autonomy.
However difficult it may appear -
they must find the way to advance
their objectives united. At the
same time the Washington-
appointed roadmen realize the
difficulties and rely on thém to
provide an insurmountable oabs-
tacle to building. trades workers.
It is for the above reasons that
the building trades officials and
international roadmen have rebel-
led against the growing demand
for, and growth of, autonomy in
the Canadian Labor Congress,
and demanded a reversal of direc-
tion to top level leadership contro}
over the CLC.
They realize that the. tide of
events is moving against them and
it is just a matter of time before
their tight little empire collapses.
Like King Canute they are de-
sperately trying to stem that tide.
Like King Canute also, they are
doomed to failure. However dif-

~ ficult the short run problems, the

present events in the Canadian
trade union movement point to
more, not less Canadian auton-
omy, and not too far down the line
— a completely sovereign and .
united Canadian trade union
movement. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 27, 1981—Page 7