eee ue ns glad i ada cee elle = io WD LABOR |, Queen’s Park lobbied to halt Closure of Black and Decker TORONTO — About 100 Black and Decker Workers from Barrie took their campaign to pre- vent the closure of their plant next April to Queen’s ark and put a little heat on the provincial politi- Cians, In two busloads, the members of United Electri- cal workers Local 545 rolled on to the Legislature Steps, Nov. 13 ready to spend the whole day talking to the media and buttonholing MPPs to support the Union’s demand for legislation to block the Black and Decker move that will throw 600 Barrie work- €TS out on the streets and slice more than $30- Million out of the local economy. Seventy-five per- ent of the Barrie workforce at Black and Decker ‘are women. _ The U.S.-owned company is Barrie’s second largest employer. ‘ he company plans to move its operations to its Other plant in Brockville, Ontario where wages are Ower and there’s no union. In addition to lobbying individual MPPs, the Workers, who had each sacrificed a day’s pay for the Project, met with the leaders of both the opposi- tion Liberals and New Democrats, caucus mem- TS of all three parties, as well as Ontario Solicitor neral George Taylor, in whose Simcoe riding the Plant is located. The Tory MPP for Simcoe felt compelled to say he would support a resolution asking Black and Cker to keep the plant open, but wasn’t very €€n on the union’s demand for a provincial public tribunal to monitor plant closings and force em- Ployers to justify closures and shutdowns. UE Local 545 president Jim Hamilton told a Queen’s Park press.conference, that the Black and Cker workers wanted the provincial government 0 sponsor an all-party resolution demanding Black cker reverse its plant closure decision, and UE Local 545 president Jim Hamilton told reporters the union was demanding provincial le he outlined the union’s demand for a public tribunal. : The closure decision comes six months after Black and Decker’s parent company in the U.S. bought out Canadian General Electric's world- wide housewares business. Workers point to the high profitability of the Barrie plant and the strong product demand for the lines produced there as evidence which suggests to them that the corpor- ation was planning the closure even at the time of the takeover. The only advantage to the Brockville move, Hamilton told reporters is that Black and Decker isn’t unionized there, and it would put the company in a better position to transfer many of its product ‘lines to the U.S. Hamilton went on to say the UE suspects the company wants to end production in Brockville of kettles, frying pans and lawn mowers. “In our opinion the company is beginning a move of pro- duction out of Canada’’, he said. In contrast to the corporation’s claim that the move was made in order to streamline its Canadian operations, the UE noted that in 1984 Black and Decker’s profits topped $8.5-million before taxes. Labor minister Russell Ramsay, under grilling from the Opposition parties told the Legislature he was trying to arrange a meeting between the union and Black and Decker bosses from the U.S. The community has been quick to respond to the UE campaign, and the Barrie City Council, along with various regional municipalities have passed resolutions calling for the corporation to reverse its ~ decision. More than 10,000 people in Barrie have signed the local union’s petition demanding the company stop the closure that would inflict a terrible blow to the community’s economy and the lives of the workers living there. gislation to make the Company reverse its decision. Joining him left to right are Local 545 officers Vi Bradshaw, Angie Cripps, UE Publicity director Stan Bullock, Hamilton, and Bill Payne, local treasurer. _ the job des Talks resume in Brantford — By W.P. SMALL BRANTFORD — Negotiators (Or the city's 27 striking civic: Workers met with provincial a diator Fraser Kean and the Sa 15-16 to resume con- ae talks that broke down about © month ago. out 2€ Strikers who are clerks and = Eotkers went out Sept. * et the city’s refusal to ue @ contract with job tectign? Provisions and pro- Which h against contracting out, jobs + as already cost numerous Rion ve OCA! 181, Canadian n of Public Employees. loopho| City has been using a ment { € in the previous agree- ing Work Pass the union by hir- for w, TKers under phony job titles ork that is essentially the le as job = 5 agteemeni. S described in the CUPE: wa. nts the provincial labor Telatj P Ons board to rule on Criptions, but the city is Sto newalling, Claiming it doesn’t want to surrender its jurisdiction to another party. The union also wants protec- tion against contracting out, ae against the adverse effects 0 technological change. It also is seeking to give temporary work- ers hired under job creation pro- grams benefits and rights enjoyed by union members. The last con- tract expired Dec., 31. CUPE wants one year job guarantees for all workers dis- placed by contracting out or tech ene a act of solidarity with the strikers, the only labor represen- tative on the city’s development board, Fred Wilson, resigned from the board Nov. 6 protesting the civic administration’s “‘victor- ian’’ attitude toward labor, and its use of non-union, out of town construction workers on projects i ity. ee i ee the Se ee nt for the plumbers and pipe- Pres union, told the board in a letter that his decision to resign. was based on the administra- tion’s ‘‘dogmatic political philosophy”’, which he said con- vinced him ‘‘there there is no place at the moment for labor representation on any. Civic _ boards or commissions ...”’ In resigning he also criticised the city’s policy of going to low bid, non-union contractors for its construction projects and munic- ipal services. In 1967 the city con- tracted out garbage collection and now is talking about doing the same thing for snow removal. With 80 per cent of his own members and half of local con- struction workers out of work, Wilson criticised the civic ad- ministration for this non-union policy which condemns skilled — workers to trying to survive on welfare, and totally evades the municipal politicians obligation to the community to put local people back to work wherever they can do so. Labor Briefs UAW walks at Harvester CHATHAM — Local 127, United Auto Workers struck Inter- national Harvester Co., at 11 a.m. Nov. 14 to back demands fora new contract that would contain a wage increase and see the company fulfill promisés made in the last agreement. Harvester is trying to push a new agreement providing a 14 cent an hour increase to the base wage rate, to take effect in Oct. 1985, but has also insisted on 13 cents in diversions from the cost of living adjustment. Local 127 has been living since March 83 with a 19 month agreement. In addition to the paltry wage offer, and total reneg- ging on its promise to the workers, Harvester offered nothing in the way of pension, or health care improvements. The UAW has said they want the Harvester agreement to match the Canadian autoworkers’ pattern set in the Ford and General Motors talks. Library workers to vote on pact TORONTO — Metro’s 400 librarians, library assistants and maintenance workers were to vote on a new contract, Nov. 16, that CUPE negotiators said derailed the Metro Library Board’s attempt to wreck job security protection in the previous pact. CUPE Local 1582 president Sue Genge said the union didn’t accept any of the 104 takeaways proposed by the library board and that management failed in changing the job security pro- visions, including guarantees of reverse order seniority in case of layoff, union representation, and retraining guarantees as a result of the introduction of tech change. The strike began Oct. 1 and closed down the Metro Reference Library and the Municipal Reference Library at City Hall. Transit strikers face legislation MONTREAL — Quebec Labor Minister Reynald Frechette threatened Nov. 15, to introduce back to work legislation to end the 29 day transit strike because of previous Parti Quebecois government laws, the strikers still had to maintain service during rush hours and late at night on weekdays. Frechette told the National Assembly, Nov. 14 he wouldn’t bring down legislation if a settlement could be achieved between the union and the city’s transit commission. Montreal’s 4,000 drivers, ticket collectors and subway operators walked out Oct. 18 to back demands for higher wages and a shorter work week. On Nov. 2 the government appointed a three-member mediation team but it had failed to produce a report for a tentative settlement because of the commission’s refusal to move in the direction the union wants to go with respect to split shifts, working conditions and wages. Transit union president Jim Flynn said, Nov. 12 that the union’s morale was high but many members were beginning to question the value of ‘‘essential services’. Chrylser told: give us our shares WINDSOR — The Chrysler UAW Canadian bargaining coun- cil announced last week it will be sending 9,000 signature cards to the 1,985 Chrysler shareholders’ meeting requesting that the workers be given control of their own stocks just like other shareholders in the transnational. UAW Bargaining Committee chairman Ken Gerard estimated that if each Chrysler worker decided to cash his stock in the company, the total payout would come to $50-$60 million. Unlike the non-employee shareholders, the workers can only sell the stocks they received as part of the concessions package they signed in 1982, when they either quit the corporation, retire or die. Gerard also suggested that Chrysler may want to re-open talks with the Canadian UAW on the present agreement which expires in Oct. 1985. Windsor is the only source of the popular mini-van for all of North America and the 1985 model comes out when the current agreement expires. Strikes loom at Simpsons, Eatons TORONTO — Labor history could be made this Christmas as strike votes are being taken at four Eaton’s, and at least one metro Simpson’s stores by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Talks at Eaton’s have been going on for six months with little progress toward an agreement being recorded. In addition to the four metro Eaton’s outlets, strike votes have also been taken at stores in Brampton, St. Catharines and London. The union represents more than 1,000 Eaton’s workers in all of the locations mentioned and another 1,000 Simpson’s workers in Metro. Key issues in the talks include wages, benefits and work- ing conditions. In addition, at Simpsons the union wants to discuss the massive layoff, last summer that saw 1,600 full time workers fired and replaced by part-timers. The RWDSU is de- manding full union benefits and regular hours for the part time workers. The union says there is widespread support among the workers at both stores for a pre-Christmas strike unless the employers begin to negotiate seriously. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 21, 19847