spi slit st B.C. FED CONVENTION Opposition to the Social Credit govern- ment’s attack on trade union and demo- cratic rights was a primary focus of resolutions as the B.C. Federation of Labor wound up its 29th annual conven- tion Friday. And many of those resolutions in turn backed the Building Trades which has borne the brunt of the government and contractors’ drive to de-unionize the industry. Delegates voted Friday to condemn the “open shop concept” imposed on the Expo site by the Socreds through Section 73.1 of the Labor Code and instructed the federation to “adopt a policy of full sup- port and assistance to the Carpenters Union and the Building Trades in their declaration of total non-co-operation with Expo 86.” Carpenters delegate Colin Snell told the convention that the union had adopted a position of non-co-operation with Expo including a refusal to work overtime on the site because of the Crown corpora- tion’s rejection of the agreement with the trades. But he warned that Expo or the non- union contractors could soon force the union to the Labor Relations board on the overtime issue. It could even come within the next few weeks, he said, because Expo wants lighting on the fair’s preview centre by Christmas even though the contract has only just been let. “Tf it goes to the LRB and they force the trades to work overtime, we’ve taken the position that we will refuse. “It’s at that point that we'll need the assistance of the federation,” he said. Earlier in the week, delegates had voted to instruct the new federation leadership to “co-ordinate a fightback of the labor movement” against the amendments to the Labor Code buttressed that call with a demand for the repeal of Section 73.1 which gives cabinet authority to designate “economic development projects” on which labor rights are restricted or elimi- nated. Another resolution called on the federa- tion-to call a special conference on anti- labor legislation with the objective of co-ordinating a united pull-out of labor representatives and a boycott of the Labor Relations Board.” Carpenters delegate and Building Trades Council president Roy Gautier said that the record of the Building Trades at the LRB has been “dismal” in recent months. “We have to recognize that we’ve been had,” he said, adding that the LRB is “the tool of the government.” . He urged the federation to call the con- ference and “seriously consider whether we should adopt a total boycott as we did the Mediation Commission” (under the W.A.C. Bennett government). Also on Friday, delegates endorsed the final draft of a resolution supporting the Delegates back Trades in Expo campaign right to strike in the public sector which had been referred back for strengthening on the opening day of the convention. Although the change was not signifi- cant, the new resolution declared the con- vention’s “total opposition to the removal of the right to strike from any group of workers in B.C.” and instructed the feder- ation and its affiliates to support fully “any affiliate who resists government action in this area.” . A resolution which brought several delegates to the microphone in scathing condemnation of the government’s attack on human rights pointed to the first case heard by the new Human Rights Council of B.C. ‘ The case, which has made the council notorious across Canada, involved a charge of sexual harassment levelled by a waitress, Andrea Fields, who said that her employer had hugged and kissed her, writ- ten her crude and suggestive notes and when she resisted, fired her. The council, created last year by the . Socreds after the commission and branch was dismantled, dismissed the notes as inconclusive, refused to hear two corrobo- rating witnesses and finally exonerated her employer of the charges. Convention delegates condemned the council’s ruling and called on the Labor Minister Bob McClelland to reverse the decision. They also demanded the resigna- tion of the council chair and reiterated the -women don’t have the right to say ‘no ROY GAUTIER.. .labor movement should consider boycott of LRB. call for the reinstatement of the Human | © Rights Code, the commission and the | — branch. 3 “This decision, if it stands, means that BCGEU delegate Jan Brown warned | delegates. : “Tt means we have to accept the Fraser Institute and Bennett’s line that women should consider sexual advances as part of the job,” she said. B.C. Fed vote echoes demand for action Continued from page 1 BCGEU and some smaller unions — and Langan’s 348, primarily those of the [WA and CUPE. But on the second ballot, the unions on the federation’s right wing who had backed Langan, particularly the [WA and major sections of CUPE, predictably threw their votes behind Kube to give him the final 780-617 win over Kennedy. Following on the vote, Kennedy, together with Langan took to the podium to call on - delegates to make the decision for Kube unanimous. Kennedy said later that he had “won” in a different sense because of the significant vote he had garnered in both the first and second ballots. And there will continue to be major support for the program on which he ran, he said. The big BCGEU vote — some 300 dele- gates strong — coupled with the votes of those unions who had backed Kennedy gave BCGEU collective bargaining chair- man Cliff Andstein a 825-549 victory over incumbent Mike Kramer in the election for secretary-treasurer of the federation. Andstein’s election was also an indicator of the mood for change among convention delegates and an affirmation of BCGEU support for Operation Solidarity. It was a similar alignment of delegates that gave CPU vice-president-Gruntman a . convincing 818-455 vote victory over incumbent Jack Munro, president of the IWA, for the first vice-president’s spot. But if the voting blocs were the same, the reasons for delegates’ rejection of Munro were very different. The IWA leader had put a sharp edge on the contest when he declared early in the convention that if the [WA failed to main- Report in error Last week’s report on the B.C. Federa-. tion of Labor convention wrongly reported that WA president Jack Munro had put up “token opposition” to the affirmative action resolution calling for increased representation of women on the federation executive. In fact, Munro was in support of the resolution. 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 5, 1984 ART KUBE tain the first vice-president’s position, all IWA representatives would be withdrawn from the executive council. KENNEDY Munro had rankled scores of unionists - during the initial mobilization of Operation Solidarity when he publicly declared that he would not call TWA members out in sup- port of public sector unions. Later, his role in the Kelowna accord left pockets of linger- ing hostility. But most contentious: were his comments during last summer’s pulp lockout when he accused pulp workers of trying to “leap- frog” the IWA agreement — an accusation that even the Labor Relations Board expressly rejected — and broadly sug- gested in interviews that flying pickets put up by pulp workers should be run out of town. Munro has also been seen by many unio- nists in the private seector as a drag on the fightback against employer and govern- ment attacks on the trade union movement because of his insistence that continuing unemployment and layoffs are the result of worldwide economic problems and change will have to wait for recovery. . After the vote, Munro left little room for any reconciliation. As Gruntman mounted the podium to be sworn in, he offered a handshake to Munro. But the [WA leader spurned it and turned to the waiting huddle of reporters with the comment, “Art may have the vote but I’ve still got the press.” Ironically, Munro’s popularity with the media over the past several months has made him even more unpopular among trade unionists. JACK ART NICHOL GRUNTMAN Munro told reporters after the vote that the IWA was “very, very upset,” adding that some locals wanted to pull out of the federation immediately. He later said that any decision on that will wait till after the new year. But com- ments he made to CKNW broadcaster Gary Bannerman Monday indicate that the IWA may very well withdraw or at least cut back its per capita payments to the federa- tion. Munro also indicated that the [WA was a “big enough union” to stand on its own without the federation, a position which can only increase Munro’s and the [WA’s isola- tion from the trade union movement. Elections for the other 11 vice-presidents’ positions, including two new ones created as part of an affirmative action program to promote women in the leadership, saw only one contest. In that, CUPE president Owen Dykstra won by a vote of 842-459 over Machinists’ delegate Barry Greenwood whose candidacy had been supported by the BCGEU. ’ Acclaimed for their positions were: _second-vice-president Jack Nichol, presi- dent of the UFAWU and representing the Pacific Coast Maritime council; third vice- president, BCGEU president Norman Richards; fourth vice-president, Joy Lan- gan, who held the position previously; fifth vice-president Steelworkers’ Local 480 pres- ident Ken Georgetti who replaces retiring Monty Alton; sixth vice-president, Tele- communications Workers president Bill Clark, the incumbent; seventh vice-president Food Workers representative Leif Hansen, See executive council meetings they will be Cie SS pe Ree ne ea also an incumbent; eighth vice-president, © Machinists representative Angela Schira incumbent; tenth vice-president, Alice West, Public Service Alliance; 11th vice- president, Anne Harvey, Office and Tech nical Workers Local 378 president; and — 12th vice-president Carpenters delegate and ~ Building Trades Council president Roy Gautier. The presence of Andstein as well BCGEU president Norman Richards — joined by Jack Adams and Diane Wood as well as John Langley of the Brewery Workers, a BCGEU autonomous affiliate” — presages a much more influential role for the government employees union in the federation. The union was pre-eminent in conve tion slatemaking, and the alignment of i delegation, the largest on the floor, exerteda — substantial influence on the outcome of most votes. The new position reflects the increasing importance of the public sector in the trade’ union movement as well as the desire on the part of the BCGEU leadership to carve o a more important place for itself. - There has also been a shift in the tra tional positions of the union, as a result o' the direct effect on its members’ jobs of the Socred government’s restraint program ani because of the government employees’ ce: tral role in the escalating public sector stri by Operation Solidarity last fall. The election of several new officers, som of whom urged unity around a program action, is expected to increase the demand for a more co-ordinated response from th labor movement on strike support and opposition to government legislation. Elected to the 25-member executive council were: Peggy Carruthers, Marlene Hill, Bernice Kirk, Patricia Lindsay, Chris-_ tine Micklewright, Teresa North, Miriam — Olney, Joy Thorkelson, Diane Wood, Jac Adams, Ray Andrus, Bill Copeland, 13 Court, Bryan Denton, Larry Honeybourne, Bob Jennings, Jure Kelava, John Langley, Paul Lawrence, Andy McKechnie, Buck Philp, John Shields, Len Stair, Bob Storness-Bliss and Bill Zander.