LABOR OFL delegates demand action to counter economic crisis TORONTO — The 1,700 delegates to _ the 28th. Ontario Federation of Labor - convention, Nov. 19, set a course of struggle and militant trade unionism for the OFL. Not only did the opening day see the ~ delegates overwhelmingly decide to pull the OFL out of the provincially funded, tri-partite Quality of Working Life Centre, but the convention inspired the leadership to inject what amounts to an action program into its economic policy paper. On its own, the paper came under sharp criticism by delegates coming into the convention. Without the injection of the action resolutions there was a good chance the paper would have been de- feated like its counterpart at the 1983 fed. convention and the economic statement at this spring’s Canadian Labor Congress convention in Montreal. In addition to this, the convention collected some $25,000 for the British miners and pledged to help raise financial and moral support for them throughout Ontario. It gave National Union of _Mineworkers rep, Brian Dakin and his wife, Irene, a heart-felt welcome to the province. OFL president Cliff Pilkey opened the convention with an address rebuking governments and big business leaders who urge closer cooperation with labor while they press for a roll back to an unfettered free enterprise that would bring organized labor to its knees. ‘‘What we see in these productivity arguments and pleas for co-operation are just more sophisticated versions of the frontal attacks workers faced in the past years before we had even the legislative and collective bargaining rights we have now”’, Pilkey said. Yet, instead of focussing on what labor - needs to do to mobilize its members into action against this relentless govern- ment-business attack, the OFL chief chose to set out labor’s preconditions for tri-partite co-operation. Provincial Coalitions The economic paper was saved from a sticky end by a last minute resolutions committee amendment committing the federation to organizing municipal, reg- ional and provincial coalitions as part of the OFL’s contribution to implementing the nine-point Action Program, the Na- tional Action Caucus and the Montreal convention delegates coaxed out of the CLC leadership earlier this year. The CLC-’s nine-point Action Program was the executive’s response to the re- ferral of an economic policy paper the convention found to be unacceptable. The action plan injected by the com- mittee into the economic statement brought some seven separate resolutions to the commitment for coalition-building and together they resulted in the paper and. action plan being overwhelmingly endorsed by the convention. These resolutions call on the OFL to: e Endorse the CLC call for a 32-hour work week and to launch a publicity campaign promoting the shorter work -week with no loss in pay; e Organize a March for Jobs this spring and work to make it the biggest protest ever mounted by the fed; e Immediately convene an affiliates’ meeting to discuss co-ordination of a At the OFL Mike Phillips fight against concessions, for substantial wage increases and against all forms of wage controls through both parlia- mentary and extra parliamentary means; e Encourage affiliates to co-ordinate collective bargaining for shorter hours with no loss in pay, oppose overtime and agitate for a legislated ban against it; e And, boost the campaign for equal- ity and against racism by lobbying governments and educating affiliates about the need for affirmative action for women and visible minorities. In short the resolutions embraced the program long fought for by the Action Caucus. Shorter Hours Fight : Postal Union vice-president and On- tario Action Caucus co-chairperson Bill Cheddore centred on the fight for shorter hours his union is currently engaged in at the bargaining table, and stressed the need for the kind of campaign adopted by the convention to bolster the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and other unions who've publicly declared shorter hours to be their target in these negotiations. ‘*It’s the kind of bargaining policy the whole labor movement should adopt,” Cheddores said. ‘‘We can’t continue to accept chronic unemployment when shorter hours is an obvious answer to that problem.” On the decision to pull the OFL of- ficially out of the QWL Centre, delegates packed the microphones 15 deep to sup- port the resolution, which like the seven action resolutions in the economic paper were generated by the Ontario Action Caucus. : Submitted by the National Executive of the United Electrical workers, the Ot- tawa labor council and some eight UE, Autoworkers, Steelworkers and CUPW TRIBUNE PHOTO — MIKE PHILLIPS The 1,700 delegates to the annual Ontario Federation of Labor convention were critical the leadership’s economic statement. President Pilkey opens session. locals, it argued that *‘the adversarial ap- proach of industrial relations ... is the only means by which we have been able to make important gains and improve- ments.”” Labor’s participation in QWL, the unions argued ‘‘serves to legitimize this government program which is designed ultimately to weaken trade unions as effective workers’ organizations.” Conned on QWL The harshest critics of QWL were those delegates with first hand local experience. ‘‘We’ve all been conned into thinking that QWL is about workers and management sharing control over production,”’ a delegate from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said. “But QWL is really just a way of enforc- ing management’s control over workers.” - - UAW delegate Jim Duerr, a General Motors worker, pointed to Pilkey’s re- marks about the impossibility of dialogue with governments and business leaders out to savage wages, conditions and the rights of labor. : : ‘*Let’s not kid ourselves,’’ Duerr told the convention, “‘the real aim of QWL is to make more profit. The government OTTAWA — The agreeable ‘‘chemistry”’ reported by the media be- tween Prime Minister Mulroney and President Reagan when they meet does not, evidently, extend to the steel pipe industry. Canada’s new Tory government “‘is very concerned about the potentially harmful effect on our steel exports of legislation recently passed in the United States.” In making the statement, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, James Kelleher, repeated that, Section 207 (2) of the U.S. Trade and Tariff Act (1984) requires that each piece of imported iron or steel pipe fittings be per- manently marked with the country of origin by means of die-stamping or simi- lar methods. ‘This new requirement,”’ he said, U.S. pipe law worries Ottawa ‘“‘could result in significant numbers of lost sales since in many cases Canadian manufacturers will not be able to mark their products in the manner prescribed and still comply with industry or cus- tomer specifications. Marking will also entail additional costs, and delays in customs inspection.”’ A major problem in this requirement (pipes have always been identified by attached stickers), is that engraving or casting the country of origin on the pipe itself, invites corrosion and shortens the anticipated life of the pipe. Said Kelleher: ‘‘In our view the Sec- tion 207 (2) requirement constitutes a non-tariff barrier to the American mar- ket and is inconsistent with USA obligations under GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Up to $200-million worth of Canadian exports could be adversely affected. 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 28, 1984 4 isn’t stupid, they're not going to give. money for something we want, they investing money for something th want.” UE Research director Jim Turk ! plied to OFL treasurer Terry Meaghe! position that local unions and affilial should be allowed to make their own ¢ cision about joining QWL or not. Turk said he agreed with that posit but added, ‘‘this resolution is about OFL selling and promoting QWL P! grams to its affiliates.’ The fed’s P! sence on the QWL advisory committ was being used by employers ‘‘to stfo arm our affiliates into the program, charged. E QWL had by and large died or fail anyway, he added, but recalled that contrast to the resolution at hand, ! B.C. Federation at its last convent! adopted a policy paper which forbids 4 affiliate to participate in the QWL P! grams. Pilkey downplayed the significanc® the convention decision, claiming ' federation’s participation on the a0" ory committee was minimal. The ol move, he said would not likely have @ significant impact on other union lea@’ participating in the QWL advis¢ group. Yet it was interesting to note that oft three delegates who rose to suppo! QFL, one was the secretary treast Terry Meagher, and another was | Sullivan of the chemical workers Um still a strong advocate of QWL. Dying Phenomenon Equally notable was the fact that P vious advocates of QWL such 48 ° UAW’s Bob White did not participa the debate. 11 As experience with QWL bec! more available, the movement OPP” it seems to gain strength, judging 1 the discussion on the topic during th& collective bargaining conference, ~ | is a rapidly dying phenomenon mn oc UAW, with more than just a few I sé doing what they can to speed its Pa" into the next world. a oes The government, - however doe» give up the initiative very easily, sce as QWL appears to be in its death thre another advasary committee i: set up through QWL called the Management Study Group. Pilke mitted that while the OFL has beet proached to participate in the oe doesn’t belong and according to the F ident has no plans for joining.