Sas anne —— a .

FOR FULL BARGAIN!

march on

3,500

é 4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 20, 1969—Page 6
i

By MEL DOIG

The young bedside nurse had
come over 700 miles to take part
with 3,500 members of the Can-
adian Union of Public Employ-
ees in their protest demonstra-
tion of June 11 before the
Ontario ‘Legislature Buildings in
Toronto’s Queen’s Park. “I’m
here,”’ she told me, “because the
members of my hospital employ-
ees local in Fort Frances are a
little tired of the way the On-
tario government is treating us.
They’ve taken away our right
to strike and many of us, in-
cluding me, are trying to live
on $60 a week.”

She probably felt she’d under-
stated the cause that had brought
her to represent her 100 fellow
members of CUPE local 795 be-
cause she immediately added
with anger in her voice, “We
resent the way the government
is trying to get us out of CUPE
and into a phony government
union where we’ll have no real
union rights. We’d have nothing,
no protection at all, if we don’t
have our own union.”

In this way she had summed
up the reasons for this stirring
demonstration by Ontario pub-
lic employees: the right to choose
their own union, to have full
freedom to bargain collectively,
and to strike if necessary.

Like the anti-Rand report de-
monstration less than two weeks
before, this protest was essen-
tially of-a_ political -nature—
directed dead-on against the
Tory Robarts government of
Ontario and its repressive union-
busting legislation. But there
were differences. é

These 3,500 workers in public,
government employment took
the day off from work for their
demonstration. At least 50 per-
cent of them were women trade
unionists, militant and determin-
ed “‘to change things, to get rid
of this anti-union- government”,
as one nursing assistant asked
me to report. The demonstra-
tors were not industrial workers.

As in the larger anti-Rand
demonstration, Dalton Bales, On-
tario Minister of Labor, who
addresses workers with an air
of condescending superiority,
had his first words drowned out
by shouts and boos. But on the

~

reas ies
‘inscriptions read, “Here li@? 7»

+. pict
urging of some of theif me
leaders, the demonstrato™ jp:
him speak for a whl , up
“courteous hearing” te whi
though. When Bales saor tie
government has respect cit”
role of unions in our § @
the workers shouted him C fi
Percy Huggett, OntarlO © og
president and princip@’ sag,
speaker at the demons
said, “We're not violent @ pet
stage, but how far can yOU™ i»
a stick without breaki®
We've bent as far as wemet!
possibly bend.” His staletijc
reflected the mood of the P 4
employees. i
“They took away the no ip
employees’ right to st! ‘rot
1965,” a registered nurse ~ gf
the Nurses’ Associatio® wd
Queensway General 10
told me. She was one of 4 fe
of white-clad registered ® this
who had come to supPO well?
CUPE demonstration. rig?!
here to help win back that. opt”
for all of us.” Ontario CIV™ jigt
ployees have never ha' ramet
right. The Federal gové ‘Ke of
recognizes the right to Se
of its civil service workel
Two black coffins wer usd
ried in the singing march a4 ind
the Ontario Legislature DU!” 19
The marching continued of of
hours before the demonstf@),,
deposited the coffins befor? ji

”

Legislature steps, “RIP. »

mains of collective bargaill®’,
One of the “pallbearers 1
assessment employee from pane
ilton, insisted “its the
Report we’ve got in this OM® 4.
The Robarts governme? cit”
set up a Civil Servants AS§
tion of Ontario. Its purpos? Re’
been supported in the Little us
the

port. By chipping away thro
arbitrary decisions, often 9 ont
form of orders-in-council, al tet
government department fro
another, removing them 103
free union bargaining as ert
members, the Ontario gv dk
ment is out to smash the Wt
ers’ union by forcing them } ny
this government “comP#’
union.” of
The secretary-treasure? yg
Hamilton CUPE local 167
this observer, “Public employ de}
like those in our assessment ©

ae
fig