LABOUR Labour unites to face Devine attack Free Trade and labour’s fight for sur- Vival were the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour’s focus at its 32nd convention, Oct. 21-23 in Saskatoon. Faced with an unprecedented attack from the right, the 460 delegates came together in the most united SFL meeing in recent years. “This province belongs to the people, Not the corporate elite or dictatorial poli- ticians,’’ declared president Nadine Hunt in her opening address. Point by Point she warned of the dangers working people face from the neo-conservative agenda: annexation with the U.S. under free trade; a Tory government deter- Mined to make labour and the poor pay for its financial crisis; massive jobless- hess which will worsen after the stock Market crash; and the deregula- tion/privatization policies of the far right, SO eagerly embraced by the Devine government. *‘A plan and a program to combat the forces at work to destroy -us’’, and ‘‘as much solidarity as possible With the other organizations in the Sas- Katchewan Coalition for Social Justice’ are needed,. Hunt stressed. Delegates unanimously agreed, calling for active support for the Coalition. The SCSJ was officially born Oct. 17, out of the member groups of the ‘‘Interim Plan- ning Group”’ responsible for the massive June 20 rally against the Tories. Building the SCSJ was only part of a solid 9-point action program adopted by the delegates. Other points include internal education, ‘bbying, public actions, media ads, and boycotts. Work stoppages and a petition to recall the Devine government are to be Major long-term weapons in the battle to Save Saskatchewan. Speakers and delegates hammered home the crucial struggle against free trade, and adopted the pro-Canada.Net- Work’s ‘*Statement on Free Trade”’ with its call for an election. A special commit- tee of the Federation and its major af- filiates is to carry out the fightback pro- gram, which includes free trade among the issues it will address. Labour briefs From Regina Kimball Cariou Bills 46 and 47 were singled out by many delegates as a sign of what’s ahead for labour in Saskatchewan. This legisla- tion ignores Section 37 of the Trade Union Act, stripping workers at the technical institutes and community col- leges of their union membership and rights during the Tory-imposed amalgamation of these schools. The Sas- katchewan Government Employees Union (SGEU) is fighting this “‘decerti- fication through legislation’ and the de- struction of employee contract pro- visions, and has begun signing up its members again. As more government services and crown corporations are privatized, the Tories will no doubt take the same route if possible. Delegates got a chance to grill the minister responsible for labour, Grant Schmidt, following his ten-minute speech favoring free trade at the conven- tion. In reply to a series of pointed ques- tions, Schmidt claimed ignorance of his government’s intentions on various as- pects of privatization and Trade Union Act changes. Schmidt said the Tories are acting against the labour movement and other sections of society “‘in the interests of the whole province’, a stance some delegates compared to the views of Hi- tler in Nazi Germany. Living up to his reputation,..the .minister.dropped..one ‘Schmidticism’’; replying to a question on pay equity, he said it “‘can’t be limited to men and women’’, but must also in- clude ‘‘cross-genders’’. This stunner left his questioner pointing out that he should stop evading the SFL Women’s Commit- tee request for a meeting on the issue. Other guest speakers had more to say. Saskatchewan NFU co-ordinator Gil Pederson zeroed in on his organization’s ~ major concern, free trade, and called for closer cooperation of farmers and labour. In a departure from the usual politician’s call for votes, outgoing NDP leader Allan Blakeney said ‘‘the fight needs extraordinary measures’ if the labour movement is to survive; he ad- vocated stronger campaigns to educate trade unionists about free trade, deregu- lation, and privatization, combined with a major drive to organize the unor- ganized in order to “strengthen the house of labour.’’ In contrast, his suc- cessor, Roy Romanow, stressed the election of an NDP government, without advancing proposals for labour in the three years before the next provincial election. Alberta Federation of Labour presi- dent Dave Werlin was one guest speaker to put forward a working-class alterna- tive to the Tory line of ‘‘free trade or protectionism’ ’, based on the building up -of secondary industry, a massive housing program, replacement of decaying urban infrastructure, and diversified trade. International solidarity was ‘another major theme of the convention. Speakers from. the. United Farm Workers Grape Boycott Campaign, the Group of Rela- tives of Detained-Disappeared of Chile, and the El Salvador Human Rights Commission all won standing ovations and sizeable donations from delegates. A resolution in support of the Tools for : Peace campaign was passed, and dele- gates were informed of a similar cam- paign for Mozambique, initiated by the Grain Services Union. Other resolutions called for anti-scab legislation, support for aboringial rights, criticism of the anti-labour actions of CSIS, and support for postal workers. Another positive development was the announcement of the SFL’s anti-racism campaign, including a conference early next year. Solid support was given for two long running strikes — the marathon 29-month strike by Retail-Wholesale union members at the Pineland Co-op, which has led to the boycott of Co-op products in the province, and a seven- month strike by seven employees of the Swift Current Legion. Only one issue, led to a division on the convention floor. A move to raise SFL dues by 10 cents to 55 cents per month was opposed by the SGEU and RWDSU caucuses, but won the necessary two- thirds support. Some delegates argued that the SFL executive has not shown the leadership to justify the increase, the first in four years. But even within the - SGEU caucus, many argued that the in- crease was needed to finance a major struggle, and issue did not lead to angry debate as in past years. Some delegates expressed disap- pointment that important questions such as peace and disarmament, and the Meech Lake accord, were not discussed, an indication that the Left remains small and poorly organized in the SFL. On the other hand, unions and leaders often considered *‘right-wing”’ here in the past were all on board for the sharpening struggle against the Tories. The fact that this was not an election year, and that Hunt is widely expected to step down next fall, also removed one potential source of division. United around a strong program of ac- tion, the 66,000 member SFL is poised to play a major part in a stronger people’s fightback in the year ahead. FRG rejects ILO findings The Federal Republic of Germany has rejected the recommendation of an Inter- national Labour Organization commission to rescind the McCarthyite law Berufsverbote and has stepped up persecu- tion under the act. In September trade union activist Herbert Bastian was sentenced by a Federal Court to a life long suspension from his job as a post office em- ployee. Bastian becomes the first elected deputy in the FRG to be convicted. He is a mem- ber of the Marburg municipal council, representing the Ger- man Communist Party. Sev- eral more Berufsverbote trials are scheduled in the coming months. Enacted in 1972, the law bans employment in any government job for people holding political views which Security of the constitution’’. The World Federation of Trade Unions who filed the complaint with the ILO, cited Over 10,000 cases of civil ser- Vice workers who have been fired, denied work or discip- are deemed a ‘‘threat to the . Two victims of Berufsverbote: Jan Kochanowski a teacher and economist Michael Jung. The placard states that they have been offically labeled as “enemies of the FRG constitution”. lined because of their political views. . : Berufsverbote takes in a wide range of employees including bath attendants, doctors, judges, teachers, gardeners, ~ post office and railway work- ers. Victims have included trade unionists, Communists, Green Party members (both legal parties” in Germany), peace activists and civil - libertarians. Trade union leaders have been charged for producing leaflets or holding demonstra- tions in support of members fired under the act. Charges re- sult in the victim being black- listed from other employment. The commission’s findings, released in May this year, hold the FRG in violation with ILO Convention 111, which bans discrimination based on race, beliefs. The WFTU says it will, in cooperation with the German labour movement, examine other means of fighting the law. Post office using scabs The Toronto local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has discovered that Canada Post is operating a satellite office at 80 Signet Drive, using scab labour from the union’s recent strike. “The operation of satellite - scab offices is a massive con- travention of our collective ag- reement and will inevitably cost the corporation a great deal of money,’’ said Andre Kolompar, first vice-president of the Toronto local. ‘It also puts a lie to the corporations ongoing denial of the existence of massive mail backlogs due to the CUPW strike.”’ The union leader charged that “‘the hiring of scabs as regular or casual workers is an immoral and unethical attempt by the corporation to provoke CUPW members. Ghuuttaleadndlled abd ak ee ORNS eT ee ae _ sex, religion or political — “‘Clearly the corporation has absolutely no interest in improving labour relations in the post office or showing any respect for the workers who have devoted years upon years of service,’’ said Kolompar. Kolompar said the post office is using satellite opera- tions to deal with the back log of mail. ‘‘We have been contracted by call casual workers, who refused to work as scabs during our strike, ad- vising us that Canada Post is by-passing casual workers with at least one year’s experi- ence in the post office and hir- ing people who worked as scabs for three or four days as full time and part time regular - employees.” CAW ad gets action Over 1,500 people to date have responded to the Cana- dian Auto Workers ad which appeared in major newspapers across the country Oct. 21. The union says the responses have overwhelmingly sup- ported the union’s call for a general election on free trade. etna ' PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 11, 1987 e 5