Labour Casino dealers strike for first agreement notice. a lockout. wards. With seven of their number fired by a company that has used “every dirty trick in the book,” dealers at B.C.’s only unionized casino are maintaining a picket line to achieve the first collective agreement in a gaming house in North America. Forty-two employees of Coast Casino Corp. have been on strike at the company’s casino located at the Royal Towers Hotel in New Westminster since June 22 after taking a legal strike vote and serving 72 hours But they have in fact been out since June 15, after. holding a study session shortly before closing time to protest the firing of a pro-union employee. The company refused to reopen the casino, and has since imposed Lloyd Davis, business agent for the Ser- vice Employees International Union Local 244, said the dealers unionized less because of wages — they make around $6 an hour, but it is supplemented by tips — than over management’s arbitrary use of discipline and other prerogatives. Robert Kettle, chief shop steward for the casino unit, said the issue now is the rein- statement of the seven employees, three of whom, including himself, are shop ste- The unit was certified Jan. 13 after some 60 per cent of the employees signed cards. ing back to January. Since then the local has won a declaration from the Industrial Relations Council that the dealers are employees and not depend- ent contractors, as the company has claimed. Coast Casino lost an appeal of the ruling and Revenue Canada has since ruled the dealers are employees and has ordered the casino to pay Canada Pension and Unemployment Insurance premiums dat- Coast Casino was successful, however, in using Bill 19 to prevent a picket of the com- pany’s headquarters in Vancouver. Employees also walked out March 25 after an employee was fired. The ernployee was subsequently reinstated. Customers applauded the June 15 job action, Kettle said, and charities who use the casino’s services have been supportive walkout. instate the fired employees. including Vancouver’s Or Gallery, which was using the casino the night of the Negotiations broke off after one day of talks last May. Another session June 23 ended when the company refused to re- The union has written the B.C. Gaming Commission and is seeking the support of other unions. Under B.C. legislation gam- bling is allowed for charities, which get 50 per cent of the proceeds, while the casino per cent. CUPE hits privatizing The new president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ B.C. division has slammed new school legislation that she said will further the erosion of the provin- ce’s public education system. Gerald McGuire hit new | provisions allowing registration of home-taught stu- dents, increased funding for private schools, and the new Independent School Act con- tained in Bills 67 and 68 introduced June 26. The B.C. division’s executive board is planning an information campaign to push universally accessible public education. “While we join with other education stakeholder groups in welcoming the can- sultative process which led up to the intro- duction of these bills, CUPE has made it clear from the beginning of the process that our members are strongly opposed to the policy of public funding for private schools,” McGuire said in a statement. Some 10,000 of CUPE B.C.’s 30,000 members work for public school boards, mainly as teacher aides, custodians, clerical workers and bus drivers. Public funding for private schools has increased more than 100 per cent in the last four provincial budgets, compared to 25 per cent for public schools while the last budget McGuire noted. of public education hiked private school funding by 17 per cent, receives 40 per cent and the government 10 “Provincial legislation which institution- alizes taxpayer support for private schools and provides for government approval of education.” home schooling is a significant threat to our public education system,” she warned. The information campaign was initiated at the union’s provincial convention June 8-10, where delegates adopted a resolution that warned of “this continued underfund- ing and undermining of the public educa- tion system in B.C. (that) threatens the quality of education for our children and the job security of our members.” The unanimously approved resolution also set lobbies of the federal government through the national union and the provin- cial government. It called on the Canadian Labour Congress to “affirm its commit- ment toa proper share of funding for public “T eft to its own devices, this Social Credit government would privatize everything in sight, including our children’s future,” McGuire said. 8 Pacific Tribune, July 10, 1989 | * FUE UNE i : Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street i Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 H RES Sar Rs there pe SS ON ee ene : cides = cncce Gone. extol ce Gn penne te aed eee en Postal Code ... 42% 66 vais 8. 5. 5 oe I ltamenciosing 1yr.$200 2yrs.$350 3yrs.$500 Foreign1 yr. $320 { Bill me later ~Donation$........ a a “We intend to make sure that the people of this province are made aware of the dangers of privatized education,” she said. feos Ss OS OS OS GS GS GS OG CD ca ma eal CLC leaders still show cold war attitudes on international relations A significant shift took place at the last year’s Canadian Labour Congress con- vention regarding relations between workers here and those in socialist coun- tries. The international affairs policy paper, which encouraged increased involvement by the CLC in the peace movement, specifically called for a resumption of exchanges visits which had been suspended following the government’s call for a boycott of the ‘Soviet Union over its incursion into Afghanistan. Most delegates welcomed the change, but somewhere in the dark recesses of the congress headquarters on _ Riverside Drive in Ottawa there linger cold war fears which prevent the CLC from implementing convention policy or even noting the positive shift in world rela- tions. For example, over the past year Cuba’s trade union central has been try- ing to establish formal relations with the CLC. Up to now they’ve been rebuffed. There was an invitation for a CLC dele- gation to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Cuban Revolution. A delegation was invited for May Day 89. The CLC turned down both offers, citing Cuban human rights violations. An unofficial Canadian labour dele- gation did go to Havana for May Day and ended up meeting with president Fidel Castro. But by not taking up the Cubans on their invitation, the CLC John MacLennan LABOUR IN ACTION president missed a golden opportunity to raise all her concerns with Castro — as she did during her meetings with both former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as part of an International Confederation of Free Trade Unions delegation two years ago. Then there were the difficulties CLC executive member John Fryer encoun- tered last November at the International Labour Organization (ILO) meeting, when he tried to organize an informal reception for Franck Boulin, a leader of the Public and Allied Employees, the public sector federation within the World Federation of Trade Unions. As president the National Union of Provincial Government Employees, Fryer had a natural interest in meeting one of his international counterparts. And there is obvious value in publicizing the CLC’s fight-back plan against free trade, privatization, and deregulation abroad, not to mention the value of con- tact and co-ordination with other trade union centres. Fryer’s attempts at this international contact were very much in line with Congress policy. The CLC leaders not only refused to attend the reception, they organized a boycott of the event. Moving from the back rooms, the CLC executive council is openly trying to reverse convention policy. An April 24 letter from president Shirley Carr instructed labour councils and provincial a : SHIRLEY CARR labour councils. directive to federations to keep their international affairs contacts within constraints laid down by the CLC. The letter’s content didn’t pass the CLC executive council without dissent. Canadian Auto Workers and United Steel Workers reps told the meeting that regardless of any directives, they had invitations from socialist countries and intended to go. Other trade unionists have also been voting with their plane tickets. Last month a high level delegation was in the West Bank meeting with both Palesti- nian and Israeli labour leaders. The latest rebuke to the CLC is a plan to send a prominent delegation to Nica- ragua tor the 1Uth anniversary celebra- tions of its revolution. Among those on the trip will high ranking members of the auto, steel and electrical unions. Delegates at the last CLC convention welcomed the break from usual foreign policy for the labour movement that appears to have been set by the govern- ment’s Department of External Affairs. With the departure of International Affairs director John Harker to the ILO, there were high hopes among solidarity activists that the CLC leadership would finally fall in step with rank and file members who have strong sentiments for peace and international solidarity. Sub- sequent actions indicate this mood for optimism may have been premature. Some questions have to be asked of the CLC executive council. Why would it go against convention policy when it was clear from the start that major unions, such as the CAW and USWA, were not on side? What is prompting the CLC to buck a developing trend for peace and international dialogue both inside and outside the working class movement? Next year in Winnipeg another CLC convention will thrash out this question once again. With the role played by the transnational corporations in the world and the ongoing fight against the neo- conservative agenda, can Canadian workers afford not to have these impor- N tant links with trade unionists around the~ | world? ee