LABOUR :

Bitter strikes point to need
for anti-scab legislation

By MIGUEL FIGUEROA
Maritimes Correspondent

There is hardly an industrial dispute these days
that does not involve organized strikebreaking.
Because of their size and pivotal nature, some of
these struggles, such as the Gainers strike and the
Tecent battles at the post office, have received na-
tional attention and coverage. Still for every
publicized confrontation, literally dozens of others
take place in obscurity.

One of these lesser-known actions is the strike at
Easteel Industries in Paradise, Newfoundland just
Outside St. John’s. The 47 workers, members.of the
International Association of Machinists and Aero-
Space Workers (IAM), have been on the line since
June 15 in an effort to regain ground lost throgh
Concessions.

Paying for Concessions

; The Easteel workers are paying a high price for
‘past sins’’. Three years ago, when the new own-
€rs of the plant pleaded financial difficulties, the
Union voluntarily re-opened their two-year con-
tract to accept a 15 per cent basic wage cut in the
Second year. :

_ When negotiations started for a new agreement
Mm 1985, the company again asked for substantial
Concessions, including a further cut in wages and

nefits.

By April, 1987 the workers had had enough and
Were ready to win back what they had surrendered.
But the now financially comfortable, Easteel was
no mood to restore wages. Instead, it demanded
More concessions.

IAM Lodge 950 president John Carter told the

Tribune the company was fully prepared to bring in
Scabs well before negotitions broke down in June.
Easteel placed newspaper ads throughout New-
foundland and Nova Scotia seeking strike-
breakers.

“We've learned a bitter lesson about con-
Cessions — they’re easy to give, but they’re damn
hard to win back again’’, Carter says.

Three Years on Line

Across the Cabot Strait, in Debert, Nova Scotia,
4 much smaller but equally determined group of
Workers are engaged in a marathon struggle for a

Tst contract. The 11 members of the Energy &

hemical Workers Union have now entered the
third year of their strike against Nystone Chemi-
Cals, Ltd.

Nystone, which processes barium sulfate used in
€nemas and other medical treatments, and its pa-
Picket line with still no settlement in sight. Nys-
‘one, which processes barium sulfate used in
€nemas and other medical treatments, and its pa-
Tent U.S. firm, E-Z.E.M., Inc. have refused to
‘ibotiate and have hired scabs to maintain opera-

Ons.

_ Judy Leeman, one of the remaining strikers, out-
lined conditions in the plant for the Tribune:

ages were deplorable, especially for women
Workers — as the technical head of the chemical
laboratory, I was making $6.50 an hour and other
Wages were not much better.’’ The company had
failed to provide even minimum levels of ventila-
tion. When approached by workers to install win-

dows to improve-air circulation, “‘the company
manager told us that there would be no windows
because workers would spend too much time gaz-
ing out of them.”

The strikers’ tenacity has earned them respect
and needed support from the rest of the labour
movement. At the recent N.S. Federation of
Labour conveniton, over $4,000 was raised and
several affiliates are ‘‘adopting a striker’ to aug-
ment.the: basic strike pay of the workers.

Boycott Coke

A third significant battle is under way in New
Brunswick, where workers represented by the Re-
tail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
(RWDSVU) have been on strike since the end of
May, 1987.

Brunswick Bottling (Coca Cola) has been out to
smash the union ever ‘since the first collective
agreement was reached in October, 1982. The
union notes in a recent pamphlet on the history of
the strike that ‘‘the ink was not dry on this (first)
agreement’’ when company president and owner
Ralph Hawkes laid off 31 of his employees, only to
turn around and hire dozens of relatives and per-
sonal friends to take their jobs.”’

In the latest round of bargaining, the company
attempted to remove seniority and recall rights
from the contract, forcing the workers out on
strike.

Hawkesimmediately brought inascabworkforce,
comprised of his relatives, friends and others and
sought police escorts and picket line injunctions to
ensure production. The union retaliated with a
massive boycott campaign which has spread
throughout the province to PEI and parts of Nova
Scotia.

According to George Vair, local RWDSU
representative, the ‘“‘Boycott Coke!’ campaign
has already seriously cut into sales from the scab
operation. ‘‘Coke sales in Saint John are down 50
per cent and province-wide, down at least 40 per
cent.”’

The union has an “‘anti-scabmobile’’ touring the
province promoting the boycott, and the New
Brunswick Federation of Labour has placed full-
page ads exposing the company’s unfair practices
and demanding that the new Liberal government
immediately introduce anti-scab legislation.

Anti-Scab Legislation Needed

All three of these private-sector struggles share
similarities with other labor disputes across Cana-
da. It is significant that in every case, companies
are recruiting scab labour as a standard practice.
Local and provincial police forces are being used to
escort scabs through legal picket lines, contri-
buting to the length and bitterness of disputes. This
worsening situation has brought to the fore one of
Jabour’s main demands — the introduction of anti-
scab laws at both the provincial and federal levels.

What also stands out is the increasing level of
unity and militancy among workers on the lines.
This is being matched by a growing awareness
throughout most sections of the labour movement
and the broader community of the need for more
concrete steps to build support for workers and
unions in struggle.

Tribune columnist George Hewison leads

TRIBUNE PHOTO — MIGUEL FIGEROA

BBS

strikers in song on the picket line at Eastell Industries in Paradise,

wfoundland. The 47 workers have been out for six months in an effort to win back wages.

seal er

_ Labour inaction _

GEORGE HEWISON

. Q week’ Course cat OFL be

coming to grips with the biggest questions ever faced by the |

province's labour movement.

The attack on labour by big business has shifted into high gear.

Concessionary demands by employers are being made during

times of record profits (59 per cent increase in the past nine

months). Psychological mind games (QWL, etc.,) designed to
weaken collective bargaining and the power of the unions have
been stepped up. —

__ These comparatively recent phenomena have been supple-
mented by the increased involvement of the state and the mass
use or threat of scabs in labour disputes. _ oe

AtlackonlLabour  ##  ##§=_—«séiOizszciéi(R

__ Labour legislation in Canada is becoming increasingly au-

thoritarian. While the National Citizens Coalition, that creature -
of big business, advises conservative governments on their
union-busting, anti-popular course, at the same time it finances —

the assault on the Rand Formula — a la Merv Lavigne. The —
Constitution of Canada is being framed in such a way as to
ham-stingthe trade unions si“ sti -

De-regulation, and privatization has escalated, along with |
plant shutdowns creating all kinds of new problems for the or-
ganized trade union movement of Ontario.

Now the spectre of a free trade agreement with the United
States looms as a distinct possibility, with powerful corporate —
forces trading sovereignty in return for the hope of fattened
corporate ledgers. _ a

The job before labour is enormous. But labour is equal to the
challenge, providing it is united, has a program to effectively _
combat the corporate assault, and demonstrates effective leader-
ship not only to itself, but to the many allies just as concerned as _
the trade unions over the neo-conservative onslaught. _

It is to be hoped that the many inevitable differences which _
surface from time to time in the trade union movement can be
worked out in the spirit of placing the overall interests of the trade _
union and working class mov t, first, and narrow sectoral _

before. * ‘ 2 * ee hy ae See :
Ifthis happens, not only can the attack on labour be checked,

but governments such as the current gang in Ottav be |

ee and replaced by governments elected on programs for _

ed

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 25, 1987 e 7