:abour

By FRANK COX

It was with consuming interest that I read
Ken Georgetti’s letter in the Jan. 15 issue in
which he responded to comments I had
made in an earlier Labour Forum Dec. 4. I
had discussed the current weaknesses in the
labour movement and the pressing need, in
the context of the free trade reality, to more
effectively involve the trade union move-
ment in supporting affiliates in struggle with
employers. In my opinion, the points he
raised in the letter deserve a_ serious
response.

First, | have to agree that the Trib does
provide an important vehicle for trade
union and progressive activists to get their
message out and debate important issues. In
that connection, most, I think, would agree
that a responsible approach to reporting
and discussing developments in the trade
union movement serves us best — with a
constant eye towards promoting unity of
progressive forces.

Points of view appearing in the Trib are
often taken issue with — as is the case with
any publication. But the Tribune’s labour
coverage is not as a rule subject to criticism
for irresponsible and divisive sniping from
the sidelines of labour struggles. It’s usually
criticized for reporting events and develop-
ments without analytical or critical com-
ments. In my opinion, if the leaders of the
B.C. Fed ‘are portrayed anywhere as mil-
itant leaders of the labour movement, it is in
the Trib.

Second, issue was taken with my state-
ment that although the federation has
“offered moral and financial support to
affiliates locked in battle with employers
and some mobilization undertaken ... we
have failed to make such disputes the cause
of the entire labour movement and our
communities.” Ken Georgetti asserts that
not only was assistance freely offered to
affiliates in need but also “unions were very
satisfied with the help received.”

Yes, help from the federation, labour
councils and other unions has been wel-
comed by affiliates and obviously success at
the bargaining table is related to objective

‘Unions can be mobilized for action

Labour Forum

and subjective conditions that neither the
B.C. Fed nor anybody else may be able to
influence, try as they might. The Carpen-
ters’ dispute at Citation Industries may well
be a case in point.

However, I’m not convinced, for instance,
that had the troops been mobilized in even a
fraction of the numbers that joined the pro-
jectionists’ picket line from the B.C. Fed
convention on a continuing basis — some-
thing only an organization with the resour-
ces of the B.C. Fed could do — that group
of workers might have achieved a better
agreement (and sooner) than they did. Or
what would it have taken to put an end to
scabbing at Canada Post during that bitter
struggle? I think it could have been done.

From my own experience, many trade
unionists are quite skeptical about the pre-
paredness of the labour movement to rally
broad support in a crunch — that after the
photo opportunities, there is not too much
more than “good luck,but you’re on your
own.” In the end, you get the best deal you
can under the circumstances.

One has to admit, I agree, that the situa-
tion rests with all of us to change and often it
is the fiercely independent affiliates which
set the tone.

The point here, however, is that as
employers become more aggressive as a

_ result of the new array of weapons and

favourable conditions at their disposal, the
resources and energy of individual unions
become depleted. (How many organizers
and business agents are not run ragged these
days?)

No longer, in my opinion, can the labour
movement avoid serious co-ordinated bar-
gaining, strike support networks with
resources to make them work and commun-
ity mobilization. It means more visibly and
effectively instilling the idea that an injury to
one really is an injury to all. And it takes

Labour Notes

The Vancouver and District Labour
Council last week calledion Employment
and Immigration Canada to halt its clo-
sure of Unemployment Insurance Com-
mission offices and to rescind the 19-day
suspensions slapped on workers who
staged sit-ins at UIC offices to protest the
closures.

The council passed the motion Jan. 16
following the federal department’s action
in docking 19 days pay for workers in the
Trail UIC office, members of the Public
Service Alliance of Canada, who staged a
four-day sit-in against closure of the

The National Union of Provincial
Government Employees has sent a high
level, four-person delegation to the
USSR and Eastern Europe at the invita-
tion of unions from the Soviet Union,
Hungary, Poland, and the German
Democratic Republic.

President John Fryer ‘is leading the
team, which includes Ontario vice-
presiden: Jim Clancy, Newfoundland
vice-president Fraser March and national
representative Derek Fudge.

NUPGE says it intends to press for a
system oi exchanges between activists in

Closure of UIC offices protested

NUPGE delegation in E. Europe

office and centralization of services in
Nelson. Workers at several other centres
where sit-ins were held were also penal-
ized.

PSAC representative Peter Vranj-
kovic said the Trail closure was the first
of many planned across the country as
the UIC cuts staff and reduces service for
unemployed workers.

“Tt totally disregards the people of
Trail — not only those who work for the
UIC but also for those people on UI who
will now have to go to Nelson if they
have problems with UI,” he said.

Canada and in those European coun-
tries.

“As (these states) proceed toward
democratic political change, their unions
will need to adapt their structures as well.
It is my hope that unions in Canada will
be able to offer help and advice to assist
these unions in dealing with the eco-
nomic, political, and social changes that
are taking place,”’ noted Fryer in a pre-
pared statement.

The delegation is overseas until Jan.
28.

12 e Pacific Tribune, January 22, 1990

leadership aad encouragement.

Certainly the effect of anti-labour law,
privatization and free trade combine to
form formidable obstacles to trade union
success. But let’s admit, for instance, that
the boycott has not pulled the teeth from
Bill 19 and that new ways of mobilizing
against it are required.

I believe that the rank and file is up to the
fight, whether it’s against Bill 19 or the
Goods and Services Tax, and would
respond to a genuine call to action. I don’t
think most trade unionists have to be ber-
ated into defending their interests.

Third, Georgetti laments in his letter that
often when the federation undertakes action
demanded by the affiliates, “support does
not materialize.” The example he offered
was the pathetic showing at the demonstra-
tion against the unemployment insurance
cuts. .

Although he is right that few affiliates
participated, that came as no surprise, given
the time and location and the apparent lack
of mobilization by the federation or anyone
else (except the Canadian Farmworkers
Union which did turn out its members). The

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real question, however, isn’t who can be
blamed: It is: how do we respond to the new
times and how do we deal with the difficulty
of turning thousands of people out to pro
test UI cuts or Via Rail cuts or to support a
picket line?

Next year, we could be into a recession
and we know we will be into big-time bal
gaining as contracts with the B.C. Govern:
ment Employees’ Union, the [WA-Canada -

cand the pulp unions expire. This year we ale

already confronted with massive concession |
demands levelled at herring fishermen and |
the possibility of another free trade battle
that industry. Pharmasave and other fitst
contract disputes are also outstanding.

Later in the spring and early summer, the -
Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the
country’s labour movement will likely agai |
be faced with the challenge of stopping —

- scabs at Canada Post. In short, the oppol

tunity is there to prove that there is unity of |
the labour movement in action and the
commitment of resources to back it up.

I believe the plans now being considered
for mass mobilization against the GST,
including a Ballot Day in April, might just
be the kind of organizing and mobilizing
that we need. And by the way, I understand
that the B.C. Federation of Labour is play-_
ing an excellent role in preparing for thal
action. |