Gains won as U.S. miners vote to accept three year contract WASHINGTON — Ending an epic 110 day U.S. coal strike, 160,000 miners, members of the United Mine Workers returned to work March 28 after voting 56.9% to 43.1% to accept a new three- year contract with the Bitumin- ous Coal Operators Association (BCOA). The contract, which was signed March 26, saw the miners emerge victorious in stopping the’ coal monopolies’ declared intention to bust the union and saddle the Miners with a cheap contract. ’ Though the miners lost their 100% company-paid medical Coverage that they previously en- Joyed, they blunted an industry ‘drive to force them to pay up to $700 in deductibles. As it stands, the miners will have to pay up to $200 on medical bills before the plan becomes operative. _ The union was also successful in forcing the BCOA to retreat on Including contract language which would allow the companies to penalize or fire organizers of Yank and file strikes to back up their contract rights and protest unsafe or dangerous working Conditions, in the hazardous mines. - The UMW emerged from the hegotiations and strike having frustrated a combined monopoly-government effort to smash it. Rejection of two prop- osed settlements resulted in U-S. president Carter invoking the strike-busting Taft-Hartley Act ordering the miners back to work. - The miners ignored the legislation and restraining orders solidly defying the government initiative on behalf of the coal monopolies. Even the government’s threat to cut the miners off from their food stamps did not deter them in their militant purpose of securing a decent contract. ‘The miners’ defiiance of the Taft-Hartley Act bought im- mediate response . from other Unions in support of the miners’ Cause. The United Auto Workers announced a contribution of $2- / i [- er ah dbehias The United Mine Workers have agreed to return to work ending the 110 a at day U.S. coal strike. They emerged with their union intact after a com- bined government-business attempt to smash it. million to the miners’ strike fund. Other gifts or pledges an- nounced were $1-million from the: United Steelworkers,. $1-million from the Communications Work- ers, and about $500,000 in smaller _ amounts from other labor groups. Caravans of food and clothing made their. way to the coalfields ‘from the steelworkers, electrical’ workers and clothing and textile workers. Despite all obstacles thrown in their way by corporations and government, the miners’ mili- tancy allowed them to derail at- tempts to bust their union and set an example for others facing the take-away demands from big industry. Bill G-28 ‘most repressive law ever’ OTTAWA — Andy Stewart, president of the Public Service Al- liance of Canada, appealed to Senators and Members of the House of Commons March 22, to oppose Bill C-28, An Act to Firestone shuts Calgary plant, 410 out of work. CALGARY — Hard on the heels of an announcement three weks ago that it was dropping 110 workers from the work force, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., _ announced last week they are Closing their Calgary plant for g00d. This means the remaining 350 employees can kiss their jobs goodbye. In September 1977, the plant employed 430 wage workers and 200 salaried employees. The union representing the af- flicted workers, United Rubber Workers local 635 has, through . the local executive, suggested a three-point set of alternatives to their being added to the more than One million unemployed, pre- Sently disfiguring Canada. The al- ternatives include: nationaliza- ion of the Calgary plant by the Alberta Government and the for- Mation of a Crown corporation; asking the provincial government to subsidize the plant; or that the Workers seek to buy and operate the plant themselves. The union claims that if they owned the plant they could pro- duce the tires more cheaply. and for a lower price than Firestone, and charge that the company re- sponded to shrinking sales by boosting the price of.the tires in- stead of taking a cut in their profits to spur sales. True to form the Tory Lougheed government an- nounced in the legislature they were not prepared to interfere in private industry and even went so far as defend Firestone’s cries about low profitability. It is clear now why the com- pany chose to lay off the first bath of workers three months ago and keep their shut-down intention a secret. Most of the workers dropped at that time had less than one year’s seniority, thus the company didn’t have to pay supplemental unemployment benefits, which entitle workers with one year’s seniority up to 26 weeks unemployment benefits. amend the Public Service Staff Relations Act, which he de- scribed as the ‘“‘most repressive piece of legislation introduced in the Parliament of Canada in re- cent memory.” ‘The future of the employer- employee relationship in the fed- eral public service is in their hands,’ he said. The Alliance has distributed to. Members of Parliament a 32-page memorandum on the bill pointing out that: e it would, through a system of © total compensation comparabili- ty, make a meaningless charade of collective bargaining. e it would give the government carte blanche to alter employees’ ‘duties at will. This would under- mine collective agreements, the classification plan and the merit system. e it would make average com- pensation in the private sector maximum compensation for pub- lic service employees. e it would continue wage con- trols for public service employees after they had ended in the private sector. e it would establish a retrog- rade, anti-union stnke-breaking mechanism that goes against es- tablished principles of labor rela- tions in Canada. 2 e it would prevent thousands of public service employees from the right to be represented by a union by extending managerial exclusions. COMMITTEE MEETS TO REPEAL BILL 22 TORONTO — The Ad-Hoc Committee to Repeal Bill 22 met April 9 to map out strategy in their on-going fight against this Bill. Bill 22 legislates province-wide bargaining in the construction industry and undermines the principles of collective bargain- ing, especially the right of membership to ratify contracts. Pointing to the danger of under- mining living standards and dem- ocratic rights the Committee is calling for stepped-up action from the memberships to repeal the Bill. ar The Ad-Hoc Committee is made up of union members in the construction industry. The con- tracts for 75,000 Ontario con- struction workers expire in one month’s time. 1,200 WALK OUT AT MAC-BLO PORT ALBERNI — About 1,200 members of the Inter- national Woodworkers of America _ walked off the job at MacMillan- Bloedel operations in the Port Al- berni, B.C. area. Workers walked out at the Cous-Taylor, Cameron, Franklin River and Sarita divi- sions. The strike is in protest against a suspension of the camp chairman at the Sarita division. UNION TO VOTE AT LA PRESSE MONTREAL — Agreement in principle has been reached bet- ween mangement and unions rep- resenting 850 production workers at La Presse and Montreal-Matin, dailies closed by a strike since last October 6. The workers are af- filiated to the Quebec Federation of Labor. A QFL negotiator said the details of the contract would be presented to the employees after further discussion on fringe benefits. The long strike Started ‘when 290 journalists demanded to . oe . Zo ee be consulted on the appointment of a new sports editor. Negotia- tions for another 700 employees represented by the CNTU are continuing. LAWS SELECTIVELY APPLIED QUEENS PARK — Newspaper carriers are small business men and as such do not qualify under the minimum wage laws, the Ministry of Labor has stated. Thousands of carriers were excluded from the increase in the minimum wage announced last February. The basic minimum wage will rise to $2.85 August 1, and to $3 next January. However the student minimum for those under 18, working less than 28 hours a week, will stay at $2.15. N.Y. RALLY FOR JOBS NEW YORK — Thousands of young people were expected to descend on Washington, April 8, in a ‘““Youth March for Jobs Ral- ly’. Buses were being hired to bring youth from all parts of the United States to the rally. Un- employment among youth in the U.S. stands at 14.7% and among Black youth it goes as high as 40%. PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS TO MEET OTTAWA — The 2.5 million member Canadian Labor Con- gress announced last week it was convening a meeting March 21 of the leaders of all of Canada’s pub- lic service unions to discuss a bill recently introduced in the House of Commons that would require ar- bitrators to tie the total compensa- tion awarded to public service workers to wages and conditions in the private sector. This would de- stroy collective bargaining CLC executive vice-president Shirley Carr said, “the government not only owns the ball park, it changes the rules if and when it pleases.” “ CUPL. ina uN + LEGAL STRIKE. Members of Local 37 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, in Calgary on the picketline in front of Burnsland cemetery. Calgary Mayor Ross Alger said the workers must end their strike before bodies stored in anice-rink can be buried. Discussions are taking place with other civic locals to mount solidarity actions for a just solution to the strike. . PACIFIC TRIBUNE—April 15, 1978—Page 5 —