ecient ci iit cient hs ney By SEAN GRIFFIN bor unity. ot in years has that term been so much talked about — or so much sought after as a major objective for the whole trade union movement. For a good many of those years, most sections of the trade union movement in this province paid little attention to the issue. B.C. Federation of Labor affiliates com- prised the overwhelming majority of union- ists and could speak forcefully for most of organized labor in B.C. But a series of high profile raids — against Trail steelworkers, Vancouver and Victoria bus drivers and hotel workers — and the U.S.-inspired split between the Building Trades and the Canadian Labor Congress made many realize just how fra- gile unity had become. Even at that, although some progressive unions continued to take up the cause as did some influential leaders, notably the late Jim Kinnaird, there was little movement towards greater cooperation among unions, let alone organic unity of the province’s trade union movement. The Socreds July 7 budget and the legis- lative blitzkrieg changed that profoundly. “Bennett was able to do with his budget what we have not been able to do for ourselves — achieve labor unity such as we have not had before,” B.C. Federation of Labor president Art Kube told the Van- couver and District Labor Council last year. Jack Gerow, secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees Union which is seeking to join the federation after 14 years as an independent union, echoed Kube’s comment. “We've got substantially more unity in this province than in the history of the labor movement,” Gerow said in an interview. “Just look at the July agreement and the no-raiding pact,” he said, referring to the founding meeting of Operation Solidarity which adopted a 10-point agreement includ- ng a four-year no-raiding deal. “That agree- ment has been carried out to the letter. “Unions that were competing with one another are meeting together. They have a § JACK GEROW...labor movement can’t afford luxury of raiding. common purpose where before they com- peted,” he said. Gerow, who has been a major figure in Solidarity since it was founded at that July meeting, emphasized that with the estab- lishment of the Solidarity Council last month, unions in the province were work- ing together more closely than ever before. Certainly the working unity that has been achieved in Operation Solidarity has been an example to the rest of the trade union movement across the country. But what of some of the old problems — the jurisdic- tional disputes that stand in the way of non-affiliates joining the federation and the more formidable task of re-affiliating the Building Trades? Kube himself noted: “We've achieved working unity — but we still haven’t got organic unity.” But Solidarity has definitely paid some dividends in that area. And the next few months may see some of the most signifi- 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 1984 OPERATION SOLIDARITY RALLY, VICTORIA: ART KUBE (inset). . on labor unity. cant movement on the problems of affilia- tion to the Canadian Labor Congress that has taken place for many years. The first forum where new proposals will likely be discussed is the Congress commit- tee which has been considering the question of non-affiliates. é Kube, who is on the committee, said that he will be pressing other committee members to recommend a proposal origi- nally advanced by the B.C. Government Employees Union. It calls for all non- affiliates who want to join the Congress to be brought in for a period of two years, “during which time they will try to resolve jurisdictional conflicts, mainly on the basis of working out a merger with an existing Congress affiliate. : “There’s a meeting coming up in April, and I’m going to suggest there that we adopt that proposal — get everybody in and work out the details later,” Kube noted. He said that he expected that the other committee members — which include out- going Congress secretary-treasurer Donald Montgomery and Ontario Federation of Labor president Cliff Pilkey — “‘would be receptive to the proposal.” However, he added, “it could be another story when it goes to the (CLC) executive council.” Whatever its fate there, Gerow is optim- istic that the proposition will get to the floor of the CLC convention — and will be endorsed. “T think there will be a major impetus for it from the Solidarity experience here,” he said. “Unions all over the country were watching what was going on and I think they'll be listening to what B.C. delegates are saying.” , * Gerow acknowledged that the jurisdic- tional difficulties with the Canadian Union of Public Employees — the HEU was formed as a ‘breakaway from CUPE in 1970 — have still to be surmounted. But he added: “We've had a lot of communication with CUPE in recent months and I think -Solidarity paid dividends that we have a greater understanding of each other’s problems.” The main beneficiaries would be in this province including the 24,000 members of the HEU as well as the 2,500-member Health Sciences Association which, Kube noted, “could be the beginning of a national union.” But what is also important is the principle — and the precedent — of bring- ing about unity first and working out the problems inside the house of labor. It isn’t that simple with the Building Trades although there, too, Operation Solidarity has enhanced the working unity that has existed between the Building Trades and the B.C. Fed. Re-uniting the trades with the CLC, even where unions or locals desire it, has been particularly difficult since the Congress solution — allowing those unions or locals which want to re-affiliate to join a CLC Building Trades Department — would leave unions open to charges from their interna- tionals of “dual unionism” since they are already members of Building Trades Coun- cils chartered from Washington. One proposal that has been floated in this province — again by Kube — would allow unions and locals which wanted to re-join the federation to pay per capita dues for both the B.C. Fed and the CLC to the federation without having to affiliate to a CLC department. The dues for the CLC would simply be forwarded to the Congress. Building Trades Council president Roy Gautier told the Tribune he couldn’t com- ment in detail on the proposal since it had only come up in “informal discussion.” He said that the idea “does have merit. But I want to get it clear from Art Kube that it is an official position.” Once again, the proposal might not have the support of the CLC executive council. But the pressures are growing to find a solution to the Building Trades separ- ation — and it has been particularly strong since the working unity established in this tion with the unions affiliated to the Con- _ " to give support to the Solidarity Coalition. province demonstrated that divisions can be overcome. The Provincial Council of Carpenters which has figured prominently in the cam- paign to get the Trades back into the Con- — gress ever since the internationals forced the ~ split, wants to see the Congress itself dem- _ onstrate the same flexibility that has — enabled Operation Solidarity to win coop> eration from affiliates and non-affiliates alike. 4 Council secretary-treasurer Lorne Rob- — son reiterated the Carpenters’ position that the CLC “should accept all Building Trades locals that want to affiliate without pre — conditions” — in other words, without the — condition that they join the CLC Building — Trades department. . “If the conditions aren’t dropped, any locals that join will get charged with dual unionism — and it just becomes an obsta- cle to unity,” he said. = Even where the question of affiliation isn’t on the agenda, the Solidarity expe- rience has cemented relationships. Both Kube and B.C. Teachers’ Federation presi- dent Larry Kuehn agreed that the participa- tion of the BCTF in Operation Solidarity has brought both organizations closer together. “There’s been a lot of cross-fertilization,” said Kube. “And teachers are now seriously considering the federation and the CLC.” A still-unresolved issue is that of coopera- federation of Canadian Unions. The CCU — was initially part of Operation Solidarity — although it would not endorse the 10-point program, primarily because of opposition to the four-year no-raiding pact — and first — vice-president Jess Succamore was part of the Solidarity steering committee. How- — ever, when the unions did not pay per capita to Operation Solidarity, they were dropped from the union coalition. F q The CCU affiliates have backed Opera- tion Solidarity actions — a CCU affiliate, the Independent Canadian Transit Union, — was a key part of the public sector walkout Aug. 10 for example — and they continue ~ Succamore told the Tribune that the CCU could not endorse the no-raiding pact “in. principle” but added that affiliates had so far honored it in practice. And if Operation © Solidarity develops an action plan, “we'll support it,” he said. But if there is one fundamental point that has been drawn from the Operation Solid- AUTIER. . .Trades will look at affilia- tion proposal. movement cannot afford divisons when it is in the direct path of a combined govern- ment-employer offensive. “TI think a lot of people have been con- vinced that there are bigger fish to fry,” said Gerow. “I, for one, am convinced that now, and for the long term, the trade union movement in B.C., can’t afford the luxury of raiding and:of fighting one another. “Organizing the unorganized, fighting. solidarity campaigns such as we’ve had over the past few months are a hell of a lot more important thantrying to compete with one another for members.” i