“JANUARY, 1979 By ERNIE CLARKE Third Vice-President Local 5-443 I.W.A. is locked in a dispute with Husky Indus- tries at a charcoal briquette manufacturing plant at Pachuta, Mississippi. For 8 weeks little or no progress has resulted in nego- tiations with the company for a _ contract between the local and sky Industries Inc. The ant has been on strike since otiations broke down last ovember. The plant manufactures bri- quettes with several brand “names such as Grill Time, - Cliffchar, Star Grill and Sparky lighter fluid. Early last November the operation was purchased from Masonite Corp. by Husky In- dustries whose first act was to reject most of the terms and THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER conditions of the contract that existed between the I.W.A. and Masonite. Husky officials made proposals of their own that would provide the em- ployees with virtually nothing. This was possible in Mis- sissippi by virtue of the fact that Mississippi is a state with right to work laws. There are no provisions for successor rights to a contract in force, and the new owner need not heed the terms of the collective agreement, or even the princi- ple of seniority. As a conse- quence, all employees were terminated and Husky gener- ously offered to hire indi- viduals on the basis of merit and work ability only. As a consequence, two employees who were long time committee members were not hired, along with four others and to this date no agreement to hire them has been reached. SCABS HIRED During the strike Husky hired scabs to work the plant doing menial tasks such as shipping and preparing the plant for full scale reopening. These scabs are not Union members and need not be Union members because of the right to work laws and they work under the protective eyes of three armed guards. The armed guards are not to pro- tect the plant and property, but rather to protect the scabs. Even the local chief of police is busying himself driving a truck into the plant to haul © _ *hot’’ cargo out. This most classical example ‘of what is loosely termed “right to work” should be more aptly termed “‘the right to des- ‘troy the collective bargaining strength of a Union’’. Fortun- ately the Union members on the picket line have recognized this destructive legislation for what it really is, and are deter- mined to win their struggle. They also have some advice for us in Canada. ‘Don’t ever allow such backward legisla- tion to get into Canada, be- cause it is Hell to get rid of once it’s in.” My own observations during my brief visit to Mississippi were that it’s a beautiful place to visit but I sure wouldn’t want to try to make a living there. There is a most distinc- tive broad line dividing work- ers from management, and is most evident in. the housing. Management enjoys pillared mansions while many workers enjoy “‘shotgun houses’”’ owned and rented from management. Some of these houses are reminiscent of 1930 vintage logging camps. The general standard of living appears to be much lower than what we here enjoy. AIDING STRIKERS The entire area of Missis- sippi is densely treed with pine aA oak. Rapid tree growth makes the area fertile for in- vestment in the forest indus- tries and manufacture of forest by-products. This and several ether states that have ‘‘right to work”’ laws attract unscrupu- lous companies that exploit workers with sub-standard agreements and utilize to the fullest the benefits offered to the employer and dish out the erumbs to the employees and their Unions. ' Husky Industries is not a small local company. The plant in Pachuta, Mississippi, is only one of nine plants they own across the U.S. They are in turn a subsidiary of Husky Oil Ltd., a large and diversified Canadian company with assets across Canada and the U.S. Oil refineries, pipelines, steel plants, service stations and restaurants are but a few of its holdings. To aid their Southern Bro- thers the Regional officers have had all Husky credit cards used by themselves and Regional staff returned to the Company with a letter stating. the reason. The Regional Council has al- so issued a leaflet giving the background of the dispute. This leaflet has been dis- tributed to union affiliates eet Canada and the While the Company has not yet indicated a willingness to return to the bargaining table, the Regional officers are op- timistic that the pressure being generated by the IWA and other unions will force an early agreement. LOCAL 1-288 DELEGATES meeting BILLION DOLLAR OVERKILL fers ry ADMITTED The prominent engineer who invented the automated mail sorting system used in Canada has admitted that thw whole exotic scheme was a gigantic error. Scientist Arthur Porter, pro- fessor of engineering, Univer- sity of Toronto, has suggested that the post office proceed no farther than it has with intro- ducing the system, which threatens the postal union with loss of thousands of jobs. Professor Porter has described the automated and computerized system as ‘‘tech- nological overkill. We didn’t think of the impact on people.” He believes that the system has compounded the problem it was supposed to solve — heavy turnover of low paid mail sorters. The machine-like atmosphere in the work place has created new labour problems, slowed down move- ment of mail and affected morale. Porter said he was hired 24 years ago to come up with a system for the computerized coding and sorting of mail to speed up the service, after in- stallation, but the system proved less efficient than it was before. He is hopeful that the huge postal mistake will prove to be a lesson for others. The new technology did not improve the quality of work. The post office used to train sorters for three months, then lose them by underpaying them for boring jobs. Instead of highly com- plicated and expensive machinery, the postal service should have paid the workers more and involved them in the decision-making. Before the automation, the workers were excellent at their jobs even though not highlyskilled. The billion dollar mechanization program under way has made workers use equipment for which they are not suited. There is a conflict between people and the machines. ‘Tf I had a chance to do it again, I’d obviously do it very differently. We need to be tre- mendously aware of the role of people,” says Porter, who is now head of an Ontario royal commission on electric power planning. What is needed, he believes, is a more humane approach to job boredom and quality of work. December 2nd at Woodworkers’ House In Vancouver. REGIONAL ist VICE-PRESIDENT Bob Blanchard addressing Local 1-288’s Annual Meeting. Group left, Ron Grant, Financial Secretary; Blanchard; F. Kettner, Recording Secretary; R. Zoost, President; L. E. Price, 1st Vice-President. ILO RECOMMENDS > ALBERTA AMEND BILL A committee of the Interna- tional Labour Organization (ILO). in Geneva has recom- mended that the ILO Gov- erning Body call upon the Al- berta government to amend Bill 41, which was enacted 18 months ago as the Public Ser- vice Employee Relations Act and has caused a storm of re- sentment among provincial government workers ever since. The ILO Committee on Free- dom of Association was res- ponding to a complaint filed against Bill 41 by the national Union of Provincial Govern- ment Employees (NUPGE). The Canadian Labour Con- gress (CLC) formally lodged the complaint about a year ago on behalf of the union. The results of the complaint were made public in a joint statement by CLC President Dennis McDermott; Harry Kostiuk, president of the Al- berta Federation of Labour; and NUPGE President Bill Broad. In its response. to the com- plaint, the ILO Committee sug- gested that the Alberta govern- ment: —Restrict the prohibition of strikes in the public service only to those workers who are considered ‘‘essential in a strict sense of the term’’; —Consider extending the scope of matters that may be referred to arbitration so as to include those matters specified in Section 48(2) of the Alberta Public Service Employee Relations Act which relate dir- ectly to conditions of employ- ment. (Section 48(2) prohibits an arbitrator from dealing with matters such as work or- ganization, job evaluation, pensions, job allocation, and the selection, appointment, promotion, trainings and transfer of employees); and —Supply information con- cerning the right to organize of academic staff members of colleges and universities, their right to engage in collective bargaining and machinery available for the settlement of disputes. CLC President - Dennis McDermott said that the ILO recommendations may also have implications. for four other provinces — Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, On- tario, and Manitoba where the restictive legislation under which provincial government employees work does not ap- proach the standards required by the ILO. The ILO is a United Nations agency. : lees is a aA ne a , General Motors Corp., the biggest auto-maker in the United States, reported a 41 per cent increase. in its third- quarter profit over the similar period a year ago, reflecting strong worldwide demand for GM cars. The company said its profit was $527.9 million, or $1.84 a share, up from $402 million, or $1.40 a share, a year earlier. Sales increased to $13.6 billion from $11.5 billion. Thomas Murphy, chairman, and Elliott Estes, president, said in a joint statement the in- creased profits were due primarily to ‘thigh sales volume, combined with re- duced downtime for the 1979 model changeover in the U.S.”