Labour Labour Notes Negotiate now, Citation told If Citation Industries can go on for “months to come” losing $20,000 a day at its strike-bound Richmond plant, it can cer- tainly afford to negotiate a collective. agreement with its employees, the business agent for the industrial local of the Carpen- ters said Wednesday. Local 1928 business agent Dave Streb was responding to remarks by Citation con- troller Dean Willows who told a radio reporter Tuesday that the company was los- ing about: $20,000 a_day during the shut- down “and (was) prepared to keep losing money for months to come.” Willows said that it was “up to the union to come up with ideas to end the strike.” “How about sitting down and negotiat- ing a collective agreement? — that’s what our members have been after for months,” said Streb. From the beginning of the strike July 13, 1988, Citation has applied to both the courts and the Industrial Relations Council for orders to halt picketing at the Richmond plant. For several weeks last year, Citation workers were in the eye of an industrial relations storm following an IRC ruling which stated that the strike was illegal — because a collective agreement was sup- posedly in effect — and ordered a halt to picketing. That ruling was subsequently overturned on appeal but even before that time, the issue created’a new controversy when B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Trainor refused to order court enforcement of the original IRC ruling, arguing that to do so would make the court a “‘rubber-stamp” of the IRC. However, his decision was also subsequently overturned on appeal. Since that time, the dispute has twice been back in the courts and before IRC panels. In its latest decision, Dec. 2b, 1988, the IRC ruled that the Carpenters were on strike illegally between July 13 and Nov. | because their original strike vote was not supervised by the IRC. However, on Nov. 1, with the sanction of the B.C. Federation of Labour, the union took an IRC-supervised vote and has been on a legal strike since that date. Citation has used the IRC ruling to launch a massive suit for damages against the local, claiming losses of $1.2 million plus $20,000 per day. The case has been set for January, 1990. But the issue at stake is still a collective agreement, said Streb, adding that the law- suit will obviously be on the table. The B.C. Fed sent out a appeal to its affiliates last month, requesting financial assistance for the Citation strikers. Talks at crucial stage at Leyland Negotiations for a first contract at Ley- land Industries in Pitt Meadows have entered a “really critical stage,” [WA- Canada Local 1-367 president Dave Tones said this week. “There’s a possibility for a settlement — but we either get a collective agreement by this weekend or it’s a long road,” Tones told the Tribune in an interview Wednes- day. After five months on the picket line, union members have been in intense nego- tiations since December, trying to get an agreement at the plastics bottle manufactur- ing plant in the face of Bill 19 and the restrictive curbs on picketing that it brought in. Two days after the 60 IWA-Canada members walked out on Sept. 14, a Supreme Court injunction cut the number of pickets and barred them from doing little more than watching scab trucks go through picket lines. 8 e Pacific Tribune, February 13, 1989 Jobs, shorter hours back on the agenda “This strike has really demonstrated what this law has done — maybe you have the right to strike but you can’t do anything to make the strike effective,” Tones said. The local president said that wages and employer demands for exclusions from the bargaining unit continue to be the main issues in negotiations. Talks were scheduled to continue this week. The B.C. Federation of Labour issued a hot declaration against the Pitt-Meadows- based company last year and several pro- ducts packed in Leyland containers, including West canola oil and VIP pro- ducts, are on the boycott list. Free trade meet set for Feb. 25 CLC executive vice-president Nancy Riche is slated to be the keynote speaker at a strategy conference on countering the effects of the trade deal set for Feb. 25, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Vancouver Community College’s King Edward Campus. Organizers of the conference, the Coa- lition against “Free” Trade, are expecting up to 150 represen- tatives from church, trade union, anti- poverty and women’s groups to take part. It will be the prelude to the national meet- ing set for next month by the Pro- Canada Network. For more information, call the coalition at 321-1202 or the Van- couver and District Labour Council at 879-2421. BCNI warned on social programs The cuts in spending on unemployment insurance and social programs advocated by business groups will only exacerbate the problem in the economy and, in fact, are a recipe for “economic disaster,” Carpenters Provincial Council president Bill Zander told the president of the Business Council on National Issues. RICHE In a letter sent Jan. 24, Zander warned BCNI president Tom D’Aquino that any efforts “to undertake cutbacks in social programs will be met with resistance.” Zander was responding to comments made by BCNI, as well as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Manufacturers in calling on the newly- elected Tory government to begin slashing social spending. D’Aquino was quoted in the Toronto Star as stating: “The problem with the country is that we have too much money tied up in a passive way. We’re pay- ing people not to work. It drives me mad to see billions used so non-productively.” But if anyone is to talk about unproduc- tive labour, then “take a look at the. . . land speculators in real estate in Toronto and Vancouver who, without an ounce of sweat, make billions of dollars flipping property without producing anything of value,” Zander charged in his letter. In addition, he noted, “the big business friends you represent do not pay and have not paid their fair share of taxes for many years. In fact, even apart from direct grants and gifts, tax havens such as deferred taxes not paid by corporations in this country * amount to $40 billion.” He told D’ Aquino: “If you are representa- tive — and I believe you are — of the neo- conservative business community and the large corporations, ... then your efforts to undertake any cutbacks in social programs will be met with resistance.” “We are getting perestroika without glasnost, without democracy,” Interna- tional Association of Machinists presi- dent William Winpisinger told delegates to the British Columbia Federation of Labour convention one week after the federal elections last November. The contrast is clear. The Soviets are in the process of economic restructuring that calls for the maximum participation of all working people. It has its problems, of course. Meanwhile, Canada and the rest of the capitalist world are restructur- ing with no input from workers. Little did Canadians know what was in store for them. Winpisinger was talk- ing in general about the process of global economic restructuring now underway in the world capitalist system. The full impact of this process here was felt with the recent mergers at Molson-Elders and PWA-Wardair, and Imperial Oil’s acquis- ition of Texaco Canada. A recent Financial *Post editorial observed that “in major sectors in most of the industrial world there is feverish restructuring and positioning for the next decade of fierce global competition. “In Canada there are, thankfully, many business leaders who don’t intend that our country be left in the wake of this activity, heading companies that are too small and inefficient to grow and prosper.” Corporate and government spokes- persons are repeatedly saying this is the only way we can go because we have to “compete” with the rest of the world. Canadians are faced with a three-sided attack. First is the closing down of prof- itable plants that are moving to even more profitable areas. Second come corporate mergers that see big Canadian companies becoming larger, throwing workers out on the street. The last form of this attack, as a result of the free trade deal, is seen in the Canadian dollar mov- ing to par with the American dollar. This threatens all our exports to that country, currently the destination of around 80 per cent of total Canadian exports. Global economic restructuring is not new; it is part of the capitalist system. What is new is the speed of the process of the centralization of capital, and the impact of the scientific and technological revolution. Workers suffer just the same. They lose their jobs though rationaliza- tion and structural unemployment aris- ing from the introduction of new technology in the work place. How do workers respond to today’s global restructuring? As reported last week, the CLC has responded with a six-point action plan. This is a good start. One small problem in this program is that it deals with the effects of restructur- ing, not the cause. Clearly, the trade union movement has to continue to fight the trade deal. But part of that fight will require dusting LABOUR IN ACTION off some long-standing demands. It is becoming more clear than ever that we need a shorter work week. Along with the restructuring and rationalization, there is an absolute increase in the exploitation of workers. Employers are reaping the profits through more productivity and a reduced workforce. In Europe a shorter work week has been introduced. West German metal- workers won a 37.5 work week, with further agreement to come down to 35 hours. Europe is part of the so-called world competition we are supposed to be fac- ing. A shorter work week would create jobs and save jobs in the companies that merge. If a shorter work week is good enough for West Germans (many of the same transnationals operating in Can- ada operate there), it’s good enough for Canadians. This will not be as easy as it sounds, _ but this approach is now back on the agenda. Another area that needs to be addressed is the fight for jobs. Labour must demand that for every job lost there has to be one created at the same rate of pay. Adjustment programs and first-class retraining are fine provided there are jobs waiting at the end of the process. But without such jobs, these programs will only lead to a well-trained unemployed work force. This large pool of unem- ployed workers will be used to keep wages down, and wherever possible force the jobless to provide scab labour. The only thing that has worked in the past as a response to corporate centrali- zation of the transnationals on a world scale has been government action. Only governments that have enough eco- nomic and political clout to take on, or take over the TNCs. Previously, this has meant nationali- zation, the setting up of Crown corpora- tions and joint ventures by industry and government. In this new round of global restructuring this question of govern-~ ment intervention has to be put back on the agenda. It also means at some point, the coming to power of a government that will carry though a program in the interests of working people, and not those of the TNCs. § ig : Ce ed FrIBUNE Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. WSK 125. Phone 251-1186 Distal Gide co ees Seer iam enclosing Tyr. $200 2yrs. $350 3yrs. $600 Forsighiitye $320 Bill me later 0. Donation$........ READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOUR ceo eee ese eae a Ad ee galing, ‘na Weli Ns Nae tan caer ac wing i ee