LABOR — Labor goes to ha TORONTO — They did it again. More than 300 supporters backed Eaton’s strikers March 2, I another show of solidarity that forced the company to close its Yonge-Eglinton store for about half an hour. At the same time, in Brampton, another group of supporters Worked their way into the shop- Ping mall where the company’s Store is located and showed Eaton’s that community support for the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union is alive and growing. The escalation of community Support for the strikers came on the eve of a country-wide tour by Eaton’s strikers to raise support for the RWDSU. Co-ordinated by the two-million member Cana- dian Labor Congress, RWDSU Members Lynda McFawn and Claudia Giouinetti left Toronto during the worst blizzard of the year and headed out for Van- Couver to begin the solidarity tour that will cover every province in the country when it is over. A CLC spokesperson said last Week that another group of strik- ers will be leaving Toronto in two BOYCOTTING EATON’S S PaRTISANAE wD MLD UAS AEF or three weeks heading for the At- lantic provinces to garner com- munity and labor support in that part of the country. Plans are also under way to send a pair of strik- ers into Quebec as well. He said that the provincial labor federations are organizing the local tours where the strikers will be meeting labor councils and various community, student, women’s and other groups througout Canada. The CLC has called on its affiliates — in a letter to some 9,000 union locals — to donate 55- cents per member to a million dol- lar solidarity fund to help keep the strikers going. Paul Forder, co-ordinating the Ontario campaign for the Ontario Federation of Labor, said last week that public response is gain- ing momentum. ‘‘Over the last three days we've received more than 300 pieces of mail from the ads we placed in Maclean’s, the Toronto Star and the Globe,” Forder said. Close to 100,000 Boycott Eaton’s buttons have been pro- duced and distributed and he es- timated that the federation has re- ceived about 2,000 Eaton’s charge cards so far. Many have written to the fed telling them they’ve destroyed their cards but haven’t included them in the let- ters. Forder also said that the OFL is in full gear for the March 16 rally it is sponsoring jointly with the Metro Toronto labor council, and preparations are under way for a lobby at Queen’s Park March 26 to demand first contract legis- The issue of first contract legis- lation came into the spotlight again Mar. 6, when the Ontario Labor Board finally released its decision on the RWDSU’s charges that Eaton’s bargained in bad faith. With the union representative on the three-person board panel dissenting, the OLRB rejected the union’s claim, though it found the company had broken the law by preventing union members from signing up workers on their lunch and coffee breaks. OFL president Cliff Pilkey said the de- cision would neither discourage the union in its drive nor the rest of the labor movement and com- munity from backing the strikers. Meanwhile the OFL has sent letters to all of its labor councils and affiliates urging them to join in the March 16 rally at the Scar- borough Town Centre. The rally will begin at 11 a.m. An indication t for Eaton’s strikers of the response, Forder said, was the three busloads of supporters expected from Oshawa. Abby Poletsky, the labor coun- cil’s strike support co-ordinator confirmed that enthusiasm and solidarity with the strikers and the boycott campaign were growing. Already into their second print run of window and lawn signs, the strike support committee has been flooded with demands for the bright blue placards. Miners go back unbowed Special to the Tribune LONDON — With banners flying, and led by colliery brass bands, Britain’s miners marched back to the pits March _, still defiant after one year on strike, and pledging to continue the fight against job losses and for reinstatement of miners sacked during the dispute. A special National Union of mineworkers (NUM) delegate conference in London March 2, agreed by 98 votes to 91 to end the strike without signing the agreement demanded of them by the National Coal Board and the Thatcher govern- ment. Last week, the NCB refused any further nego- tiations unless the NUM signed the agreement giv- ing the board a free hand to close pits on so-called ‘‘economic’’ grounds. The board was also refusing to honor existing agreements on the reinstatement of the 700 miners sacked during the course of the dispute on trumped up criminal charges. Leading miners back to work in Yorkshire, NUM President Arthur Scargill stated that, al- though the strike had been called off, the dispute would continue and the union would support its vicitmized members and continue the fight for their reinstatement. ' Over 10,000 miners have been arrested and five have been killed during the course of the strike, two of them while on picket duty. Thousands more have been seriously injured in the catalogue of broken arms and legs, fractured skulls and torn muscles resulting from the organized police The solidarity from Transport Workers, from the working class as a whole, particularly in the min- - ers’ support groups and women’s support groups, as well as the massive international assistance, has been magnificent in carrying the strike forward. But the government has been able to continue power supplies, primarily by converting coal-fired power stations, which normally supply 70 per cent of Britain’s electricity, to burn both coal and oil. The cooperation of key power workers’ unions, contrary to Trades Union Congress guidelines in support of the miners, was crucial to government success in this policy. The strike, which began on March 6, 1984, is the longest in the history of the miners and has been described as a turning point in the development of the British labor movement. In this dispute, which is part of the Thatcher government’s well-orchestrated attack on the en- tire working-class movement in Britain, the full force of the state has been brought to bear in the effort to drive the miners. back and cripple their union. The courts have seized union funds amounting to millions of pounds, outlawed picketing and demonstrations in certain areas and imposed re- strictions on the movement of miners, all in the attempt to render the union inoperable. Whole areas of Britain have been sealed off, mining villages have been occupied for weeks on end by thousands of riot-clad police, and miners and their supporters have been arrested and beaten lation. violence. — New Worker News Service By MIKE PHILLIPS 1985 may have one of the lightest bargaining calendars of the past decade, but the stakes are high in the talks that will take place this year, and workers facing contract -Tenewals are girding themselves for tough fights. : Centre stage in this year’s round of talks will be Quebec’ s 250,000 public and para-public sector workers. As the Tribune went to press March 7, representatives of all-in coalition of unions speaking for all four provincial labor centrals and every major union, including the as- Sociation representing Quebec police, were meeting with Premier René Levésque on the proposed changes to the bargaining legislation the government is bringing in that will Wipe out the unions’ right to bargain collectively and will destroy the common front that has built up over the past 20 years. The new and larger common front that has been formed to fight the proposed amendments introduced by Treasury Board minister Michel Clair last Christmas, has vowed an all-out fight against the changes, and is Planning a province-wide day of protest later this month, as part of an intensive lobby and protest campaign that will reach every corner of Quebec. : In total, some 874,000 workers in major agreements Covering groups of workers of 500 and more will be in Contract talks this year. This involves 325 agreements, 51 of which fall under federal jurisdiction. 71% Public Sector Most of the current crop of contracts up for renewal Will be in Ontario, Quebec and in the federal jurisdiction. Ontario will see some 84 contracts covering 104,625 Workers comé up, while 76 agreements covering 377,120 Workers will be re-negotiated in Quebec. In the federal, Sector, 28 contracts covering 77,425 workers are up for renegotiation under the Canada Labor code, while another 23 agreements in the federal public sector will be Negotiated covering 81,660 workers. Watch Chrysler In the manufacturing sector, one interesting set of talks to watch will those at Chrysler, involving about 9,000 workers, when that contract expires in October. They will be seeking to completely close the gap that their fight against concessions narrowed in the last con- tract. Chrysler was the focal point of the break between the Canadian section of the United Auto Workers and the U.S. leadership of the union over the extension of industry concessions into Canada. This time around, Chrysler has been boasting of record-breaking sales, and has done a great deal of public relations around giving customers rebates. The workers are going to be aiming at total parity with their counter- parts at Ford and GM who last year put together the first Canadian agreement that was not related to the inter- national pattern. Inall, there will be almost 107,000 workers in 86 major contracts seeking new agreements in the manufacturing sector this year. Other important talks will include 12,000 Montreal garment workers who will be the largest group among the 20,000 textile workers at the table. In September, contracts come up at Massey Ferguson in Toronto and Brantford. Offensive at Telecom While bargaining at Massey will be tough, on a back- ground of heavy layoffs and a crisis in the agricultural implements industry, the UAW is certainly on the offen- sive in negotiations this year at Northern Telecom. At press time, the union was approaching a March 8 strike deadline by its 6,700 members who are production and office workers in five Ontario communities and New Brunswick. Wages and improved benefits, better pen- sions, reduced work time and job training are the key issues in the talks. With governments pushing on one front for cutbacks, the contracting out of services, and larger ratios of part- - Stakes high, tough fights ahead for labor time to full-time workers in some sectors, and on the other with repressive legislation on a background of calls for greater class collaboration, this year’s bargaining climate is a tough one. The picture in the private sector is similar, as un- employment continues to hover at around two million. Job security, shorter work time and better wages are on the table in the face of concerted pressure by govern- ments, employers and the media to make workers carry the burden of the capitalist crisis. At the forthcoming national economic summit, the Mulroney government, with the top dogs of the corporate elite, will be calling on labor to join in the process of refashioning a new eco- nomic consensus. Moving Forward But with the drive against public sector unions in the provinces, increased pressure on basic union rights by government and the employers and the federal cabinet’s known fondness for the economic policies of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, labor shouldn’t expect to be involved in the process as anything more than a rubber stamp for policies that will take the country downa slide towards a domestic form of monetarism and closer economic integration with the U.S. Last year’s decisive auto strike at General Motors, the tough bargaining stance being taken by workers at de- Havilland, Northern Telecom, the postal workers, the Quebec Common Front and the valiant fight being waged by the Eaton’s strikers point to the best tack labor can take at this year’s bargaining table. Solid demands have to be projected that move work- ers forward to better wages and working conditions, improved pensions, and shorter work time to confront the jobs crisis and gain the benefits of tech change. Then these demands must be backed by militant unity in action by the unions involved, with the full backing of the trade union movement. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 13, 1985 e 7