LABOR On-To-Ottawa Day honors 1935 Trek Jobless urged to organize Special to the Tribune LONDON — The city’s un- employed celebrated Canada Day 1985 with a mass rally and picnic in Harris Park and heard a pro- clamation from city council declaring June 26 On To Ottawa Day in London. The rally, jointly-sponsored by the London Labor Council and the London Union of Unem- ployed Workers, commemorated .the 50th anniversay of the historic 1935 On to Ottawa Trek, which had along with other concessions, forced the Canadian government - to: close the hated 20 cents-a-day relief camps for single unem- ployed men; institute a program of unemployment insurance; and, repeal Section 98 of the Criminal Code, a particularly vicious piece of legislation striking at the very heart of the workers’ right to or- ganize. The event also celebrated a proclamation issued by the Lond City Council, declaring June 26, 1985, as On-To-Ottawa Day, in solidarity with similar proclama- tions recently issued by other Canadian city councils such as Vancouver and Ottawa. Speakers Lee Edwards and John Clarke, of the LUUW, dealt with the deplorable conditions among London’s unemployed, and appealed for strengthening of the LUUW as the only effective way to oppose the ' Tory attacks on people’s living standards. London city councillor Wilma Bolton paid tribute to the On To Ottawa Trek, and spoke of the: need to organize the unemployed. She also spoke of the need to demonstrate the unity of the progressive movement, and call- ed for a large turn-out in support of her struggle in council against the social service cutbacks. As local governments are suffering the effects of reduced federal and provincial grants to municipalities, this would strengthen the resolve of council delegates at the forthcoming con- ference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to be Re: CITY OF LONDON = ‘Proclamation ON. OTTAWA DAY ‘ ol=n0-OFtAWA DAY Ea He WHEREAS, throughout the: north of ou ute} A935 and culminating in the infamous "Regina Riot"af, Judy 1gty pnzevent took place that has done much to shape the lives of the. prasent, mersarien: of Canadians, and veer #S WHEREAS, this was the atbdor! o ON® sso-oFraws TREK. PHERRFORE, I, 26th, 1985. to Be ON-TO-OTTAWA DAY, ip recognition of the courage and avcerutpatipa: of the you g men who participated in the Trek and, in celebration "ny peer rarie nobis dvements. 41 Gleeson; ‘Mayor of the City of London do hereby proclaim The proclamation issued by tendon Mayor Al Gleeson declaring June ~ 26, 1985 On-to-Ottawa Day in the city “in recognition of the courage and determination” of those who participated in the Trek. Dennis Gagnon, the militant young leader of the postal workers’ component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, hit the nail on the head during the Alliance’s recent triennial con- vention in Ottawa when he said the convention was about PSAC members trying to get control of their union. Faced with an unprecedented, decade-long attack on public sector workers, their wages and living standards, Canada’s third largest union finds itself at-a crossroads in its development as a trade union. At the same time as its 181,460 members struggle to achieve a more militant, united and democratic organization, PSAC finds itself on the front lines of the Canadian people’s fight to stop the federal Tory government from dismantling the social security system built up over the past 50 years. What began a decade ago as a faint rumbling is emerging as a well-organized reform current that now even finds itself reflected in the Al- liance’s top leadership. Measure of Strength A measure of this current’s strength was the massive, angry rebellion in PSAC ranks over a proposed master agreement between the Al- liance officers and Treasury Board, which made significant concessions to the government on pensions, and a dental plan. It also excluded monetary issues from master.contract bargain- ing, and surrendered the right to strike on mas- binding arbitration. agreement force the leadership to pull out of the agreements on the dental plan and pensions, but the same anger expressed in the thousands of letters and telegrams members sent to the PSAC officers, was found at the convention itself. PSAC members from Toronto and Montreal demonstrated against the agreement and lob- bied delegates at the convention to support an emergency resolution demanding the Alliance repudiate the concessionary pact. Up against the formidable machinery of the Alliance’s 17 component unions, which at their Own conventions select the delegates to the tri- ennial gathering, the emergency resolution was lost. But despite the components’ tight control of the convention, close to half of the delegates still voted for PSAC’s withdrawal from the master agreement. Bean Got the Message admitted that the message from the convention on the master agreement came through loud and clear: the members want a master agreement that includes negotiations on wages and mone- tary issues, they want fully-indexed pensions | for public sector workers as well as all Cana- dians, and they want the right to strike. Bean, who was given a stiff challenge for the XS ter contract issues, opting instead for a form of | Not only did the protest against the master In the end, PSAC president-elect Daryl Bean’ presidency by Gagnon, told reporters after the convention the union would contact Treasury Board president Robert DeCotret with a view to re-opening talks on a master agreement consis- tent with the obvious demands of the conven- tion. The winds of change in the PSAC were also felt in the defeat of the executive slate that had been put together by 14 of the component presi- dents. With Bean as the establishment can- didate for president, the traditional power brok- ers had assembled a list for the top five spots which excluded incumbent president Pierre Samson and vice-president Jean Bergeron. Ber- geron had been the only Alliance officer to vote against the master contract. When the votes were counted, Samson and Bergeron were elected vice-presidents, and the union’s national director for Ontario, Susan Giampietri, a leader of the reform forces and vocal oponent of the concessionary master con- tract, joined them as a v-p, dealing the back room boys a substantial blow. Golden Opportunity Giampietri’s election highlighted the growing mobilization of women in the Alliance. Though the convention wouldn’t accept a proposal to implement the labor movement’s affirmative ac- tion program and bring two automatic women’s - positions to the executive management commit- tee, the delegates on the last day voted to call annual women’s conferences which will have the authority to frame and submit resolutions to triennial conventions. Undoubtedly the next three years will pose many more challenges to the PSAC as members organize to fight back for their jobs, better wages, control over tech change and for a real master agreement backed by the right to strike. The members still face an uphill battle inside the Alliance to broaden the union’s democracy so as to strengthen the unity and solidarity with- in PSAC ranks, so crucial to addressing the demands and needs of federal public service workers. Yet, the new leadership faces a golden opportunity to lead its 181,000 members down the path of militant, democratic trade unionism, to both galvinize Alliance support for the Cana- dian Labor Congress’ alternative program for jobs and against cutbacks, as well as to join in the grass-roots pressure on the Congress to set its program into motion. ee 4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 10, 1985 ‘PSAC feels winds of change a IOTO — MIKE CONSTABLE held in Ottawa, Aug. 25-28. Alex McLennan, one of the original trekkers from Toronto, was the guest speaker. He out- lined the historic background of the trek, and how the lessons learned from the Thirties’ struggle to organize the Canadian working class can be applied to the build- ing of a nation-wide organization - of the unemployed today. He * stressed the urgency for such a national movement, culminating in a March for Jobs, as proposed by the Canadian Labor Congress. McLennan also said that only the organized: activity of the unemployed in local organiza- tions such as the LUUW could beat back the Tory attacks on the living standards of the Canadian people, both employed and unemployed. Councillor Bolton then read the City’s proclamation of On To Ot- tawa Day signed by London Mayor Al Gleeson. It referred to the ‘‘infamous’’ Regina Riot which brought the Western por- tion of the trek to a halt, and de- scribed the trik itself as ‘‘an event . that has done much to shape the lives of the present generation of Canadians.” In proclaiming On To Ottawa Day, Gleeson said it was ‘‘in recognition of the courage and determination of the young men who participated in the Trek, and in celebration of their undeniable achievements.” A cultural program followed, featuring trade union and folk songs by activist Arlene Mantle and Latin American songs by Salvador Penata. Britain’s unemployed challenge Thatcherism By MIKE CONSTABLE LONDON — It was raining, the sign on the big government building said ‘Jobs For Young People — Register Here’’ Further up Hammersmith Road in London’s West End was a smaller building that put the lie to the Tory job pitch — an unemploy- ment centre. In the door, up the stairs, and into a tiny office, where I met Bill Stockwell, Rick Tingle and Frank West. They said their centre was typical of the 19 such centres serv- ing London’s 15 per cent unem- ployment rate. They have been operating for three years, the last one at the present location, a two-storey workshop provided rent free by the London Board of Education. The salaries of the two full-time and two part-time workers are paid for by the trade union movement and London’s Labor- dominated city council. Stockwell and Tingle are the full-timers providing counselling and-intervention to secure unem- ployment pay, welfare and tem- porary housing for the 150 people who come by each week. An elected board manages the building and its program which includes a day care centre, ‘woodworking shop (one course for workers, one mixed) a martial arts course, a film program, a weekly newsletter, a weekly forum, a games room, (ping pong, billiards, etc.,) and the social ac- tion committee, SAC. The Hammersmith SAC was about to take on the Thatcher government in concert with other SACs, by setting up tent cities, protesting Tory legislation that forces the unemployed to move on after two weeks in a given town or have their pogey cut off; legislation that gives Thatcherites the added bonus of removing those people from municipal vot- ers’ lists. Hammersmith unemployed organize against Tories.