eral major demands are won

oMILTON — The strike at
one is over, after more
lin, eight months on the picket

The Settlement concluded on
bt Y, November 3, is similar
Yorke Tatified by the Goodyear
€rs in Toronto, which pro-

*s for a general wage increase
Tiling $1.15, with additional
| Tases for skilled trades
“ttkers of 75 cents an hour. The
Rn the contract is for three
. the vote by the workers

1 607 to 245.

ligh ; @odition to wages other

| pllights of the contract pro-
®for, cost of living based on
Vpn Ct hourly increase for each
. ‘Se in Consumer Price In-
4 Which will have application
lay oueust 25/75. The CPI will
hen to rise 3.5 points above the

7,88 level of Dec./74, Janu-
al and February 1975 before
newation or raises are imple-
wed: The workers also achiev-

0 years of service, with a

113. President Leo
intimated over the
of the strike that the

_ "thership, and taking into ac-
pant the fact that it did not

l additional cost, felt that
queston could be resolved in

any will remember the strug-
Of the postal workers last
ll when ‘the Post Office broke
Contract over the matter of

S€ Of the workers. After 13
ths and 20 days of frustra-

he union membership took
Matter into their own hands
| ey, Valked off their jobs in pro-

note post office found the
Coun. to advertise all over this
With 'Y charging the workers
“int ‘lack of self-discipline,”
«“Ntional provocation” and
Diyg POnsibility.” All this abuse

‘vilification of the workers,
tight © to stand up for their
lie ts, was published at the pub-
bj €Xpense. The media added its
“Wore vilify and condemn the
Yon €rs. On April 27, the To-
fh
hint Page headline: ‘Marxists
been Postal strike end” simply
Yo, Use 4,000 union members in
eto insisted upon their de-
tayoctic right to vote .on/ratifi-
1 a of a national settlement
. Moy, in Ottawa the day pre-

bg bat was last April — 74. The
‘the Westion now is what will be
ty,,!tuation when present con-
; Tuns out on December 31?
y t * *

uyitce last spring the Canadian

Ws)
Metter Carriers Union of Canada
a Parted company in current
the ations by dissolution of
JOint negotiating body —
~ Council of Postal Unions.
action has created a differ-
by, S&t of problems, such as
Vae'Ng the present contract’s
‘Ty. tY into question even be-
‘aj, ''S expiry date, and the re-
the Pation of certification >of
Wo separate unions for the

PEFR SE BF

ae right to retire at age 55_

LABOR SCENE Ke

BY BRUCE MAGNUSON

Nological change at the ex-—

© Globe and Mail carried a ©

N of Postal Workers and the -

Firestone strike

PHOTO—MINE MILL NEWS

Jim Ward, treasurer of the
Firestone UAW local, travelled
throughout Ontario seeking trade
union support during the strike.
Here he collected funds in front
of the Falconbridge Smelter in

Sudbury.

final negotiations. “But we were
told the pattern has been estab-
lished and that’s all there is,”
Mr. O’Rourke said.

With the Goodyear contract
ratified, and the industry using
this as a pattern, O’Rourke ex-
pressed the view, “We didn’t

e ae ee
feel, under the circumstances,
there was any more there and it
was on this basis we recommend-
ed acceptance to the member-

ship.”
Three factors undercut the

local’s bargaining position: the °

Goodyear local’s acceptance, the
federal government and the role
of the international union.

With regard to the federal
government, they did nothing to
stop the increase of imported
tires from the United States,
which rose by 80% during the
strikes, and as a consequence
allowed the industry to carry
through its commitments, at the
expense of the striking workers.

While the striking workers re-
ceived all the benefits that they
were entitled to from the inter-
national, O’Rourke felt that the
international could have taken
a more militant position toward
the import of tires. And as a con-
sequence could have broadened
the support both in the United
States and in Canada, for the
demands of the workers.

While recognizing the poor

bargaining position that the
workers. found themselves in,
O’Rourke felt the strike had pro-
duced some key ‘accomplish-

ments. ‘We did establish the first |

cost-of-living clause in the rub-
ber industry, such as it is, and
we demonstrated that our local
could stick together.”

y united action can
win for postal workers

purpose of collective bargaining
to win a new contract.

It is obvious that this has not
helped to strengthen the bar-
gaining position of either union,
regardless of the reason under-
lying this organic splintering.
But what may create an even
werse situation would be if a
third union were to enter into
this confused picture. ee

This is not beyond possibility.
Already the Teamsters Inter-
national Union is fishing in these
murky waters of frustration and
confusion, particularly in West-
ern Canada. The group which
the Teamsters are interested in
wooing away from the Canadian
Postal Workers are the men and
women drivers who drive the
pickup and delivery trucks —
the Postal Couriers. For in-
stance, a meeting of ‘postal cou-
riers addressed by Teamsters
Union officials was held in Van-
couver on November 4.

The real issue involved here is
not the right of the workers in-
volved to a union of their choice.
Legally and technically this
right is not in question. What is
in ‘question, and very much so,
4s whether the workers involved
will benefit from bringing an-
other union into the picture.

Is it in the workers’ interest
to splinter their ranks still fur-
ther and draw the attention
away from the real problem of
winning a new contract from the
federal Treasury Board that will
meet the real needs of the work-
ers? Also, one could ask the legi-
timate question, why are the
Teamsters so interested in this
group of workers at this time?
Why invite membership in a
U.S.-based union? Why, indeed,
when the U.S. leader of that
union is in the pocket of the

U.S. administration, and its Can-
adian section has equally close
ties with the capitalist estab-
lishment in Ottawa?

bo oo *

One thing that seems to be

urgent in the present situation is .

to clear the decks for meaning-
ful bargaining of a new contract
as quickly as possible by a co-
ordinated effort of the two
unions already in the field. At a
time when such coordinated ef-
fort is being extended in most
areas of bargaining — notably
the railway workers at the pres-
ent time — it will not serve the
best interests of postal workers
to move in the exact opposite
direction.

Some Serious thinking about
ways and means of doing some-
thing about this situation is at
last beginning to germinate in the
minds of many postal employees.
It is to be hoped that it is not
too late to avert a serious set-
back at the precise moment when
great gains can be made, pro-
viding solidarity and united ac-
tion is taken.

The issue facing postal work-
ers, like all other workers, is to
prevent the state and monopoly
capialist interests in this coun-
try from solving their economic
problems at the workers’ ex-
pense. The economic struggles of
the trade union movement in
1975 will have to focus on this
problem, while being conscious
of the need to defend and ex-
tend democratic rights and the
peace of the world.

It is precisely in the struggle
for these aims that the socialist
perspective will become obvious
to the millions, as the real alter-
native to super-exploitation, in-
flation and unemployment im-
posed by the tycoons of monopo-

-ly capital and their governments.

84,000 AUTOWORKERS
LAID OFF IN U.S.

DETROIT—Auto industry lay-
offs soared past the 84,000 mark
with the layoffs of 22,525 Chrys-
ler workers and the United Auto
Workers union urged a strong
government program to stave off
a near-disaster economic situa-
tion.

“The auto industry is not in a
recession,” UAW_ Vice-President
Irving Bluestone said at a news
conference. “It’s in a depres-
sion.” Of. the 84,000 workers
idled, 62,000 have been laid off
indefinitely. :

Bluestone said the layoff situa-
tion is “bordering on disaster.”
About 40,000 workers at General
Motors Corp. plant are already
on indefinite layoffs which 8,400
idled at Ford Motor Co. and
17,800 at Chrysler Corp.

“We anticipate further lay-

MONTREAL — Railway workers who walked off the job sciHtier

offs,” Bluestone said. “This is
not the end of it. This is the be-
ginning of it.”

STRIKE AVERTED
IN NEW BRUNSWICK

FREDERICTON — The threat
of a province-wide strike of
10,000 non-medical, institutional
and non-teaching school employ-
ees in New Brunswick was re-
moved last week when the
workers approved a _ tentative
agreement.

Results of the vote showed
that the non-medical workers
gave approval by a 58% margin.

The new contract for all
10,000 workers in the main three
categories is ’ essentially the
same. It provides for increases
of $67.60 a week over the life of
the two-year contract, plus a
$250 signing bonus for each em-
ployee.

demonstrate their disaccord with the agreement signed by thei
union leaders from a $350 bonus this year This rally ck place Nov.
9 in front of the old Windsor station. :

Toronto Labour Council
issues municipal slate

TORONTO — Delegates to the
Metropolitan Toronto Labour
Council last week were faced
with a mixed slate of candidates
for endorsation in the December
2 municipal elections. Instead
of being able to vote on their
choices in ward by ward selec-
tion, delegates had to approve or
reject the entire slate brought
in by the election committee.

When the vote was taken

about half of the delegates ab-
stained because they were un-
happy with some of the candi-
dates. Among those who voted,
some of the delegates voted
against the slate because they
were unable to endorse some
candidates,

After considerable confusion,
the vote on the entire slate car-
ried. Some of the candidates
endorsed in the slate with a
record of backing labor’s inter-
est were: for alderman, in Ward
1, Joe Grabek; Ward 2, Archie
Chisholm; Ward 3, Mike Gold-
rick; Ward 6, Dan Heap, and in
Ward 9, Dorothy Thomas.

The list was only partial and
further endorsations are coming
to the November 21 meeting of
council. One name expected to
appear on the full -slate is
Eleanor Bro, the tenant’s candid-
ate in Ward 2. Several delegates
objected to the committee’s lack
cf endorsation of Bro and after
heated debate the committee as-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—

sured the delegates that the
endorsation of Bro would be
considered at the next meeting.

No Amendments

In other labor council busi-
ness, a letter from Joe Morris,
president of the Canadian
Labour Congress, informed the
council that according to the
CLC constitution, amendments
to committee reports could not
be made from the floor.

Because the council is under

the charter of the CLC, the let- .

ter informed the delegates that
any continuation of such amend-
ments to reports would be in
contravention of the CLC con-
stitution.

The issue of making amend-
ments to committee’s reports

has long been considered a.

democratic right by the majority
of the delegates to. the council
and when constitutional changes
were put forward at the annual
constitutional meeting of the
council, the delegates over-
whelmingly passed the change
allowing amendments from the
flcor.

In chairing the last council
meeting, council president Sam
Fox, after the letter had been
read, would ‘not accept amend-
ments to any committee report
and simply advised the delegates
that all they could do would be
to pass a resolution directed to
the next CLC convention calling
for changes in the CLC constitu-
tion.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1974—Page 9

cee,