Anti-union actions

iM workers fight intimidation

CHARLES DANIELS

ARBOROUGH — Evi-
© is mounting that General
rs’ full shift layoff of van
Workers in this Toronto
td has more to do with anti-
Nintimidation than with mar-
ales or quality performance.
September 24, GM an-
d that a sales slump for its
ze vans required the
na tion of 36,000 units from
ar's production schedule.
Choice for the cut was be-
the Scarborough plant and
in Lordstown Ohio, the
‘© locations in the GM
Which manufacture the

'dorough was chosen, said
it transnational, because
at Lordstown was higher.
, company therefore

ed a reduction at Scar-
from two shifts to one
it, entailing the indefinite
Of some 1,250 workers,
ers of Canadian Auto
S Local 303, effective Oct.

that if indeed 36,000 units
be cut, the choice of Scar-
8 Over Lordstown seemed
leally motivated. They
to the fact that the
ber 4th, U.S. con-
al election campaign was
ay and that to remove jobs
U.S. at this time could
© volatile political fallout.
yond this there are large

Nts. GM, at the time of its
announcement said sales

Orkers Checked Up
€ver, phone checks made
rough workers to car
iti in various North Ameri-
s showed that sales were
€verywhere, with an eight
eek waiting period for
of a van.
bh. it October 16th, the Toronto
~ and Mail carried a report

Officials responded by |

from Detroit stating that in the
first 10 days of October, GM’s car
sales were up 29.3 per cent from
the previous year, while truck
sales, including vans, had in-
creased a record 26.6 per cent.

As to quality, the van plant
workers point out that the yearly
audit average at Scarborough was
127, compared to 131 for Lords-
town — a very small difference.

Further there are distorting
offsets in the audit system and
even Scarborough management
admits it has lobbied Detroit for
years to change the system. Thus,
when such meaningful indicators
as repairs in the first 90 days and
warranty obligation costs are
taken into account, Scarborough
is far ahead.

Local management even ad-
mits that absenteeism at Scar-
borough has declined by 25 per
cent over the last three years.

CAW president Bob White, re-
sponding in September to the lay-
off, called the corporation’s
claims of high absenteeism and
low quality ‘“‘nonsense’’.

He noted that two months ear-
lier, GM was ‘‘elated”’ with the
quality of work in the Scar-
borough plant. ‘‘There is also a
cost advantage of $8 per work,
per hour, here, compared to its
sister plant in Lordstown, Ohio’’,
he said.

Pressure for Concessions

So why the layoff at Scar-

borough?)

The answer, say the van plant
workers, dates back to last March
when management began asking
the plant committee to open up
the local agreement and sign a
new one by September 1986. GM
returned twice in September with
the same demand with the union
refusing each time, saying the
only contract it would negotiate
would be the follow up to the cur-
rent pact when it expires in Sep-
tember 1987.

The company’s demand was in
line with the pressure it has
applied in all of its plants for ‘“‘new

style’> concessions from the
workers to ‘‘beat the competi-
tion’’ — pressure that in Scar-
borough included razzlé-dazzle
film screenings in the plant.

Faced with the union’s latest
refusal, an irate GM management
set its layoff plans into motion.

On this background it’s clear to
the workers that the Scarborough
layoff is an attempt by GM to
pressure the union to give the
corporation what it wants.

This was confirmed by the
corporation’s rejection of a union
proposal to avert the layoff. The
local put forward a plan, to run
through the Christmas holidays to
January 10, 1987, under which all
workers would alternate two
weeks of work with two weeks of
layoff.

During the layoff periods,
workers would draw unemploy-
ment insurance and supple-
mentary unemployment benefits.

The plan was seen as a way of
avoiding total hardship for half of
the Scarborough workers. Its
January 10th cut off date would
also protect vacation and pension
credits for seniority workers not
affected by the layoff. —

Anti-Union Manoeuvre

GM seemed interested, but in-
sisted on extending the proposal
to the end of the model year, next
August or September. The union
had no mandate for this as the
company knew full well.

“In addition, GM. argued: that
since the proposal would cost the
corporation $2.7-million in benefit
payments, the workers should
‘absorb’ this cost.

The Local 303 committee flatly
rejected the so-called ‘‘offer’’ on
both counts and the corporation
went ahead with its scheduled
layoff.

So now most GM workers in
Scarborough clearly understand
that the Oct. 27 layoff is an anti-
union manoeuvre by the giant
transnational, and has nothing to
do with market or quality con-
siderations.

JOHN’S — Fraser
h, president of the New-
and Association of Pub-
™ployees said the four
Jail sentence he re-
“€ Oct. 24 would not in-
“ate or deter NAPE from
“ding the interests of
i adland public service

_ Provincial supreme
Sentenced March and
Ithe union $110,000 for de-
a back-to-work order
NAPE’s protracted
farlier this year against
T Brian Peckford’s Tory
im nt.

launched its initial
action last spring de-
Mg pay equity for its
'S With other provincial
Ment employees. At the
the union was

fighting essential services legis-
lation which effectively
undermined the workers’ right
to strike.

A truce was called during the
summer with the strikers re-
turning to work under the gov-
ernment’s promise to scrap its
essential services law and to
negotiate seriously on the
union’s parity demands.

The tories didn’t deliver and
NAPE resumed its walkout in
early September. During both
strikes, the government tried
to use mass arrests and court
injunctions to break the work-
ers’ resolve but failed to do so.

Responding to news of the
sentence, March said: *‘This is
only one step in the very dif-
ficult road to free collective
bargaining in this province. I
suspect that the battle will go
on for some time.’

arrested during both rounds of

Meanwhile voting continues
in NAPE locals throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador
on the tentative agreement
reached early last month. The
new pact, which would expire
on July 31, 1989 guarantees
wage parity with other provin-
cial government employees by
that date.

The agreement also lifts the ©
30-day suspensions imposed
last spring on more than 20,000
strikers, but doesn’t affect the
charges laid against more than
100 NAPE members who were

strike action.

March went on trial Oct. 6
on charges that he disobeyed a
court order when he defied an
anti-picketing injunction
March 13, imposed by the gov-
ernment.

Labor in action

GEORGE HEWISON

7 Newfound.

Who killed Gaston Harvey?

Gaston Harvey is the first casualty in labor's current struggle
against neo-conservative reaction.

The 38 year old Quebec unionist died in police custody shortly
after having been photographed, locked in a “‘choke hold” by a
member of Quebec's police force on the Manoir Richelieu picket
line.

Gerald Larose, president of the Confederation of National
Trade Unions told a news conference last week that, he and the
union ‘‘formally and deliberately accuse the Surete du Quebec of
having killed Gaston Harvey.”

Robert Bourassa’s Liberal government has ordered a public
inquiry into the ‘‘cause and circumstances”’ of Harvey’s death.

This comes on the heels of a middle-of-the-night autopsy, anda
two hour delay before Harvey's widow was allowed to enter the
hospital where the victim had been taken directly from the police
station.

Many questions remained following the rush autopsy con-
ducted in the presence of numerous police officials, but without
the family’s knowledge or consent.

Tragedy’s Real Cause

Such an inquiry may or may not finger an individual respon-
sible for Harvey’s death; may or may not indicate a cover up. But
it will not get to the real cause of this tragedy...

To do that, the policies of the Bourassa government and those
of every neo-conservative government in the country need to be
examined.

What needs examination is Bourassa’s decision to sell off the
government-owned Manoir Richelieu Hotel in Point au Pic to
wealthy hotel magnate Raymond Malefant, just five days after
assuming the Quebec government. It was this decision Harvey
was protesting at the time of his arrest and subsequent death.

What needs examination is the growing link between corporate
Canada, and the dramatic shift to the right by Canadian govern-
ments and how they are stepping up their attacks on the people —
the trade unions first and foremost.

What needs examination is the growing use of the state and.
police in labor disputes in this country.

Neo-conservatism Indicted
,A few days! before the Harvey tragedy, FraSer March, leader of

months in jail for the “‘crime’’ of demanding justice for his under-
paid members.

Hundreds of workers have faced riot police and been jailed in
Edmonton for refusing to bow to Peter Pocklington’s ‘‘justice’’,
while many more in Alberta labor disputes have faced the wrath
of police and the courts for standing up for the right to maintain a
union.

In British Columbia, construction workers faced the riot po-
lice. While in Wheatley, an Ontario village on the Lake Erie
coast, 50 fully equipped members of the Ontario Provincial Police
riot squad confronted a handful of fishermen and their families
protesting the firing of union activists.

South Africa? No.

Chile? No.

In Canada! Bourassa’s inquiry will not answer why there is a
growing attack on labor across this country, including Quebec,
because to answer the question is to indict neo-conservative
governments everywhere.

Canada’s Workers Will Win

It would mean exposing the orchestrated attack on labor from
one end of Canada to the other.

Labor is demonstrating its readiness to fight back. It refuses to
roll over and be conned by bosses’ talk of competitiveness and
productivity.

But more, it dares to speak out against free trade. It dares to not
leave the question of peace and war to the politicians. It dares to
get in the fight against privatization and deregulation. It dares to
advance alternate policies, and it dares to reach out to the com-
munity in solidarity to block the drift to the right.

For this, working people are increasingly facing the mailed fist
of the state. —

Labor's answer must be more unity. Close ranks to defeat the
corporate attack. It must unite with the vast majority of Cana-
dians who cherish our democratic rights.

Democratic Canadians must insist that the police be sent back
to their stations; the courts and police must keep out of labor
disputes — Hands off the unions!

This must be tied to a change in the Charter of Rights granting
the unfettered right of unions to organize, picket and strike to
defend workers’ rights.

Gaston Harvey is a martyr. Like other Canadian workers
before him, like Steven Biko of South Africa, Victor Jara of
Chile, Gaston Harvey has paid the supreme price. He has fallen
struggling on behalf of his fellow workers.

No inquiry can amend the verdict of Canada’s working class.
His death will light a flame, at once a signal and a torch. The
workers of Quebec, the workers of Canada will win.

*s public sector workers was sentenced to four |

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 5, 1986 « 7