J Fed should speak on ae Some 1,500 delegates are expect- ed to attend this year’s convention of the B.C. Federation of Labor, which will be held in Vancouver in the week commencing Nov. 24. The expected size of the convention made it necessary to move to the Pacific National Exhibition com- plex. This provincial parliament of la- bor will be memorable because it will be the 25th annual convention of the Federation. According to a report published in June of this year, the Federation had 270,000 members, a gain of 20,000 over a. period of 18 months. The greater portion of that increase came from public sector unions. Looking forward to the largest convention in the history: of the Federation, Dave MacIntyre, sec- retary-treasurer made this com- ment in the June, 1980 issue of La- bor News, published by the Federa- tion: ‘‘Our growth as a labor move- ment is unparalleled anywhere on the continent, a fact of which we can all be proud. We have a history that is abundant with the wealth of gains for working people made by individual affiliates and the labor movement as a whole.” After reading that comment, I was greatly disappointed to read an advertisement by the Federation published in the Vancouver Prov- ince Aug. 31, which I presume was for Labor Day. The heading car- ried this message: ‘‘Thanks to you the B.C. Fed can be proud of its ac- complishments.”’ Below this heading, four ac- complishments were listed: @ OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY: Complete brief submitted to minister of labor. @ UNEMPLOYMENT IN- SURANCE: Province-wide cutback cam- paign. @ EDUCATION: CLC Winter School, seminars, lectures @ PUBLIC SECTOR PEN- SIONS; Province-wide campaign. The main point made by the ad was to thank all affiliates for the support which made it possible to record those accomplishments. A largenumber of affiliates were listed on the right-hand side of the ad, and below that were the names OFFICERS OPEN ELECTION CAMPAIGN of the 24-member executive coun- cil. On the opposite side, below the main heading, were two head and shoulder sketches, with the signa- ture Kinnaird below one and the signature MacIntyre below the other. While we cannot fault the offi- LABOR. COMMENT BY JACK PHILLIPS cers tor the accomplishments listed in the ad, we must say that as a La- bor Day message, it left much to be desired. Whereas the trade union move- ment in Ontario marched on Labor Day in their thousands to protest plant closures and to demand ac- tion to put workers back to work, the B.C. Federation of Labor offi- cers, in effect, complimented them- selves. achievement cited in the ad was the pension protest, which was success- fully mounted by the B.C. Govern- ment Employees’ Union and sup- ported by the Federation. Wecan only presume that this ad is a reflection of the ‘‘moderate’’ policy to which the present leader- ship has committed itself. Also it is safe to assume that the sketches of Jim Kinnaird, president, and Dave MacIntyre, secretary-treasurer, are, in effect.announcements that they will be candidates for re-elec- - tion at the November convention. The talk in informed circles has it that the big four, Kinnaird, MacIn- tyre, Munro (International Wood- workers of America) and Fryer (BCGEV) will be running again as officers and that an official slate is being hammered out that will con- tain very few changes in terms of people, and no changes in terms of basic direction. In short, more of the same. Ironically, president Kinnaird may have to obtain a credential from a union other than his own in order to be able to stand for re-elec- tion. His union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Work- ers, Local 213, may pull out of the Canadian Labor Congress as a re- sult of the current dispute between The only outstanding the top leadership of the Building Trades unions and the Canadian Labor Congress, along with other unions. Everything possible should be done, consistent with the long term interests of the Canadian labor movement, to avoid such a split. Members of Building Trades un- ions should insist that there be no pullouts. All differences should be resolved within the CLC. It should be borne in mind that the realities of the Canadian scene may not be understood in the same way by Ca- nadian workers, on the one hand, and top international officers in the U.S., on the other hand. In that case, the will of the Cana- dian workers should prevail, and not that of leaders in another coun- © try who stubbornly refuse to con- cede autonomy to the Canadian membership. It is possible that if the Building Trades — CLC dispute is not settl- ed before November, pressure will _ be applied to have B.C. locals boy- cott the convention, a tactic applied to the CLC convention in April, with partial success. In that event, everything possible should be done to defy the boycott and to ensure maximum delegations, in my opin- ion. The Federation convention can make an important contribution to the winning of autonomy for the 400,000 Building Trades members in Canada by demanding that lo- cals should have the right to pay their monthly per capita directly to the CLC, instead of through their international offices in the U.S. That would deprive these head of- fices of the ability to hold back on payment of per capita in order to extort concessions from the CLC leadership. Looking at the overall picture in the B.C. trade union movement, we find that some 466,000 wage earners, out of a total of some 1,- 024,000, are organized. This breaks down to 45.5 percent, the highest provincial total in Canada. Of the total organized wage earn- ers, 59.4 percent belong to the Fed- eration. However, because of the weight of the Federation affiliates in relation to the decisive sectors of the economy, and the degree of co- hesion which has been achieved, the influence of the Federation is B.C. Fed warns of increasing protest over Fair Wages Act Continued from page 1 “We cannot continue to have the courts meddling in labor rela- tions to further tip the balance in favor of the employer,” the brief stated, and listed six recommenda- tions from the Federation’s 1979 - annual convention which brought all matters relating to strike activity under the jurisdiction of the LRB by way of a strengthened Labor Code The brief went on to highlight the Public Construction Fair Wages Act as “‘the cause of an in- creasing number of disputes over the past year.”’ In force for four years, the Act does not define what is meant by a fair wage. They opened the door to known right-to-work contractors getting jobs on Crown projects, the brief contended, because all they had to do was meet minimum wage requirements, ‘‘wages which were totally unrelated to conditions in the construction industry.” Citing the non-union contrac- tors hired to do work at the Ministry of Labor offices in Bur- naby and at Douglas College, the brief warned of ‘‘increased political confrontation and political protest’’ until the govern- ment dealt with the issue. Still simmering is the issue of the Essential Services Disputes Act. Although labor minister Jack Heinrich did not invoke it during the B.C. Rail strike, he attempted “to bring in by the back door in the nurses’ dispute with the provincial government. — ‘‘Accordingly, we call again for the repeal of this Act as an unfair, unwarranted intrusion into public PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPT. 5, 1980—Page 12 . sector collective bargaining.” The Federation also tackled the concern expressed recently in the press by the business sector about the shortfall in trained industrial B.C. workers. ~ “‘We have been subject to the re- | cent spectacle of. the federal minister responsible for the Canada Employment Immigration Commission telling us that the skilled manpower needs of Western Canada for the 1980’s may have to be met by immigra- tion. “The amount of training being done in the industrial sector is total- ly inadequate and this government must take steps to increase the amount of training done’’ along with a substantial amount of re- training directed at those already in the work force, the brief said. — AFFILIATES * OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY COMPLETE BRIEF SUBMITTED TO MINISTER OF LABOUR ¢ UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROVINCIAL-WIDE CUTBACK CAMPAIGN © EDUCATION: CLC WINTER SCHOOL, SEMINARS, LECTURES © PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS PROVINCE-WIDE CAMPAIGN WE WISH TO AFFILIATES FOg B.C. Fed ad. far greater than these percentages indicate. The replacement. of the Guy- Johnston leadership by the current leadership has been hailed as a vic- tory for those who favor a ‘‘mod- “erate” policy. On the other hand, many active trade unionists are ex- pressing concern over what they consider to be a decline in the lead- ership role of the B.C. Federation of Labor. What happened in 1978 was the replacement of what amounted to a centre-left coalition leadership by a right-centre coali- tion. That was followed by at- tempts of the right wing to strengthen its positions through obviously co-ordinated efforts. While there has been a drift to- wards the right by some centre ele- ments and a degree of consolida- tion by the right wing, it must also be noted that the left has maintain- ed strong bases of support. Fur- ther, there are indications that key centre elements are uneasy about the quality of Federation leader- ship, in terms of promoting mili- tant trade unionism and in support of affiliates involved in strikes or lockouts. They also point to the low profile of the Federation leadership on economic and politi- cal issues that cry out for the inter- vention of organized labor, like the resource sellouts, energy policy and unemployment. The bloc that is now dominant in the Federation leadership is made’ up of key people from the IWA, Steel, Canadian Union of Public Employees, BCGEU and the Building Trades. This core group is more closely tied to the right-wing provincial leaders of the NDP than the previous core group. However, the recent demonstrations on the pension issue by the membership of the BCGEU proved that even right-led unions are compelled to take fighting positions from time to time, particularly when there is pressure from below. In my book, there is no separa- ; Published weekly at Suite 101 — Vancouver, B. Cc. VBL 3X9. Phone 251-1186 Read the paper that fights for peor SS Se NN 2 2 3 i) AGOLOSS oo) ee ee ee ae ot ems ee g City or town RES oo Mee Provinces... 2) =. * Ke é PostalCode 25. Y | 1 am enclosing: A Donation $ . Labor Day message. SAME: O00. ce eine be 1850 8-6, 9 xe) 6% Do Bie 8! Bi wieip ee VC. e, eee Knee oes 6 sie 1 year $10] 2 years $18 6 months $o __ Old {2 New) Foreign 1 year $12 © THANK tion between fighting for progress- ive positions and working to elect officers who will consistently work to implement those positions. On Labor Day in Toronto, Dave Johnson, business manager of the Toronto-Central Ontario Building and Construction Trades Council, and Walter Majesky, president of the Labor Council of Metropolitan — Toronto, issued a joint statement under the heading ‘‘Building — Trades — The Real Issues.”’ ay It boldly declared that without — consulting the Canadian member- ship, the international Building — Trades union officers took the “‘dangerous steps which could lead to our expulsion from the Cana- — dian Labor Congress, whichis why they are refusing to pay our duesto the GEG24= § Eastern sources report that CLC — president Dennis McDermott has — stated that if there can be no peace- ful solution, the CLC will open the door to any locals of the Building Trades unions which leave their in- — ternationals in order to stay in the CLC. I would like to see a statement from the officers of the Federation _ along these lines. After all, Kin- — naird gave up the presidency ‘of theme B.C. and Yukon Building an ‘Construction Trades Council to run for the Federation presidency. _ x In addition, Roy Gautier, currently — the Building Trades president in — B.C., is a vice-president of the Fed- — eration. Further, John Schibli, sec- retary of the Vancouver Island — Building Trades Council, isa mem- ber of the Federation executive council. Frankly, a hard-hitting statement by these three on the Building Trades-CLC issue (along the lines of the Toronto statement) — would do more good for organized labor than a dozen ads. like the © thank you ad of August 31. In my next article, I will deal with some of the key issues that are like- _ ly to be the subject of debate at the — convention. a a ee ee ae ee Sey