§ JLT PIU sa lls _LABOUR Ma f : He EAA — A national vector poll . S shown Canadians support postal as In their struggle for expanded ser- B and are opposed to privatization at ; aoe Post. The poll, released July 20, 1 ce 1,200 Canadians between May a 5. It was commissioned by the anadian Labour Congress and the major postal unions. .__ According to the vector poll, the To- Mes and Canada Post have got it all Wrong,’’ Shirley Carr, Canadian Labour Ongress President said, ‘‘Canadians do Not approve of service cutbacks at Canada Post. Nor do they condone the Current government’s policy of selling off Parts of the post office to private business either by franchise or contracting out.”’ he poll results showed that 77 per Cent of Canadians were in favour of ex- tended door-to-door delivery to commu- aes With more than 2,000 points of call. nly 19 per cent were in support of the _ Soup box delivery system as put for- Ward by Canada Post management. The ae Support shown the Letter Carriers ~Uring their strike was proven to be solid In the vector poll. Despite the Tories’ attempts to sell privatization to the anadian public only 37 per cent de- Labour briefs Seventy-seven per cent want extended service clared themselves in support of the Tory agenda. Fifty per cent were opposed while 13 per cent remained undecided. “It’s time for the Mulroney govern- ment to re-evaluate its reckless and un- popular approach to post service,” Carr stated. ‘‘The Tories have essentially two options in their bid to reach financial self-sufficiency at Canada Post. They can continue with their agenda of cutbacks and privatization, a strategy that has al- ready destroyed many services and jobs and threatens to eliminate the majority of urban and rural post offices in favour of private postal franchises. Or the government can take the more positive approach to postal service that Postal unions have been suggesting for some time. It can raise revenues by providing additional services like they do in coun- ° tries such as Britain, Australia, Finland and Sweden.” The results of the vector poll backed up the Post Office unions call for a posi- tive program for a service and worker oriented Post Office. The main points of the program put forward by the Post Office unions is as follows: e Improved service must be the number one priority of Canada Post. Canada Post’s managers should be judged on their ability to improve service instead of cutting costs. e All Canadians should be entitled to equal service. Everyone pays the same for postage. It is simple justice that everyone in communities of similar size should receive the same basic services. e All urban communities. with 2,000 points of call should automatically receive five day door-to-door delivery. e There should be no deadline for the achievement of financial self-sufficiency. To achieve a financial target inevitably leads to this objective becoming the primary goal. If deadlines are to be estab- lished they should be for expansion of services and to achieve improved mea- sures of public satisfaction. e Increasing revenues should replace re- ducing costs as the primary means of re- ducing the deficit. Increasing wicket ser- vice, contracting in large sub Post Offices, and initiating new services such as Consumers Post, will reduce the deficit, provide more services to the pub- lic, and increase job opportunities in the Post Office. e There must be an _ immediate moratorium on the closure of Post Offices Lavigne case — small victory” OTPAWA — The Ontario that unions Have the constitu- tional right to participate in Political and social action. But John Fryer, president of the 270,000-member National Union of Provincial Govern- ment Employees (NUPGE), Said this ‘*small victory’” in the latest chapter of the Lavigne Case will not derail his union's Ongoing appeal of last July's Original decision in the case. : One year ago, the Supreme Court ‘ruled that the Ontario Public Service Employees Union — NUPGE’s largest Component — had violated col- lege teacher Merv Lavigne’s freedom of association be- Cause it spent money on causes € personally doesn't support. _ On Tuesday. the court re- J€cted the claim by Lavigne ‘tnd the National Citizens’ Co- ithition that unionized workers Should have to specifically Pt in” before a union could ‘pend dues money on social or Political action. Instead. the pout said workers will have to lake the initiative to “opt out” pf Such expenditures: if they pent Want their money used Or that purpose. ee imposing an “opting as ormula, Tuesday s deci- 8 goes a little way to undo te Potential damage of the Tginal decision, which was cralded with such glee by the ational Citizens’ Coalition.” yer said. “The NCC has €N trying to manipulate the Arter of Rights to dead-end eo ‘movement's long 1on of social unionism. Supreme: Court-has confirmed» just as right-wing groups in the U.S. have attempted to mani- pulate that country’s constitu- tion to undermine unions and At the same time, Fryer said NUPGE will go ahead with its appeal of the original decision because it is “*fundamentally flawed and based on mistaken assumptions. “Both last year’s decision and Tuesday's judgment make a distinction between money spent for ‘collective bargaining purposes’ and money spent for other union activities, . Fryer said. ““Such a distinction is artificial, arbitrary and funda- mentall wrong.” de Hav talks break-off TORONTO — Talks be- tween the CAW and de Havil- land/Boeing Aircraft broke off July 24 because no progress was being made in the talks, CAW president Bob White said last week. , The company spent a lot of time explaining some of its more than 100 concession de- mands but made no significant change in its position on any of them.’ White said. The concessions are a com- pany attempt to import U.S.- style working conditions in Canada More than 4. 100 office and production workers have been on strike since June 23: Tre issues in the strike are more than 100 non-economic concession demands covering virtually every area of the col- lective agreement including seniority. shift rotation, job posting. transfers. discipline. union representation, seven- day work week. and layoff and recall rights. other progressive»sgroups. ©» in picket-line DURHAM — The Canadian Autoworkers Union has laid 16 sonnel have been running the plant since the strike began, using — line. - charges against “seven »Durham ~~ A OE NES ; ty support for postal unions and elimination of rural routes. Instead of closing Post Offices in small com- munities Canada Post should be adding new revenue-generating services such as Consumers’ Post, financial services, bill payments, etc. 2 ; e The government should permit Canada Post to proceed with its plans to expand into package distribution services and electronic bulk mail. Investments into these areas are vital to the long term future of Canada Post. _@ There must be adequate staffing to pro- vide service. The vast majority of mail delays are caused by staff shortages and other cost-cutting measures. e A major initiative must be made to re- duce work place injuries and work-related illnesses. With one of the worst safety records in the country Canada Post spends more than $20 million annually as a result of work place injuries alone. It’s time to improve working conditions. e Contracted services, such as sub Post Offices, suburban services, cleaning, etc. should be contracted-in. Conducting its operations in-house would save money, give Canada Post more control of its operations, and provide greater job op- portunities in Canada Post. CAW charges Durham police violence police escorts to cross the picket Region police officers because of violence on the Tarxien Co. Ltd. picket line in Ajax, Ont. since July 10. The charges were laid private- ly before an Oshawa justice of the peace after two other JP’s refused the union's request. The CAW has charged the police officers with assault and failure to provide the necessities of life. The charges involve four strik- ers who were dealt. with brutally by the Durham Region police. One striker, Larry Gregory, had his fingers broken. He was dragg- ed on his face for some distance before being thrown into a paddy wagon. Gregory passed out in the paddy wagon because police re- fused the pleas of other strikers to open a window in the stifling heat. Plant chairperson Joan McKee and other union members were ib- ¥ also arrested and charged with \ : Ms Y mischief. McKee was jailed over- “I night. Lo The Oshawa. JP, Linda ~ yt? ; LA McInerny. is to decide whether Ty : the charges against the officers a Zp will proceed. ‘The only other way to charge the police is to lay a complaint with the Citizen's Complaint ‘‘nolicy' not to wear hats and badass on picket lines. The Letter ao ie Carriers complained about the BROKE Gu Durham Region police during PICKET LINES their recent strike because they rt could not identify officers, who were again using excessive force. Management and office per- Spotlight on LABOUR HISTORY Lite g pen. | Au) FP pid Bureau, says CAW lawyer Z Christine Elwell. ‘‘We have IN 1948 THE found them to be inept and inef- Fs sae apes fective in the past.” A Wi The seven officers were identi- AND Lt Ae fied by the union members from UIRING HALL, THE CSU photographs because it is police VOTED TO STRIKE. - \ rr \ UE DESTRUCTION OF THE CANADIAN SEAMEN'S UNION IN 1949 DEMONSTRATES UOw/A US, UNION WITH PRACTICALLY NO CANADIAN MEMBERS CAN RE- PLACE A CERTIFIED CANADIAN UNION,,.HOW THE EMPLOYER AND YANKEE LABOUR RACKET- EERING TO CANADA. ma > YS TIONS AND THE WAGE CUTS. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 12, 1987 e 7 naa Ot