Labour Heeding the warning to “organize or die,” members of The Newspaper Guild last week voted to pump a minimum $900,000 US. into a special fund to unionize more workers in the media industry during the next 18 months. Delegates to the guild’s 55th annual con- vention in Vancouver June 27-July 1 also reaffirmed opposition to the Canada-U.S. free trade deal and encouraged locals to set up political action committees for national gee on both sides of the border this all. A move to adopt constitutional changes guaranteeing autonomy for TNG’s Cana- dian Division was defeated, but pledges were made to discuss the issue among guild locals and at the Canadian Division Con- ference in the fall. While the guild — which represents 41,600 editorial, clerical and sales workers in several newspapers and the broadcast media — has enjoyed modest gains in Canadian membership, eight years of Reaganism has taken its toll in the United States. ~ (The Pacific Tribune’s five staff are members of the Vancouver-New Westmins- ter Local of the guild.) “We are threatened with the loss of sev- eral long-established units, with thousands of members now struggling to maintain their contracts. The day when we could hope to sustain our membership level, and even grow a bit, by modest organizing efforts is ancient history,” said TNG inter- national president Charles Dale. The closure of two newspapers in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and the near-collapse of United Press International has hit the guild which with other U.S. unions suffers the effect of right-to-work laws and other anti-union practices of the Reagan adminis- tration. Added to that are the union-busting efforts of several U.S. newspaper chains and The Washington Post, which has been cited for bargaining in bad faith by the U.S. National Labour Relations Board, Dale noted. At several U.S. newspapers, TNG members are working without contracts, the guild’s leadership warned in a report. The plan adopted by some 300 delegates takes the interest and investment income accrued by TNG’s relatively healthy defence fund, valued at more than $9 mil- lion U.S., during the 18-month organizing period, and places it in a special organizing fund. Organizing campaigns by locals, co- ordinated by the guild, will aim at news- News union adopts organizing campaign paper chains and include possible joint organizing with other unions. A special 13- member committee of experienced guild members — with proportional Canadian representation — is to be set up and report its findings to the 1989 convention. Delegates adopted a minority report from the convention’s organizing commit- tee that urged the special body to consider sources of permanent funding to establish a separate organizing department within TNG. Ina paper entitled, The Guild and Cana- dian Autonomy: A Blueprint for Change, the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) cited recent changes to the Cana- dian Labour Congress constitution in mak- ing a call for a Canadian leadership elected by Canadian members. The CLC at its convention in Vancouver in May put teeth into its guidelines for Can- adian branches of international unions affil- iated to the congress. These call for election of Canadian officers by Canadians, policy- making powers for Canadian officials, authority to speak for the union in Canada, separate affiliation to international trade secretariats, and the right of the Canadian branch to participate “in the social, cultural, economic and political life of the Canadian community.” The constitutional changes, which re- ceived their impetus from the dispute between the Canadian Auto Workers and the United Food and Commercial Workers Over representation of Newfoundland fisheries workers — and which received the support of both unions — allows Cana- dian branches to take action that includes separation if the guidelines are not met by the international union. In a minority report to the convention, members of the constitution committee called for support for the SONG autonomy proposals, which included election of the Canadian director, a new mandate for the director, a Canadian executive board, decision-making powers on strikes, settle- ments and finances, and the right to estab- lish, “should that be the case in the future,” a different union for Canadians. The report was defeated. But the major- ity report on constitution stated that it had rejected the proposals “in light of the deci- sion by the Canadian Caucus of guild locals to defer consideration until the Canadian District Council meeting in Sudbury, Oct. 29-30, to give local membership an oppor- tunity to discuss this issue.” Guild delegates were unanimous in their condemnation of the proposed free trade agreement. Noting the opposition of both Labour Notes Teachers warn Ontario TORONTO — John Fauteux, presi- dent of the Ontario Teachers’ Federa- tion, says the provincial government could well find more than 100,000 teachers on the front lawn of Queen’s Park if it attempts to make unilateral major changes to the current superan- nuation plan. Ontario teachers oppose the merging of two superannuation (pension) funds by the governmentat this time, and strong- ly oppose a 2.34 per cent rate hike in one of the plans proposed by Ontario Treas- urer Robert Nixon. They say any extra money required can come from the plan’s big surpluses. CAW, McDonnell-. Douglas settle BRAMPTON — After months of negotiations, the CA W and McDonnell- Douglas have reached agreement on ‘health and safety issues at the aerospace plant in Brampton,-Ontario. The agree- ment includes the recall of about 240 workers laid off after thousands of CA W members refused work last December over health and safety concerns. Among the steps the company has agreed to is a new ventilation system, two-hours pay for a one-time medical check-up, and a joint labour-manage- ment committee to conduct health and safety training. CAW secretary-treasurer Bob Nicker- son called the agreement “significant because it means that McDonnell- Douglas finally realizes that it has to meet certain requirements for health and safety in the plant, and it has to include the union in its decision-making”. Pay equity in Newfoundland ST. JOHN’S — Workers in health care Crown corporations and other pub- lic servants have reached a five-year agreement with the government to insti- tute a pay equity program. The program is expected to cost between $15 and $20 million. Fryer to seek NDP nomination OTTAWA — John Fryer, president of the 292,000-member National Union of Provincial Government Employees, says he will seek the NDP nomination in. the newly-created federal riding of Ottawa-South, where he lives. “I want to be directly involved in the effort to defeat the Mulroney govern- ment: a government that is pursuing a free trade deal that will threaten Cana- da’s future as a nation, and whose spend- ing priorities include the ludicrous waste of money on nuclear submarines,” he said. “For that money we could solve Canada’s childcare crisis three times over.” U.S. takes on Teamsters WASHINGTON — The U.S. De- partment of Justice filed suit last week to oust the senior leadership of the Interna- tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, charg- ing the union had made a “‘devil’s pact” with organized crime. In a sweeping lawsuit brought under federal racketeering laws, the depart- ment asked for a court-appointed trustee to oversee new elections for the 1.7- million-member union. Among _ the defendants named in the suit are the 18 members of the teamster’s executive board, including its president, Jackie Presser; Senator Ed Lawson of Van- couver; the leaders of six major organ- ized crime families; and several others described by the U.S. government as members or associates of the Mafia. The suit seeks the removal of teamster leaders if they are found to have violated racketeering laws. the AFL-CIO and the CLC to the pact, delegates handily adopted a motion reaf- firming previous TNG opposition and con- tributing $5,000 to the CLC anti-free-trade campaign. They applauded as CLC president Shir- ley Carr said opposition to free trade did not signify “‘a fight between trade union broth- ers and sisters in Canada and the United States ... It is a basic fundamental right to maintain and keep the sovereign nation of Canada, and that is not for sale to anyone.” Acknowledging both the U.S. November election and the strong likelihood of a fed- eral election in Canada this fall, delegates adopted a recommendation that locals establish political action committees “and . that those committees conduct continuing programs and political and legislative activ- ity foe Fort Nelson teachers get first union contract _ With little public attention, B.C. public school teachers in a northern district nego- tiated the first union collective agreement for teachers since the war last week. The pact reached with the school board in Fort Nelson con- tains a modest wage hike and good con- tract language that is certain to-have an impact on contract talks in the other 74 KNAPP school districts in the province, a staff member of the B.C. Teachers Federation commented. 8 ¢ Pacific Tribune, July 6, 1988 “It contains the kind of language we’ve been waiting decades for,” said assistant bargaining director Wes Knapp. é Knapp said the establishment of school staff committees, which allows teachers to participate in ‘collegial decision making” is a “significant breakthrough.” Additionally, Fort Nelson teachers have in their one-year agreement satisfactory procedures governing grievances, dismissals and job evaluation, Knapp said. The pact establishes Fort Nelson school district as a closed union shop. Teachers began their organizing drive after the introduction of Bill 20 by the Social Credit government last year. The bill, legis- lated as the Teaching Profession Act, barred principals and vice-principals from con- tinued BCTF membership, imposed a Teachers College to govern professional development — a _ role historically _per- formed by the teachers federation — and forced teachers to vote on union representa- tion district by district, a move widely seen as attempting to decimate the BCTF by creating union and non-union school dis- tricts. But in organizing drives carried out last fall and spring, teachers in all 75 districts unionized, in votes that, despite a compli- cated procedure imposed by the Industrial Relations Council, saw union status backed by up to 100 per cent. BCTF members also captued all seats allotted to teachers on the Teachers College board. Teachers in British Columbia have not been covered under labour legislation since before World War II. Knapp said the 5.02-per-cent wage increase negotiated exceeds the average obtained by teachers in past negotiations. But the contract language is key, he said, stating that it “will have a very powerful impact on other districts.”” “Hopefully, it will prevent other boards from stonewalling on negotiations,” Knapp said. Teacher contracts, once regulated by the School Act, all expired at the end of June. Under labour legislation there is no longer . any requirement to complete negotiations by an established deadline.