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-IWA talks will set pace in 1977 |

The collective agreements for
nearly all major industries in B.C.
will be renogiated in 1976.

The largest union involved is the
International Woodworkers of

America, with some _ 35,000
members.
The Vancouver’ Province

editorially commented as follows
on December 11:

“The federal government’s anti-
inflation program induced most

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

unions to opt for one-year con-
tracts. In other years they would
have gone for two or three year
terms. The biggest risk is that

> unions like the International

Woodworkers of America, which
- haven't been before the Anti-
inflation Board, will try to bargain
outside the guidelines in order to
break them.”

This raises a very interesting

point: Will the IWA leadership
abide by the decision of the 39th
regional convention, held in
September of this year, instructing
the union to ignore the Anti-

Inflation Board and its guidelines -

in the 1977 contract negotiations?

That same convention. endorsed
a resolution accusing the federal
Liberal government of ‘‘shackling
the labor movement, bastardizing
the collective bargaining process,
and bringing about a deterioration
in the standard of living of the
working people.”’

The resolution was passed
without a dissenting voice — which
raises yet another question: Is the
regional leadership, headed _by
Jack Munro, prepared to follow
through with that mandate?

Will the leadership support: the
convention decision at the wage
policy conference in February, or
will it.take a different road?

The question of a shorter work
week has been on the table in
several sets of negotiations, but it
was never pushedasa major issue.
Now, with the massive layoffs in’
the industry, the demand for a 30-

IWA Convention, 1976 —e
decisions to ignore the AlB?

hour week should be placed high on
theagenda as a major issue for the

February wage and contract

conference, along with other items
of major concern to the mem-
bership. If the shorter work week is
to be a major demand, the
membership must be prepared for
a sharp conflict.

si hoes a_ substantial cut in

Unemployed benefits cut

Cont'd. from pg. 1

recently from NDP national leader
Ed Broadbent who described the
rapidly deteriorating \ unem-

ployment situation as a ‘‘national
tragedy”’.

In a letter to premier Bennett
this week, B.C. Communist party

Stevens to

step down

from full-time post

-. Homer Sevens. president of the
- United Fishermen and Allied

Workers Union since 1970, an-

_ nounced this week that he ‘‘will not
~ accept re-nomination for any paid
office in the UFAWU in 1977.”
Inhis announcement, he stressed
that he was not retiring from the
union or union activities, and was
prepared to serve on the union’s
‘general executive board and act as
an organizer ‘‘on the fishing
grounds and docks.”
_. With his decision not to seek re-
election, Stevens will be ending 31
years of full time service to the
UFAWU, which dates back to 1945

when he was hired as an organizer *

_ for the union. He was later elected
to the position of secretary-

treasurer, and in 1970 was elected a

president of the 8,000 member
union.

As secretary-treasurer he was
sentenced to one year in jail on

contempt of court charges which

arose out of a bitter strike in 1967
when the union refused to obey

~gourt injunction which restricted

its picketting rights.

HOMER STEVENS

He is currently a member of the
Vancouver and District Labor
Council executive board, and a
member of the provincial com-
mittee of the Communist Party. He
stressed that his retirement came+
from a desire to return to fishing.

leader Nigel Morgan pointed to
the serious unemployment

situation in B.C. and called for an -
" emergency program of action by

the provincial government to meet
the crisis. :

Pointing to the massive layoffs
taking place in the forest industry,
and the fact that thousands of
young people are jobless who have
not enough credits to collect
unemployment insurance, Morgan
called on the premier to initiate
policies which will halt the layoffs
and put B.C.’s jobless back to
work. :

Morgan’s letter outlines. an 8-
point program of action which calls
for an immediate halt to cutbacks
in housing, education, hospital
construction and other public

services; expansion of processing

industries in B.C.; a crash
program to provide 75,000 low cost,
low rental housing units; a

guaranteed income for working .

people and elimination of the B.C.
income tax on earnings of $10,000.
or less; establishment of the 30

hour week with no reduction in

take-home pay: and legislation to
prevent closures.

A debt moratorium to ensure
that no jobless worker loses his or
her home or personal possessions,
and action to expand the home
market through increased pur-
chasing power for the People, is
urged by Morgan.

Will IWA leaders follow through on its

hours with no loss in take-home
pay is not going to be easy, what
with the AIB, the propaganda
campaign of the corporations who
dominate the industry and the
hostile attitude towards labor
shown by the Socred government
in Victoria.

All major collective agreements
in B.C. with the exception of
trucking will be reopened in 1977,
thus involving some 200,000
workers. If the IWA, as the largest
single union in the province, would
give the lead in cooperation with
the B.C. Federation of Labor, a
coordinated approach to the 1977
wage negotiations. would be
possible. This is more necessary
than ever, because the forest
employers will be united through
the Employers’ Council, the
organized voice of big business.

In the overall picture, and
bearing in mind the difficulties of
the Trudeau government, a
common bargaining front in B.C.
would greatly expedite the demise
of thehated wage contro] program.

If Jack Munro and his colleagues
are to give this kind of leadership,
they must rise above their dif-
ferences with other segments of
the labor movement which were so
visible at the November con-

- and loss of life.”

vention of the B.C. Federation
Labor.
The Vancouver Sun of Sep-
tember 13, 1975, carried a flat-
tering story on Jack Munro with’
the following headline: Jack
Munro - IWA’s man of stature. —

The article noted that Munro is
six-foot-four-inches tall and that
his height “‘matches the power and
strength of the IWA today.”

The year 1977 will be a very big
year for the IWA and for the labor
movement as a whole. Jack Mu
and his colleagues on the regio!
executive will either emerge
men who stand tall, or as sm
people unable to rise above the
pressures of the corporations and
the divisions within the ranks of
labor. Strong leadership will make
it possible to overcome those
difficulties. Weak leadership wil
aggravate them. -

However, the next round of
contract negotiations will not be
the exclusive property of the|
Munros, the Thompsons, the
Stoneys, the Foxcrofts and the
other members of the IWA
Presidents” Club. The mem-
bership, those who pay the dues
and who are sometimes taken for
granted,” must speak up and
demand bold action and decisive
leadership. If trade union
democracy means anything, it
means that leadership must listen}
to its members and carry out their
instructions. : a

IRELAND

Cont'd. from pg. 1

CPI, said: ‘‘The rise of the
women’s peace movement enabled —
ordinary people, and especially -
women, to show their desire for an |
end to sectarian strife, violence”

ae
ro

The old walled city of Droghida
—the name means “‘bridge”’ in me
Irish language — was chosen as 4a
site for the rally because it was
symbolic of the bitter history of |
strife in Ireland. Many battles and
massacres have taken place at i S|
strategic river crossing. :

Compliments

to defeat

and

Campbell River, Courtenay and
District Labor Council

of the Season

Success in the fight

Bill C730 ae |

Season’s Greetings

Nanaimo, Duncan and District
Labor Council

Season’s Greetings |

to the labor movement

Local 2 — Vancouver Shoreworkers

UNITED FISHERMAN AND ALLIED WORKERS U UNION, —

3 PACIFIC T TRIBUNE-DECEMBER 17, /1976-Page 16