Public service workers challenge _ federal contracting out policy OTTAWA — The union repre- nting Canada’s 180,000 federal ublic service workers, called for -afull-scale Parliamentary inquiry, Jan. 21, into all aspects of federal Ontracting out, and charged that urrent government practices are ‘Costing taxpayers some $2.7-bil- 4On a year. ae Jacob, vice-president of clearly defined technical projects of limited duration. Jacob re-iterated the Alliance’s long standing demand that there should be no contracting out of work which could or should be done by federal public service workers. ‘*Neither public employees nor the general public are well served Public Service Alliance of4 by the present contracting out pol- Nada, called for the parlia- entary probe after a confidential asury board report on contract- out, leaked to an Ottawa Wspaper, revealed ‘‘wasteful buse’’ and ‘“‘bureaucratic pat- mage’’. One of the most com- On abuses, the report disclosed, e federal government’s failure submit contracts for competi- lve bidding. _PSAC called for tough regula- tions governing the letting out of Service contracts, and demanded ey be restricted to specific, icy’’, Jacob said. ‘‘We didn’t need to read the treasury board report to know about these abuses be- cause Alliance members have been telling us for years that con- tracting out results in duplication, over-charging, higher prices, in- ferior services, corruption and patronage.” Jacob noted that the treasury board report revealed some con- tractors were putting outsiders in charge of public service workers in direct violation of the Public Service Employment Act. ‘‘We hope the Prime Minister will realize the dangers in a sys- tem whereby public service employees can be controlled by friends of politicians and friends of senior management — people who have no accountability to Parliament or to the taxpayers,” Jacob said. Other Alliance recommenda- tions include: e the establishment of legisla- tion similar to current U.S. law which would allow _ public employees and/or their bargain- ing agents to blow the whistle (without fear of retaliation) in in- stances in which they have reason to believe that public funds are being wasted. e the establishment of a ‘con- tracting out account’ in which all monies spent by all departments and agencies of government on contracting for services would be tabulated and available for public scrutiny. No job security guarantees ' CUPW slams ‘global offer’ OTTAWA — Negotiators for. Canada Post Corporation have Presented their first ‘‘global Offer’ to the 22,000-member adian Union of Postal Work- ers and it’s a flop as far as postal Workers are concerned. ‘It's such an inadequate pro- Posal that the union last week was Preparing a special tabloid for its Members, tearing the offer apart. A CUPW spokesperson said the Main thrust of the corporation’s Proposal would be to create new Part-time jobs at the expense of Current and future, full-time posi- tions. Canada Post wants the Power to force full time workers ‘0 either transfer and relocate to pactime jobs or face being laid CUPW is countering with its demands that are centered on Saining real job security for its Members through the creation of Rew jobs by expanding the ser- Vices provided by Canada Post \Orp., and through reduction of Work time. The offer was the first compre- _TEnsive position submitted by the Orporations since federal Con- liation Commissioner Stanley ‘tartt was appointed in Early De- ember to mediate the talks. He 48a January 31 deadline after Which he must prepare a concilia- tion Teport. The current agree- ment expired Sept. 30. __ this could take several weeks. CUPW will be ina position to take 4 Strike vote one week after the ‘Telease of the report. ~_ This set of talks is the first ever ©Onducted by CUPW under the ‘Canada Labor Code. CUPW fame under its jurisdiction and scaped the restrictive and arbit- ‘Tary Public Service Staff Rela- tions Act and the Public Service Mployment Act when the post Office was turned into a Crown Corporation by the federal 80Vernment. Meanwhile negotiators for : 1500 equipment repair and ser- ie Workers, represented by the ‘Fublic Service Alliance, (PSAC), recently accused Canada Post of ‘‘dragging its feet’? in its talks with the union. Declaring his members were ready to strike if given no other option, Denis Gagnon president . of the: PSAGC’s. Union of Postal. Communication Employees blasted management for ‘‘show- ing no co-operation on the signi- ficant issues of job security, which means a no layoff-clause, a no contracting-out clause, preservation of the letter of understanding on (job) classifica- tion and a national rate for all employees.” Gagnon said Canada Post pays all other postal workers one coun- try-wide pay rate and his mem- © bers are entitled to the same. He added that on outstanding items like vacation leave, shift and weekend premiums, UPCE members are asking to be raised to the same level of benefits al- ready enjoyed by the other bar- gaining units at Canada Post. Alberta labor urges aid for SA unions EDMONTON — A conference on apartheid in South Africa, co- sponsored by the Alberta Federa- tion of Labor, called on trade unions to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the South African Council of Trade Union this year. About 210 people took part in the two day conference, Jan. 18-20, billed as: ‘“‘Southern Africa and Apartheid — Strategies for ‘Change’’. Conference moderator and AFL president Dave Werlin call- ed the gathering ‘‘a great success that will mark a point of intensi- fication of the struggle against apartheid in Canada, particularly in Alberta.” The conference was also spon- sored by Citizens Against Racism and Apartheid, Canadian Univer- sity Services Overseas, (CUSO), and the University of Alberta Chaplaincy Association. The two-day meeting explored the multi-faceted aspects of the fight against apartheid and the breadth of forces drawn into the struggle. There were workshops on the role of the trade unions, women, the churches, and the front line African states in the struggle to beat apartheid, as well as one on Canadian complicity in upholding the apartheid regime. The conference also endorsed resolutions reaffirming full sup- port to the African National Con- gress and the South West African Peoples Organization (SWAPO), as well as calling on unions to set up SACTU support committees in their locals. The participants were address- ed by a broad range of speakers, including F.K. ‘Ruhinda, Tan- zania’s High Commissioner to Canada; Yusuf Saloojee, ANC chief representative in Canada; H.P. Askeeke of SWAPO; Linda Freeman of Carleton University; Joanne Naiman, Canadians Con- cerned About Southern Africa, and Pat Clancy of the United Auto Workers. The ANC’s rep- resentative to the United Nations was another featured speaker. “The conference also came out strongly for pressure to be put on the Canadian government to act on UN resolutions calling for economic and other sanctions against South Africa,’’ Werlin said. ‘“‘We called for Canada not only to support UN resolutions in that regard, but also condemned Canada’s ‘“‘two-track”’ policy of — supporting resolutions, then doing nothing in the way of prac- tical initiatives to bring pressure to bear on the apartheid regime.”” i Labor Briefs Strike continues at Nfld. Tel ST. JOHN’S — After more than six months on strike, New- foundland’s 835 striking telephone workers gave management a resounding ‘‘no’’, Jan. 17, to a puny contract offer. Belying Newfoundland Tel’s claim that the strikers were being manipulated by ‘‘mainlanders’’ from the Communications Workers of Canada the three CWC units overwhelmingly re- jected the contract proposed by the company. Clerks rejected it by 92 per cent, technicians by 94 per cent, and operators by 96 per cent. The strike began last July 5 when the members of CWC Local 410 struck the Bell Canada subsidiary over demands for im- proved job security, protection from the adverse affects of tech change, and standardized benefits for all three groups bargaining a new pact. The last company proposal maintained the current inequality of benefits at the expense of the clerks, who as a group only joined the union in January 84. Newfoundland Tel’s bid to freeze the inequalities in benefits and its demands for concessions from the other groups lie at the root of the strike. , Wages for the striking telephone workers lag far behind their counterparts throughout the rest of the Canadian telephone in- dustry. Operators in Ontario and Quebec make more than $100 a week above their Newfoundland colleagues. Local 410 has been sustained throughout the strike by massive support from the national union and a provincial Coalition for Equality which unites the labor movement, community organiza- tions the churches, teacher and women’s organizations. A coun- try-wide strike appeal by the Canadian Labor Congress was issued at the end of November. The union returned to the bargaining table with Newfoundland Tel, Jan. 21. Brewery Workers seeking mergers TORONTO — The recent decision by Brewery Workers Union Local 304 to join the National Union of Provincial Government Employees, (NUPGE) highlights the 11,000-mem- ber union’s search for a larger union with which to merge its forces. In March, a special convention of the Canadian Union of Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers will consider offers to merge with either the United Auto Workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers or the Energy and Chemical Workers. Brewery workers president Gord Plenderleith has said the union has received offers from a total of seven different unions, but is only considering the three unions mentioned. Local 304’s decision to join NUPGE Jan. 20, followed its move - in December to split from the Canadian union. The Canadian Brewery Workers came into being about a decade ago when its U.S. parent merged with the Teamsters. Canadians opposed the move and opted to form their own organization. NUPGE, which also includes the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Ontario Liquor Board Employees Union as affiliates, represents British Columbia beer store work- ers. The second largest union in the country, NUPGE unites most of the provincial public service workers unions to represent some 240,000 members. Local 304 represents workers at Molson’s and Labatt’s brew- eries in Ontario, Laura Secord Co., and some 30 companies in Southern Ontario.:The national union is fighting Local 304’s decision to join NUPGE. It has moved to place the local under trusteeship, lodged a complaint with the Canadian Labor Con- gress against NUPGE accusing it of raiding and has brought **bad faith’’ bargaining charges against the breweries. Sask. labor condemns wage freeze REGINA — The president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labor, Jan.1 6 condemned a Tory provincial government plan to freeze wages in the public sector, citing the plan as more evidence of the Devine government's failure to bring Saskatchewan the _ jobs and prosperity promised during the 1982 elections. SFL president Nadine Hunt charged that workers have been victimized by wage restraint ever since Grant Devine’s Tory government took office and that real wages and purchasing power have dropped as inflation outstripped wage increases. ‘‘Now workers are béing told that a steady erosion of their standard of living is not enough’’, Hunt said. ““They must sacri- fice even more and accept no increases at all to help the govern- ment control its deficit. 3 “If the Devine Government’s billion dollar deficit had been created to stimulate the economy and provide jobs, workers might have some sympathy for their plight, but the deficit is largely a result of expensive election promises and gifts to re- source companies.”’ Hunt also rejected Devine’s argument that workers’ wages should be frozen because farmers have had a bad year. ‘‘Cutting back even further on-the purchasing power of workers at a time when farmers don’t have money to spend is a recipe for economic disaster in Saskatchewan’’, she said. H ot PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 30, 1985 e 7 A