bee

The Vancouver and District
Labor Council was compelled
Tuesday to carry through the
suspension of the building
trades unions from the council,
an action which VDLC presi-
dent Frank Kennedy termed
“‘unfortunate.”’

Kennedy ~ told the council
meeting that among the reasons
the June meeting had been
cancelled was to seek a way
around the suspension ‘“‘but
finally we had no choice but to
seat the- building trades as
visitors only.”’

However, the council
unanimously called on_ the
Canadian Labor Congress to
reconsider its position of reject-
ing those buildings trades locals
which had sought to affiliate to
the CLC by paying per capita

The gruelling 14-month fight
by members of Teamsters Local
31 to’ win a first contract at
Stacy’s Furniture has ended —
with that first contract won.

A two-year agreement,
reached with the assistance of
the Labor Relations Board July
1, brings Stacy’s employees into
line with other people in the re-

tail furniture industry who have
collective agreements, Local 31
president Doug gee said
July 21.

There will be an oe
board wage increase of $3 an
hour the first year and $1.50 an
hour the second. Prior to the
strike, wages ranged from $4.30
to $5.50 an hour.

“We're glad to see it over,” a
jubilant Ernie Nial, business
agent for the local who led the
battle for a contract for the
seven employees at Stacy’s from
atin first months, told the

Continued from page 1
Tuesday: “‘It could be a long
dispute — the industry is digg-
ing Ty eg

Across the province, 2,200
postal workers entered the third
week of their country-wide
strike, sparked by the refusal of
the federal treasury board to
consider the terms of the con-
ciliation report as the basis for
negotiations.

Crucial in the report was the
recommendation for paid
maternity leave. .
| “It is clear that the govern-

ment wanted a postal strike and
|. it wants to make it a long one,”’
Evert Hoogers, president of the
main Vancouver local of the
Canadian Union of Postal
Workers said Tuesday.

“The government is taking
the same stand as the
Employers’ Council — in fact
the same as employers councils
across the country — to resist

said.
Hoogers was speaking to a

motion put before the Van-

couver and District Labor

the demands of workers,”’ he

Trades out of VDLC

through the provincial federa-
tion of labor, based on both in-

~ dustrial and craft locals.

Several building trades locals
including all the Carpenters
locals in this province, appealed
to the CLC June 17 to allow
those locals which wished to re-
main affiliated to the CLC to do
so by paying CLC per capita to
their respective federations of
labor. The CLC executive coun-
cil rejected the appeal, however.

The suspension of the
building trades from the VDLC
will force two members off the
executive board, Carpenters
delegate and council vice-
president Colin Snell and Iron-
workers delegate Des Szakal,
the chairman of the grievance
committee.

Stacy's contract won

“I'd like to thank everyone
for their help, including those
not necessarily in the
Teamsters,’’ he added, citing
the Typographical Union for
refusing to make up Stacy’s ads
intended for the Vancouver Sun
and Province and the Tribune
staff for support on the picket
line and strike coverage.

‘It was a strike which turned
ugly as picketers were “‘bump-
ed” by cars and, beaten up, asin
the case of retired Teamsters
organizer Norm Gillan, follow-
ing a verbal exchange with anti-
union owner, Arnold Silber.

As well as the wage increase,
the contract includes a sever-
ance pay clause, the union’s
health and welfare plan, and
recognition of seniority rights
for those returning employees
“back to the day they started
with the company.’

65, 000 out on strike

Council which condemned the
federal government for refusing
to consider the conciliation
report. ===

The motion, which also ex-
pressed solidarity with CUPW
and declared the councils op-
position to any back-to-work
legislation, was passed
unanimously.

Some 3,000 members of the
Hotel, Restaurant and

Bartenders Union, locked out at :

seven hotels which bargain in-
dependently of the B.C. Hotels

Association, were to vote

Thursday en a undisclosed con-
tract offer which: was expected
to be adopted.

But still to conclude a con-
tract are several thousand more
members employed by the

200-odd member hotels in the

B.C. Hotels Association.

Office and Technical
Employees, who work for the
Insurance Corporation of B.C.
remain on strike after voting 80
percent to reject a proposal that
po ee ape
arbitration.

2,300 members of the.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 24, 1981—Page 12 _

Policy i is still top priority |

in CUPE structure debate |

The Canadian Union of Public
Employees came into being in

- 1963, through a merger between

the National Union of Public
Employees (NUPE) and the Na-
tional Union of ‘Public Service

Employees (NUPSE). At its birth,

the union had 80,000 members.
Today, it has 257,000 members,
making it Canada’s largest trade

. union.

While CUPE has good reason to
be proud of its phenomenal
growth, the fact remains that this
18-year old giant is suffering from
growing pains, as indicated in my
two previous articles.

Four months before the 1963
merger convention, I wrote an arti-
cle for the Tribune which included
the following comment: :

“The act of merger will con-
stitute no more than a beginning.
From that day on it will be the
responsibility of every provincial
body, every local and every
member to make the national
union an effective instrument on
behalf of its members and labor as
a whole.”

At that time (June, 1963) NUPE
had some 7,000 members in British
Columbia, in 70 locals affiliated to
its B.C. Division. The Hospital
Employees Union, Local 180 (later
to become an independent union)
had 3,500 members and was also
part of NUPE, but it did not belong
to the B.C. Division. NUPSE had
its main membership base in On-
tario.

Even then, the question of what
degree of servicing the members
would get from CUPE was being
widely debated. In my article refer-
red to above I wrote this:

“Tn the'main, the smaller locals

~ outside of Greater Vancouver are

in favor of merger without reserva-
tion. As they see it, they will get
more service, in return for an in-
crease of monthly per capita from
60 to 85 cents.

“On the other hand, a number
of the.larger locals are opposed to
the increase in per capita on the
basis that they do their own servic-
ing through full-time or part-time
staff.’ ‘

With more than triple the
membership it had in 1963, it can
be said that CUPE has played a
positive role in improving the
wages, working conditions: and
benefits enjoyed by public
employees. It had also become a
force to be reckoned with in the
trade union movement as a whole.

In addition to CUPE the Public
Service Alliance of Canada,
representing federal government
employees, has come into being.
Today, it has 156,000 members.
More recently, the National Union
of Provincial Government
Employees was created as an um-
brella organization for provincial
government employees in eight
provinces. Today it has a member-

_ ship of 196,000.

Together, these three unions ac-
count for approximately 20 percent

of the membership in the Canadian .

Labor Congress, Canada’s major
trade union center. These unions,
along with other purely Canadian
unions in the CLC, have played an

important role in the struggle fora

greater measure of i
for the CLC and for increased
autonomy for affiliates with head

Offices in the USA.

However, while CUPE has
played a positive role both on
behalf of its membership and in the

SOAS fe Sa
z
@o

labor movement as a whole, thereis
a widespread feeling in that
organization that too,large a share
of the financial resources and the
paid staff are under the control of
the central office in Ottawa.
Almost every municipality,
regional government, hospital
board, school board, and library
board and university authority in
Canadais a creature of a provincial
government, directly or indirectly.

Labor Comment

nursing homes for both patien
and workers.
8) Special programs to meet th
needs of women workers.
9) The forging of a coalition o
public sector unions. |
10) A reform program for
CUPE within the CLC. |
The national executive board, in
seeking adoption of that program, —

Every local union of CUPE has to
deal with specific local, regional
and provincial problems, including

provincial labor laws. While there ~

are many similarities in the pro-
blems confronting civic employees
in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg,
Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and
Vancouver, there are many
dissimilarities (economic, legal,
political, composition and strength
of the trade union movement). It is
the opinion of many experienced
officers of CUPE locals in B.C.
that the provincial divisions,
district councils and local unions
should be given more real authority
in such vital areas as collective
bargaining, processing of
grievances, research and public
campaigns. To accomplish this,
they say, the lower bodies should

have a larger share of the dues.

dollar. In short, the union counter-
parts to local and provincial
governments should be transform-
ed into more dynamic bodies, with
the head office providing overall
co-ordination and specialized ser-
vices.

In my ‘ast article 1 closed by

pointing out that for working peo-_

ple, trade union democracy should
not beseen asa thing in itself, but as
the best means to generate
widespread involvement of the
membership around their own
needs and progressive action pro-

grams.

The 1979 convention of CUPE
adopted a 10-point action program
which can be summarized as
follows:

1) An economic program to ex=
tend the public service.

2) An organized fightback cam-
paign against public service cut-
backs.

3) A legislative program to win
full bargaining rights.

4) A special campaign to ex-
pand the right to strike.

5) A research and education
program on publiy sector financ-

ing.
6) Stepped up éfforts “against

PACIFIC

=—SUNE

Jack Phillips

_ ship involvement at the provincial

~ members in the recent past. We in-

~ employers have finally awoken

pledged to make a major effort to
implement it as speedily and effec- |
tively as possible. |
“Tt will ensure that the action!
‘program will be on the agenda for
discussion at all division and coun-
cil meetings. The board will issue a |
progress report to all locals, coun-
cils and divisions immediately
following each national executive
board meeting, with a final sum: |
mary report to the next nationa
convention.’
That convention will be held in|
September of this year. Those who»
maintain that the national offic
and its staff have assumed too
much power and authority in the
organization should demand an ac-
counting of how and to what extent”
this program was carried out, in-
cluding the question of member-)

regional and local level. :
The program closed with these
words:
“CUPE has now turned on the.
offensive. We intend to fight not.
just to protect the gains of our

tend to initiate a major expansion
of those rights. Government an

sleeping giant. They will live t
regret that they ever did so.”’

Now, less than two years later
we must ask why it is that the
largest division in CUPE, Ontario,
refused recently to endorse a pro
posal to increase the monthly per |.
capita to the national office? Is it
because they have no faith in t! :
correctness of the program? Orisit | -
because the program was never
taken down to the membership in a
fashion to inspire them to become
involved in fighting for it? Or is i
because the existing structure tend
to limit severely initiative and i
volvement at the provincial,
regional and local level? Or is it
because the existing structure does
not provide adequate service in
relation to money paid for service?
[hope the convention will bring thé
correct answers to the questions

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