Members of fhe United
Fishermen and Allied Workers’

Union and the Native
Brotherhood of B.C. were com-
pleting ratification votes this
week for new wage and salmon
price agreements covering
fishermen, shoreworkers and
tendermen.

The vote, to be announced
Thursday, was expected to follow
the recommendation for accep-
tance advanced by the
shoreworker and tendermen’s
bargaining committees and the
ee UFAWU-Native

LABOR

SHOREWORKERS AT B.C. PACKERS PLANT . . . new one-year
agreement will give them an 8-cent-an-hour wage hike, im-
proved health and welfare benefits.

Brotherhood fishermen’s com-
mittee.

If the new pact is ratified, it
would be the earliest that a settle-
ment has been reached with the
Fisheries’ Association, which
represents the fish companies.

-Tendermen working on fish
packers will receive a nine percent
increase, boosting daily wage
rates between $9.09 and $10.62.
Tendermen currently receive bet-
ween $101 and $109 a day depen-
ding on vessel class.

The settlement package also in-

Adams strike report blasts
courts, RCMP, labor board

A report issued by the Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store
Union on the. Adams
= Laboratories strike has sharply
8 criticized the role of the courts,
= the RCMP and the Labour Rela-
tions Board, charging that the ac-
& tions of the three agencies ‘‘en-
6 couraged the employer to prolong
© the dispute.”’

The union, which waged a
tough 14-month strike to win a
first contract at the vitamin

FISHERMAN P|

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ff
5
5
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also emphasized that the strike
“shows the power and the need
for union solidarity...and shows

cludes new provisions for
severance pay as well as im-
provements in supplementary
wage rates, grub allowances and
health and welfare benefits.

Shoreworkers are to get a wage
increase of 85 cents an hour — the
base rate is currently $8.25 —
while tradesmen will get increases
ranging from $1.04 and 1.24. The
one year agreement provides for
increases in health and welfare
benefits.

The new salmon price agree--
ment imposes a cut in sockeye
salmon prices to 89 cents a pound
from last year’s minimum of

that there is no substitute for
hard-nosed collective action.”’

The lengthy report, which in-
cludes a detailed chronology of .
events beginning with the applica-
tion for certification in April,
1978, noted that employer op-
position to organization and the
presence of strikebreakers ‘‘are
not uncommon in strikes for a
first agreement.

“But what is uncommon about
the Adams strike,’’ it added, ‘‘is
the series of actions by the courts,
the RCMP and the Labor Rela-
tions Board...actions reminiscent
of the 1950’s and earlier (which)

Settlement seen in fishing industry

$1.05. All other prices will remain _
at 1979 levels except for chums
which will rise to 64 cents from
‘last year’s minimum of 62 cents.

UFAWU president Jack
Nichol said that the cut in sockeye
prices was dictated by the huge
run expected for Bristol Bay,
Alaska which, he said, “‘will upset
world markets.”’

The prices to B.C. fishermen
are also 80 percent higher than

. those paid to Alaska fishermen,

indicating the bargaining strength
of B.C.’s organized fishermen in
face of the general depression of
prices.

point out how heavily the legal |
process still favors the J}
employer.”’ - mea a
Even though injunctions were }
supposed to have been removed }-
from the area of labor relations, it
said, ‘“‘our union was faced with 7
threeinjunctions...oneofthemex |
parte.”’ :
In addition, six strikers and the
union itself were convicted of
contempt of court and subjected
to heavy penalties by Justice Mur- 9
ray, the same man why, in 1966, 9
had sentenced Paddy Neale, Jeff |
Power and Tom Clark to sik |
months for defying an injunc-—
tion. Z
The report declared: ‘The
sentences against the Adams
strikers are unequalled in recent F
years. They represent a serious at- §
tack on the rights of all workers.” |
It also stated that the RCMP |
“routinely...played a biased role
in support of management.” The
policy agency only conceded that
it had “‘erred’’ in handling the |
strike after many complaints”
from the labor movement. a
The actions of the LRB also 7
weighed against the union, the
report said. It took weeks to res-
cind decisions that had been made
hastily, and in one case, levelled |
‘‘a_ vitriolic attack’? on the
RWDSU in ruling on a decer-
tification application.

_. Bargaining on pensions next on the agend

The public rallies held by the
B.C. Government Employees
Union and the B.C. Federation of
Labor to protest the new pension
legislation by the provincial
government were an outstanding
success.

The campaign across the pro-
vince culminated in two. giant
rallies in Vancouver and Victoria.
The Vancouver protest drew some
4,000 people and the Victoria
demonstration on the grounds of
the legislature drew some 6,000
people. What was most significant
about these rallies was that the vast
majority of those who participated
were provincial government
employees who took time off from
work to demonstrate.

The action that triggered the
demonstrations was the decision of
the provincial government to in-
troduce changes to pension legisla-
tion without consulting the unions
directly involved. Some 140,000
public sector employees. are
covered by pension plans under a
provincial government agency and
these plans are not subject to the
collective bargaining process.

Those affected include provin-
cial government employees, ferry
workers, employees of the In-
surance Corporation of B.C., tran-
sit workers, municipal employees,
fire fighters, policemen, registered
nurses, hospital workers and
teachers. '

Two days after the huge rally in
Victoria, the provincial govern-

_ment announced that it had re-
quested the directors of 'B.C.
Hydro to placea ceiling on the cost-
of-living adjustments for pen-
sioners under the Hydro pension
plan. Universities minister Pat
McGeer, who is also a Hydro direc-
tor, explained this move, saying
that ‘‘everyone in the province has

to be treated alike.’”’ It should be
noted that true to form, the Socred
government did not consult the
unions representing the 9,000
employees of Hydro before mak-
ing a “‘request’’ to the Hydro direc-
tors. In this case, a request is tanta-

mount to an instruction.
It should also be noted that the
announcement on the

government’s intention in respect
to the Hydro pension plan came
after a meeting between members
of the cabinet and leaders of the

LABOR
COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

B.C. Government Employees’
Union, which took place as a result
of the Victoria demonstration.
What was discussed at the meeting
was not disclosed up to the time this
article was written.

As reported in the Tribune May
30, the main demands of the pro-
test rallies were: ;

e Withdrawal of the pension
legislation;

e Government consultation
with the unions directly concerned;

e An inquiry into the. pension
plan investment policies;

© Negotiation of pension plans
as part of collective bargaining.

The last demand is, in my opi-
nion, the key demand. Pension
coverage is so vital to the 140,000
employees directly concerned that
it amounts to a denial of natural
justice to keep it outside the scope
of collective bargaining. The
government at present is free to
consult or not consult with the
unions, and is free to change the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 27, 1980—Page 12

terms of the plan without regard to
the wishes of the employees, simply
by introducing amendments to ex-
isting legislation.

The concept that pension plans
(including the level of contribu-
tions for those employed and the
extent of pensions for the retired)
must be the subject of collective
bargaining is now gaining wider ac-
ceptance among public employees
in B.C. as a result of the protest
rallies. :

For example, a circular dated
June 6, 1980, was posted on
hospital bulletin boards by the in-
dependent Hospital Employees’
Union which has more than 20,000
members. The circular informed
members that the HEU was part of
the Municipal Employees’ Pension
Committee, along with the follow-
ing unions: Canadian Union of
Public Employees; Policemen’s
Union; Fire Fighters’ Union;
Registered Nurses’ Association of
B.C.; Health Sciences Association
and the Municipal and Regional
Employees Union.

Out of this group, only CUPE
and the Fire Fighters belong to the
B.C. Federation of Labor. The re-
mainder are independent unions.

This committee was formed to
“advise” the provincial govern-
‘ment on pension matters and has
been in existence for many years.

Significantly, the last paragraph
of the circular indicated that the
committee was in some measure of
agreement with the government, as
follows: |

‘“‘With respect to the proposed

legislation to control indexing of.

pensions at eight percent or less, the
committee, including HEU’s
nominees, have agreed in principle
with such proposed legislation but
is seeking some further clarifica-
tion.”

However, on June 19, after the
provincial convention of the

Hospital Employees’ Union, Jack
Gerow, business manager, an-
nounced that the convention had
decided to press to make the pen-
sion plan an item for collective
bargaining. I am informed that a
similar position was adopted by the
recent provincial convention of the
Canadian Union of Public
Employees. All delegates to the
Kelowna convention participated
in the protest rally in that city.

Also, the unions representing
Hydro employees have expressed
concern over the intention of the
government in respect to their pen-
sion plan.

It was in this setting that the
Public Sector Committee of the
B.C. Federation of Labor was
scheduled to meet this week in
order to evaluate the campaign to
date and to plan the next moves. |

As far as the main metropolitan
centers were concerned (Van-
couver and Victoria), those who.
participated in the stop work pro-
tests were overwhelmingly from the
B.C. Government Employees’
Union and the B.C. Ferry and
Marine Workers’ Union. I am
hopeful that the Federation will be
able to devise a program of action
that will lift the struggle to a new

*

level by involving all or a
part of the other public .
employees, irrespective of affil
tion, and with the unders
and support of unions in
private sector.
When conventions like the
cent CLC convention call fot @
widening of the scope of coll
bargaining, it should be incum
upon the affiliates to apply those
decisions in their day-to-day wor
I suggest that the issue of
pensions negotiable is a very
one, in terms of fighting to ext
the limits of collective bargaining.
The Socred government 18”
prepared to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars of the taxpa!
money to subsidize the delivery
our coal to Japan, to the d
of industrial development in B:
But it is not prepared to s L
small percentage of that amount to —
guarantee adequate pensions for
public employees. This, after
investment of the pensions fundsat
sub-standard rates of interest for
many years, should prove tO
public employees that the de
to withdraw the pension bill is fully
justified. It should also prove that
the Socreds are not governing 12
interests of the people.

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