' ccs MMMUIANT TAT TIMER | | || LABOR There may be a settlement to the months- long Gainers strike in Emdonton. But in British Columbia, they’re staying out until the company get serious and bargains a contract. : That’s the word from Dave Cherrille, _ president of the B.C. Industrial Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers '_ whose members at three B.C. Gainers’ food _ plans have been out since July 14. | The 65 Gainers workers have refused to _ accept an agreement that didn’t include a clause allowing them to refuse handling products from the strike-bound Edmonton plant, owned by multi-millionaire Peter - Pocklington. _ “Bargaining here never had a chance to _ get off the ground,” Cherille told the Trib- - une, “We told them we would definitely not _ handle products from Edmonton. “But they’ve made offers to people here as recently as two weeks ago for the full those products,” he said. _ Edmonton workers voted over the wee- _kend to accept a pact that included the 'return to employees of the pension ' fund — which Pocklington had recently | won in a court settlement that overturned ' an Alberta Labor Relations Board ruling -—and a guarantee that the striking | employees would return to their jobs before _ any of the scab workers trucked into the | plant during the dispute were hired. __ The agreement, arrived at after the inter- vention of Alberta Premier Don Getty, also - included a company pledge not to penalize workers who face criminal proceedings aris- ing from picket line actions in which _ Edmonton police, including the riot squad, _ shepherded busloads of scabs into the plant. _ The agreement stipulates leaves of absence of up to one year for workers facing jail Sentences. But the pact, adopted by a 60.8 per cent _ vote in favor of acceptance, falls short of the UFCW’s initial aim of achieving wage par- ity with the rest of the industry in Canada. Under it, wages will be frozen at current levels for the next two years. After that, wage hikes of three per cent annually kick in q for the following two years. It means some | Gainers’ employees will have experienced ' five years of no wage hikes, since wages Were frozen and have subsequently fallen Well below the industry standard, in the 1984 agreement. Additionally, the company gets between $6 million and $10 million dollars in sur- pluses acquired by the pension fund. Support from the trade union movement Over the months of strike mushroomed, with a largely successful “Boycott Gainers mpaign resulting in the company s pro- ducts being pulled from the shelves of some ge supermarket chains, ‘and “adopt a Striker” programs initia and B.C. Gainers’ workers to ease the financial burden during the Christmas sea- n. In B.C., a refusal to handle Edmonton iners’ products has kept workers in mloops, Richmond and Victoria from ling their contract dispute. Sango lly : d s Ying pickets have do. and. UFCW In Chilliwack, members of U 430P were set to hold a rally in adian Armed Forces base on Al Crawshaw, financial secretary of the which represents employees of Fraser front of the Saturday. industry agreement — if they would handle Gainers workers are still on strike in B.C., says UFCW Valley Foods at plants in Sardis and Chilli- wack, said the rally, which he said would have drawn between 75 and 100 trade union- ists, was called off when news of the tenta- tive pact was announced. Canadian Forces bases in Chilliwack and Esquimalt were the target of protests after the federal government, in a move many call pure political interference, signed con- tracts with Gainers to supply the bases. Crawshaw in an interview credited the Gainers support action with increasing the militancy of Local 430P members and uni- fying its ranks. He noted that members had recently voted unanimously to increase their union dues by $2 per week to support the Gainers strikers. He pointed out that Fraser Valley Foods is owned by another multi-millionaire entrepreneur, Jimmy Pattison, who recently closed the company’s Haney plant, laying off some 300 workers. “That’s why there was so much about Pocklington. We wondered, is the same thing going to happen to us somewhere down the line.” The local also successfully reversed a company practice of handling South Afri- can products, Crawshaw reported. While the Alberta strike is settled — over the objections of some Gainers employees, who say greater gains could have been won since they had the solid backing of the Can- adian Labor Congress and the Alberta Fed- eration of Labor — the B.C. strike is still on, UFCW and B.C. Federation of Labor leaders stress. , “As far we’re concerned, picket lines are still up and the boycott is still on. It will stay that way until we get a settlement here,” said Cherrille, who said he is waiting for a call from Gainers management. Cherrille reported that the company “has been going behind my back,” in setting meetings with individual workers and promising the industry standard — which would include 51 cents wage and benefits increases in the first year, and 52 cents in the second year — if they handled Edmonton products. “T don’t know what position the com- pany will take now that the Alberta strike has been settled, but if the offer was there two weeks ago, it should be there now,” he said. B.C. Fed secretary-treasurer Cliff And- stein said Dec. 15 that the federation’s “hot” declaration of Gainers products still stands. He said the B.C. Fed is encouraging its affiliates to increase the pressure on Gainers _ by “adhering strenuously” to the boycott. Season's Greetings Peace, Unity and Jobs in "87 from the officers and members Ken Georgetti, President CS STUUUANUUUUAUUUUULUVEAUUUEQQUEEOOUEOOUUROOUEEAUHUULEOOAOEUAUONEQUEOAUEEOUUESUUEOAUUGAOSUOUOEOUAUUEOGOEREOUEGGOOEOOOEUOOUEOODEROSOREEOUOUOOOREOOEASOOLE GAINERS PICKETS...t continue in 1987. hree plants in B.C. still on strike. UTR May the spirit of the International Year of Peace Cliff Andstein, Secretary- Treasurer ee ee ee TTL all r Sea son’s Greetings thope fora | ul New Year — ® mn Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1004 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 17, 1986 « 3