Labour

Action is just the

Continued from page 1

they would be available for sale to Cana-
dian, U.S. or other buyers.

A statement issued by the department of
fisheries acknowledged that the new regula-
tions could result in “the export of large
quantities of unprocessed fish,” indicating a
major loss of jobs.

But now it is
becoming clear that
even those minimal
requirements — will
not head off U.S.
trade action. And
unless the federal
government can be
forced to take a j
stand to protect the f
Canadian fishery
and Canadian jobs,
Ottawa will continue
to capitulate in the face of the U.S. “fish
grab,” Nichol charged.

“All of us feel a sense of betrayal,” he told
union members at the rally. “‘The actions of
the federal government are diametrically
opposed to the commitments they gave us a
long time ago.”

He noted that the “final betrayal” came
last month when Crosbie admitted that
regulations on roe herring processing,
which were to be protected by the Free
Trade. Agreement, were also being aban-
doned in the face of U.S. trade threats.

If Canada continues to back down in the
face of possible unfavourable rulings before
GATT or before an arbitration board set up
under the FTA, there will be nothing left,
Nichol warned. “They’ll just tell us: we tried
but unfortunately, your jobs are gone.

“But that’s not good enough — we
demand protection,” he said to cheers.

B.C. Federation of Labour president
Ken Georgetti also slammed the govern-
ment’s record for “‘caving in ... as soon as
the Americans say they’re going to impose
sanctions.

“For once in my lifetime, I would like to
see a federal or a provincial government say
to the U.S.: if you retaliate against us, we’ll
retaliate against you.”

NICHOL

— UFAWU

Warning that Ottawa’s action would be
disastrous to UFA WU members, Georgetti
called on the Premier Bill Vander Zalm “to
come forward now and tell British Colum-
bians that he’s going to protect one of the
most vital industries we have in our
province — the fishing industry.”

He told the rally that the federation was
“100 per cent” behind them and pledged the

assistance of the labour central.
Native Brotherhood of B.C. executive

secretary Cliff Atleo, who had worked with
Nichol on the advisory committee, also
pledged the Brotherhood’s support to the
campaign.

Dawn Black, New Democrat MP for
New Westminster-Burnaby, read a state-
ment from B.C. NDP MPs warning that the
fishing industry “is under assault from the
Mulroney Conservatives and their Ameri-
can corporate allies.” :

“American interests want our herring.
want our salmon and want our jobs,” the
statement declared. ‘““We say no and the
time has come to reveal to the country the
treachery of the Conservatives and of the
Socreds on this issue ....

“The federal New Democrat MPs stand
in solidarity with you and will today carry
on the battle in Parliament until we get the
rights and protection you deserve,” Black
declared.

Nichol said the union intends to escalate

the campaign, together with others in the
industry and the labour movement to com-
pel the government to protect the fishing
industry and the 5,000 processing jobs that
go with it.

The union has demanded immediately
that the government live up to its commit-
ment to maintain its previous regulations
“until such time new ones are in place which
are satisfactory to the industry.”

“Today is just the beginning,” he
pledged. “We are going to work out, with
your help, with the help of the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labour, the help of the labour
movement all across this country — we’re
going to work out a program that shows the
workers of this industry are going to fight
back.

Citation ruled unfair

In a decision which documented the .

company’s union-busting efforts, the Indus-
trial Relations Council ruled Monday that
Citation Industries Ltd. was guilty of an
unfair labour practice when it attempted to
decertify the Carpenters Union.

The case had been brought against the
Richmond cabinet manufacturing com-
pany by former Citation employees who
had been approached with a decertification
petition. Carpenters Local 1928, which has
maintained a picket line outside the com-
pany for 41 weeks, was exempted from the
B.C. Fed boycott to pursue the case.

In its decision, the IRC panel found that,
in January, Citation vice-president Carl
Bodewin had approached an employee with
a decertification petition and threatened
closure of the plant if the petition was not
circulated.

The IRC panel also found that Bodewin
had invited two employees to lunch where
he threatened to close the plant if the union
was not decertified. He said that if the
workers agreed to decertify, the wage rates
and medical benefits in effect at the time of
the strike would apply to all employees.

The offer followed earlier bargaining ses-
sions with Local 1928 at which Citation
demanded wage cuts of $2.50 an hour. Since

12 ¢ Pacific Tribune, May 8, 1989

that time, the company has claimed during
bankruptcy proceedings that it could not
operate without major concessions.

Local 1928 business agent Dave Streb
said in a statement that the ruling “points
out what a farce these negotiations have
been.

“The company had no intention of nego-
tiating a collective agreement with Local
1928,” he said. “The employer’s primary
objective was to break the union.”

But that didn’t happen, he added, noting
that employees immediately brought the
decertification petition to the union.

Although negotiations with Citation
have ceased, said Streb, the ruling has
underscored the Local 1928 position that
the company was preoccupied, not with
contract bargaining, but with breaking the
union. Since the local struck the plant in
July, 1988, Citation has sought several
times to force the union out, including firing
all the employees.

“We are in a stronger position because of
the IRC decision and we are going to con-
tinue to fight until we get what we wanted
all along — a settlement,” he said.

Citation declared bankruptcy on March
15, 1989 and has been operated by a court-
appointed trustee, Clarkson Gordon Inc.,
since that time.

Campaign for choice is |

labour movement's, too |

My first trip to the Maritimes took me
to Halifax and Sidney, N.S.;’ and St.
John, N.B. and it certainly gave me a
better understanding of this country.

Part of this involved learning how the
left and working people are moving into
struggle down East. One of the most
important struggles facing Maritimers
today is the fight for women’s equality.

Dr Henry Morgentaler will open a
clinic in Halifax on June 1, 1989, an
action will give women in the Atlantic
provinces better access to abortion.

Nova Scotia has the highest rate of late
pregnancy abortions in the country,
which is directly due to the lack of access
to a safe medical abortion. Currently,
women from all over the Maritimes are
forced to travel to Morgentaler’s Mont-
real clinics.

The proposal to open an abortion
clinic in Halifax has brought swift, but
predictable action from the Buchanan
Tory government. It has introduced and
passed legislation that makes it illegal to
perform an abortion outside of a hospi-

Not to recognize this completely misses
the boat.

The experience of the pro-choice
movement in both Ontario and Quebec

has been that first, access must be won, ~ i

and only then will the government cover
the costs.

It is very clear that any support for |

Morgentaler’s clinic will be taking on the —
very formidable opponents of govern- —
ment, state, church, and the mass media.

The fight for women’s equality is one
of the most important struggles the
working people in this region of Canada ~

are waging. This struggle for choice has}
to be seen in the context of an overall |

struggle. —~

This was made clear at the last con-
vention of the Ontario Federation of
Labour which linked up the right to

choose with equal pay for work of equal |

value and affordable childcare. In this

way, the convention situated the right to |

choose in its proper place. It took away —
the emotional argument of the killing of —
the fetus which is the rallying point of

tal. This goes against last year’s Supreme
Court of Canada decision.

This will set up a classic confrontation
between the Tories and Morgentaler. At
the same time, a whole array of reaction-
ary forces are gearing up to fight the
clinic led by a very conservative Catholic
church.

Unfortunately, some of the people
you’d expect to be there at the side of
Morgentaler are not.

The most notable of these are the
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and
the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.
Their argument is that supporting the
clinic would be supporting private medi-
cine and this would be against the princi-
ples of the both the NDP and the trade
union movement.

Frankly, any argument that support
for the clinic is support for private medi-
cine is a cop-out. Morgentaler has on
numerous occasions offered to hand
over his clinics to any of the provincial
governments. He even offered his servi-
ces as a consultant to set up abortion
clinics in Nova Scotia, but the govern-
ment turned him down.

What is at stake in this struggle is the
right to access to a safe abortion for
women. At this time, Morgentaler

LABOUR
IN ACTION

most anti-abortion forces.

The fight for choice is essential to
achieving women’s equality and so is
directly linked to the fight against the
neo-conservative agenda. To deny sup-
port for the clinic is to end up objectively

supporting the Tories and the big busi- _ :

ness agenda.

The trade union movement has
learned lessons about and gained impor-
tant experience with coalitions from its
involvement with the women’s move-
ment in the fight for women’s equality. It
should be noted that over a decade ago
when Morgantaler first set up his clinics
in Montreal one of them was set up ina
union central to demonstrate the mass
labour support that his action had in
Quebec.

Pressure needs to be brought to bear
on both the Nova Scotia NDP, and the
Nova Scotia Fed from the left, from
trade unionists and from feminists to
bring them into this important fight.
Here I expect the newly established Can-
adian Autoworkers in the Maritimes,
along with the Postal Workers, to exer-
cise their progressive influence.

With both the NDP federally and the
CLC supporting the fight for choice as
part of a policy in support of women’s ©
equality, this pressure and support

represents the leading edge of that fight. should be forthcoming.
I
i
Gis UNE
H CU eeerummmmommmmmarncsc mes: Sow
| Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street
I Vancouver, B.C. V5K 125. Phone 251-1186
BY Nai8 a oe ee ae Ee bes vs ees ode ae eRe
: PC rae aise, es EE seins a g's otis nope oo 88
Porc teeter eter ee ee Poster GOdG: 5... bo. sno aa
J tamenclosing 1yr.$2000 2yrs.$350 3yrs. $500) Foreign 1 yr. $32 Oo .
| Bill me later 1 ~Donation$........ EE
foc oan es RD BE