Protest hits|
CN cutback’

More than 160 unionists turned out
last Thursday at the Canadian Na-
tional station to join the Canadian
Brotherhood of Railway, Transport

_and General Workers in protesting
the proposed cutbacks by CN ex-
press which would result in the loss
of some 1,200 jobs. Among the
speakers were CBRT regional repre-
sentative Bill Apps (right); Bill Clark,
president of the Telecommunica-
tions Workers; representatives of
CBRT locals in Vancouver,
joops and Victoria; and Keith Gra-
ham from the B.C. Federation of La-

. bor. NDP leader Ed Broadbent also
spoke to the rally, blasting the fed-
eral government for “handing out
$400 million to Imperial Oil while cut-
ting back on an essential public ser-

vice.”

Kam-

Kennedy
new head
of VDLC

Frank Kennedy, secretary-

treasurer of the International
| Longshoremen’s and Ware-
'housemen’s Union, was ac-

claimed as the new president of
the Vancouver and District
Labor Council, succeeding In-
ternational Woodworkers
delegate Syd Thompson who
stepped out of the elections this
year after serving 12 terms.

Thompson, an officer of the
60,000-member labor council
for the past 21 years, had been
president since 1969.

There were several other
changes in the council executive
during this year’s elections
although the only contest saw
Ironworkers delegate Des
Szakal win 96-25 over Laborers’
delegate Bill Hudson for the po-
sition of chairman of the public
relations committee.

The new executive members
are: Ist vice-president, Doug
Evans, IWA; 2nd vice-
president, Colin Snell,
Carpenters; 3rd: vice-president,
Opal Skilling, Office and
Technical Employees;
secretary-treasurer, Paddy
Neale, Hotel Restaurant and
Bartenders; chair, organization
committee, George Hewison,
UFAWU; legislation commit-
tee, Tom Kelly, CUPE; public
relations, Des Szakal; grievance
committee, Dolly Storey,
TWU; education committee,
Walter Jacobs, Marineworkers
and Boilermakers Industrial
Union; metropolitan advisory
committee, Dave Martindale,
Bakery Workers; credentials
committee, Phyllis Webb,
Postal Workers.

In other council business,
delegates voted unanimously to
condemn the action of the pro-
vincial cabinet in releasing 8,240
acres of land from the
agricultural land reserve.

One of the parcels of land
released, 340 acres owned by
Social Credit supporter George
Spetifore, increased in value by
amassive $50 million as result of
the release.

“1 don’t think there has ever
been a more blatant example of
political patronage,’’ countil
secretary Paddy Neale told the
meeting.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 23,.1981—Page 12... ..

As these lines were being written,
some 160 Port Coquitlam civic em-
ployees, membrs of the Canadian
Union of Public Employees
(CUPE), were on strike, in support
of a wage demand to give them par-
ity with the rates enjoyed by the In-
ternational Woodworkers of Am-
erica.

Another 10,000 municipal em-
ployees in the Greater Vancouver
Regional District, including clerical
employees, outside workers and
firemen are also seeking substantial
wage increases in their new collect-
ive agreements.

Close to 5,000 members of
CUPE in North Vancouver, Delta,
Richmond, New Westminster and
Burnaby are demanding parity
with the IWA in a one-year con-
tract. According to CUPE spokes-
men, their union would consider a
two-year agreement if there was a
cost of living adjustment clause

(COLA) in the package for the sec- .

ond year. Most of these locals have
successfully conducted strike votes
and unless more progress is made
soon in negotiations, more muni-
cipal workers may feel compelled
to strike. The independent Van-
couver Municipal and Regional

Employees Union, which repre-_

sents the clerical employees of the
City of Vancouver, is cooperating
closely with the CUPE locals.

Graham Leslie, chief negotiator
for the Greater Vancouver Re-
gional District’s labor relations de-
partment, is, according to my
sources, pushing a demand that
could provoke a strike. He is insist-
ing that the fringe benefit package
for CUPE and the VRMEU in the
Lower Mainland area be standard-
ized, according to a formula he has
presented. The provocation arises
from the fact that his formula, if
adopted, would mean a lowering of
standards for large numbers of mu-
nicipal employees. In effect, it
would be a wage cut under another
name.

The base labor rate in the CUPE
contracts in this area is now $8 per
hour. The lowest sawmill rate listed
in the current IWA agreement is
listed at $9.96 per hour, as of June
15, 1980. This means that CUPE
laborers would require an increase
of 24.5 percent to catch up.

Tradesmen working under the
CUPE contract now have a rate of
$10.52 an hour, as compared with
the IWA rate of $12.83 an hour (as
listed in the IWA agreement),
which is a gap of almost 22 percent.

One might ask why CUPE has
selected the IWA rates as a basis of
comparison. The answer you
would most likely get is that the for-

ee

est industry is the most important
industrial sector in the economy of
the province, in terms of direct and
indirect employment. It also em-
ploys the largest number of union-
ized workers. :

It must also be understood that
the major IWA collective agree-
ments, covering some 40,000
workers, expire in June of this year,
along with the major agreements

‘Comment

Jack Phillips

held by two unions in the pulp and
paper industry, with 12,000 mem-
bers. This means that even if
CUPE members went on strike in
Greater Vancouver soon and won
parity with the IWA, they would
find themselves behind the IWA
after that union completed its 1981
negotiations. That’s why CUPE’s
wage demand has been set high
enough to cover this situation,

CUPE and the IWA are not the
only unions going into contract ne-
gotiations this year. All in all, col-
lective agreements-covering 214,-
500 workers expire this year, com-
pared with only 163,000 in 1980.

Some of the other large groups
going into negotiations are:

Laborers, Teamsters, and Oper-
ating Engineers, employed by the
B.C. Roadbuilders Association
with 9,000 members; Meat Cutters,
Bakers and Retail Clerks in the
chain food stores — with 4,500
members; Hotel Workers with 12,-
500. members; Steelworkers at Co-
minco with 4,800 members; Fisher-
men and Allied Workers — 4,500
members; Longshoremen with 4,-
000 members and Hospital Em-
ployees with some 18,000 mem-
bers.

With the Laborers’, Teamsters’
and Operating Engineers’ agree-
ments expiring in February, the
agreements in the food industry in
March, the hotel agreements in
April, the Cominco and fisheries
agreements in April and the wood
pulp and paper agreements in
June, those agreements could be
the pacesetters.

Still to be settled is the dispute
between the B.C. Telephone Com-
pany and the Telecommunications
Workers Union, with 11,000 work-
ers involved. The agreement ex-
pired in December, 1979 and the
partial strike launched by the union
last October still goes on. Media-
tion talks broke off last week. This
dispute is a good example of how

the big employers in B.C. are de-.
termined to hold the line on wage

increases at a point close to or be-

low the rate of inflation.

Arecent, quarterly report by the
Conference Board of Canada pre-
dicted that wages will fall behind
the rate of inflation for the fourth
year in a row. The board predicted
that wages would increase by anav-
erage of 10.5 percent in 1981, while
inflation would rise by 11.7 per-
cent, on a cross-Canada basis.

William Hamilton, president of
the Employers’ Council of B.C. on
the other hand, is publicly com-
plaining that the current, average
rate of annual wage increase in
B.C. of 11.6 percent is too high.

The Employers’ Council holds
weekly meetings with the major
employers in the province. At these
meetings, information on the pro-
gress of current negotiations is dis-
cussed and informal guidelines are
set. The Greater Vancouver Re-
gional District’s Labor Relations
Department is represented at the
meetings. If past experience is a
yardstick to measure the situation,
Graham Leslie and his colleagues
will get every encouragement to
hold tough in order to settle at the
lowest possible figure. Big business
has been complaining for a long
time that settlements in the public
service are too high — in their opin-
ion. All the facts prove this is not so
— and that public employees are
still fighting to catch up to private
industry.

Every concerned trade unionist
must ask why is it that the B.C.
Federation of Labor is not holding
weekly strategy meetings of all the
unions going into negotiations this
year, in order to compare notes and
to work out an overall approach.

For example, if there was a gen-
eral strike of CUPE workers in the
Lower Mainland area (and this is a
possibility) then the provincial cab-
inet might invoke the Essential Ser-
vices Disputes act and order the
workers back to work. If that poss-

ibility were discussed now by the
Federation officers, along with
CUPE representatives and repre-
sentatives of other unions, it could
be dealt with in terms of an ov
strategy to make the maximum
economic gains for all unions going
into negotiations this year. What
should also be discussed is how to
help the Telecommunication work-
ers get a fair settlement. If this
strike is lost, it will be a defeat for
the entire trade union movement.
I would hate to see a situation

’ where the Lower Mainland muni-

cipal employees pulled all their
members out on Strike, were order-
ed back to work and accepted that
order. That would be followed by
mediation conducted by some high
level, ad hoc appointee, or possibly
by some form of compulsory arbi-
tration.

Of course, there would be those
who would then shout to the high
heavens that the only answer is to
grin and bear it, and elect an NDP
government next time around. In
the meantime, the municipal em-
ployees would lose millions of
dollars in wage increases they were
entitled to, and the restraint would

TRIBUNE PHOTO —SEAN GRIFFIN

spill over into other contract nego- ~

tiations during the year. It should
also be remembered that while the
defeat of the big business, Socred
government should be the goal of
every active trade union member,
the election of an NDP government
headed by Barrett would be no
guarantee in itself against strikers
being ordered back to work. When
the Barrett government enacted
Bill 146 in 1975, it ordered 60,000
workers in four, unrelated in-
dustries back to work.

In the last analysis, the trade un-
ion movement must depend upon
its own unity and militant action in
order to advance the economic in-
terests of its membership. Also, it
must maintain its independence in
relation to both the current provin-
cial government and any govern-
ment which is likely to succeed it.

Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive,
Vancouver, B.C. V6L 3X9. Phone 251-1186

Read the paper that fights for labor

Se clip wi niete-s eb. wwe wis 9 9-8 Bee 2e oe.

City or town .......-. +22 ee eeees Province. .... ye ea f
Postal Code ......... Ses :
lam enclosing:

1 year $101] 2 years $180 6 months $6 0
OldO New Foreign 1 year $12 0

Donation $

eat yr a ee

: 8