ary ONSIBLE 2 on PoverTs NOT Sy} yycHPLOYHENT svcting’ | art i i Unions. , demonstrating the unity necessary to Scrap Mediation Commission superficial,” one of the union Tribune eS* VOL. 31 No, 28 10c By NIGEL MORGAN ‘Labor Minister Peterson loaded the gun and aimed it straight at nine Building Trades unions as the Pacific Tribune was going to press this week. Return to work within ten days, and reach agreement on your contract within a 60-day ‘truce’, or face compulsory arbitration by Socred cabinet decree, that was the edict given representatives of nine building trades unions locked out for three months by the CLRA section of the Employer’s Council of B.C. Thus the stage was set for implimentation of the com- — pulsory arbitration features (Section 18) of the Mediation Commission Act, and fulfill- ment by the Bennett govern- ment of the all-out war on labor called for by the Employer’s Council of B.C. Ed Fay, Secretary of the B.C.- YukonBuilding Trades Council, lost no time in predicting after a meeting with Peterson, that “even if ordered, the workers will not go back to their jobs without agreements.’ Meanwhile a series of confer- ences of the Building Trades Council Lockout Committee, the B.C. Federation of Labor, and meetings of the unions involved in negotiations, have been called to work out strategy and save labor from the disas- trous consequences of compul- sory arbitration. Fay declared, ‘‘If we were told to appear before the Medi- ation Commission we would not do it. We have no respect for the members of the Commission.” Earlier last week the B.C. Federation of Labor had stated the major unions involved in bar- gaining will refuse to accept any further appointments or extensions ‘“‘which are deemed to be for the purpose of pre- venting the workers concerned from exercising their right to strike.” Locked out in the dispute are plumbers, carpenters, brick- layers. helpers, cement truck drivers, cement masons, oper- ating engineers, laborers, and heat and frost insulators unions. “During the next 60 days we are allowing collective bar- gaining to work,’’ Peterson said, “‘but the understandings is that even at the expiration of the 60- day period, we would not tolerate again a strike, or lockout, in this industry. We would have to move under existing legislation to see that such a lockout, or strike, does not take place again.”’ See BILL 33, pg. 8 fre Socred govern ment’s three- ee oration Commission has hh “into a useless and costly ‘ elephant which has lost he of the entire labor public, nt and most of the in eis Serving no useful purpose 8 poi ective bargaining except ae the atmosphere and Sera Public funds. It should be Pped without delay. Builan week the B.C.-Yukon Ing Trades Council, repre- Sent : : t ; whier® 18 international unions 7 ED) construction workers, ea Nded the government Riots the three-man commis- ‘ an remove the provisions’ from Pe sory arbitration Act € Mediation Commission ats aus Federation of Labor ee convention declared a Comatt, of the Mediation . Mission and decided that no at Uni ‘ ON will appear before it. This - aS a membership of” stand was reinforced recently with a declaration backed by the key industrial unions in B.C., that under no circumstances will they appear. before the Commission even if ordered too. Unions this week have followed this stand up by refusing to attend meetings at the offices of the Mediation Commision. The Commission is composed of Judge John Parker, Allistair Pollock, a former railway execu- tive, and Pen Baskin, a former ‘“Jabor’? man. The Commission was set up over a year ago and has worsened labor relations in the province. Last week Building Trades Council president’ Don O’Reilly and secretary Ed Fay, said after a meeting with the Media- tion Commission that they were astonished by the plush sur- roundings of the offices on the 2ist floor of the Board of Trade Tower. “They. were arrogant and PRINTED BY HORIZON PUBLICATIONS cers officials said, ‘‘there is no way they can bring labor harmony to this province with their arro- gant attitude.” They described the hearing room where the Mediation Commission have ‘‘three black chairs sitting up on a dais like thrones.’ They asked for a public investigation of how ~ much the Commission and its plush setup is costing taxpayers. The Mediation Commission was set up under the infamous Bill 33 which gave it unlimited powers including compulsory mediation and arbitration. Labor is strongly united in its condemnation of the Mediation Commission and in its demand that the Act which set it up be scrapped. “A return to free collective bargaining, with the scrapping of compulsory arbitration, limit- _ See COMMISSION, pg. 8 “You're on your own’ labor, industry told Sun Victoria Bureau VICTORIA—Premier W. A. C. Bennett warned in- dustry and labor Friday to stop lockouts and strikes eee because the government won’t do it for em. He said the provincial government will not use its labor legislation to end any existing work stoppages or the possible shutdown of the forest industry. ~ e eee WHAT CHANGED HIS MIND? In the above clipping from the Vancouver. Sun, which appeared early in the construction lockout, Premier Bennett said the government will not use labor legislation to end the dispute. At that time the CLRA wanted the lockout to continue. What changed in the meantime is that the lockout didn’t force the unions to give in. Now CLRA want government intervention and Bennett has complied. :