The September convention of Region 1 of the International Woodworkers of America, representing 48,000 members in , _B.C., had its positive and negative

sides.

For example, it was positive that delegates left the convention at

signs calling for a boycott of all Canadian trade with Chile. On the other hand, we must record as negative the fact that outside of a special resolution on Chile, the only other resolution dealing with inter- national affairs to be debated was one giving full support to the noisy : and malicious campaign in support JACK MUNRO .. .. reflects in- Of the so-called Vietnamese boat creased membership concern People.

wma Joba, seepurces. The Vancouver Sun of

e e September 15 carried a photo of a Picketing

meagre audience of 300 people at a charity concert for the boat people e@ e@ e injunction condemned

in the 2,800-seat Orpheum theatre. The B.C. Federation of Labor

Only 80 people purchased tickets at $7.50 each and the remainder were last week wired labor minister Allan Williams condemning the in-

noon one day and paraded with .

admitted free of charge. The Sun terference by the courts into the

reported that the phone number of Vancouver’s refugee co-ordination

dispute between the Municipality of

Delta and the Canadian Union of

center was flashed on Vancouver Public Employees.

response was reported from benefit concerts across the country.

However, a line of contrasting

is using.

television screens during the show but one person at the centre

described the reaction as

“pathetic”. This same lack of

The courts issued an injunction type, about half way through the Sept. 24, on behalf of Rempel, news story, carried this message: owner of Haul-Away Garbage ‘‘IWA votes to aid refugees, page Disposal Company, severely Al12’’. limiting the number of pickets CUPE Local 454 can put up around the makeshift dump Rempel’s firm

According to the story, ‘“‘a solidified IWA’’ voted to aid Asian refugees. 4 “es ~ CUPE members. criticized the The report said that the resolu- decision, pointing to Rempel’s close tion was opposed by two or three ties with the right-to-work move- delegates whom it described as ment in B.C. Rempel and his members of the Communist Party brother, owner of a private concrete of Canada, who particularly ob- contracting firm, are leading jected to a section in the preamble members of the Independent Con- stating, ‘Many thousands of people tractors and Businessmens’ are being forced by government Association (ICBA). pressure to leave Vietnam.”’

Currently under contract to the Delta municipality, Haul-Away Garbage has been using land near Highway 10 in Delta that is private- ly owned by designated as a park area, aS a temporary dumping ground.

The injunction limits pickets to four at each of the five entrances to the dump. The municipal dump normally used by CUPE workers when unloading the garbage con- tinues to be used by Vancouver municipal employees, in line with the agreement reached between the two CUPE locals. :

**This is just one more instance of the courts’ encroachment on the jurisdiction of the Labor Relations Board,’ Federation § secretary- treasurer Dave MacIntyre charged.

According to the news story, Lyle Kristiansen who was an NDP can- didate in Kootenay West in the last provincial election, also opposed the resolution. He argued that it was discriminatory because it treated one group of refugees better than other refugees and immigrants to Canada.

From what I have been told, Kris- tiansen put Syd Thompson, presi- dent of the Vancouver local, in his place very neatly. Thompson, in the course of a demagogic speech in support of the resolution, implied that those who were opposing it were politically suspect. Krist- tiansen told the convention, ‘‘You all know where I stand politically. Unlike some people, I haven’t

Carpenters delegation

back from USSR tour

William Zander, president of the 15,000 member B.C. Council of Carpenters, said the Canadian delegation “thoroughly enjoyed”’ its 12-day tour of the USSR.

Guests of the Building and Con- struction Material Workers of the Soviet Union, the 13-member delegation headed by Zander and including Rick Ferrell, Bill Gannon, John Harper, Peter Maloff, Fred Scholz and Colin Snell, ‘‘visited several construction sites. We toured the second largest hydro and irrigation dam in the USSR at Nurek (Tajikistan) amongst others’’ Zander said.

‘*We saw education and training centres for trades people in both restoration and construction work,

and had the opportunity to visit a nursery school, sanitaria, and holi- day facilities for workers, trade union cultural centres,’” he added.

“What has been most moving during our visit has been the consis- tent appeal by our hosts for trust, mutual respect, friendship and peace between all peoples.”’

He added, ‘‘Our delegation agrees with the sentiments express- ed by our Soviet brothers and sisters and have pledged to take this message back to Canada. We welcome the opportunity to meet, develop cooperation, exchange ideas, in an open and friendly way. We are looking forward to our Soviet colleagues’ visit to Canada in 1980.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— OCTOBER 5, 1979— Page 12

changed.”’ This was an obvious reference to Thompson, a former member of the Communist Party who switched to the NDP during the cold war period.

Provincial NDP leader Dave Bar- rett. told the convention, “Thompson was once the leading radical in B.C. But Thompson hasn’t changed, society has caught up with him’’. We can assume from this accolade that Thompson is the kind of radical who is acceptable to Dave Barrett, which doesn’t place him very far to the left on the political spectrum.

On the positive side, the conven- tion passed resolutions calling for:

LABOR COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

@A committee to study shorter working hours and another to prepare for technological change in the industry. (However, critics of the administration maintain this could be yet another study with no action unless there is wide-scale pressure from the membership.)

e@Criticism of the industry for not living up to an agreement to in- denture new tradesmen apprentices.

e Fair hiring policies.

The contentious issue of the rate of pay for IWA tradesmen was defused, at least temporarily, when the delegates voted overwhelmingly for a resolution to hold a represen- tative conference of tradesmen to discuss their grievances. In the course of the debate on this issue,

Jack Munro, who has never been

‘known for elegant speech, said he resented being called ‘‘a fink, a double-dealer and a_back-door dealer and having to continually read it in the newspapers.”

While he didn’t resolution, he bluntly told the convention ‘‘the idea of a con- ference is not for me to get booted around by a couple of hundred tradesmen.”’

oppose the

A leaflet published recently by the Woodworkers Rank and File Caucus, based on Vancouver Island and made up largely of fallers, put another interpretation on the ques- tion of special occupational con- ferences within the IWA:

“‘It has been said that the [WA is one of the most democratic unions in B.C. However, the regional ex- ecutive ruled out of order two resolutions calling for tradesmen’s and fallers’ conferences anyway. The tradesmen went on strike, tied up some camps and mills for several weeks. Why? Because the leader- ship refused to call a conference and listen to the tradesmen’s com- plaints. ‘‘The tradesmen’s strike was an expression of the frustration the group has been subjected to due to the bureaucratic attitude of the leadership. Thousands of workers lost money due to this action. Who is to blame? The leadership!”’

The leaflet also issued a blunt warning to the tradesmen: ‘‘It looks as thought the tradesmen are mak- ing the mistake of forming their own organization. We know this is a mistake because the fallers tried it and lost. Going off into separate groups results in isolation from the majority of the membership which in turn, causes bad feelings. The fallers also found that their leaders became black-listed. Some of these people are still out of the industry with no hope of coming back in. We must see to it that this type of isolation does not occur again.”’

WA still needs action policie

Whether the WRFC will play a positive and viable role in the future remains to be seen and I hope to deal with that in another article. However, the warning against for- ming separate, structured organiza- tions within the IWA, or breaking away from the IWA, is very sound.

The jurisdictional dispute bet- ween the IWA and the B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council was disposed of by a resolution call- ing upon the IWA to meet with the Building Trades in an effort to work out. a jurisdictional agree- ment. This contradicted an earlier statement by president Jack Munro when he told Building Trades leaders to ‘‘go jump in the lake.”’

On a more positive note, Munro, in his presidential address, called for the defeat of the Tories for at- tacking medicare and for its pro- gram of more stringent cutbacks in unemployment insurance.

Reflecting the increased emphasis of the provincial NDP leadership in getting a better return for the peo- ple from the natural resouces of B.C., Munro made a strong state- ment: ‘‘We have given away our best timber, our most precious mineral resources...of incalculable value...and there isn’t a contract obligating anyone to provide a single job.”

When pressed for his solution to this complicated problem he sug-

gested tht legislation should b adopted to guarantee that th number of jobs would become thé subject of negotiations with thé production union involved in a ticular industry. Layoffs, argued, could then be controlled b these negotiations instead of com: panies having the arbitrary right tO order layoffs.

Irrespective of whether or nol Munro has the solution to the pro- blem, it is significant that he raised

over the exploitation of our naturé resources and also demanded t unions be given the right negotiate on the issues of jobs a layoffs. :

Allin all, it was a most interesting convention. Despite its obviou! shortcomings, the conventiol demonstrated that as the econom! and political crisis of capitalism deepens, the trade union movement! is increasingly compelled to ado} poitions in opposition to monopoly and the multinational corporatio

A stronger left in this union an@)— in the trade union movement as 4) whole would assist in developing better sense of direction and a more | precise articulation of the polici¢ that are required in the diffi period that lies ahead. A strong left would also be a positive fa in unifying the trade union mo ment around an action program

Women, youth first — on Ul chopping block

Continued from page 1

the legislation expected in this ses- sion, she said.

In a related matter, Federation secretary-treasurer Dave MacIntyre announced this week that a schedul- ed meeting between Federation of- ficers and the Tory caucus September 30 was cancelled when it was learned that the caucus had been instructed ‘‘to refuse to

' discuss anything to do with changes

in UIC regulations.

““We were led to believe that the Conservative caucus was interested in discussing openly with us any subject of concern to the B.C. Federation of Labor,’’ MacIntyre said in a statement. ‘‘It is clear to us now that they simply wanted to put on a public show for the media to try and convince people they could get along with labor.

‘‘The Federation has serious con- cerns about the UIC regulation changes, as well as other issues, but we refuse to be involved in a publicity stunt dreamt up by some caucus staff person.”’

CLC president McDermott was also critical of the manner in which the Tories are handling the review of the system. ‘‘The manner in which this consultative process is

being undertaken suggests that the__

government’s mind is already made

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up and that labor and business being brought in so government c@ say they were consulted,’’ he said 0 his letter to Atkey. ;

The review document suggest changes in regulations according three priorities: ‘‘priority issues ™ quiring early action’’, ‘‘issues quiring decisions within eightee™ months”’ and “‘issues requiring & amination over a longer tim frame.’’

The first priority area sugges” changes for claimants who quit Jo” or are fired for misconduct, “‘repeaters’’ and new entrants tO labor force, and. for pregn women.

The second priority area sugg' minimum insurability and ™ eligibility of fishermen.

The long term priority sugg' limiting ‘‘which types of employ ment are insurable under the PE | gram”’, and ‘“‘qualifying conditl of eligibility for benefit” and “’ level and duration of benefits.”

The Greater Vancouver Reg!® Committee of the Communist of Canada this week expre* alarm over the proposed cha ni and called on its membership 19 Greater Vancouver area to tur! in force to the Federation rally the PNE Gardens.

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