Inco strike may be turning point for Cana

One month on the bricks at Inco, and as Steelworkers’ Local 6500 president Dave Patterson says in this exclusive interview with the Tribune, morale is high among the strikers in a battle which could

become the most significant strike of the decade.

Tribune — How is the morale and determination of the strikers? Patterson — That 61% that voted to reject the agreement was fully aware of the consequences of re- jecting and of the possibility that, if there was going to be a strike, it was going to be a long and bitter one.

The morale is good. Even the 39% that voted to accept are sup- porting the strike. A lot of people are just fed up with Inco, and a lot are still stunned about the offer and how cheap the company was. Tribune — Obviously Inco work- ers face one of the toughest strikes seen in Canada in a long time; how has the solidarity be- hind the strikers been developing in the labor movement, and the community? Patterson — The response has been good so far, even despite the fact that no appeal has gone out. We've received telegrams of sup- port from across the U.S. and Canada which indicates that a lot of people have their eye on what’s going on. It’s going to be a major battle and a major victory for Canadian labor if it’s won.

You see a lot of small mining companies in the Canadian Min- ing Association looking at the strike and saying it’s the major development of the 70s. Possibly, it might develop into the major strike of the decade in terms of what is going to happen to collec- tive bargaining.

This might be the strike that turns everything around. Tribune — The media has tried to pit young workers against the older guys, saying the bulk of the 61% strike vote came from young workers. Is there just as much de- termination to win the strike by the guys with 20 and 30 years experience as there is by the younger workers?

Patterson — Look, when the

layoffs took place Inco said we shouldn’t worry too much about them because the majority of those guys were all young.

It doesn’t matter what happens in any major labor dispute there are always scapegoats. What people need to remember is that the guy who’s got 20 years service is no different than the guy who’s got five.

The 20-year man is looking to get out of the industry, he wants a good pension plan. The guy with five years is looking at the com- pany and saying: ‘‘I want job sec- urity. If I don’t have it there’s not much sense in me staying.”’

The majority of the guys in our industry now have got three years. You can’t classify them as

_transient youth.

There are enough older people in this workforce who can re- member the days when there was no union. And a lot of those guys know that without the union representing them in this work- force they don’t stand a chance. You go right back to the 30s.

When Inco comes out and starts attacking job descriptions and job security, and your senior- ity provisions, grievance proce- dure, etc., the older workers know that’s the type of fight they went through to get organized. They couldn’t have had the type of seniority provisions they have now, unless they took the com- pany on.

Every time there was a major dispute between Inco and the union, regardless of which union it was representing the employees, it’s been over issues that have been hard-fought gains.

The monetary issue at'this par- ticular time is not the important factor. The important factors this time are the pension plan, supplementary unemployment benefits, long term disability plan,

Steelworkers Local 6500 presi- dent Dave Patterson.

and all those things that contri- bute to job security and the wel- fare and benefit plan.

Tribune — Has there been any change in the union’s position now, compared to where the negotiating committee stood prior to the strike?

Patterson — We’ve been out fora month. There’s no way we’re going back to a one-year propos- al. It would be just plain stupidity and suicidal to say we’re going back to a one-year agreement then find ourselves in one hell of a lousy position next year, nine months down the road.

We go back to an agreement that says we’ve got to have job security. We’ ve got to have things rolling in the second and third years of that agreement that are going to benefit our members, and not put them in a precarious situa-

. tion.

Inco says they’ve got 10 months and they’re going to wait us out, then freeze us back to work. They might do that, but the strike will cost them too.

First, when there’s a strike they :

lose a lot of employees, because the workers are just going to take off. Secondly, they’ ve just blown every cent they’ve put into employee relations because

Manitoba liquor workers conducting first strike

WINNIPEG The 390 employees of the Manitoba Liquor Commission (MLCC) closed down the province’s 40 liquor stores Oct. 10 after having voted in favor of strike action at a meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

Bill Jackson, president of the Manitoba Government Employees Association (MGE- A), which bargains for the liquor workers, says that the main issue concerns money. ‘‘The strike concerms wages and little else. It’s crystal clear that for the past five years we've had restraint. We've done our part. We don’t want to fall any further behind,’’ Jackson said after the strike vote had been taken.

He also said that Manitoba Liquor Commission employees were now the lowest paid in Canada. The strike marks the first legal work stoppage of MLCC workers. Two years ago MLCC workers staged rotating strikes to protest an AIB wage rollback. PACIFIC E

The workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1, 1978. Since they still fall under AIB controls, the union is asking for only a 6% for the first 12 months of the contract. The union is de- manding an 18 month contract with a 6% increase in the first 12 months and 11.3% in the next six months. The liquor commission is offering only a 12 month contract with a 6% increase.

**The commission's offer is ridiculous,” said a worker on pic- ket duty. ‘‘The 12 month contract would expire at the end of this year, so we would have to start

negotiating a new contract almost ~

immediately. If the last set of negotiations are any indication, we would then have to wait another nine or ten months before getting a decent increase.’’ The MLCC has stuck stubbornly to its offer despite the fact that a concil- liation officer, appointed by the provincial government supported the union’s position.

—Betober 20, 1978—Page 8

All liquor that is consumed in Manitoba goes through the MLCC. The provincial govern- ment gets $5.2-million a month in profits from liquor sales.

The general feeling in Manitoba

labor circles seems to be that the.

provincial Tory government’s hard line against liquor workers is only part of its efforts to keep wages in the public service as low as possible. Given present levels of inflation, the wages of most provincial | government employees are actually declining each year despite nominal wage increases.

Georgia Falzarano, a Winnipeg teacher, was reported in the Win- nipeg Tribune saying she was sympathetic to the liquor com- mission workers, even though a strike would inconvenience her. ‘The teachers were held back to a 6% increase by the AIB guide- line and someone has to break that kind of low increase, even ifit takes a strike to do it’’, she said.

dian

bucks. Thirdly, after this is all

labor

they’ve proven that they aren’t interested in the etnployees, they’re just interested in the

over they’ ve still got a community here...

The community hasn’t seen Inco take anything but wealth out of this area. Inco’s raped the land, the people, the economy, the country, and now they’re saying: “Because of our Guatemalan op- erations, and our Indonesian op- erations we’ll liquidate. Just try to take us on.”’

Well, people have taken on larger corporations for a lot less. It’s going to be a tough strike. It’s not 40 below zero yet, but when

% | the temperature starts dropping,

and those buildings start freezing, everything out there in the mining quarter is going to be frozen up. And, that ain’t a pleasant sight.

You know, half of those yo-yos and time keepers they’ve got pushing pencils at Inco as bosses couldn’t run a mine. They don’t know anything about it.. The only people that can run a mine are those guys. that are on strike. Tribune — What kind of support have you been getting from the community, and from across the country?

Patterson — The expression of

solidarity with the strikers from this community is quite simple to understand. The majority of people in this town either know someone, or have. brothers, sis- ters, fathers, uncles who work for Inco. They’ve lost relatives — seen them die working for Inco. They have mothers, and aunties who are widows from Inco. They look at it and say: ‘‘God, how can a company that bloody rich treat their employees like dirt?’’

The people of Sudbury are pretty proud of their heritage. The labor movement in this town is one of the hardest fought labor movements anywhere.

Small businessmen know they can’t make it without the guys at Inco. Also, the wives’ support committee is certainly a plus factor.

The women in this town work for Inco just as much as the men do. They make the lunchpails, wash the clothes — they see their husbands come home — they’re sometimes notified they have to go to the hospital, their husbands have been hurt in a mining acci- dent. They have to get up in the morning with their husbands when they’re going in on early days — 5:30 a.m., and when its 40

below.

Those wives have said: ‘‘Look, the only way we’re going to win this strike is to stand behind our husbands.”’ They’ve said: ‘‘The only way we can beat this thing is to get together collectively and decide: this is how we can stretch a meal; or, we’ll have to pool our money together and go out and buy in ‘bulk to save money.” That’s pretty healthy.

We had a group of university students last Thursday (Oct. 5) who blitzed the entire Sudbury region with the Sudbury support committee. \

Every time there’s a decision

made -by that company, they’re -

not just taking on 11,700 guys at Inco — they’re taking on their wives, families — everything.

In terms of the Canadian labor

nationalization.

_Tush of support all at one time

Dave Patterson, president of Steelworkers’ Local | 6500, on strike agains! the giant Inco Metals. in Sudbury, tells in this interview the inside — story of community, family and labor Solidarity behind the _ Inco strikers. And there’s no generation gap, he reveals. Next - week: Patterson talks about governments, — technology and

Perera eter etaier test Tad movement, we’re expecting !

start flowing in, and it’s just gO to be a constant stream. The help we can get is money. We have a hell of a financl® commitment on our hands and We have to pay out almost half a lion dollars a month just to keel the benefits going. There’s ™ way we’re going to let our peop sit out there with no OHIP cove! age, and no life insurance cove age. a Ifa person needs drugs, if he $” diabetic or suffers from cancel there’s no way that any of us C4! sit and look. This is 1978, not thé 1800s or early 1900s. . - Tribune — What would f 6500 consider to be a fair setU@ ment in the area of pensions? , Patterson — We have a number: targets to aim at. Algoma’s sitti} there, Stelco’s sitting there, the iron ore industry in Queb sitting there. In Quebec it’s 30 out. Looking at Stelco and / ma, Stelco has 35 and out as Algoma, but they wona red from retirement at 62 to Right now we’ve got. want retirement at 5 looking at over $700. - Look at it in terms economics to the guy v to retire. If he’s lookin a pension plan that produces month when he retires, 1978 and the cost. of living far, has gone up 31%. . What you’re actually saying that guy is: “‘OK retire. T: your pension at $460 and 31% right off the top” — that’s what he has to live on. He’s expected to take a pensid? now, on a pension plan thal worth one-third less than it waS) 1975. And that’s crazy. People i” ing on fixed incomes can’t be &* pected to survive out there in jungle with a pension plan tH doesn’t meet the poverty level: I look at these coupon clippe® and corporate agents like Job? McCready and J.N.. Cartel McCready’s pension is going. ie : be $75,000 and Carter’s $125,000

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