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wen} 6 ae BILL ZANDER .. war danger.

. Carpenters president calls on labor movement to get angry over’

Build up anger over interest rates, Carpenters meet calls

Although building trades unions remain outside of the Canadian Labor Congress, the B.C. organization of the Carpenters’ Union has pledged its full support to the CLC’s mass demonstration called for Nov. 21 in Ottawa.

High interest rates, federal government policy and a call for a militant economic and _ political fightback by the labor movement were the keynotes of a speech by Bill Zander, president of the pro- vincial council of Carpenters, to the union’s B.C convention Oct. 22.

Zander called current rates ‘“‘usury and robbery’’ and citing France’s example called for the na- tionalization of banks for their ‘‘ir- responsibility’.

‘‘We have been to damn nice about this,”’ he said, calling on the labor movement to join with those who are angry because of the threat to their homes .

“Together with the rest of the trade union movement, we will build and build on that anger until we have support and enough

momentum to put those policies and the politicians who support them out of business for good.”’

Zander committed the union to an all out effort to support the CLC demonstration in Ottawa and a supporting demonstration in Van- couver called by the B.C. Federa- tion of Labor for a week later.

Although there has been a strong employment picture in the B.C. construction industry over the past year, the high interest rate policy of the banks and the federal govern- ment will create widespread unemployment like that of two years ago, unless policies change now, he predicted.

In addition to the general eco- nomic slowdown caused by interest rates unions will also be forced to up their demands at the bargaining table, Zander said. Between inter- est rates and the oil pricing agree- ment between Ottawa and. the provinces, wages will have to in- crease by 50 per cent over the next three years to keep pace, he said.

A majority of the political reso-

lutions before the convention were -

CLC plane set for Nov. 21

The Canadian Labor Con- gress has chartered a plane to take B.C. unionists and others to the Nov. 21 demonstration in Ottawa against federal govern- ment economic policy.

There are 117 places on the plane, available on a first come basis. Cost for the flight is $330.

The plane will leave Vancou- ver on the evening of Nov. 20 and return Nov. 21 immediately after the demonstration.

Those wishing to obtain a seat on the CLC plane should immediately contact the CLC office,

In Vancouver, COPE alder- man Bruce Yorke, -filed a notice of motion in Vancouver city. council to endorse the demon- stration and to send mayor Mike Harcourt to the demon- stration to represent the city. The motion will be debated Nov. 3.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 30, 1981—Page 12

concerned with the issue of peace and disarmament and Zander also gave emphasis to the subject in his opening remarks. ‘‘Since the elec- tion of Reagan inthe U.S, there has been a determined campaign to es- calate the arms race and convince people that a nuclear war is win- nable,”’ he said. ‘“The trade union movement has an admirable record of campaigning for peace over the years. But as the hawks gain more control in the U.S., the threat of a nuclear holocaust becomes greater and greater. We must be conscious of the fact that the campaign for world peace and for complete nuc- lear disarmament deserves more of our attention.”’

On the CLC-building trades split, Zander reaffirmed the union’s opposition to.the forma- tion of the Canadian Federation of Labor and called for a new round of negotiations to bring the trades back into the CLC.

Yhe CLC-building trades dis- pute is tied up completely with the issue of Canadian autonomy for the Canadian sections of building trades -international unions, he added. ‘‘This split was rammed down our throats by our interna- tional. When we are disenfranchis- ed in our own country, then we have a fight on our han

The Carpenters’ convention adopted a nine point collective bar- gaining program which could play a key role in setting thescene for ne- gotiations with the construction in- dustry in 1982.

The program includes:

@ Building trades unity through the re-establishment of the joint bargaining council;

@ Carpenters’ unity achieved through co-ordination of bargain- ing with carpenters in the four western provinces;

- @ A substantial wage increase not only to catch up with inflation, but to ‘‘improve living standards,”* protected by a COLA clause;

@ Parity between the top wage paid to carpenters and other trades in the construction industry to end rivalry i in negotiations and the play- ing off of one trade against an- other;

@ A reduction in the hours of work, preferably by the week;

@ Increased statutory holidays including May Day, and an in- crease in the current 12 percent holiday pay provision. ;

; interest rates,

” TRIBUNE PHOTO—FRED WILSON

Kinnaird hits neutral tone

before trades|

Jim Kinnaird was in an awk- ward situation this week as he appeared before the provincial convention of the B.C. and Yu- kon Building Trades Council to makean impassioned appeal for labor unity.

Returning to his home turf in the labor movement, he had on- ly days before being restored to his elected position as president of the B.C. Federation of Labor after becoming a member of the tiny Association of Clerical and Technical Employees Union (ACTE).

What made the situation even more difficult was the fact that no progress in resolving the two-

| year-old dispute between the in-

ternational trades and the Cana- dian Labor Congress could be reported to the meeting.

Moreover,.with the absence of the Building Trades from the CLC, ‘‘a struggle for leadership and for policy” had emerged in the B.C. Federation of Labor. The trades were a ‘‘counterveil- ing force’? to other ‘‘large groups,’’ he said in an oblique reference to the IWA and the B.C. Government Employees, and their absence from this year’s annual Federation con- vention will make it ‘Shot and controversial.”’

The loss of the Building Trades from the Federation had meant a 20 percent reduction in per capita income which had hurt the organization, he said. But the impact of the split was even more dramatic on local la- bor councils which had in many cases lost their key leadership. The driving out of the Building Trades from the Federation and labor councils by the CLC was “ta regrettable action,”’ he said.

Reflecting his frustration, Kinnaird did not deliver the sharp criticism of the interna- tional building trades officers which he has in the past, and which many delegates were waiting to hear.

Instead he struck an almost neutral tone, criticizing both the Building Trades and the CLC, and suggested that both organi- zations are in need of constitu- tional reform.

“Decisions were harsh and rash,”’ he said. It was not poss- ible for the Building Trades to found the rival Canadian Feder- ation of Labor, but the CLC

was ‘‘adventurist’’ in attempt-

ing to bring the Building Trades under their wing. ‘‘It is a stand- off,” said Kinnaird. ‘Neither

| the Building Trades or the Con- ' gress call the shots.’’

In his only strong criticism of the international unions, Kin- naird said, ‘“There is something

- very, very wrong when people in

high places can split the labor

| movement without reference to | the rank and file membership

. You may. have withdrawn.

; per capita and split the labor | movement, but you haven’t got

the rank and file with you in

| this. Take a look.at your consti- | tution.”

However Kinnaird was also

critical of the’CLC for ‘‘brush- ing aside’ the constitutional re- view proposed earlier by the B.C. Federation of Labor as an alternative to removing the Trades from provincial and lo- cal CLC bodies.

He told the convention that the B.C. Federation would be proposing constitutional amendments itself at its Nov.

convention which could be a |

model for resolving the issue of representation at the CLC level. ‘‘Consider it a gesture which can be used at the CLC as well,”’ he said.

-However according to in- [|

formation received by the Trib- une the proposed constitutional changes will have the major ef- fect of vastly increasing the rep- resentation and influence of the B.C. Government Employees and the International Wood- workers of America in the B.C. Federation and will be hotly op- posed by smaller unions which feel that the changes would all but eliminate their influence within the Federation. As one trade union leader told the Trib- une, ‘‘If those changes go through, the IWA and BCGEU might as well send us a letter and tell us how it’s going to be, and we’ll stay home.”’

Kinnaird finished his address with a stinging attack on both the federal and provincial gov- ernments and called for new ne- gotiations between the Trades and the CLC to reunify the la- bor movement. After a standing ovation from delegates for Kin- naird, BCYT secretary Cy Stairs responded that the B.C. trades do support labor unity. ‘‘That ovation was not for an individ- ual, but for a principle.’’

In spite of Kinnaird’s appeal, the re-entry of the Trades into the CLC is notimminent, James McCambly, Canadian director of AFL-CIO’ Building Trades Council, told the Tribune in an interview at the convention.

‘We are no closer to an agreement that we were two years ago,” he. said, claiming that recent reports of compro- mise were overstated. The CLC has made a commitment to pro- pose changes in representation tothe next CLC convention, but the Building Trades are playing no part in formulating the pro- posals, he said.

McCambly also made it clear that the Trades have not re- thought any of their basic posi- tions. On theissue of local union representation, he maintained that local unions should not have the right to submit resolu- tions directly to a CLC conven- tion. On the matter of political affiliation, he said that ‘‘the Building Trades wouldn’t want to affiliate with any party. I’m from Alberta, and people vote Conservative there, and we have to deal with that government. The movement should be inde- pendent.’’ On the issue ‘of juris- diction in Quebec, McCambly disagreed that a ‘“‘special situa- tion’’ exists in Quebec.