LABOR

_ NAPE-keeping the line despite arrests

ST. JOHN’S — Neither the threat of jail nor the Peckford government’s repressive union laws are likely to thwart the New- $ foundland Association of Pro- -vincial Employees from winning the contract they want for their members.

That determination was evi- dent March 12, when NAPE lead- ers pledged to keep the picket line going outside the Higgins Line en- trance to the Confederation Build- ing where earlier in the day presi- dent Fraser March and 25 other

inion members were arrested for icketing the government build-

ing. : — **Our picket line is still being _ maintained, and it will continue to maintained until we’ve achieved a settlement as free workers in a free country’’, March said last week. _ The NAPE members, including two provincial executive mem- bers, two members, of the union’s negotiating committee, three staff teps and 19 strikers were arrested as they picketed peacefully out- side the building which houses

Premier Brian Peckford’s offices.

Police had given them 15 minutes vacate the premises.

When the strikers held their

ound, they were arrested and

taken to police headquarters

where they were fingerprinted,

hotographed and charged for de-

ing a provincial court order

ing pickets at the Confedera-

building.

| March vowed the union and its

idership would keep returning

10 the confederation building to eep the picket open.

At issue in the strike is the ion’s demand for wage parity behalf of about 1,700 striking shway and transport workers, o earn $2.06 an hour less than er Newfoundland government

workers doing comparable jobs. “These workers were put under ernment guidelines in 1979 since then have been lagging id other groups in the public tor, its time to close the gap,”

ch said.

‘The strikers are also battling

Bill 59, provincial legislation brought in by the Tory govern- ment three years ago which strips some NAPE members of the right to strike by designating them as ‘essential’ workers.

The union has refused to co- operate in the reactionary de- signating process which was con- demned last fall by the Inter- national Labor Organization for violating an international labor convention guaranteeing that right, which the federal govern- ment and all ten provinces have unanimously ratified.

In defiance of Bill 59, NAPE conducted a strike vote of its members in January and acted on that mandate March 3.

With radio and newspaper advertisements, NAPE has of- fered to provide emergency ser- vices directly to the public while it conducts its strike against the Newfoundland government.

On March 7, the employer ban- ned the strikers from all govern- ment premises and from operat- ing government equipment.

A court injunction ordering the strikers back to work, issued two weeks ago was extended to March 25, last week by the prov- ince’s chief justice, T.A. Hick- man.

Flowing from this, Newfound- land Attorney General Lynn Verge ordered the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to raid NAPE headquarters in a search for evidence with which to prosecute the militant union under the Criminal Code or pro- vincial law. Search warrants were also issued so the cops could Snoop around the local news- paper and electronic media.

March testified before the Sup- reme Court that as a NAPE officer he was encouraging his members to defy the unjust law.

Derek Fudge, a researcher for the National Union of Provincial Government Employees, NAPE’s parent body, pointed out that even assuming the government and the union have agreed, prior to a strike vote on which workers to designate, the government still

shoking apartheid

R ONTO — As the Tribune went to press, four major Cana- inions were showing their solidarity for the freedom fight in

Africa by choking

links with South Africa. 8 Ce tions were co-ordinated with the recent appeal by J, the newly formed 500,000 member trade union central outh Africa, jointly with the African National Congress uth African Congress of Trade Unions, (SACTU), for — € economic sanctions against the racist Botha govern-

@ press conference March 10, launching the trade union of action Ontario Public Service Employees Union presi- im Clancy called on the federal government to launch -diate, comprehensive and mandatory economic sanctions South Africa.’’ Under pressure from OPSEU the Ontario ment has stopped buying apartheid goods for its penal

atric institutions.

Separate development, Ontario’s English-speaking - lic teachers union, at its recent convention, voted to join cott against South Africa and vowed to only bank with. ions refusing to make loans to the apartheid regime.

off air line, telephone, telecom- ation and postal links with the citadel of apartheid. =

tions by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the nications Workers of Canada, the United Auto Workers — Brotherhood of Airline, Railway and Steamship Clerks _ d a week of South Africa solidarity activities to protest

reserves the unilateral right to in- crease the numbers of designated workers.

“They can not only move the goal posts wherever they want, but they can change whoever they want as goal tenders’, Fudge said. *‘They could even decide to designate the union executive of the groups that’s on strike,’ he added.

quest for financial or moaral sup- port from the parent body.

Back in St. John’s the union reports ‘‘fantastic’’ support from the trade union movement throughout the province.

March said that the immediate reaction by NAPE members to the recent arrests was to bring the entire union out on to the streets. NAPE’s 14,000 members have

endorsed the strike, and the leadership aren’t ruling out a gen- eral walk out, by the whole union, if necessary.

“If anything, we're having a tough time keeping them from coming out’’, March said, noting that the union has developed con- tingency plans to meet an escala- tion of the showdown with the government.

The situation being created by

the Peckford government, the NUPGE official said, could be volatile. ‘‘This government is known to be one of the most right wing, reactionary governments in Canada. Any Draconian action would undoubtedly be inter- preted by the public as a denial of basic human rights and freedoms to its own employees. I could see a backlash to that,’’ he said.

As a Newfoundlander, himself, Fudge added: ‘“‘You can’t kick around the workers too much. When you go on strike in New: foundland you're out to win, not to cave in.”

NUPGE, he added has been kept fully informed of events by the NAPE and is awaiting any re-

ployees.””

CPC urges Peckford | > to settle with workers _

TORONTO — In a telegram to Premier Peckford, March 13, _ the Central Executive committee of the Communist Party of Canada demanded the dropping of all charges against the NAPE leadership. and called on the government to negotiate a contract _ with the union. oe :

_ “The Communist Party wishes to express its outrage at the arrest of the president and other leaders of the NAPE in a strike > brought about by the refusal of your government to negotiate a contract for the last two years, and the union-busting provisions of Bill 59 which deny NAPE members the right to strike. _

‘‘We demand you drop all charges against Fraser March and his colleagues and settle the contract with your striking em- —

‘No’ vote momentum builds fo reject tentative offer

TORONTO — The revolt in the ranks of the Public Service Alliance of Canada is spreading as the momentum builds for a rejection of a tentative pact signed last month on behalf of about 90,000 workers in three separate groups.

Cres Pascucci, Ontario national vice-president for the Alliance’s Canada Employment and Immi- gration Union component said last week organ- izers of the *‘No’’ vote on the proposal are encour- aged by the eager reception they’ ve received trav- elling throughout Ontario by local unions. The “No” advocates have read the deep frustration in the membership over the inadequate contract of- fer, as they conduct a local-by-local canvas: of PSAC membership.

Pascucci also cited the opposition that is crys- talizing in BC and in the Atlantic provinces over the contract that was tentatively approved on be- half of clerks, program administrators, and the general labor and trades group Feb. 23.

So far, committees have sprung up in London, Toronto, North Eastern Ontario and Ottawa in addition to Montreal and Quebec.

Job security, protection against the adverse im- pact of tech changes and a poor wage proposal are the issues which have sparked the membership revolt that has found allies in the PSAC’s top leadership.

National PSAC vice-presidents Susan Giam- pietri and Jean Bergeron have declared their op- position to the pact and are expected to issue statements soon calling on PSAC members to vote the proposal down.

Rejection of the proposal by the membership

would either clear the way for a return to talks with

the federal Treasury Board, or lead to conciliation.

-The workers would be in a strike position on seven

days following the release of the conciliation re- port. :

Four other groups, about 500 library services workers, 7,000 in engineering, 2,700 primary in-

spectors, and 11,000 stenographers have already rejected a similar offer.

Unless the government shifts from its inade- quate contract offer the potential exists for a mas- sive strike by the bulk of the Alliance’s 180,000 members currently negotiating in 35 sets of talks.

Initial claims that the Feb. 23 tentative settle- ment was unanimously endorsed by the bargaining teams were refuted March 7 when Marie Brown, the CEIU rep on the program administrators bar- gaining team issued a statement recommending re-

jection because the job security language wasn’t good enough.

Ina letter to PSAC vice president Albert Burke, Brown takes him to task on the claim of unanimity, noting that the majorities on the different bargain- ing teams signed the memorandum of agreement because he and PSAC president Daryl Bean were suggesting the offer was the best they could get at this time. :

Essentially, she charged the top leadership of the union with trying to shift the responsibility for rec- ommending the settlement to the members on to the bargaining teams.

‘The question is — do the executive manage- ment committee of the PSAC agree that this is the best that can be obtained at this time?”’, Brown asks in her letter. ‘‘If you do, then it is the EMC of PSAC who recommend the tentative agreement, (unanimously or otherwise) to the membership not the negotiating teams.”

She went on to call on the PSAC leaders to either recall the teams to the bargaining table or put the offer to PSAC members with a rejection recom- mendation so the workers can get back to negotia- tions witha strong strike mandate in their pockets.

“These decisions are the responsibility of the leadership and cannot be sloughed off onto the negotiating teams’? Brown wrote, and went on to emphasize, that the officers should resign if they won't live up to their decision making respon- sibilities.

In this Brown touched on a pattern that has emerged in the PSAC leadership since the move- ment was launched for a rejection of the proposal.

‘‘Who the hell supports this thing’’, Pascucci said, commenting on the reluctance of national officers and negotiating team members who ha- ven’t come out for a ‘“‘no’’ vote but who haven’t endorsed the proposal either.

“If they’re not supporting it who is?”’

Last week at a packed meeting sponsored by the Toronto Regional Action Committee Daryl Bean was on hand to answer questions about the terms of the contract. Under intense questioning from the members, the PSAC president wouldn’t declare whether or not he was reccommending acceptance of the contract.

**No one could find him, the constitution was too big’’, Pascucci said alluding to Bean’s defense.

Bean’s position didn’t sit well with his members who observed that while he was duty-bound to follow the constitution he also had a responsibility to live up to the spirit of trade unionism.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 19, 1986 e 7