Combines action
Delegates say attack must end
Delegates to this month's convention of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union delivered an unequivocal rebuff to the fishing monopolies and organized strikebreakers who had been hoping that continuing combines branch harrassment of the UFAWU would force union members into a defensive posture.
The convention, which reflected a new level of militancy and determination at the local level, served clear notice that the union is committed to expanding organization, enforcing policies established by the membership, and intensifying campaigns to protect the resource and the interests of industry workers.
That message came across strongly time and again during the eight-day convention as delegates representing all sections of the industry and all parts of the B.C. coast hit the microphones to emphasize that their union will not be deflected from the course it has followed over the past 34 years.
The convention's stand on the current combines onslaught, the subject of several debates in a variety of contexts, was summarized in an unanimously-endorsed resolution calling for:
• an immediate halt to the union-busting probe now being conducted in Vancouver hearings;
• the firing of combines investigations director Robert Bertrand "for his persistent mis-truths concerning the initation of the inquiry;"
• launching of a full public inquiry into the entire fishing industry, with particular emphasis on monopoly control exercised by the Weston and New England Fishing empires and the more recent intrusion of Japanese corporations; ana
• appropriate amendments to federal combines legislation to unambiguously exclude trade unions from its provisions.
The resolution stated bluntly that the goal of the combines branch is to "completely dismember the UFAWU, thereby stifling the only voice capable of embarrassing the government over its bungling and its obeisance to the corporate giants which dominate the industry."
Also endorsed was a statement by UFAWU officers that organized fishermen and allied workers must expect to shoulder the m ain responsibility in the combines fight-back campaign.
"We have been singled out for attack under the Combines Act," they pointed out, "at a time when the entire labor movement is under attack from many quarters.
"Public sector unions have felt the heavy hand of the state as their effectiveness in bargaining was greatly curtailed by expansion of the Essential Services Disputes Act . . . 'right-to-work' laws are a reality in Manitoba and are popular with the Socred party membership in this province."
On another front, union officers noted, "the B.C. Federation of Labor is attempting to raise $500,000 to combat the crisis
of unemployment and federal cuts in unemployment insurance payments.
"While we have the support and sympathy of the beleaguered labor movement, our survival from the combines attack will result largely from our own ability to fight back."
Former UFAWU president Homer Stevens, who has been subpoenaed to testify at the combines inquisition later this month, told the convention that the present attack on the union "is another kind of 'continentalism' we don't need in this country — an attempt to import the abuse of anti-trust legislation which destroyed the International Fishermen and Allied Workers and the bargaining rights of American fishermen from California to Alaska."
Heaping scorn on the Combines Branch's assertion that it is conducting a wideranging investigation into the production of fish in B.C., Stevens pointed out that only union officers and members were named in Bertrand's order which launched the present inquiry.
Stevens, president Jack Nichol, secretary-treasurer George Hewison, executive board member Elgin Neish and other unionists were alleged to be 'conspiring' to limit the productior and supply of fish.
"The claim that this is some sort of broad inquiry is so much bullshit," Stevens said. "They 'combinesinvestigators) bring in Jerry Spitz of the Fisheries Association to testify on one day as a camouflage but they display no interest whatsoever in learning anything that bears on monopoly domination, price-fixing in the
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* UFAWU counsel Ian Donald, (centre) with past president Homer Stevens, secretary-treasurer George Hewison and president Jack Nichol, appeared at hearings in Hotel Vancouver Jan. 29. They told combines investigators they would seek a court order to prohibit the hearings, but that action failed and the three have been ordered to appear later this month and in March.
domestic and export markets, or the millions of dollars extracted by the corporations from workers and consumers.
"Every last one of us has got to be prepared to take them on, to expose them and the extent to which they abuse and twist the act," Stevens said. "If necessary we should be prepared to shut down the industry in defence of our rights."
At a Vancouver Labor Council meeting last week, UFAWU president Jack Nichol summed up the feelings being expressed at the union's convention.
The present hearings are a "travesty in defiance of any established rule of evidence and justice," Nichol declared.
"They represent an attempt to drive at the heart of our organization and at the rights of all fishermen to organize, bargain collectively and to strike if necessary.
"But," he said, "they might as well forget it.
"We may have civil suits or criminal charges thrown at us. They may put union officers in jail. But they can't put an idea in jail and they can't put an entire organization behind bars.
"Combines or no combines, fishermen will continue to organize and bargain in this industry."
The convention also reaffirmed the union's intention of pursuing its long campaign to win full collective bargaining rights for all commercial fishermen.
It is the refusal of governments to grant fishermen these rights which provides the basis for the incessant attacks on the UFAWU, delegates noted.
The federal government's previously stated commitment to give fishermen equality with other workers under labor legis-
lation has proved to be "a hollow promise, part of the Trudeau cabinet's on again-off again election strategy," the convention declared.
As a result of this 'betrayal,' organized fishermen are being compelled to fend off repeated attacks by employers and strikebreakers in the courts and in combines inquisitions as well as before the labor relations board.
Delegates expressed determination to stop old-line party politicians using the issue of basic rights for fishermen as a campaign football.
At the same time, they made it clear that in 1979 the UFAWU will 'reiterate and strengthen' its demand that Ottawa "enact comprehensive amendments to the Canada Labor Code to irrevocably establish a bargaining relationship between fishermen and fishing companies."
Court denies union bid for writ
An application by the UFAWU for a writ of prohibition against the anti-union witch-hunt now being conducted by the federal government's Restrictive Trade Practices Commission was rejected Feb. 6 in federal court in Vancouver.
The decision, in effect, also over-ruled union demands for full public disclosures and a meaningful investigation into all aspects of the fishing industry,
including the impact of corporate monopoly control on producers and consumers.
In rendering his decision, federal court Judge G. A. Addy declared that a writ of prohibition cannot be issued "against any tribunal unless it is exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial function." The commission, he said, does not fall into either category.
In pursuing its investigation of the UFAWU, Judge Addy said,
Mass rally to defend public sector unions
Top labor leaders from across Canada will speak at a Vancouver mass rally March 7 to protest growing government attacks on the bargaining rights of public sector workers.
The meeting, which will begin at 7.30 p.m. in the Orpheum Theatre, is expected to attract more than 3,000 to the hall and to meeting areas on the mall outside.
Scheduled to address the rally, which climaxes a B.C. Federation of Labor campaign, are Federation president Jim Kinnaird; Grace Hartman, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees; and Shirley Carr, vice-president of the Canadian Labor Congress.
the commission is "performing a purely administrative function" which eventually will result in a report to the federal cabinet which then "may or may not lay charges."
The court also found that sections of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing that no one can be forced to give evidence against himself do not apply "because the inquiry is not part of a criminal proceeding or process."
At another point in his findings, Addy ruled that "although the applicants might ultimately be obliged to defend themselves in criminal proceedings — and from that broad standpoint it might be considered that somehow their rights might be affected by the inquiry—it cannot be stated that their rights would in any way be determined by any finding or report of the commission following its inquiry."
Judge Addy's decision appears to lend still more weight to UFAWU charges that organized fishing industry workers have repeatedly been given worthless assurances by Liberal politicians about the applicability of anti-combines law to commercial fishermen.
Responding to union counsel Ian Donald's argument that
Section 4 of the Combines Investigation Act exempts from the act contracts or agreements reached between organized fishermen and fishing companies, Addy ruled that "no person is exempted from testifying at an inquiry pursuant to that provision."
By the same token, the protection theoretically afforded to "combinations or activities of workmen and employees" does not apply because the UFAWU members subpoenaed to testify "are not workmen or employees, and even if they were, they would still be compellable in relation to matters not covered by Section 4."
Earlier, in arguing against the union's application, commission counsel William Scarth insisted that "the union per se is not being inquired into."
Meanwhile, combines inquisitors adjourned their Vancouver sessions Feb. 6.
The combines hearings are scheduled to resume Feb. 22 when former UFAWU president Homer Stevens has been summonsed to appear. Union president Jack Nichol and secretary-treasurer Jack Nichol have been summonsed to testify March 12 through 14.
Troll conference March
Canada's negotiators sacrifice trotters
B.C. trollers face a critical year, says a UFAWU troll council bulletin issued last week, with the threat of unilateral imposition of closures and joint management of stocks with the United States.
The bulletin warns that Canadian negotiators in current treaty talks have indicated a willingness to subject major troll fishing areas to joint management schemes.
The council has called a conference of troll fishermen to discuss the talks as well as the impact of the Sinclair report in Nanaimo's
Villa Hotel, Monday Feb. 26 at 10 a.m.
Non-union trollers, who will have voice but no vote, are encouraged to attend.
"While we accept that trollers have to contribute their fair share to conservation," the bulletin says, "trollers themselves should be the ones who choose the best ways to accomplish this."
The proposal of the International Pacific Salmon Commission to enforce closures on trollers in convention waters points up the need for an immed-
iate examination of catch division in relation to pinks and sock-eye, the council adds.
The recommendations of the Sinclair report pose a further threat to bonafide fishermen, by proposing a catch royalty to be collected by the fishing companies on behalf of the government.
"These and other proposals indicate that our hopes for a more rational industry, based on a fair division of catch and a fleet free from corporate control, are pushed further down the road."
Of greatest concern, the bulletin says, is the weak posture taken by Canadian negotiators in U.S. treaty talks.
UFAWU troller Lome iverson was the sole advisor to the talks to speak up for trollers, the council says, when Canadian negotiator Mike Shepherd asked for reaction to his proposal to further limit troll activity.
Trollers have borne the brunt of Canada's losses to date, Iverson said, and joint management of other key troll areas could not be considered a victory.
"Canada's negotiators were again showing a willingness to make commitments that threaten to cripple our ability to make a living.
"Canada was willing to cooperate with the U.S. through joint management of our fishery."
The council says the meeting is essential to enable trollers to address the questions of troll regulations for this year, the implications of treaty talks and the Sinclair report.
THE FISHERMAN — FEBRUARY 19. 1979 / 3