Vol. 1 Issue No. 40 | ‘ Legislative Library, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4 TERRACE, B.C., WEDNESDAY, October 14, 1987 | Teachers endorse strike | TERRACE — The teachers of School District 88 have voted by a 70.2 percent majority to strike unless a bridging agreement is reached with the school board. The vote tabulation was an- nounced Tuesday morning by Terrace District. Teachers’ Association (TDTA) president - Helmut Giesbrecht. “We're. going to-do every- thing we can to avoid -exercising _ the mandate for withdrawal of services,”” Giesbrecht said. The -TDTA will be making overtures to reopen formal negotiations with the board, and Giesbrecht said the date will probably de- pend on the availability of the board’s professional negotiator, Teachers are attempting to get written and signed assurance _ from the board that the terms of ' their current contract will re- main ‘substantially intact when negotiations begin for next year’s agreement, Teacher asso- ciations around the province have expressed fears that under the new Teaching Profession Act many of the rights and bene- fits they have bargained for and gained. over a number of years maybe eliminated. Some B.C. school boards, ihcluding that of nothing will change regardless of the legislation,’ she said. ‘‘But the board has to abide by the legislation and protect the in- terests of the electorate. The Ministry of Labour has assured us that working conditions and. accumulated sick leave for tea- chers are protected under Bill. 20. We’re going to continue with our effort to reach an agreement’ suitable to all parties.” Northwest loggers. pulled out of bush Westar management in Hazel- ton has pulled all logging per- sonnel out of the bush and, -ac-. cording to company spokesman | Reg Thurldorn, they won't be | going back until the new Ministry of Forests stumpage tates are sorted out. by Tod Strachan | Similar walk-outs were staged . by several logging companies: in - the province, according to Thoridorn, to protest the new | stumpage rates which went into effect Oct. 1. He explained ‘that ‘Westar received a series of stumpage_ tate letters recently, indicating | School "District 80 in Kitimat; --tates:on-indivyidual logging sites :: have’ signed bridging agree- ments. In a subsequent interview trustee Edna Cooper said nego- tiations for the agreement will begin this morning, “‘The TDTA wants an absolute guarantee that allocated to Westar had jumped_ from between $1 and $1.50 per cubic metre to about $10 to $12 . per cubic metre. According to Thorldorn, ‘The basic fact. of life is that, if the stumpage is $12 we can’t operate.”’ Thoridorn said the company Terrance Armstrong, Managing Director, of the Native Music Heritage Soclety displays new equipment the organization recently obtained for the recording of native traditional and contempory music, Armstrong projects a very successful commencement to his new project and Is enthusiastic about his new position as managing director. See story on page 21. — agrees ‘it’s "| they’re done. now, - the received a lot of support from — local Ministry officials and an’ ‘Oct. 13 meeting has been-set up between: logging companies and Ministry. officials from Terrace, Hazelton and Smithers to, sort out the -new rates, —~ _ “Everybody. that’s involved Screwed up,’’ -} Thorldorn said. “It’s a problem with the system, and we’re. all working together to get it solved: | and get. everybody - back to work,” - _ Thorldorn ‘said the basic pro- blem is that the higher. rates don’t reflect-the quality of the § ‘timber in. the Hazelton area.. “Tes wel recognized that it’s _Probably: t ‘the “province! *: yet when you compare. the rates that have come: around to-our.. area, with other-areas i in the pro- _.vince;we're at:the very highest end of. the scale; So there are . some problems. that have to be worked out inthe mechanics of ‘the whole system, ”? Thoridorn. © ” .He said that timber cruises, as. never reflected. the true amount of - - pulp in a‘timber stand, but up to - this point it wasn’t ‘considered a |. serious problem because Westar ' shad. been paying the minimum stumpage. rate of three percent. of their selling price. **But now. it does make a big difference if that-pulp isn’t ac- - curately reflected, ”* he explain- ed, Thorldorn: said. the mill lias enough. logs to continue operating for at least three mon- ths, but the loggers wouldn’t be going back to work until after Oct. 13 meeting at the earliest because, ‘‘We-can’t take the chance.”’ ‘They don’t have the authori- ty to assure us that the stumpage rate will be changed, and at these rates we would go under real fast,’’ he said. Skeena Cellulose woodlands manager Pat Ogawa said there is concern in the Terrace area but it’s unlikely the loggers will be pulled from the bush prior to the Oct. 13 meeting. . Ogawa said Skeena Cellulose has made the best interpretation of the new stumpage system, which seems to indicate their costs will rise about five to eight times, but he added that they can’t be sure they are inter- preting the new system correctly. “We have run through the calculations, and we are seeing inequities as a result of using those interpretations,” Ogawa Said, ‘‘So we're questioning if our interpretation is right.’ > most decadent in said Taking time to answer children’s questions during a recent visit to Heritage Park was one of the highlights for British Consul General Brian Watkins. See story on page 23. Critic targets forest policy At ‘a public meeting held last week in Terrace, NDP Forests ‘and Lands critic Bob Williams . admitted that Social Credit’s new forest strategy did have some good points, primarily by finally levying a fair stumpage fee against the logging industry, « but that was outweighed by its many faults. . He warned that Forests Minis- ter Dave Parker was talking about extending tree farm licences in the province from 29 to 67 percent of available forest land and in his interpretation that was basically giving owner- ship of the land to industry. Williams explained that B.C. forests belonged to the public and giving forest companies more land was ‘‘a property right that’s virtually the same as a homeowners property rights.” “Once you’ve given them that license, they (forest companies) are essentially the owners of the land.’’ And according to Williams, forest companies wouldn’t have to pay for the. new land. “‘We’'re talking about billions of dollars worth of land being transferred to the ‘major cor- porations with nothing being - paid back. It’s a major give away,’’ he charged. “‘That’s really’ not sound business,”’ Williams said. And warned that if the public ever wanted the land back, as in‘ the case of South Morseby Island, **We’ll have to pay them for it. ‘The federal government paid continued on page 2. Outside Date Hi Lo Prec, Sept. 28 12 6 9.8 mm rain Sept. 20 14 10 15 mm rain Sept. 30 17 12 8.2mm rain Oct. 1 20 11 trace Oct. 2 17 10 7.8 mm rain Oct. 3 11.°=«€ 62 mm rain Oct. 4 8 5 | 36 mim raln Forecast: Unsettled weather with sunny periads. Highs from 10 - 15. Lows 4+ 8. lhside BusinessGuide 20 Church Direttory 22 Classified Ads 25 Coming Everts, ° 10 Comics a 24 Crossword 24 _ Dining Directory ° 2 Entertainment 6 . Horoscope 3 Letters 4,5,6,7 Opintons ; 4 Sports 8 Stork _ 6 Talk of the Town § oa eS ee eee see: a ne alenwngs Se wnents ee ee ae, Se