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— page 10 —

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Vancouver mayor Michael

Harcourt (1) and Harry Rankin,

representing the Committee of Progressive Electors(r) affirmed
&Nncouver's progressive ‘unity slate’ as they joined Vancouver
8nd District Labor Council president Frank Kennedy on the
Odium at the VDLC meeting Tuesday. Harcourt told unionists
La Was “proud to be part of the slate proposed by the labor coun-

cil, emphasizing that labor would have to “work hard to make

TRIBUNE PHOTO

sure we get people elected.” Rankin added that COPE would “do
everything to make sure we have 100 percent unity and that that
unity comes through.” Delegates later voted unanimously to en-
dorse Harcourt and his three council running mates and the en-

tire COPE slate for council, school and parks board.

— SEAN GRIFFIN

=,

—

Most school boards across
the province have completed the
slashing of their budgets for
1982 in the wake of a Supreme

Teachers, boards |
= and students
~ swell protest
-. against Socreds

. trustees ponder next move

Court decision upholding the |
legality of the latest round of |

Socred restraint.

But although education
minister Bill Vander Zalm may |
have won the legal battle, the ac- |

tions of trustees, teachers and

students have shown the overall |

fight is far from over.
When. Justice Ken Meredith
handed down his decision Sept.

“neces

| 16 accepting the government’s |

} argument that the Finance Ad- |
; ministration Act supersedes all }
other acts — including the |

| Education (Interim) Finance |

Act, which had already |
legislated budgets for 1982 — j
the school boards which had |
held out against making |

devastating cuts to their budgets

were forced to comply,. under |

the threat of trusteeship.

According to the head of the }

Courtenay school board

(District No. 71), Joan Jellie, §
| trustees are waking up to the

fact that the education cuts ‘‘are
a political issue which has little
to do with economics.”’

The Courtenay trustees were |

among those who refused to
meet Vander Zalm’s Sept. 15
deadline for revising budgets,
because, in Jellie’s words, ‘‘this
is a political action and we’re
not taking it.””

They were also among those

See TEACHERS page 2

= By SEAN GRIFFIN

€ reverberations from the

Unig Government Employees

20 wit agreement reached Sept.

en be felt by trade unionists

peri one time to come — and

dari Ps well beyond the boun-
€s Of British Columbia.

Pact has: yet to be ratified

40,000 BCGEU members,

Ocess which is expected to

Benen Pout three weeks (with
‘ Sécretary John Fryer

S

“ating tartly that he will stake his

jo
a the outcome). But reaction

dicated that if they do endorse it,
they will doso more out of confu-
sion and resignation than from
any satisfaction with the provi-

sions, it may well be worse.

The settlement, reached Mon-
day afternoon after premier Ben-
nett held a meeting with Fryer on
the final issue of job security for

OT
: ANALYSIS

n fact, the members are the
at to feel the letdown. Their
militancy and organization has
been dissipated in the face of an

ent that is scarcely better
than what they have rejected.
And in its long term repercus-

auxiliaries, calls for a $100 per
month across-the-board increase
for all employees earning more
than $1,386 per month and $125
per month for all those earning
less. The increase is retroactive to

Aug. 1.

Over one year, the increase
ranges from 2.7 percent for the
highest paid classifications to 11.4
percent for the lowest.

However, the new agreement
will run for 15months, to Oct. 31,
1983, and provides for an addi-

‘tional $25 per month increase for

all employees, effective Aug. 1,
1983.

The percentage increases for
the 15 months range from 3 per-
cent to 13 percent. The average
increase is around six percent.

see UNION page 12

Protest killings

The Canada-Palestine
Association has called a
demonstration as part of the
world-wide condemnation of
the massacre of thousands of
men, women and children in the
refugee camps of West Beirut
last weekend.

The association, which holds
the U.S., Israel and’ the
Lebanese Phalangists directiy

responsible, urges all who op-
pose Israel’s continued occupa-
tion of Lebanon to join them
Saturday, Sept. 25 in a noon
rally at Vancouver’s Robson
Square.

bers so far has in-