BRITISH COLUMBIA continued from page 1 Robson Square, where they heard McMur- phy declare that “the CSP, and the realiza- tion on the part of teachers that we still don’t have access to full, free collective bar- gaining, is going to produce more unrest, More instability and more confrontation in this province.” She said that the “permanent wage con- trol program” has been “‘internationally condemned,” while B.C. Labor Minister Lyall Hanson found in his hearings on labor legislation that no one in the province Supports the program. ‘When we have agreement on the part of SO many people, why is CSP still here?” she asked, predicting “continued disruption” until the program is abolished. “To continue to deny to teachers in B.C. the right to bargain is to perpetuate injustice and autocracy,” charged Frank Garrity, President of the Canadian Teachers Federa- tion. “Teachers across Canada can bargain for Salaries and working conditions. Why are these rights denied here in British Colum- bia?” he asked. Afterwards, McMurphy, together with BCTF first vice-president Alan Crawford and B.C. Federation of Labor secretary- treasurer Cliff Andstein headed over to the premier’s Vancouver office nearby to pres- ent the government with petitions signed by most of the delegates. In a recent study, entitled In the Wake of Restraint, the federation found that teachers have lost more than 10 per cent of their purchasing power since the CSP was estab- lished by the Bennett government in Febru- ary, 1982. The study, based in part on surveys car- ried out by school districts and local teacher associations, also revealed that there are 3,200 fewer teachers in the system than in 1982, classrooms suffer severe overcrowd- ing, and 35-40 per cent of secondary school students drop out before graduation. That those figures are not merely statis- tics, but have been felt at a personal level by most of B.C.’s more than 31,000 teachers, was evident from the politics of the conven- tion at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Reporters were barred from attending the sessions devoted to discussion of an eight-point program for action tabled by the federation’s executive committee. But the mood of the discussion could be gleaned from McMurphy’s subsequent statement to Teporters. “Members are frustrated, angry and they want a clear action plan,” she said. The plenary referred that plan back to the €xecutive with a demand for tougher, more specific recommendations for action to win full bargaining rights and the end of the CSP, she reported. The executive’s plan called for local teacher associations — which bargain ind- ividually with their respective school boards — to work for fair settlements, free of the Compensation Stabilization Pro- gram, and to negotiate working conditions and other items as well as salaries and benef- its. From all accounts, there was virtually no disagreement on those aims. Prior to the convention, however, some associations — most notably the Surrey Teachers Association — had argued for some differ- ent tactics than those advanced by the fed- eration’s executive and its bargaining committee. Specifically, complaints centred around calls to hold a meeting of local presidents and bargaining chairs in early April to co- ordinate local job actions, and a spring meeting of the federation’s representative assembly to plan province-wide job actions. Some delegates called instead for all action plans to be established at the annual con- vention, and for activities to be launched on a province-wide, rather than local, level. According to BCTF officials, the provin- cial budget slated to be released Thursday will possibly tell the tale. If the restraint program is not effectively dismantled with the abolition of the CSP and the retirement of its chief officer, commissioner Ed Peck, the stage’ would be set for teacher job action — which will likely involve an “instruction only” campaign in September and total withdrawal of services later. As it is now, teachers are bargaining their 1987-88 collective agreements in a climate of continued. restraint, with school boards receiving from the government some $50 million less than required and individual taxpayers being forced to pay for the short- fall through increased residential property taxes. Despite demands by trustees, the province’s Socreds have refused to return to school boards the right to tax industrial and commercial properties. “We've been saying to the government that the kind of confrontational legislation teachers have been facing each day is going to cause more confrontation in response,” McMurphy said. “Tt’s clear that the delegates here are not prepared to live with the situation B.C. teachers find themselves in.” At press time, no one had contested the three top officers’ — McMurphy, Craw- ford, and second vice-president, Moira Mackenzie — bids for re-election. Sellout of Canada has become all the more relevant now that the premier has in British Columbia and Ottawa has speeded-up its efforts to procure a free trade deal with the United States. These developments will be under fire when the leader of the Communist Party of Canada takes to the stage in the Van- couver East Cultural Centre this Friday, March 20. Kashtan will speak on the theme, “Canada is not for sale” beginning at 7:30 p.m. He'll also be at the Coast Bas- tion Inn in Nanaimo at 7:30 p.m. on March 21, and in Victoria at the Union Centre in the Watters Building at 7:30 P.m. on March 23. Recently International Trade Minister Pat Carney announced plans to strike a draft treaty outlining a free trade deal with the U.S. by June, despite the dis- Canada ‘not for sale, CP’s Kashtan asserts Bill Kashtan’s public meeting on the | announced everything’s on the sale block | BILL KASHTAN ... in Vancouver Fri- day. svat credit the idea has acquired in the eyes of most Canadians. Meanwhile, Premier Bill Vander Zalm has come _under renewed fire for his remarks that “every- thing in B.C. is for sale. ‘BC. Communist Party leader Mau- rice Rush will also address the Van- couver meeting which will be followed by a reception at 9:30 p.m. beens 600 teachers demand end of CSP P £ Teachers applaud B.C. Teachers Federation president Elsie McMurphy (seated, next to podium) after she called for an end to the provincial government's wage control program. Moscow forum attained unity, Perry reports “It’s up to us. If we want peace we’ve got to put on major political pressure, particu- larly to elect a totally new kind of parlia- ment in the next federal election,” urged Dr. Tom Perry at a conference of B.C. peace activists Sunday. Perry, a founding member of Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, urged delegates to the conference sponsored by the B.C. Peace Council to start the process by “bringing in as many new people as we can into the peace move- ment.” Stating that he had “never been at a more exciting event,” Perry detailed his recent experiences as one of six Canadian physi- cians attending the three-day Forum for a Nuclear Free World in Moscow. He stressed the unity achieved by the 1,000 delegates representing 80 countries around the call for a Comprehensive Test Ban treaty. Perry said participants in the physicians section of the forum, including some 80 doctors from capitalist countries, capped three days of discussion by resolving that the “key step to be taken at this time towards a nuclear free world is a compre- hensive test ban treaty.” The doctors urged a test ban because “‘it will give us the necessary breathing space. It is one way to halt the arms race that doesn’t have to start with trust. There is already technology available that can detect a test down to | kiloton.” Perry told the delegates how physicians from Canada, West Germany and France had urged the Soviet physicians to press for a continuation of the Soviet unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons tests. “Evgeny Chazov, the Soviet head of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, laid it out for us. He said ‘those of you from the West believe that only in your countries do the governments have to do what the people want. But I’m telling you that the Soviet people are very concerned about continuation of the moratorium. Thousands of people have written to the government asking for testing to begin because the Americans are clearly DR. TOM PERRY ... doctors agree on test ban. not paying attention. We cannot ignore the concerns of our people’. “Chazov asked us what we had done, what our governments had done during the 18 month moratorium. I was embarrassed when I thought about it. My country had done nothing in those 18 months, nothing,” Perry said. “We have to elect a totally new parlia- ment in the next federal election. One that will stop cruise missile testing. One that will keep Canada strictly of SDI and one that will urge the United States to get on with a test ban treaty,” he urged to applause. Perry also cited his experience of “glas- nost” in relating a discussion among physi- cians and engineers at the end of the conference. One of the first speakers was Andrei Sakarov and when he stood to speak, Perry said “everyone applauded, including the Russians. But he gave a lousy speech.” He noted that Sakarov said it was not important to stop nuclear weapons testing and that the Chernobyl accident should be ignored because nuclear energy was still the way of the future. “When he finished, everyone just sat on their hands, nobody clapped. And I thought that was an excellent example of what glasnost means,” said Perry. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 18, 1987 e 5