Market dive shows free trade danger — page 5 — October 28, 1987 40° Vol. 50, No. 40 Labour movement vows fight over privatization SESE. WEE, WE WE. WE, WEE. WE Gn Gee ee, ee Hiroshima atom bomb survivor Kinuko Laskey (right) demonstrates the art of making a “peace crane”’ the worldwide “‘peace wave’ on Oct. 24. Lower Mainland residents gathered at the peace flame in Va Park at noon to join a chain of peace observances which began in Hiroshima, world to mark United Nations disarmament. Highlights included releasing the helium UN flag, and videotaping messages of peace from participants to be sent to Hiro the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the World Peace Council. to people marking ncouver’s Seaforth continued in Canadian cities and around the filled balloons bulging under the giant shima. Telegrams of support were sent by government of Margaret Thatcher moved relentlessly towards the £3.9 billion sell- off of British Telecom, the four-union British Telecom Unions Committee (BTUC) launched. the one of the most ambitious public campaigns ever under- taken by the British trade union move- Ment against the Tory government’s privatization program. Drawing on a wealth of research, the unions traced the history of the public enterprise — until 1981 part of an inte- grated company which also took in the Post office and telegraph operations — and showed that billions in public funds had gone into making it a profita- flets which revealed. the chaos that resulted from deregulation of telecom- munications in the United States. There were dozens of additional pamphlets and brochures aimed at various telephone user groups, explaining how privatiza- tion would push up rates and reduce Coes from the BTUC criss- crossed the country, taking the issue to union halls and meetings of consumer groups. In all, the four unions spent an estimated £2 million getting the message of opposition to privatization out to the itish people. pe i. ne end, Margaret Thatcher’s > =a By SEAN GRIFFIN ble enterprise. To sell it off, they said, Conservative majority rammed the bill Last in a series would rob the public of its wealth. through parliament. In March, 1984, as the British The BTUC issued thousands of |Jea- British Telecom was privatized in November, 1984 and more than two mil- lion shareholders lined up to get their Piece of the action. “We waged a very good campaign and we were gaining ground,” said Terry Wild, an executive member of the 156,00-member National Communica- tions Union, the largest of the unions at British Telecom. “In fact, the polls in 1984 showed that public opinion had shifted from a majority in favour of pri- vatization to a majority opposed to the sell-off, “But Thatcher went ahead despite the Opposition,”he said. see CAMPAIGNS page 6 x y Stating that the Social Credit govern- ment had “‘declared war on members of the B.C. Government Employees Union and other public sector union”, BCGEU presi- dent John Shields last week vowed to “fight privatization to protect the public interest ... and the interests of workers whose jobs are at risk.” “Our union believes that privatization is not good for British Columbians and is not in the interests of thousands of workers who face the loss of their jobs,” Shields declared in a statement issued Friday. “Our union is determined to fight privatization.” Shields, whose members will be those most affected by the government’s decision to sell off government services and Crown assets to the private sector, was the first to respond to Premier Bill Vander Zalm’s speech at the Socred convention in which the premier announced the launch of the government’s privatization program. He was followed by B.C. Federation of Labour president Ken Georgetti who declared that the federation was “inaltera- bly opposed to privatization. “We do not believe that it will increase job opportunities, improve services to ordi- nary British Columbians or provide any long term benefits to the province,” he said. “In fact, the history of privatization in other parts of the world indicates clearly that the opposite will result.” Georgetti charged that Premier Vander Zalm was “ready to sacrifice jobs and servi- see LABOUR page 12 VZ launches sell-off plan To the welcoming applause of corporate business, Social Credit Premier Bill Vander Zalm Friday announced the first wave of the government’s sell-off of Crown corpora- tions and government services. Speaking to the party faithful at the Socred convention in Vancouver, Vander Zalm gave substance to his earlier warning that the plan would “potentially re- structure the workings of government.” Immediately, some $3 billion in public assets are to sold off to private inter- ests — and that is “only phase I of a long term privatization program,” he said. On the block immediately are: @ The gas, rail and research and devel- opment divisions of B.C. Hydro. Both gas and rail are money-makers for the public utility. © B.C. Systems Corporation, the gov- ernment’s data processing and communica- tions company, also a profitable enterprise. © Bridge and road maintenance opera- tions of the Ministry of Highways, many of which are key employers in B.C. communi- ties. © The highway ministry’s sign shop in Langford. @ The ambulance conversion shop in Saanich. © The agriculture ministry’s soil, and tissue laboratory in Kelowna; the dairy laboratory in Burnaby and the environmen- tal laboratory at UBC; - see SALE page 3 Li ie | oe ind i nas T 1 am eee rrr it