Nicaragua:
culture and

liberation
— page 10 —

Rallies, 91.
slam govt over bills

Some 7,000 people people voi

_ downtown Vancouver Wednesday whic
__ tanks were swelled by several non-affiliates,
Teachers Federation. Around the province,

ced their opposition to B

“tit

thousands rallied in au

ills 19 and 20 at the Vancouver and District Labor Council's rally in
h also kicked off the B.C. Fed’s work to rule campaign and ban on overtime. The
‘including the Confederation of Canadian Unions, the Teamsters and the B.C.
nited demand that the Socred government scrap the

sy

May 20, 1987
40°

Vol. 50, No. 19

% vote

Workers across the province made
even more emphatic their opposition to
the Socred government’s Bills 19 and 20
Wednesday as thousands turned out to
marches, rallies and meetings against
the Socred government’s anti-labor leg-
islation.

And outside provincial government
offices at Robson Square in Vancouver,
some 7,000 unionists roared their
approval as B.C. Federation of Labor
president Ken Georgetti announced that
the vote conducted by B.C. Fed affil-

iates had démonstratéd more than 90

per cent in favor.

“When we go into the meeting with
Vander Zalm tomorrow, we will be able to
tell him that 91.6 per cent of union members
who voted supported the position of the
B.C. Fed,” he declared.

Around the province, there was solid evi-
dence of that overwhelming opposition to
the anti-labor bills as unionists prepared for
rallies and meetings in some 30 communi-
ties. Several hundred gathered outside
government buildings in Prince George in a
noon time rally while hundreds more
gathered on the legislature in Victoria.
Evening meetings were also scheduled in
most other areas, all organized by local
labor councils as part of the B.C. Fed cam-
paign program of action.

An hour before the Vancouver rally,
organized by the Vancouver and District
Labor Council, some 4,000 unionists had
gathered at B.C. Place for the march up
Robson Street to the rally site, on the ter-
raced plaza of the provincial courthouse.
From the courthouse steps, the verses of
“Hold the Fort,” sung by Tom Hawken,
Doug Stewart and Steve Gidora, echoed for
blocks around and hundreds of demonstra-
tors took up the song as they poured into
the plaza with their placards and banners.

Every available bit of space was filled
with people, most with placards that reiter-
ated the message that has resounded across
the province since the bills were introduced
April 2: “Dump 19,” “No surrender to Bills
19 and 20,” “Two bills, one fight!”

Also on May 20, effective midnight, the
next phase of the federation program — a
work-to-rule campaign coupled with a ban
on all non-mandatory over time —was
scheduled to go into effect as the labor
movement stepped up its campaign against
the legislation.

The solid opposition expressed in the ral-
lies and the province-wide vote was a rebuff
to Premier Bill Vander Zalm who clearly
had hoped to use the meeting between the
federation officers and the cabinet as a

see TEACHERS page 12

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