Only 27 days after the B.C. public were saddled with a 4.7 per cent increase in phone rates, B.C. Tel announced that it had made an application to the Canadian Transport Commission (CTC) in Ottawa for another 20 per cent boost. : In announcing its application, B.C. Tel is asking CTC to approve the application for an increase by July 1. B.C. Tel is seeking another $50 million in revenue from the B.C. public for phone services Which are now the most expensive S in Canada, and by all accounts the > worst. The latest action by B.C. Tel has brought forward strong public protest, including condemnation ° by B.C. communications minister Bob ‘Strachan, and from Com- munist Party leader Nigel Morgan. (See Morgan’s statement below). In his statement Strachan charged that the company had in the past two years reported net profits of $50 million after taxes and expenses, and that the new SS"N rates will gross another $15.3 million a year. While avoiding the basic point made in the Communist Party statement calling for a govern- ‘ment takeover of the U.S.-owned monopoly, Strachan lashed out at B.C. Tel, calling its latest ap- plication ‘‘shocking.”’ “This action by B.C. Tel shows only contempt for the public of B.C., the government of B.C. and the government of Canada. It is the kind of thing I suppose we must expect from a corporation that weap iN ee Specialized agencies. a e Above is an artist’s sketch of the Trident sub showing the tubes from which its 24 missiles will be fired. The entire fleet of 10 Trident subs will be stationed at Bangor, Washington and will operate through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. o Each sub is 550 feet in length, weighs 16,000 tons; it is twice the size of the Polaris ‘sub, is nuclear. powered and capable of submerged Speeds of 40 mph. The 10-sub fleet may cost as much as $25 billion. One of them will cost four times the annual budget of the UN and its © One sub carries 24 MIRV missiles with 408 nuclear warheads each capable of destroying an entire city or population centre 6,000 miles away. — The fleet of 10 subs could fire a single salvo from Strategic locations and completely destroy 4,080 | __ targets — in short it is capable of wiping out ina Trident sub: the Doomsday on on BC's doorstep SEAS aes ‘ oot th ona senda few minutes.all the major cities and secondary population centres of the world and contaminate most of the rest of the earth. o The Trident sub, with its deadly cargo, is the most devastating weapon yet created by man — it is the closest thing to the Doomsday weapon. It has been estimated that one sub Mediterranean, firing its missiles underwater, could destroy all the population centres of the Soviet Union. A siniilar sub in the Caribbean could destroy most of the United States and Canada. From the South Pacific one Trident sub could destroy all the population centres of China. e What can you do about it? Write or send a resolution of protest to External Affairs Minister Allan MacEachen, Parliament Buildings, Ot- tawa, demanding Canada protest the U.S. plans to go ahead with the base. in the Civic workers demand : parity =~ See article pg. 3 \ takes its instructions from New York,” Strachan said. In a telegram to federal com- munications minister Gerard Pelletier, Strachan-stated, ‘I... ask you to take whatever means are necessary to ensure that the Canadian Transport Commissiofi does not consider this application until results of the inquiry and its report and the decisions flowing from it are known.”’ Strachan was referring to an inquiry agreed to by Pelletier at the time of the last increase into Tribune . Second Class Mail Registration No. 1560 Cc FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1975 VOL. 37, No. 12 Ottawa issued a new series of intimidatory directives to postal workers. this week but the government’s action, intended to weaken the militant stand adopted by the unions in the post office, clearly had the opposite effect. Tuesday night, delegates to the Vancouver and District Labor Council ‘unanimously endorsed a resolution condemning the in- timidation by Ottawa of postal workers and pledging the full support of the trade union movement to any employee sub- jected to disciplinary action for refusing to comply with govern- ment edicts. “The federal treasury board has resorted to storm trooper tactics.”’ Letter Carriers delegate Bob Hamilton told the council, referring to threatening letters issued to every postal worker. The letters — delivered to each employee by hand —_ warned workers that they were “‘acting in an unlawful manner”’ by refusing to cross legal picket lines put up by the corporate relationships _bet- ween B.C. Tel and its subsidiaries as well as associated companies in the New York-based General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) conglomerate. Despite protest over many years against the Canadian Transport Commission's practise of granting increases to B.C. Tel without taking into consideration its practice of channelling its pur- chases of supplies and services . See PHONE HIKE, pg. 11 ke aa Ese ‘the Public Service Alliance and ordered them ‘‘to report for work as assigned.” , The letter added, with unabashed duplicity, “‘you have demonstrated a complete lack of responsibility toward your duties . and warned: “Failure to report for work Will make you subject to disciplinary action, legal action up to and including discharge from the public service.” “There’s no way we are going to accept this kind of action by the federal government,” Hamilton declared. He pointed out, however, that the letters, far from having the intimidatory effect intended, had strengthened the resolve of postal workers to win a just set- tlement. “If anyone was wavering earlier,” he said,'‘‘once he got the letter there was no question — he was fully in support of the strike. “We will not cross any picket line; we have not and we’re not going to,’’ he stated. See POSTAL WORKERS, pg. 12 “The only way to deal with B.C. Tel’s. arrogant and _ callous disregard of the-interests of the people of this province is to bring this U.S.-owned monopoly under public ownership,”’ Nigel Morgan, provincial leader of the Com- munist Party said Wednesday. “Just imagine, asking for another 20 per cent across-the- board increase even before billings were delivered for the previous increase which upped home rates from $6.95 to $7.30,” he com- mented. “B.C. Tel, a subsidiary of the giant U.S. International Telephone and Telegraph, has been rooking the people of B.C. too long. Their rates have been double those of the publicly-owned Edmonton and & Calgary, Alberta, systems,’’ Morgan charged. “Premier Barrett’s assurance to B.C. Tel that government takeover would not have a high priority even in the NDP government’s second term of office obviously paved the way for B.C. Tel’s application for the highest jump the company has ever applied for,’ he stated. ‘‘The . NDP platform called _ for nationalization of B.C. Tel, and that’s precisely what needs to be done without any further delay.” “Strong public pressure from NDP’ers, trade unionists, com- munity and people’s organizations is. needed to compel Premier Barrett to act. The people of this province elected an NDP govern- ment to get protection against such rip-offs,” he concluded.