ICBC DISPUTE

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim
Kinnaird has warned that the present
dispute at ICBC could be the first move by
the government to give car insurance back
to the private sector.

“The government and ICBC management
have refused to make any serious efforts to
reach a collective agreement,” said Kin-
naird, “and when we look at the conse-
quence of a full-scale shutdown, we can only
conclude that the Corporation and the
government are not concerned with the
impact of this dispute on the motoring
public’s pocket book.”

“Tt appears that ICBC may be preparing
to lock-out its employees because they have
been making arrangements for body shops
and agents to continue to operate during a
prolonged shutdown. Both the Corporation
and the government should be aware that a
prolonged shutdown will cost the public
millions of dollars unnecessarily, and will
decimate the workforce. The morale is
already at rockbottom, and many highly
skilled people will go to other jobs and not
return to ICBC,” said Kinnaird.

“The cost of a fair settlement is much
smaller than the eventual cost of a shut-
down would place on the public, yet ICBC is
down, yet ICBC is determined to force a
shutdown of its operation.”

©
BACK TO CAMP

By BERT HALL
The day the crew went back to camp
We had ourselves a time.
Pete and Joe had bottles of rye
And the Kid had a bottle of wine.

The Indian had a crock of rum,
Johnny two dozen of beer,

The boomman he was sipping gin
And singing in my ear.

The boat had thirty miles to go;
The skipper he looked glum.

The boomman kept on sipping gin
And swiping the Indian’s rum.

The rum was gone by Ten Mile Point
And the Indian lay on the floor.

The boomman kept on sipping gin
And singing an encore.

Pete and Joe were snoring loud
And the Kid puked over the side.
The boomman drank still at his gin
Just getting into stride.

The skipper wore a worried frown

He’d packed in many a crew,

And loggers when they’re drinking hard
Spell trouble, well he knew.

At Half Way Point four more passed out.
We dragged them to the rear.

The boomman finished off his gin

And started on the beer.

By Twenty Mile, the boat it rocked
With yells and shrieks and song.

The boomman looked ’round for the rye
Now that his gin had gone.

One by one, the men lay down

Stupid, drunk and sore.

But the boomman tipped his jug on high
And searched the boat for more.

These striking members of CUPE and GVRD shown at the Terra Novalandfill in Coquitlam were successful in shutting down
Crown Zellerbach’s large Fraser Mills operation for a number of hours when the company refused to stop ascab truck driver
from removing hog fuel from its property and taking it into the landfill through the striker’s legal picket line. Employees at
Fraser Mills gave the strikers full support and not one IWA member violated the picket line.

z a 5 ae "
This picture shows the strikers telling the scab truck driver what they think of him. His reply was that he was nota unionman.
so he didn’t have to respect the picket line.

curetocnt 100"

ON
STRIKE

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Members of the VMREU and CUPE unions man the picket line at Vancouver City’s main work site at Manitoba Street where

8/Lumber Worker/February/March, 1981

the majority of the City’s garbage trucks, street cleaners and other vehicles are serviced and repaired.