GUEST EDITORIAL

Larry Kuehn, president,
B.C. Teachers’ Federation .

Government policies during this past year
have just added to problems in the public
schools. Even before the cutbacks and chaos
the school system was far from perfect. In
fact, almost any one of the province’s 30,000
teachers will readily point out a number of
ways public schools could better serve the
children of this province.

As a starter, the province should provide
resources that will guarantee every child
full equality of educational opportunity.
That includes the right of handicapped
children to the same quality of education as
any other child, including specialized staff,
facilities and other necessary assistance.

It includes the right to a full, free educa-
tion for children regardless of economic
: circumstances. There is no justification for

denying a student a particular program of

studies simply because the child’s parents
are innocent victims of the current
depression.

For example, all children should have
access to computers and computer training
through the public school system. This vital
experience in today’s electronic world
should not be reserved for the children of
parents who can afford to buy their own
sophisticated equipment. :

Long before the current crisis there
existed a huge disparity in income levels
throughout the province. For example, in
1971, some 62 per cent of families in the West
Vancouver school district earned over
$12,000 a year but only 11.2 per cent of the
families in South Okanagan were above
that level. Public schools can’t equalize
earnings but they can and must provide the
same quality of education in all parts of the
province regardless of income level, geogra-
phic location or social position. Of all our

- natural resources, children are the most
important.

The B.C. government has deliberately
attempted to undermine the public school
system by destroying programs for child-
ren, attacking teachers and terminating
their jobs and those of unionists employed
in non-teaching positions. Its punitive
actions have been aimed at the education
system itself, forcing children into larger
classes and curtailing or removing courses
that are essential to their development as
citizens in a democratic society. ©

We must protect public school education.
In spite of its imperfections, it is our best
guarantee for the future of our children and
our country. ,

Restraining
The Poor

It is important in considering the govern-
ment’s restraint legislation that we remind
ourselves that 51.1 per cent of the workers
employed by the provincial government are
women, that their average wage is $275
weekly before deductions, and that 70 per
cent of them earn less than $375 weekly
before deductions.

Many of these women are the sole support
of their family, others are married to unem-
ee men or men who, like them, are in

-paying jobs.

To give a 10 per cent increase to a person
whose income Statistics Canada tells us is
below the poverty line, is to ensure that the
worker and her family never break the
poverty cycle in which they find themselves.
ROSEMARY BROWN, MLA
_Burnaby-Edmonds

from the Vancouver Province
June 1/82

According to Curt

i,
YoU CAN 100 towards the fal]
with cautious optimism...

Socreds Deny Safety
Inspection to Farmworkers

“We have been duped in the most dishon-
est betrayal by the Socreds thus far”, Raj
Chouhan, President of the Canadian Farm-
workers ‘Union-said today. “If:they do*it
to us} they won’t'hesitate to do it to. other
workers in this Province.”

Mr. Chouhan was responding to the
announcement by the B.C. Federation of
Agriculture that the B.C. Cabinet has
approved exclusion of farmworkers from
W.C.B. health and safety regulations. The
release sent out recently, announced that
the Cabinet today approved the setting up of
a Farm Safety Association in lieu of enforc-
ing the present Health and Safety
Regulations.

“Political opportunism and backroom
politicking is this Government’s idea of
democracy,” said Chouhan: “They have
kept us busy participating in the consulta-
tive process with the farmers formulating
regulations for agriculture within the
W.C.B., while they were deciding to sell
us out. It is obvious that the Socreds have
put votes and financial support ahead of
saving farmworkers’ lives. Relying on the
goodwill of farmers to provide a safe work-
ing environment has led to agriculture
being the third most dangerous industry in
Canada.

This decision is the first time, to our
knowledge, that any group of workers has
been excluded from health and safety regu-
lations. What this means is that the govern-
ment is prepared to pay the widows and
widowers of dead farmworkers for the loss of
their lives but is not prepared to save their
lives in the first place. If our lives are held in
such contempt, what will stop this govern-
ment from excluding other industries? This
could be the wedge in the door! Ss

“This decision by the government flies in
the face of recommendations from such
diverse organizations as the B.C. Medical
Association and its own Human Rights
.Commission. We would hope that this
contempt for all reasoned voices in the
province will be strongly protested.”

Jack Munro, Regional IWA President, has
wired Socred Labour Minister McClelland,
protesting the government’s decision to
deny safety inspections to farm workers
demanding that full coverage be extended to
these workers, and that comprehensive

safety regulations be drafted, adopted and
vigorously enforced.

Since the government’s decision was
announced, a coroner’s jury reported that
the death ofa ’B:C. farmworker from
exposure to pesticides has to be attributed to
the absence of government action.

COWICHAN NEWS
CONGRATULATES
IWA

In the great lumber tariff debate, one
notable participant that played a major role
has received little public credit.

That’s the International Woodworkers of
America. A countervailing tariff would
have affected IWA members just as drasti-
cally as it would have affected corporations.
The woodworkers’ union did not sit back
and let its traditional rivals inmanagement
and government carry the ball alone. The
fight to kill the American initiative was a
joint effort of government, industry and the
union.

IWA locals in Alabama and in the north-
western United States supported their
fellow locals in Canada in petitioning
against the tariffs.

In a fight that could have gone either way,
right up to the last moment, the union’s
support was undoubtedly helpful in win-
ning some support for the Canadian
position. _

It’s probably the first time in modern
labor history that an international union
has supported Canadian corporations
against a common foe. ~

The IWA deserves a vote of thanks for
using its international strength to influence
the American decision.

It certainly preserved many union jobs |
but it also indicated that when the chips are
down, workers and bosses are willing to
ore together to achieve the same common
goal.

Lumber Worker/April, 1983/5