fs NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT BURNABY — The B.C. Government ‘Employees’ Union has filed a complaint with the Labour Relations Board charging the Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing with irregular staffing procedures which the Ministry has implemented to “circumvent a hiring freeze imposed by Treasury Board”. Cliff Andstein, BCGEU Director of Collec- tive Bargaining, said the complaint was laid after the Union started receiving information that many ministries of government were hiring expensive consul- tants to replace laid off and fired govern- ment workers. “Tn the case of Lands, Parks and Housing it is a blatant-return to pork barrel politics. “The Ministry in this case, has hired three consultants, one of whom is the former Gold Commissioner for B.C., to do clerical work normally performed by government workers. “THEY ARE PAYING ONE CONSULT- ANT $290 PER DAY TO PERUSE TWO TO FOUR COMPLEX FILES OR SIX TO EIGHT SIMPLE FILES PER DAY. THIS IS WORK NORMALLY PERFORMED BY A CLERK 5 WHOSE PRODUCTION STANDARD IS AT LEAST 15 FILES PER DAY ON THE AVERAGE AND FOR A LOT LESS MONEY,” ANDSTEIN SAID. “Our Union is uncovering many exam- ples of waste and misuse of the taxpayers’ money as government employees are re- placed by consultants who are friends of the government, and in the weeks ahead we will be making this information public. “Hiring consultants to do clerical work at production standards far below those of regular government employees is a clear and blatant example of what is now taking place behind the closed doors of some ministries. “The kinds of shocking examples that we are uncovering makes a mockery of the government’s so-called restraint program, and our Union will be exposing these political pork barrels whenever and wher- ever we find them,” Andstein said. GREAT NEWS FROM OTTAWA IWA members who have been laying awake at night worrying about what to do with all their extra cash can stop worrying. Ottawa has come through for us again. Thanks to changes introduced in this year’s Federal budget, youcan now put up to 18%, or $10,000, in your RRSP, and not pay taxes on one cent of it. And by 1988, the maximum will be $15,000. Isn’t it sweet how they will take care of our interests, so we can just forget about all that nasty political stuff and just keep pulling the old lumber off the old chain? Once upon a time... Donald Dotson, now NLRB chairman, served as labor counsel for Wheeling-Pitts- burgh Steel and Westinghouse. He regularly denounced collective bargaining as destroy- ing individual freedom. He was a public sup- porter of J. P. Stevens’ long fight to avoid union organization. Once upon a time... Hugh Reilly, the new NLRB solicitor, was staff attorney for the National Right-to-Work Foundation. He moonlighted on a Right-to- Work lawsuit even after coming to work for the Labor Department. Once upon a time... John Vandewater, special assistant to La- bor Secretary Donovan had his own anti-la- bor consultant firm. He directed 130 anti- union campaigns all by himself. SOCRED STRATEGY Those who have accepted the Allen Foth- eringham thesis about the political crisis in B.C. (“look what those funny Socreds and those funny Unions are doing out in that funny lotus-land today”) should look very carefully at the item from the LWIU’s “Dispatcher” of Feb. 3 (above). Those who want to know what the Socreds have in store for us in the future should read it again. POLITICAL Year Company 1976 Dennison Mines Ford Southam News Noranda Canada Cement LaFayette Alcan 1978 Royal Bank Bank of Montreal Bank of Nova Scotia Toronto Dominion Bank Banque Canadienne Nationale Provincial Bank of Canada Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canadian Tire Union Carbide 1979 Gulf Oil (Election INCO Year) Bank of Nova Scotia Bank of Commerce Canadian Pacific Domtar George Weston Labatt’s Breweries Great West Life Canada Packers Consumer Gas MacMillan Bloedel Noranda DONATIONS P.C. Liberal $25,500.00 $25,000.00 21,500.00 $20,000.00 $10,000.00 $10,000.00 $16,800.00 $15,000.00 $21,291.00 $20,980.00 $18,800.00 $22,500.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $20,098.75 $20,000.00 $20,000.00 $20,000.00 $ 6,000.00 $ 6,240.00 $ 5,000.00 $ 5,000.00 $25,351.56 $25,000.00 $ 1,562.50 $ 1,350.00 $ 2,500.00 $ 2,500.00 $36,400.00 $53,324.00 $50,000.00 $50,000.00 $50,000.00 $50,000.00 $51,200.00 $50,190.84 $35,000.00 $35,000.00 $30,701.50 $40,000.00 $14,000.00 $13,000.00 $21,200.00 $21,170.00 $10,000.00 $10,000.00 $25,200.00 $32,650.00 $13,363.62 $22,170.00 $13,690.00 $13,300.00 $41,200.00 $41,170.00 Source: Chief Electoral Officer, Ottawa. 8/Lumber Worker/Spring, 1984