_A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 2, 2002 - TERRACE ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638- 8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Strect Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Three words FRUSTRATION. There are undoubtedly more that apply, but these three words about sum up the incredible battering suffered by the northwest surrounding the nego- tiations for new contracts between Skeena Cellu- lose owners NWBC Timber and Pulp and the un- ions representing the company’s workers. Frustration at the inability of people to set aside their egos. Pain for the ongoing economic and so- cial damage from the prolonged closure of Skee- na. And helplessness at wondering why all of this had to happen in the first place. What we’ve all been through is a masterful campaign on the part of NWBC president Dan Veniez to reach his goal of lowering labour costs. . Mr. Veniez realized correctly that because of the massive impact Skeena Cellulose has on the - northwestern economy and the absolute need that its mills have to re-open, he could employ tactics beyond those of traditional labour-management - bargaining. His “Fresh Start” sign it or stuff it edict of this spring was an immediate declaration of war against the unions. He also worked hard behind the scenes to foster unrest among union members So that they’d pressure their leadership to sign on _ the dotted line. He sought to recruit the northwest public as his foot soldiers to increase that pres- . sure on the unions so they’d surrender uncondi- ' tionally. The ultimate plan was to achieve victory by coming down from the hills after the battle and shoot the wounded. '. Tragically, the unions failed.to.pick up on Mr, “Veniez’s strategy. As creative as Mr. Veniez was, the unions weren’t. They preferred to stick to the - traditional labour-management ballet of offer and counter offer. When Mr. Veniez selectively went public to hammer at them and then played hide and seek afterward, the unions expressed outrage, but that ‘was about it. They didn’t understand that Mr. Ve- niez wanted to weaken them publicly before they actually got to the bargaining table. _ What would have happened, for instance, if the unions had come together for joint bargaining? What if they had proposed a master agreement _ encompassing general principles and conditions ‘ to be followed up by mill by mill side agreements to fit local circumstances? What if they had camped out at Mr. Veniez’s Vancouver office, telling him to stop his public . Shenanigans and to sit down and talk? _ All this is not to suggest that labour agreements . might have been reached earlier. And it is not to : Suggest that the frustration and pain would have been avoided. But it is to suggest that understand- - ing what happened can overcome the feeling of _ helplessness. And never to let it happen again. 2001 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel ; NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon’ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $56,25(+$3,94 GST)=60.19 per year; Seniors $49.50 (43.47 GST)=52.97; Out of Province $63.22 (+$4.43 GST)=67,65 Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST)=163.00 PAIN. HELPLESSNESS. MEMBER OF : B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, ( ~ CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION M AND sd CNA Commuers Mevsearms B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (wnww.bepresscounctl.crg) leer onset Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week at 210 Clinton Street, ~ Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5A2, Stores, photographs, Mustrallons, designs and typestyles In tha Terrace Standard are the properly of the copyright holdars, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid, Ils illustration repo services and advertising agenclas. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written pamission, is specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail panding the Pest Cifies Department, for paymant of pestaga In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents “fot thelr time and talents’ Don’t make this a bad ‘ferry’ tale VICTORIA — Got a phone call the other day from a Canada Customs official. Gordon Campbell, the pre- mier, he said, is skating not only in thin ice but slush in his attempts to award contracts for the construction, upgrading or repair of B.C, Ferries vessels to foreign countries. He asked me not to men- tion is name which is entirely understandable. Governments of any level don't appreciate their employ- ees to tell the truth, lest it ruf- fle feathers in higher or lower places. He asked me to look up Memorandum D8-2-1, the "Canadian goods abroad" sec- tion of the Canada Customs regulations, I strongly urge Gardon Campbell, the premier, to read it too. It might save his gov- /, ernment and. by,, association ‘the taxpayers’ of” ‘British Co- iumbia from having to pay through the nose for yet an- other B.C. folly. To bring you up to date, the povernment wants to farm out B.C. Ferries work to the lowest bidder, be that Korea, Singa- pore or Lower Slabovia. I have no problem with my government trying to save money. Saving money is an admirable thing to do. But if one's obsession to save money -FROM THE CAPITAL - HUBERT BEYER is not only going to destroy a viaule industry right here in British Columbia but ends up costing me more, I begin to wonder about the sanity of the politicians who dream up the money-saving schemes. Fact: British Columbia has a viable ship-building industry. Fact: If we allow B.C, Ferries vessels to be built, upgraded . or repaired elsewhere, our in- dustry will die. Fact: Jabs at home have a multiplier effect. For every direct job, there are at least two indirect jobs. Kill 5,000 direct jobs, you can kiss a total of 15,000 jobs goodbye. My Canada Customs infor- mant said that any Canadian business or government ship- ping goods to foreign countries for additions, repairs and the like must pay a 25 per cent duty when those goods return. The duty applies not only to the cost of the repairs or addi- tions, but to the value of the whole. Thus, he said, a B.C. Fer- ries vessel, valued at $20 mil- lion, having undergone $5 mil- lion in upgrades or repairs, will be assessed a 25 per-cent duly on $25 million. The reason for that, he said, is that the “item coming back is not the item that left Cana- da.” This stipulation, he added, is applied with special vigour in cases where the work was done in non-NAFTA countries, like Korea or Singapore. Let’s take a look at Memor- andum D8-2-1, which was easy to trace down because it’s on the Net. The most stringent toms Tariff as a North Ameri- can Free Trade Apreement (NAFTA) country, Chile (CCFTA), or Israel or another Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) benefi- | ciary.” Well, Korea doesn’t, nor” does Singapore. Farming the job out to the U.S. would cost more than doing it here at home. What is so difficult to grasp about the concept that jobs here at home are better than jobs in Korea? There are some intelligent people in the Liberal govern- ment’s caucus. —— Dammit, the premier didn’t get where he is by being dumb. He’s a smart man. Why can’t he put two and two together? I advise the pre- mier to go on the Net and find out for himself what he’s about clause for exemption: fram: duty on ol 9,-debe gmnlen here’ 8 fhe aE aided oneé the Vessel’ comes back ‘is, - that the work could not have: been done in Canada. Strike that one. As I said, we have a very viable ship- building industry, The next test is whether or not the country B.C. Ferries chooses to work on its vessels is signatory to any of Canada's free-trade agreements. “Free trade partner is de- fined in section 2 of the Cus- Wess ks Oy “htt ps Tiwww. ccra- “adre. gc.ca/E/pub/cm/d8-2- 1/d821ed.html. If that doesn’t convince you, I suppose you have to deal with the consequences of your ac- tions which look very bad to me. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com;. Tel (250) 381-6900; Web hup:/{www.hubertbeyer.com . Just stick to the basics, please EDUCATION MINISTER Christy Clark intends students should choose by grade ten which career they will pursue as adults. What nonsense. Sixteen year olds can’t decide which shirt to wear in the morning. Why else do they slavishly follow fashion fads. Campbell’s government is again bowing to the demands of business. Business demands that high schoo! grads be pre- pared to produce in the corpor- ale world, Business makes no mention of wanting grads who can think, reason, problem solve or innovate. Business also fails to pro- vide jobs for those qualified. How many university grads are without employment, or work- ing in jobs so unrelated to their fields of training that the thing they hear most is “I'll have fries with that.” Think tanks teil us, in the . future, everyone can expect to change jobs af least six times in their working life. Which courses in high school would best prepare a worker for a fu- ture of frequent shifts? THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECK] I'd say a sound basic edu- cation, learning to read, write, spell, and do math in your head. Business needs grads who can do those things, and show same initiative on the job, It doesn’t hurt if a carpenter can recite a few fines of Robert Browning, if a nurse knows who Duddy Kravitz was, or if a trucker can pinpoint Luck- now on a globe. To know those things they have to have read a lol, thought some, and had the dis- OH Boy! WE'RE GOING IN THE cipline to pursue knowledge on their own, It isn’t the know- ledge that gives them the edge; it’s their willingness to do more than is required. That quality fits in every career. Switching from one line of work of training to another isn’t new. Family circum- slances, tuition costs, courses available at the time, jobs open all that and more decide career choices. If we’re lucky and percep- tive, guided by the paris of the job we liked or detested most, each time we switch jobs we fine tune our choices closer to our passions, As an example, Chris Cheadle of Sidney, B.C. is a photographer with three books to his credit, and several pages of colourful photos in Harrow- smith’s October issue. Now in his 30s, prior to photography, which he loves, he was a fish- erman, a carpenter, and then a commercial diver. In grade 10 should he have studied sci- ences, arts, or shop courses? Employment Canada lists over 2000 job classifications. yay WE'RE GONG NS THE RUCK TO DWN No doubt new classifications are added every week or two as technology broadens our capa- bilities. For example, the car- eer of fish farmer must be a re- latively young classification. Before students can make an intelligent choice, they need to be aware of possible career choices. I’d be surprised if the average teenager could name more than a dozen, com- mon jobs. those jobs would be- long to people he knows, par- ents, relatives, friends. He might be aware of one or two exotic careers such as astro- naut, fighter pilot, or Nashville singer. Discussions of Clark’s latest whimsy is in contrast with her culling of budgets, laying off of teachers, and closing of schools. Where will school dis- tricts find the funding, class- rooms, and qualified instructors to implement Clark’s fantasy of molding 15 year olds into em- ployable prads? Let’s teach kids English, math, and core subjects to make every grad employable. WHAT POLITICIAN WOVEDN'T DIE FOR ACANINE.QNSIITOENCY,” O20 guHAaT- Pam