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20°
VOL. 39, No. 2

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> Friday, January 14, 1977

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FACE OF APARTHEID. World labor has joined forces in a week of

Solidarity action Jan. 17-24 in support of their African brothers’

struggle for freedom.

The Combines investigation of
the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union, adjourned last
December amid protest from the
labor movement, took a new turn
this week as investigators from the

Restrictive Trade Practices
Commission invaded the
newsrooms of the Vancouver Sun
and Province.

The newsroom searches, one of
which was .carried out under
Search warrant were apparently
aimed at providing information on
which to support charges against
persons as yet unspecified
following the adjournment of the
_ hearings which officials had sought

unsuccessfully to hold in secret.
-- Two investigators, Simon

Wapniarski and Clare Savage,

Conducted searches at the two
_hewspapers for some hours,

checking reporters’ notebooks,
€xamining original copy and
looking for any material obtained
from coverage of the short-lived
hearings.

Although the search seemed to
have turned up little more than
Was already available in print, the
action sparked denunciations from

€ management of the two

Newspapers, the reporters in-

Volved, Local 1150f the Vancouver-

€w Westminster Newspaper
Guild and the Vancouver and

District Labor Council.

Province publisher Paddy

herman issued a statement
Protesting the two-hour disruption
Of the newsroom as ‘‘harassing and
Pointless.” The search at the
Province had been carried out
Under search warrant after city
€ditor Bob McMurray rejected a
Tequest that the paper cooperate
With the investigators.

_ Sherman said that the methods

employed by the Commission
“seemed to lack investigative
efficiency and are disturbing.

‘We will do everything in our
legal power to prevent the
newspapers’ role from _ being
abused by government in-
vestigative agencies who want us
to do their work for them,” he
stated.

He added that if the courts
wanted to cross-examine him or
his staff, ‘they are perfectly en-
titled to subpoena us. At that time,
and under legal safeguards, we can
decide if confidentiality is a prime
point at issue and behave as we
think fit, knowing the con-
sequiences.

See NEWSROOM pg. 12

The Vancouver and District
Labor Council this week added its
voice to the outcry against the
apartheid regime of South Africa
and called on external affairs
minister Donald Jamieson to vote
in favor of the proposed in-
ternational arms embargo at the
UN Security Council meeting
January 15.

The labor council resolution,
adopted at its meeting Tuesday,
was in addition to the campaign
against the South African regime
outlined by the Canadian Labor
Congress as part of a week of
protest organized by the three
world labor centres.

In stressing the particular im-
portance of the arms embargo,
CUPE delegate Dave Werlin
reminded delegates of the
“terrible days of the Vietnam war”’
and the results of foreign military
intervention in the affairs of
another country.

. “Unless immense pressure is
brought to bear,” he stated, ‘‘we
may again face the possibility of

foreign intervention — this time.

against the liberation movement in
southern Africa.”

Pressure on the federal govern-
ment to use its Security Council
vote to isolate the Vorster regime
is only one of several actions

proposed by the CLC which, ac- °

cording to its international affairs
director, John Harker, has
“bombarded the department of
external affairs with material.”
Jamieson was sent a copy of the
CLC’s submission to the UN
Special Committee on Apartheid
and the minister had reportedly
agreed to a meeting with the
Congress although it was not
known whether the meeting would
take place before the January 15
Security Council meeting. ;

The 2.3 million-member
Congress was also sending out
material to all affiliates ‘‘to
mobilize the trade union
movement on a Canada-wide scale
to participate in the week of protest
against apartheidin South Africa.”’

The protest week, set for
January 17-24, was initially set
aside by the International Con-
federation of Free Trade Unions

which called at its November
executive board meeting for
“concerted trade union action in
protest against the South African
apartheid regime.

“@nly the strongest measures
will make the South African
government understand that it
cannot get away with the vicious
attack on the African trade union

See CANADA, pg. 12

Socreds under pressure
as Legislature convenes

The second session of the 31st B.C. legislative assembly opens
Thursday, Jan. 13 amidst growing charges of corruption and reports of
new giveaways to the mining industry. It is also meeting at a time
when B.C.’s economy is in crisis and the unemployment rate is rising
faster than any other province in Canada.

Faced with charges of corruption in stock dealings arising from the
Grizzly Valley natural gas pipeline, the Socred government Tuesday
announced the setting up of a judicial inquiry into all aspects of the
Grizzly Valley affair. Premier Bennett announced the judicial inquiry
will be held under the Public Inquiries Act.

Although the Socred government has kept its legislative plans under
wraps, certain features have already emerged before the Throne
speech. On Tuesday mines minister James Chabot said the govern-
ment is considering legislation to give incentives to the mining in-
dustry. This coming on top of recent changes in the Mining Act, in-
dicates the Socreds are preparing to make major concessions to the
large mining and forest companies under the pretext of stimulating

the economy.

The Bennett government is expected to attempt to tackle the
province’s economic problems by promoting new resource giveaways
such as the deal being negotiated for coal in the Chetwynd area, and
expansion of the East Kootenay deal with the Kaiser interests. Other
giveaways may also be in the hopper, but have not yet been made

public.

Also expected to receive wide debate is the government’s action in
cutting back on education and other social services while sharply
increasing-rates for natural gas and hydro. Whether it will attempt to
push through new legislation to curb civic government restrictions on
real estate promoters, such as proposed in the Bawlf Report is

unknown at this time.

Labor legislation is also expected to be a major item of debate.

Claiments harassed

UIC contriving job ‘vacancies’

Despite official government
statistics showing that B.C. suf-
fered the worst increase in
unemployment in December, the
Unemployment Insurance Com-
mission is continuing to use con-
trived job surveys to harass
unemployment insurance
recipients, according to documents
obtained by the Tribune this week.

Figures released this week by
Statistics Canada showed this
province with an unemployment

rate of 8.8 percent, up 1.5 percent

from November — although the
figures were apparently lost on the
UIC which, still stands by the
hollow claim that “‘there are job
vacancies.”’

\

Among the documents obtained >

is a ‘Job Vacancies Bulletin’’

which lists various occupations,

job vacancies which supposedly
exist for each occupation and the
number of claimants for each
category.

The bulletin is ostensibly com-
piled in order to establish em-
ployment vacancies — except for
one problem. The cover of the
bulletin is clearly marked ‘“‘con-
fidential.’’ Claimants have no
access to the survey and even if
vacancies do exist according to the
listings, they have no opportunity
to see them.

Nevertheless, the Unem-
ployment Insurance Commission is

using the bulletin to harass
claimants, threatening them with
denial of benefits should they fail to
pursue the job openings.

A number of claimants have
received letters from the UIC
which state: ‘“‘We have made a
survey of the unemployment
market in your area. It indicates
that there are vacancies within
reasonable commuting distance
from your residence. In order for
you to maintain your eligibility for
Unemployment Insurance
benefits, it is necessary that you
contact as many of these potential
employers as possible to see if you
are able to fill any of their
vacancies.” ;

Claimants are also asked to fill
out ‘‘Active Job Search
Statements’’ which frequently
specify how many contacts with
prospective employers per day
claimants are instructed to make
in order to maintain their claim.

The findings of the mysterious
“job survey” are, of course, not
made available to claimants when

they receive letters from the -

Commission. If they were; it would
reveal the deceit.

‘For the ‘‘Jobs Vacancies
Bulletin,’ far from listing any
appreciable number of job
openings, shows just how acute the
unemployment crisis has become.

_ See UNEMPLOYED pg. 12

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