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Bennett and Bonner’s LABOR ROUNDUP:
idea of ‘‘free’’ labor

‘City Council

could have

prevented fax increase’

By WILLIAM E. STEWART

“Tax cuts possible — but offi-
cials not in favor” read a head-
line in a Vancouver daily paper
last week and so Mr, Average
in Vancouver faces an $18 boost
in taxes this year, $10 of which
will be cushioned by an increased
Homeowner Grant,

Higher assessment on land,
particularly in Vancouver’s
working class district, will boost
this figure substantially for many
taxpayers and a big roar is ex-
pected when tax notices land on
the doorsteps early in May.

The stance of City Council on

Identify cars

Inquiries made at the PT
office seeking information on
the ownership ofthe four cars,
whose occupants attempted to
disrupt the March 26th‘Peace
In Vietnam’ parade in Vancou-
ver, and who used insulting
abuse on peace marchers and
spectators alike, along the
route of march, has now been
estab)shed from the official
record,

These include a “Meteor,”
License No, 152992, owned by
Vera Eileen Angelomatis,
8992 West 18th, Vancouver,
B.C.; “Chevrolet,” License
No, 178085, owned by Walter
Kaminsky, 2769 Oxford St.,
Vancouver, B.C.; “Ply-
mouth,” License No, 183310,
owned by Thomas Alfred
Smith, 6067 Nanaimo St., Van-
couver, B.C,

The fourth vehicle, an old
panel truck, License No, 108-
995, is reported as “not in”
the Motor Vehicle Branch in
Victoria,

the mill rate this year strips
bare their pretence of concern

‘about skyrocketing taxes, Mayor

Rathie presented a personal brief
to Premier Bennett only a month
ago in which he argued for higher
grants from the province. He
demonstrated that taxes in Van-
couver have increased out of all
proportion to increases in income
and that they were strained be-
‘yond the limit, Now given an
opportunity to reduce the mill
rate, City Council decides against

it.

There was a surplus of $4,1
million which could have been
used to drop the mill rate by
about four mills, This would
have offset the increase in
assessments which boosted the
average ratepayer’s taxes by $8

with the same mill rate as last -

year.

It is becoming increasingly
evident to homeowners and
renters alike, that while the Ben-
nett government and the NPA
Council in Vancouver accuse each
other of playing dirty pool with
taxpayers in the city, they are
really both trying to use the
grievances of ratepayers to get
a better share of the tax pie
for the money interests they
represent,

The bare facts speak for them-
selves, City Council had an
opportunity to use its surplus
this year to hold the line on
homeowner taxes by reducing the
mill rate to compensate for in-
creased assessment, This they
refused to do, The only area
they want to hold the line is the
wages of civic workers who are
already underpaid and will have
to dig into their meagre pocket-
books to find the additional tax
dollars levied on them by the
city.

‘Can avoid strike if City
Council realistic’ — Union

' This week the Executive Board

of the Vancouver Civic Employ-
ees Union made a number of very
important decisions: (1) That
unless negotiations are reopened
on a realistic basis, a strike
will become effective as of 12:01
Saturday, May 7. (2) Toexpress
the union’s appreciation for the
actions of the Vancouver and
District Labor Council, and cer-
tain members of City Council,
who have publicly called for the
reopening of negotiations, (3)
The Executive Board and the
Union Negotiation Committee to
stand ready for further negotia-
tions at any time, and also in-
structed the union secretary to
so inform City Council,

Meantime, a big advertisement
in the local press clearly setting
forth the union’s case, with com-
parative wage rates between pri-
vate contractors and those paid
by the City of Vancouver to its
outside workers, present a, strong
argument in favor of the union,
Even with 40 cents added “to the
wages of the civic employee...
over two years . ., the civic
employee would still be costing
his employer considerably less
per hour.”

The union’s readiness to re-

open negotiations on a wage in-
crease “of approximately 40
cents over two years,” makes
clear to the public as to the un-
ion that “there need not be a
strike, if City Council is pre-
pared to negotiate on a realistic

basis,”
* * Ok

Tabled in Commons this week
by Prime Minister Pearson is
proposed legislation which would
allow a system of collective bar-
gaining and the “right to strike’’
for some 200,000 federal civil
employees, The “right to strike”
in the public service is designed
to cover all except those ‘‘essen-
tial to the safety and security of
the public,”

Claude Edwards, president of
the Civil Service Federation,
described the proposed legisla-
tion as *the culmination of many
years of effort on behalf of civil
servants,”

While the Bill has many re-
strictive defects, including
“compulsory arbitration” andthe
imposition of penalty rates (fines)
for civil servants and Federation

ians; Trade Union speakers.

Allied Workers Union.
SCNGS: By The Milestones.

Ausp.: Trade Union May Day Cttee.

officers in the event of so-called
“illegal” strikes, nevertheless
in the general opinion of labor,
the Bill marks a great step for-
ward in government-civil service

contract relations,
* Kk *

Arising out of the dispute be-
tween the International Typo-
graphical Union (ITU) and man-
agement of the Kamloops Sen-
tinel, (another of the Lord
Thompson of Fleet newspaper
monopoly), the ITU has applied
for a government-supervised
strike vote.

In this case the ITU had ac-
cepted a conciliation board award
of 34 cents an hour wage in-
crease in a two-year contract,
while the Sentinel flatly rejected
the board’s recommendation,
The ITU has already received
the full support of the Kamloops
and. District Labor Council
(KDLC) in the event of strike
action.

At its sessions last Thursday
the KDLC also voiced its full
support for the immediate re-
instatement by the CBC of “This
Hour Has Seven Days” program
hosts, Patrick Watson and
Laurier LaPierre,

Council delegates also scored
the increased pollution of the
Kamloops area from the local
pulp mill, Bill Ferguson, CUPE
delegate, stated Kamloops resi-
dents “were told there would be
no smell when the mill went into
operation because it would be
owned by local operators, Now
one of the largest cartels in the
USA, the Weyerhaeuser company
holds a controlling interest, and
the smell is definitely here,”
The KDLC also urged that the
Kamloops Pollution Committee
be broadened to include all sec-

tions of the community,
* Ok OK

A Federal mediation officer
has been appointed to seek a
settlement of the dispute be-
tween the Regional Vancouver
CBC dnd the Building Service
Union, The dispute arose when
the regional CBC terminated the
jobs of its 17-member janitor
staff on the pretext of “econ-
omizing,” but actually to get rid
of the union at the expiry of its
contract on April 30,

In “contracting out’’ its janitor

MAY DAY RALLY

Sun., May 1 — 8 p.m.

Pender Kudieuem
339 W. Pender St.

‘PEACE IN VIETNAM’

SPEAKERS: Dr. J. G. Endicott, Chairman, Canadian Peace Con-
gress; Dr. A. Inglis, Chairman, Canadian Aid For Vietnam Civil-

CHAIRMAN: Homer Stevens, Sec.-Treas., United Fishermen &

All proceeds to Medical Aid For Vietnam Civilians

April 29, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE--Page 3

service, CBC stated that its dis-
placed janitor staff would have
“first preference at jobs with
the new service firm, providing
they were competent.” Building
Service Union manager Ben
Moreley was quick to point out
that this “first preference would
be at 32 cents an hour below
the present union wage scale,
and we don’t intend to let that
happen,’’

The appointment of a Federal
mediator now makes it obliga-
tory for the Regional CBC to
negotiate with the union for a
new wage contract, including a
demand for a 30-cent an hour
wage hike,

* * *

At its regular meeting on Wed-
nesday, April 20, the Victoria
Labor Council went on record
supporting the demand of the
B.C. Retail Merchants Assoc-
iation for legislation restricting
the hours of store openings,
The Council also decided to send
a letter to the provincial gov-
ernment on the issue.

“All the reasons given here
for opposing unlimited store
hours are fine,” stated E, Peaker
of the Carpenters Union, “but
the real solution to this prob-
lem is to organize these store
workers .— then given a union,
they’ll soon solve the problem
for themselves,”’

* * *

North Vancouver Civic Em-
ployees Association this week
rejected a conciliation board’s
wage recommendation for a two-
year contract by a 94 percent
vote. Some 700 workers are
involved covering city and Dis-
trict outside and inside civic
employees, .

Association president Alex
Markides has stated his organ-
ization will apply for a govern-
ment-supervised strike vote just
as soon as the municipality in-
dicates its acceptance or re-
jection of the board’s majority
recommendations, © The board
recommended a 5,5 percent in-
crease for the first year and
five percent the second, Inside
staffs had already turned this
down and are seeking a mini-
mum 7,7 percent wage hoist,

DR. J. G. ENDiCOTT

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