ar a ~ a a ot 1 BRITISH COLUMBIA ‘Kerkhoff-Hyundai award shows Socreds unchanged The B.C. Social Credit government refused to award the contract for the building of a new bridge over the Fraser River (to extend the Skytrain line to Sur- rey) to a Canadian unionized company. Instead, it has been given to an anti- union, foreign controlled consortium — Hyundai of South Korea and J.C. Kerkhoff and Sons. This is a move deliberately designed to bust the construction unions in B.C., to undermine existing wage standards, to export jobs and to open the door to further foreign control of our province. The bid of a Canadian company — FCI Engineering and Construction of Calgary, a unionized firm — was only $2.8 million higher for a concrete bridge and only $854,000 higher for a steel bridge. The loss to B.C. in awarding the contract to Hyundai-Kerkhoff will be much greater than either of these amounts. The Social Credit government has been giving one contract after another to Kerkhoff and Sons just because of its anti-union policies. It has been successful time and again in bids that are just a little under those of unionized construction companies. Kerkhoff and Sons pays wages often only one-half to two-thirds of those paid to unionized workers, and then pockets the difference. Hyundai is a huge multinational cor- poration engaged not only in construc- tion but also in shipbuilding and steel. It is one of the mainstays of the bloody dictatorship that rules South Korea and is headed by Park Chung Lee, the former Korean dictator. No unions are allowed in the Hyundai empire, not even the government- controlled Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), whose leaders are appointed. Hyundai employees work 10 hours a day, six to seven days a week and earn $1.70 to $2.50 an hour. Under South Korean law employers may fire any worker who shows any sympathy for unions. Hyundai workers who produce the cars that enter Canada duty-free (all other imports are taxed) can’t afford to buy the car they make — they come to work on bicycles. The people of South Korea, where the U.S. has a huge military establishment, have no democratic or human rights. All dissent is brutally suppressed. It is also worth noting that this is the country with which the Tory government and so many of its ministers have developed very close business and financial relations. Hyun- dai also has numerous investments and holdings in B.C. B.C. will lose out in this new contract because the steel for the bridge will now not come from Canada but will be imported from South Korea. Further- more, the steel will also be structured in South Korea. Up to 30 per cent of the work might be done outside of Canada. South Korean engineers will-be brought in to run the job at a time when hundreds of Canadian engineers are out of work. Because the wages paid by Kerkhoff and Hyundai are so low, the amount of money that will go into the B.C. econ- omy will be approximately cut in half. There is not even a fair-wage clause in the contract. Because the steel is being imported and fabricated offshore, because of the Harry Rankin low wages, the spin-off effects for busi- ness in B.C. will be small. Small business will be the big loser in this contract. That’s why it’s correct to say that award- ing this contract to a foreign firm is the same as exporting jobs and exporting business activity. There is no law requiring the B.C. government to award any contract to the lowest bidder. In fact we have two laws which permit the province to give prefer- ence to Canadian or local contractors — the Ministry of Transport and Highways Act Section 49(3) and the Purchasing Commission Act, Section 8. In ignoring these laws, the govern- ment of B.C. is simply placing the profits of foreign corporations ahead of the wel- fare of the people of B.C. The awarding of this contract is just one more proof that, despite Premier Vander Zalm’s efforts to create a new image, Social Credit policies have not changed. Zander new CP organizer Former unemployment activist and trade unionist Kim Zander has taken over the job of organizer for the Greater Vancouver region of the Communist Party of Canada. Zander, 27, took over the job July 7, succeeding Betty Griffin. The post was [= created. with the j formation of the | 4 region and region- },' al committee in 1978. It was held until August, 1985, by Miguel Figueroa, now Canadian Trib- une representative in the Atlantic region. KIM ZANDER Zander brings to the job, which involves working with the region’s 13 clubs as well as five clubs in the Fraser Valley region, a wealth of experience in the labor and municipal fields. Most recently, she was co-ordinator for the Vancouver and District Labor Council’s unemployment action centre, ‘running the centre from its inception in December, 1982, until May, 1986. A shoreworker in Vancouver for eight years, Zander was a member of the exec- utive of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, Local 2, and a delegate to the labor council. Zander was provincial leader of the Young Communist League, from 1980 to 1985. She has also been active in municipal and community work, as a school board candidate for the Surrey Alternative Movement, and as a co-founder of the Surrey Tenants Association and Right to Choose, a pro-choice on abortion organ- ization. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1986 va % ef, ces candidacy for Nov. 15 civic election. The Committee of Progressive Electors made a pledge to maintain jobs and servi- ces, fight contracting out of city jobs and ensure fair wages be paid on civic projects in a special Labor Day statement released Sept. 1. At a press conference called to announce the nomination of Vancouver and District Labor Council secretary Frank Kennedy as a COPE aldermanic candidate, representa- tives for the labor-backed civic alliance said its pledges “are for COPE a cornerstone of economic and social policy which the work- ing people of Vancouver can trust all COPE representative to uphold. “These are matters which are fundamen- tal to fairness and good government, yet are very much in doubt should right-wing polit- ical forces take over Vancouver civic government,” the statement warned. COPE mayoral candidate and veteran alderman Harry Rankin nominated Kennedy for the aldermanic slot in a tough election race against the business-backed Non-Partisan Association this fall. Nominees for city council — which include incumbents Bruck Eriksen, Bruce Yorke and Libby Davies, along with Kennedy and community activist Jean Swanson — and school and parks board, will seek membership aapproval at a nomi- nation conference at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre Sept. 10, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy a veteran of the labor council : ak . E Flanked by COPE alderman and mayoral candidate Harry Rankin (I) and col president Jim Quail (r), Vancouver Labor Council secretary Frank Kennedy ann? and a long-time officer in the Longshot men’s Union, told reporters that maif oft ing city jobs and services is the ft | important issue.” ’ “Peace should also be an issue for ryone in the community since they W | affected if there is a nuclear war,” Kenl@” a co-founder and president of End the» as Race, said. He asserted that Vancou. as peace initiatives have been ‘“decisiV® “ has assisted other communities in declare i their areas nuclear-weapons free zones. | B.C. Federation of Labor president’), Kube said the federation was not US involved in civic elections, but that the va couver race is particularly important. “The city faces a further economic d0 turn once the lights of Expo go out, a8© important that labor’s voice be st? heard. We couldn’t have a better volce™ Frank Kennedy’s,” he asserted. val In its Labor Day statement Ca expressed its “solidarity” with the Cané labor movement’s fight against pniV4™ tion, deregulation and free trade. ‘ The civic organization also pledged | continue maintaining jobs and service create jobs through municipal infras® i) ture upgrading “jointly funded by all le of government,” to support the city’s ed {0 opportunities program, to reject mov |) contract-out city jobs, and to com | implementing the city’s fair wage poll contracted city projects. Cities make peace vow} Vancouver and the Soviet city of Odessa made a joint appeal for world peace and disarmament, and pledged continued co- operation between the sister cities, during a visit by Odessa officials last month. Two documents — the Appeal of the Odessa and Vancouver City Councils to the Citizens of the World, and the Protocol of Co-operation, highlighted the nine-day visit by the 12-member Odessa delegation which began Aug. 7. The peace document followed a special day-long public meeting Aug. 9 with Odessa and Vancouver council members and representatives of local peace and community organizations. Signed by Valentin Simonenko, chair of the executive committee of Odessa’s city soviet, and his counterpart, Vancouver Mayor Mike Harcourt, the document appeals “to the peoples of the earth, on behalf of the citizens of sister city Odessa and Vancouver, for an end to the arms race. “At present the rate of stockpiling of weapons is critically high. The danger of a local armed conflict escalating into a world war and hence, nuclear catastrophe, has increased,” it notes. “To end this threat, we must lt together our efforts in the struggle for P rife ... Only through the common efforts people of all countries and contifl regardless of color, religion or politi: the threat of war be stopped and P® achieved.” The co-operation protocol acknowledé that “‘the Odessa delegation and Vanoo" city council have approved the develop™ of friendly bonds between the sistet and regard as a principal target the { extension of forms of co-operation, opt enhance better mutual understanding, iy friendship between the Soviet and “ — dian peoples.” eit Its signing means both cities agr@ “od regular exchange of official delegations 7 visits every two years by technicians, @ and other specialists. It calls for partie 4 tion by medical specialists in scientifiC? ferences organized by Soviet inst a7 co-operation between Odessa State mo ia sity and the University of B.C., 42 operation between trade unions, groups and friendship societies.