BRITISH COLUMBIA

Canada must give a resounding “yes”
to the Soviet proposal to rid Europe of
nuclear weapons, the B.C. Peace Council
urged on the eve of a session of NATO
foreign ministers in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In a telegram June 8 to External
Affairs Minister Joe Clark, the council
called on the Canadian government to
“speak forcefully” in favor of the “‘zero-

_ zero” option proposed by the Soviet
Union.

That option calls for the scrapping of
all Europe-based medium-range and
short-range nuclear-equipped missiles in
the arsenals of the Soviet Union and the
United States, which would “enhance
everyone’s security far beyond that con-
tinent,” the telegram stated.

Based on U.S. President Ronald Rea-
gan’s “zero option,” the proposal if
implemented would leave intact the

BCTF vows to ‘stay united’

The B.C. Teachers Federation has

decided to leave the determination of the
federation’s course under the terms of Bill
20 up to a special general membership in
October, but delegates toa BCTF represen-
tative assembly May 29-30 declared their
intention to remain a “strong, united and
province-wide organization” despite the
government’s efforts to dismember the 70-
year-old federation.

The weekend meeting of the teachers’
federation also laid outa six-point program

nuclear weapons systems of France and
Great Britain.

Initially made by the president in 1981,
it was rejected by the Soviet government
because it left France and Great Britain
armed. But in an effort to break the
logjam of stalled negotiations and to rid
Europe of the danger posed by recently
installed U.S. Pershing II and cruise
medium-range missiles, Soviet Commu-
nist Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev
recently agreed to accept it and later to
include short-range battlefield nuclear
weapons in the package. Since then, the
Soviet leader has complained that the
U.S. andsome NATO countries are pro-
crastinating on negotiating the proposal.

The right-wing government of the
Federal Republic of Germany has, for
example, been roundly criticized within
the republic for its stalling on the zero

to continue the campaign against Bills 19
and 20 in conjunction with the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor and local labor councils.

A special resolution adopted by the
assembly will go for ratification to a general
meeting, slated for October 3, and will call
on BCTF members to “respond to Bill 20’s
attack on our members by declaring our
intention to:

@ “Remain a strong, united and province-
wide voice for teachers, students and the
public education system of B.C.;

Soviet Guest Artists

Press Awards

$12 person
$8 unemployed

Day Care Available
Refreshments

at 251-1186

Saturday, June 20, 1987
Chinese Cultural Centre
-50 East Pender Street

Doors 6 p.m./ Dinner 7 p.m.

Full Course Beef Dinner

$4 12 years and under

Call Tribune for reservations

Speak out for zero option, PM urged

option. On June 4 the coalition govern-
ment voted against banning short-range
nuclear weapons.

At Reykjavik, site of the historic peace
talks between Reagan and Gorbachev
last October, foreign ministers from all
countries in the NATO alliance sat down
to discuss the proposals Wednesday,
June 10.

The B.C. Peace Council, an affiliate of
the Canadian Peace Congress and the
World Peace Congress, praised a recent
speech in Quebec city by Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney supporting the zero-.
zero proposal.

“We note that such an agreement
would expose the scandalous waste of
taxpayers’ monies proposed for nuclear-
powered submarines in (Defence Minis-
ter Perrin Beatty’s) White Paper on
Defence,” the council said in a statement.

e “Continue strong local associations of
the BCTF in every school district;

e “Retain the membership of and pro-
vide services to all members of the teaching
force;

e “Continue to address all teachers’ con-
cerns, professional, economic and social.”

Copies of the resolution and others
adopted by the meeting have been sent out
to teachers across the province as part of the
BCTF response to Bill 20 which was pushed
through the legislature May 19 and pro-
claimed within a week.

Known as the Teaching Profession Act,
the legislation establishes a new teachers’
college which all teachers must join if they
are to maintain teaching certificates. The
college provides for disciplinary measures,
including dismissal if, for any reason, a
teacher is declared to be “unfit for teach-
ing.

ii establishes a new system of member-
ship association whereby local teachers’
association must opt either to remain as a
non-bargaining local association or choose
to become certified as a bargaining agent. In
the latter case, teachers obtain full bargain-
ing rights, including the right to strike
— but are subject to all the anti-labor pro-
visions of Bill 19 should it become law.

In addition, under the new Act, the pro-
vince’s 2,000 principals and vice-principals,
who are now members of the BCTF, will be
taken out of bargaining units and stripped
of any collective bargaining rights. The Act
becomes effective Jan. 1, 1988.

The legislation was clearly framed to
dismember the BCTF — a target of three
successive Social Credit governments —but
the BCTF executive has vowed that will not
happen.

BCTF president Elsie McMurphy told a
rally of the Vancouver and District Labor

The telegram urges Clark to “speak
out publicly, repeatedly and forcefully

. to get rid of all roadblocks with
NATO preventing the complete removal
and destruction of all short and medium
range nuclear missiles in Europe, both
East and West ....

“An agreement to remove these
deadly weapons from Europe would
enhance everyone’s security far beyond
that continent and could become a vital
contribution to ensuring the survival of
all humanity on this planet,” states the
telegram, from council secretary Rosa-
leen Ross.

The peace council has also urged other
Canadian peace organizations “to take
whatever initiatives are possible to pres-
sure the Canadidn government to adopt
a consistent pro-peace policy ....”

. i. #3"
ELSIE McMURPHY.. . won't let govern-
ment dismember BCTF.

Council May 5: “Many are saying that Bill
20 was designed by the government to get
rid of the BCTF. But I want to tell you:
there is absolutely no possibility that is
going to be the result.”

Delegates to the May 29 representative

assembly also voted to continue the —

instruction-only work-to-rule campaign in
conjunction with the action program laid
down last month by the B.C. Federation of
Labor.

The BCTF will be assisting local associa-
tions to develop what it called “innovative
actions” against the legislation and will be
working with local labor councils and
unions in the campaign against Bills 19 and
20.

The six-point resolution also called on
the federation to work with local associa-
tions “in providing organizational support
for regional and local actions against the
legislation over the summer.”

A special representative assembly has
been set for Aug. 28 to review the federa-
tion’s program and to consider future stra-

tegy.

Soviet artists at banquet

artists take to the stage June 20.

mean Philharmonic Society.

classics to modern dance music.

The hall where the Tribune Victory Banquet is held will ring
with a different kind of sound when three renowned Soviet

Featured will be singer and pianist Olena Stakhovska, soloist
Bohdan Kosopud and bayan — button accordion — player
Yuri Fedorov. The performers are in Vancouver at the invitation
of the mayor to participate in the upcoming city-wide Folk Fest.

Stakhovska, equally at home on both piano and voice, is vocal
soloist with the Odessa Philharmonic Society. Kosopud excels at
both symphonic and folk performances and is soloist with Cri-

Bayanist Fedorov has toured outside the Soviet Union,
including the United States, and plays melodies from ancient

FEDOROV

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JUNE 10, 1987 e 3

See samadhi tatiad amidatatiledaadianaanidadenetmamadee