Education un

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; ninployees at Malaspina College in Nanaimo are shown here on the

Pi et line as Nanaimo and district CUPE Local 606 had many of its
. Mbers locked out last week. In Nanaimo City all public works have
€n shut down or curtailed. Union representatives have charged that

a8 newly-formed Mid-Island Public Employers Association has become
all blocking realistic negotiations.

der attack... Pg.

Labor condemns

Socred cutbacks

Opposition and condemnation of
cutbacks in government services
to people, and the granting of huge
concessions to big business
highlighted the B.C. Federation of
Labor’s annual brief to the
provincial cabinet last week.

In presenting the 22-page
memorandum, Federation
secretary-treasurer Len Guy was
particularly harsh in his criticisms
of government taxation policy,
which the brief states “‘shifts the
burden of taxation to poor and
working people.’ Guy said that
government actions “sadden us,
but it does not surprise us.

“Rather than collecting more
from resources your government
appears to want to collect more by
penalizing transit users,
automobile owners, householders
and commuters,” the brief said.

The Federation brief calls upon
the government to repeal the sales
tax, just recently raised to seven
per cent by the Soecred govern-

ment, to remove school taxes from .

homes and family farms, and to
remove welfare costs from
municipalities. The Federation
said that these items were cost
items and that alternate sources of
revenue are required, and more

On wage freeze

| Of th

the]

os NDP opposition in the B.C.
on ature last Friday gave its
legigh t to Socred government
eon signing B.C. up under
eral wage control program.
kno er aucing the legislation
a as_ Bill 16, Premier Bill
7 ett said B.C. is signing up for
the Se until April, 1977, but that
tego. government does not
me ae abandon controls at that
itso, € stated that B.C. will have
by wt 8uideline program in place
at time.
sist leader Bill King told the
Over ure he is pleased the Socred
: Beet has “‘now been able to
K Clear stand.” He added that
tee government would not
oe € inflationary pressure of
Mcreases. In stating support
os federal government wage
Teeat program, King was
Barrett © the stand taken by the
‘ government before its
eg also lining up support
Sketch NDP with the stand of
Ver ewan and Manitoba NDP
the nments, which have opted for
free €deral government wage

7e program, despite strong

Op hee EC
Position jn those provinces by

f ‘or movement.
tableg” days before Bill 16 was
R In Victoria, the B.C.

e :
donee ation of Labor, representing
trade unionists, presented a
Premier Bennett and the
cabinet voicing strong

brieg
Provincial

NDP backs Soc

opposition to B.C. joining the
federal guidelines program.

Branding the federal wage
control program as “unjust

because it places the burden of -

inflation on salaried and. hourly

paid workers,” the brief presented
by George Johnston, president, -

and Len Guy, secretary-treasurer,
said B.C. labor ‘‘vigorously rejects
the federal wage control
program.”

“We are not prepared to be
limited to wage increases of eight
per cent, six per cent and four per
cent respectively over the next
three years while the cost of
housing, rent, utilities, auto in-
surance, food rises unchecked. We
believe the so-called price controls
are a ‘sham... Collective
bargaining as we have known it for
decades is over and your govern-
ment’s decision to opt in will not
improve industrial _ relations in
BCs

The brief adds: “‘Acceptance by
the former government (NDP)
was.a mistake which this govern-
ment should not repeat. We are
totally opposed to wage con-
trols . . . and we are determined
to break such programs. We
support the 10-point program of the
CLC to fight inflation. This
program, if implemented, would
be effective and should be adop-
ted.’

The stand taken by the NDP in
the legislature stands in sharp

red bill

contrast to that the trade union
movement. Undoubtedly the NDP
position undermines labor’s
struggle against the program and
once again points up the reason for
the strong stand taken recently by
CLC president Joe Morris on the
need for labor to adopt an in-
dependent political stand on issues
affecting the unions.

particularly that the revenue can
be collected from the province’s
rich natural resources and through
the implementation of a more
equitable tax system.

The brief noted that initial
government actions in financing
have been in ‘‘the wrong direction”’
and away from the proposals and
wishes of most British Columbians
and urged the government to
reconsider its approach
financing.

The brief was highly critical of
the manipulations ~ and
misrepresentation of the provin-
ce’s financial situation, both in the
new provincial budget, and in the
February 28 speech by premier
Bennett on B.C.’s financial status.
The brief accused the government
of misleading the people of B.C. by
including Crown corporation
statements .within the regular
budget and by including all
potential expenditures in the 1975-
76 {fiscal year, while potential
revenue for the same period was
held over to the 1976-77 budget.

The Federation said that had the
former NDP government used the
“same sleight-of-hand when they
assumed office in 1972, they would
have been able to show a Socred
deficit of more than a _ billion
dollars.”’

The government’s approach to
the whole question of social
assistance and welfare was cited
as the most serious indictment of
the Socred’s attack against the
working people and the poor in the
province. Human_ resources
minister Bill Vander . Zalm’s
statements regarding welfare
recipients were characterized as
“nothing less than disgusting” by
the Federation, which said that
they ‘‘illustrate the backward and
unacceptable attitude that the
minister’s priority is to reduce the

See LABOR, pg. 12

to.

B.C. Federation of Labor
secretary Len Guy presented
hard-hitting brief to Socred
cabinet.

Health cost
under fire

Building trades unions in B.C.
have expressed grave concern
over the impact on their members
of the provincial government
decision to boost medical
premiums by 50 per cent.

A meeting called by the B:C. and
Yukon Building Trades Council of
administrators of construction
union health and welfare plans
Monday decided to send a
representative delegation to
Victoria to voice their concern to
the ministers of health and finance.

Construction union health and
welfare plans affect 46,000 workers
and their families. An example
given at the meeting was that
bricklayers will require a 10 cent
per hour boost in pay to cover
additional costs.

City May Day rally May 1

“Control prices, profits — not wages”’ will
be the theme as Vancouver holds its May
Day celebration on Saturday, May 1 with a
car cavalcade followed by a public rally.

The mass rally will be held at the Van-
couver Technical School, 2600 block East
Broadway at 2 p.m., and will be preceded by
a ear cavalcade which will muster at the
PNE grounds at 12 noon. The May Day
Committee has called for a large turnout of
working people for both the cavalcade and

rally.

Feature speakers at the rally will include
Art Kube, regional director for the Canadian
Labor Congress, Ald. Harry Rankin, Lorne
Robson, secretary of the Provincial Council
of Carpenters, and Jack Phillips, B.C.
Communist Party organizer. Chairman of
the rally will be Cliff Rundgren, vice-
president of the Vancouver and District
Labor Council. A musical program will ‘be

on your living

Committee.

“Bargain at Half the Price.”

“From its beginnings 90 years ago around
the fight for an eight-hour day, May Day has
been used by working people the world
around to celebrate their achievements and
torenew their struggles for a better life. May
Day, 1976, is dedicated to stopping the attack

standards,”’ says the call

issued this week by the Vancouver May Day

The call points out that working people

governments.”’

song group,

today are faced by: ‘‘a savage attack on your
living standards by big business and its

Hitting out at the Socred

government’s recent budget and its attack
on labor’s rights, and the Liberal govern-
ment’s wage freeze program and its attack
on collective bargaining, the call says ‘‘both
big business governments can be compelled
to retreat if all those affected unite for new
and progressive policies.”’

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