Oe ee Lee Sot ee ®t TR: AD D8 TD iy MOO DRO o! B: \$ J Pha Rg 1 1 1 t a = i Oia er So es ee OP Se ee ee Ze BS Ss fae Sasa _ positions, half of them nurses, at Burnaby General. Several more BRITISH COLUMBIA Labor, citizens, aldermen gear up for cuts protest Continued from page 1 at the Cranbrook and _ District Hospital; 36 beds and a possible 18 more, and a chopping of 93 staff hospitals, also promised imminent cuts. All in all, the cuts could total 1,200 beds and 3,000 employees, according to estimates from the hospitals’ representative body, the B.C. Health Association. B.C.’s citizens face more than declining health care. They’ll also Dear Member: For years, British Columbia has coped with a health care system that was just barely up to par, Everyone had to make. do, health workers and patients. But it's health workers who faced the problems day in and day out; making ao ics. something you've learned to live * Well. vou haw STOP ERODING HEALTH CARE t Gs © to Save Health © anyone. Please complete the question- naire on the following pages and return it to your union within a week of receiving it. Analyzed by computer, the results will help us explain how the system is in trouble.-All sources of info be kept st" be expected to pick up part of the government’s miniscule grant in- crease of nine percent through in- creased user fees, many already in place. Health minister Jim Nielsen has also refused to pick up about $15 million in hospital budget deficits, reversing a traditional government practice and adding to the burden caused by the $83 million grants shortfall. Another cornerstone of the government’s hospital cuts is the wage control section of the restraints program. Following the provincial guidelines holding wages at between eight and 12 per- cent, the province’s 115 hospitals have offered the 24,000-member Hospital Employees Union in- - creases limited to about eight per- cent for a 15-month agreement. HEU secretary Jack Gerow has countered by urging hospital ad- ministrators to resist being ‘“quisl- ings’’ to the provincial government and to “‘act in a collective way and go on strike against implementing these treacherous spending restraints.” The VGH board has flatly refused to do so, saying the - hospital will have to live with the _ health ministry’s cuts. The current response of the hospital unions has been to monitor the effects of cuts to health care through a province wide survey. The six unions, including the HSA, HEU, B.C. Nurses Union, the Union of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of B.C., the Ambulance Employees’ Union — (CUPE local 873) and the Interna- tional Union of Operating Engineers banded together in an ‘Alliance to Save Health Care in HEALTH ALLIANCE BROCHURE .. . seeks service cuts details. B.C. in early March, following premier Bennett’s announcement of the restraints. “‘We seem to have been proven right in our predictions, although we won’t know the results of the survey for another month,” B.C. Nurses Union spokesman Jerry Miller told the Tribune. In a two-part program the Alliance is asking its collective membership of 49,000 to fill out a questionnaire detailing how they think service has been affected in their hospital. “Do you agree or disagree that absent staff is replaced by relief staff in your department? Do you agree or disagree that you feel obliged to work with a cold or fluin order to prevent short staffing? In the last year, has: your work load stayed the same, increased or decreased?,”” are some of the 27 questions health care workers are asked. About 12,000 completed questionnaires have been returned since last week, according to Miller, who said the results will be published as a report to the public “to let them know about the resources available to them.” The second part of the program involves shop stewards, who will file “‘incidence”’ reports based on their observations of daily oc- curences, and help ‘‘blow the whis- tle on the provincial government,’ said Miller. Miller said he “‘recognized that management has the right to lay off. We realize hospital boards are pushed by the budget cuts.’’ The union will ensure that ‘‘the letter of the law”’ is applied to layoffs, he said. Public input is also being sought by a commission touring the pro- vince with a series of hearings on the effects of the restraint program, said HEU spokesman Nuccio Spitali. The endeavor is a joint ef- fort of his union with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Federation of Labor. Additionally, the HUE staff members will make submissions to the commission based on their in- terviews with union members, he said. Meanwhile, there are reports of North Vancouver citizens cir- culating petitions and open letters protesting the Lions Gate Hospital cuts. And North Vancouver Dis- trict Alderman Ernie Crist will urge council to join the LGH executive and medical staff and ‘‘express to health minister Jim Nielsen and local MLAs its grave concern for the health care of its residents and request that the minister restore the $4 million grant reduction.”’ In Vancouver Ald. Bruce Yorke of the Committee of Progressive Electors plans to meet with the Metropolitan Health Board to discuss ways of opposing the cuts, ‘and will bring the matter up at a future city council meeting. And at its Tuesday meeting the Vancouver and District Labor Council condemned the cuts and called on the provincial govern- ment to restore the $83 million hos- pital grants shortfall. Copies will be also sent to the Metropolitan Health Board and city councils. Almost 3 there Twenty pages of May Day issue wasn’t easy to put out. Nor so easy to pay for, we noted as we received the bill for that issue this week. But we think, and we believe you do too, that the effort is worth it. We were mindful of this when we saw we’d received $24,309 so far towards the $82,000 target in this year’s ‘‘82 in ’82’’ funds drive cam- paign. It’s obvious that it took a lot _ of effort on the part of our concern- * ed supporters to come up with that sum, and help ensure that future May Day issues will continue to offer the variety of special feature articles for which these have become known. But with only five weeks to go before our June 12 deadline, we can’t help but point out that it still leaves a little less than $58,000 to go before the Tribune’s Victory Banquet is held. We’d like to urge our friends to make that extra effort and see that the banquet continues to live up to its name. Readers can take inspiration from a long-time but anonymous supporter who boosted the tally by $3,000 the other day. While everyone can’t supply that much, it’s good to know there are those around who make that extra sacrifice and help us to reach that “82 in ’82”’ goal. GREATER VANCOUVER N. COAST/INTERIOR Belogiannis 1,200 — Correspondence 3,150 1,239 Bill Bennett 1,200 161 Powell River 500 322 Building Trades 3,200 82 Sointula 200 192 Burnaby 5,000 1,759 Terrace 200 Coquitlam 2,500 872 Prince George 200 — Kingsway 6,700 2,491 Creston 350 200 N. Westminster 1,500 141 ‘Fernie 200 — Nigel Morgan 1,300 1,000 Trail 850 20 Niilo Makela 1,000 121 FRASER VALLEY North Van 3,800 1,631 os : __ _ Chilliwack 300 220 Olgin 500 D Richmond 1,300 204 elta 1,000 200 Langley 650 583 Seamen 500 338 é Maple Ridge 3,000 241 Van. East 8,500 6,305 = __ Surrey 4,500 1,827 Van. Fishermen 600 . White Rock 00 West Side 2,800 1,099 ite Roc 1,1 151 a AGAGAN VANCOUVER ISLAND Campbell River 1,500 962 Kamloops 1,300 470 Comox Valley 1,500 25 Penticton 600 11 Nanaimo 2,000 1,201 Shuswap 700 — Port Alberni 1,500 72 Vernon 1,300 — Victoria 2,200 251 TOTAL: $24,309 B.C.’s woodworkers should resist renewed attacks on their _ wages by the giant forest monop- olies, the B.C. Communist Party’s Woodworkers Commit- tee has warned in a statement. The response concerns re- marks made by MacMillan Bloe- del chairman Calvert Knudsen to a shareholders meeting Apr. 22 that the company may seek pay cuts from its workers, including the cancellation of a 13 percent pay hike set for June. Forest. companies initially made the proposal as a means of avoiding further layoffs in the ail- ing industry in public announce- ments last February. The re- sponse of the three wood unions was a resounding ‘‘no.” “The 13 percent boost won in last year’s strike will barely keep up with the rate of inflation in ‘Reject wage cuts, CP warns B.C. which is running at about 14 to 14.5 percent this year,”’ said the CP statement. The CP Woodworkers Com- . mittee said Knudsen’s speech -means ‘‘the $425,000-a-year chairman . . . has thrown down the gauntlet to forest workers and served notice the company in- tends to hold back from paying the 13 percent increase. ““Woodworkers have no alter- native but to meet the challenge,”’ the committee statement declar- ed. The statement noted that forest companies have refused, despite union requests, to reopen con- tract talks and share increased profits with their workers during the ‘*g00d”” years. The CP statement suggested that some of the 30 percent of Mac Blo’s capital invested abroad should be recalled to B.C., and charged that the company dis- torts its real profit picture by “huge depreciation write-offs” and other means. The unemployment problem facing B.C.’s woodworkers will not be solved by wage conces- sions. Only the shareholders will benefit, and union leaders must be compelled to say “‘no’”’ to wage cuts, said the committee. “Mac Blo gets huge tax hand- outs from the federal and provin- cial governments, It has been granted over two million acres of public forest lands. After all that, if it can’t provide jobs for forest workers and live up to the con- tract signed with the workers, then the time has come for the forest monopoly to be nationaliz- ed,” said B.C.’s Communist woodworkers. And now — the good news: Dual fuel: Gas or pro- pane at the flick of a switch. See and test drive this tough, durable and affordable car. It goes and goes anywhere — with ‘Nyet problem’ _NIVA @ Goes anywhere, tackles the worst terrain. @ All weather transportation @ 4-wheel dr., dual range @ Power winch, snow plow * Rugged > Reliable »* Reasonable A car that comes with a lot and goes for so little. The closest are hundreds of dollars more. @ 83 hp. 4 cyl. engine @ 4-dr., roomy interior @ Reclining bucket seats @ 21-pc. tool kit standard For information call George or Larry 291-7764 Simon Fraser Lada Inc. DEALER #6376 6081 Hastings Street, BURNABY, B.C. Full parts and service available. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 7, 1982—Page 3