Samael ” % G's? c.,o- ee, % °0"0 "0%, oo @ oe @ o @ a "es oe @@ eb e eoe@¢ = Even the weatherman gave a welcome to detente when these four-day visit this week. Seen here watching the whale show i arranged by the Canada-USSR Association — their counterparts in Canadian society. Me. Soviet tourists arrived in Vancouver for a n Stanley Park Aquarium, their itinerary — included visits to other places in the province and meetings with Shipyard workers at Vancouver Burrard and Victoria Yarrow Shipyards successfully negotiated a new agreement this week which is reported to make them the highest paid shipyard workers in the capitalist world. The agreement covers about 2,000 workers, mainly members of the Marine and Boilermakers Union, at the two locations. “It is the finest agreement we have ever had,” Walt Jacobs, secretary of the Marine and Boilermakers Union, told the Tribune, “‘It is definitely the result of joint negotiations and greater ‘unity than we have had in the past.” All together fourteen unions were involved in negotiations, united in the Joint Shipyard Conference, which came into existence seven years ago. In spite of an agreement that will see a general rise in wages of 46% over the base rate and 39% for tradesmen, with the increase rising to 48% including fringe benefits, and a COLA clause added on top of that, the agreement secured only a narrow acceptance vote among the workers. At Burrard the vote was 359 in. favor and 133 against while in Victoria 275 voted for the agreement with 206 opposed. The new contract spans 22 months and will become effective October 15 when workers will receive an across the board $1.50 per hour increase in wages. On October 15, 1975, another 85c per hour will be added, making the total increase $2.35 per hour over the present base rate of $5.1 per hour. Tradesmen will see their wages rise to $7.48 per hour from the present $5.98 per hour and then jump to $8.33 per hour in 1975. Jacobs said that the companies were forced to accept nearly all the unions’ demands with one noteable exception — a 7 1/2 hour work day. Its omission from the agreement explained the reluctant acceptance vote. Among the fringe benefits, a number of new features were won that are pacesetters in the shipyard industry. Most important of these is a pension plan to be run by the unions with a 25c per hour contribution by the employer and no worker contribution. The Shipyards also agreed to pay another .15¢c per hour into the welfare plan. Other new features are a COLA clause which will be based on ale’ per hour increase for every....3 increase in the consumer price index. First adjustment will occur July 1, 1975 and every six months after: Also won for the first time is “vacation overtime”’ where workers can choose between taking vacation pay for overtime worked or adding overtime hours for extra time. An important victory for tradesmen is an extra 3c per hour as a tool allowance. Another new feature is two weeks Severance pay after seven years of _ work, -and an extra day’s pay for each year of service after 10 years. With other added concessions scored in vacation pay and holidays, the total package is a clear victory for the unions. By tackling the two biggest yards first, similar agreements are expected to be signed at Allied Shipyards, B.C. Marine, Manley and Vito’s shipyards, all of whom start negotiations next week. No doubt employer spokesmen will be quick to denounce the agreement as ‘“‘inflationary”’, but from labor’s point of view they will require a slick argument. For while other employers will lock workers out for more than two months rather than paying far less costly settlements — the shipyard owners have admitted the true PACIFIC TRIBUNE-—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1974—Page 12. = story: employers can well afford to pay their workers a healthy wage. And it labor is united and militant they will. 92% IN FAVOR Some 4200: members of the United Steelworkers in Trail, Kimberly, and Salmo have voted 92% in favor of accepting the agreement worked outa little more than a week ago between the USWA’s joint bargaining council and Cominco. Vote results were released Wednesday, bringing to a suc- cessful conclusion the three-and-a- half-month strike that virtually transformed the town of Trail, site of Cominco’s smelter. The breakthrough on pension demands figured considerably in the overwhelming acceptance vote as workers with 30 years service can now retire at age 58 on a monthly pension of $495. In ad- dition, those with 45 years service will receive some $623 after retirement at age 60 to 65. In recommending the set- tlement, Steelworkers local presidents in Trail, Kimberly and Salmo issued a statement to the membership noting ‘‘it would have been impossible for us, the elected few, to have done this job without the initiative shown by the many individuals who were willing to Stand up and fight for what was right. “The contract was won because people across this country were helping us in our fight,” the. statement said, and added that without the expert staff provided by the national office of the union and the financial assistance given by several unions, strikers would not have been able to “‘offset the high-powered campaign waged against us by the company. Tenants plan mass lobby on Oct. 23 Cont'd. from pg. 1 tenants so that they can prepare a reply to it. The B.C. Tenants Organization is sending a delegation to Victoria Oct. 16 to lobby members of the government and to urge delay of any action by the government at least until the end of the month or the opening of the fall session of the legislature on November 1. This week’s delegation will be followed by a mass lobby of tenants to Victoria, Wednesday, Oct. 23 when hundreds of tenants are expected to converge on the legislative buildings. A statement issued by Bruce York, president of the BCTO, said that “even if the present 8%- allowable rent increase for 1974 over 1973 were continued each year for, say, the next six years, by 1980 _you will be paying $315 per month rent for a suite that rents now for $200. That’s why we intend to keep the pressure on the governvent to maintain the present rent level and even roll it back in some in- stances,”’ In addition to preparations for the mass lobby next week, major attention is being given by the tenants organization to the petition to retain the existing rent levels and launch a massive non-profit government housing construction program. The petitioning is gaining momentum with 6,700 names in the tenants office by the Start of this week. Target of the BCTO is to collect 25,000 names on the petition by the time the lobby goes to Victoria Oct, 23. Petitions should be returned to B.C. Tenants Organization, Rm. 4, 199 E. 8th Ave., Vancouver. Petition forms are also available at this address or by phoning 872-0296. A survey of tenants is also being conducted by the BCTO with the objective of collecting data to Support the fight to hold the line on rents. Tenants are asked to return these forms as quickly as possible to the address given above. (770 THE BOSTON MASSACRE BOSTON RESIDENT CRiSPUS ATTUCKS, A BLACK MAN, WAS FIRST To BE KILLED BY KING GEORGE’S TRoops | Vicious RAQST ANTI- BUSING AlOB. “The members and i families, by standing togethet *. supporting each other during rf period, have provided a sort pride and dignity in our loca oth can allow us to return f0 vay confident that we have ie destroyed the master and a 4 attitudes of the past. be thal written a modern agreement © we can work with and, et uid portant, it is one that we call on in the future.”’ f by The statement was signet Marv McLean, Local 480 pee ‘i Jack Walton, president Loc® jet Salmo, Lino Saciilotto, abe Local 65, Kimberly and Ed bet president Local 8320, Kum supervisors. Sa / | yal management of Vancouver CKLG reneged on an agree! | with the Canadian Union of eo Employees to reinstate i (0 ployees who had been fil union activities. CUPE was certified by i Relations Board in A represent CKLG employe: Gy Federation secretary ment pointed out that the agreé ich the reinstate the employees W mwas company had reneged ° "reg! signed by both CKLGS agi counsel and its chief negol# Ate was part of an arranger already fulfilled by the uni nar which CUPE agreed to wat 22 charges of unfair labor PF that had been filed with thé | Relations Board. a Jab | “There is no place e ode! relations in 1974 for such 0U! ie ef! and irresponsible manag gd attitudes,’’ Guy stated and 00% if “the Federation sone F a support of the employe i tapering this blatant atta their right to union 1 tation.” —— pol a po!