The Food ane Service Workers of

_ Canada issued 72-hour strike notice Jan.
- 30 to White Spot Restaurants Ltd. fol-
lowing more than seven months of frus-
trated bargaining and the restaurant
chain’s action last month in unilaterally
imposing a collective agreement already
rejected by the union membership. _
~ FASWOC president Cindy Hillborn
Feb. 3 that the mediator appointed

in the dispute was expected to file his.

rt Monday, paving the way for a

But any job action is likely to be -

_ off until after Feb. 6, she said when
the Labor Relations Board is expected to
conduct an informal hearing into unfair
labor practices against White Spot for

_ imposing the contract terms.

The 1,100 FASWOC members at

some 20 White Spot restaurants in B.C.
| have been without a membership-
_ ratified contract since June, 1985.
The company first proposed a three-
“year agreement with a two-tier wage sys-
tem and provisions which would allow
- management to alter or cancel shifts uni-
laterally last year but the offer was over-
__ whelmingly rejected.
| __ After failing to get acceptance of the
- agreement, White Spot moved to deliver
kout notice but later withdrew it and

Shadow of tax dodge

opted instead last ong to impose ‘the
same contract terms that FASWOC
members had rejected, and made them
retroactive to Nov. 7, 1985.
_ Under the contract, all employees
_ hired by White Spot after Nov. 8, 1985

receive 50 cents an hour less than regular —

employees and do not qualify for either
of the 10-cent an hour wage increases in
the first and second years of the contract.

Only the third year COLA clause, pro-
viding for only half the percentage —

increase in the Vancouver Consumer
Price Index, applies to new employees. -

The two-tier wage structure, coupled

_ with provisions which give management

the right to alter or cancel shifts on short

notice, “are the two major issues” in dis- _

pute, said Jim. Campbell, president of
FASWOC’s Local 12 at White Spot.
The two-tier wage “has got to go” he
said, emphasizing that.as long as it
remains, there are effectively two classes
of workers in the restaurant. He added
that the shift provisions can be used pun-
itively by the employer to cut the hours
available to union activists or to force
them into frequent shift changes.
_ The restaurant chain’s action in
imposing the contract unilaterally reflects
a growing anti-union trend by employ-

left as yard closes

Bel-Aire shipyards in North. Vancouver
became the third major shipyard in the
Lower Mainland to close its gates in less
than a year as the last of several foremen
and supervisors — in addition to the 250
yard workers already laid off — were let go
last week.

But if the Mulroney government’s failure
to enact its pre-election shipbuilding policy
has thrown B.C.’s shipbuilding industry
into doubt, the dubious financial dealings of
Bel-Aire’s new owner, the Pinecorp Resour-
cos Group Ltd., has cast an even longer
_ shadow on the yard’s future.

John Fitzpatrick, president of the Marine
Workers and Boilermakers Industrial
_ Union, which represented most of the 250
__ workers, told the Tribune Jan. 29 that offi-
_ cials of the federal excise department had

moved in last month to freeze Bel-Aire’s

bank account, after money owing in sales
taxes had apparently been taken from the
account by Pinecorp.

Pinecorp bought the shipyard in Sep-
tember, 1985, from retiring owner George
Forbes for an undisclosed sum.

But according to North Shore News
reporter Timothy Renshaw, who researched
the North Vancouver company’s opera-
‘tions extensively, the purchase was made
primarily to get access to a $3 million bank
account held by Bel-Aire, most of which
was earmarked for sales taxes from the con-
struction of the John P. Tully, a 69-metre
fisheries department vessel which was Bel-
Aire’s last major project.

Renshaw also reported that Pinecorp had
earlier acquired a bankrupt Victoria real
estate company which had losses totalling
~ some $3.1 million. By taking advantage of a
1985 income tax amendment, Pinecorp
apparently intended to use the company’s
losses as a write-off against the taxes owing
on the J.P. Tully contract — thus enabling

company which incurred the losses con-
tinues to operate.

Pinecorp, which is actually registered
with Victoria as two companies, Pinecorp
Research Ltd. and Pinecorp Resources
Group Ltd. — they share the same direc-
tor, Jack Loewen — came into existence in
1984 by taking advantage of another tax
dodge, the Scientific Research Tax Credit.
One of the most costly write-off programs
ever devised, it cost the federal government
$3.5 billion in lost tax revenues before it was
cancelled last year.

When Pinecorp bought the Bel-Aire yard
in September, 1985, it claimed it was plan-
ning to develop a new vessel propulsion
system — a claim which it now appears
had less to do with actual intentions than
with retaining the research tax credits.

Two months after the purchase, accord-
ing to Renshaw, Pinecorp made a $2.1 mil-
lion lump sum payment to the building
contractor who had put a lien against Pine-
corp’s $20 million research building in
North Vancouver, then under construction.
Work has since ceased on the project and
the building remains unfinished.

Significantly, the amount paid to the con-
tractor is close to the $2.2 million that fed-
eral tax officials claim is owing on taxes.

“TIsn’t it a coincidence ‘that the money
goes out of the bank account at Bel-Aire
and Pinecorp is able to give almost the same
amount to the contractor? ” Fitzpatrick
asked.

He added that Bel-Aire management told
the union that there was no bank acount to
pay staff, thus forcing the layoff of the man-
ager and secretarial staff Jan. 31.

Without even a skeleton staff or drafts-

men, the yard won’t even be able to bid on

what few jobs there are, Fitzpatrick said.
“But it was a perfectly good shipyard,”
he emphasized. “In fact, it was one of the

ers, both i in this province and elsewhere.
Tt follows an Oct. 16, 1984 LRB ruling
which determined that employers have
the right, under certain conditions, to
cancel collective agreements on the
_ expiry. date and 1 aes terms unilater-
ally.
Last month, Construction Labor
Relations Association sent the 16 Build-
Ing Trades | unions notice that it would
terminate collective agreements on the

porating all the concessions demanded
by CLRA.

White Spot has also waged an unre-
lenting campaign with its employees,

promising job security if they cross the

picket line and warning of reprisals
against those who go on ee Hillborn
said.

Despite the campaign, union members
voted 66 per cent for strike action Jan.
30.

Formerly owned by tte multinational
General Foods, White Spot Restaurants
Ltd. was purchased three years ago by

Shato Holdings, a real estate and shop-

ping mall firm owned by Peter Toigo.
White Spot also owns more than 50 Ken-
tucky Fried Chicken outlets where

Apr. 30 expiry date. Included with the
notice were re-written agreements incor-

FASWOC has the certification, as wel
as Industrial Caterers Ltd., Gaines Pet —
Foods and other restaurants and motels. ©

Since the ownership change, man
agement has “unquestionably adopted -
an anti-union approach,” Campbell
said. —

FASWOC is also going before th
LRB with another unfair labor practic
charge, this time involving the com
pany’s obstruction in carrying out
board decision giving the union the righ

to represent workers at the new
renovated White Spot restaurant in th

huge new Oakridge shopping mall i
Vancouver. The union was denied right
ful access to membership and seniorit
lists and is now faced with a decertifica
tion application at the restaurant.

In.addition, Campbell said, the chai
is carefully screening applicants for job:
at its new restaurants and avoiding th

__ transfer of workers from existing restau

rants. “They're doing everything Ppossi-
ble to keep them anti-union,” he said.

He said that the union was consider-
ing a number of strike options dependi
on the outcome of the LRB hearings.

steps in and take the company out of Pine-
corp’s hands,” said Fitzpatrick.

He said the union had pressed Ottawa to
take action on the closure. NDP MP Ray
Skelly is also looking into it as well as the
Canadian Labor Congress.

But even if some action can force the yard
gates open again, shipbuilding in this pro-
vince faces a doubtful future without some
action on a long-awaited Canadian ship-
ping policy, Fitzpatrick emphasized.

In fact, Bel-Aire is the third major yard to
go down in the last year. Sterling Shipyards
closed last year and B.C. Marine, Vancouv-
er’s oldest shipyard, shut its gates in Janu-
ary.

The others are down to skeleton crews
and even the biggest yard, Versatile Pacific,
has work only until next June. “After that,
there’s no new construction in sight, either
on government or ae contracts,” Fitz-
patrick warned.

BEL-AIRE SHIPYARD. . .one of the most productive on the coast.

Because Canada, unlike the U.S. and
other countries, has no policy requiri
Canadian cargo to be carried in Canadi
vessels, and no guarantees for Canadiaf
shipbuilders, major carriers such as Cana:
dian Pacific build their ships in Britain,
Japan and Korea and register them in ta
havens. 4

Before the Sept. 4, 1984 federat election;
the Conservatives promised immediate
steps to insure a “viable Canadian ship
building industry” but nothing has come of
it, despite steady demand from both the
industry and the unions. 4

“Industry Minister Sinclair Stevens keeps
saying we'll have a viable shipping industry:
But we're still waiting — and bleeding :
death,” said Fitzpatrick.

“We've sent telgrams and talked to eve /
body,” he said. “Obviously we’re going t0
have to start doing something more drastic.

Pinecorp to keep the money in Bel-Aire’s
account.

The income tax amendment was one of
the plums given to business in the last
budget by Finance Minister Michael Wil-
son, allowing companies which have

_ merged to share tax losses provided that the

most productive and respected yards on the
coast.”

Former owner George Forbes confirmed
that at the time of sale, the company “was in
excellent shape.”

“But now 250 jobs are down the
tubes — and the only hope is if someone

12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 5, 1986