Stevens, Nichol ordered fo appear

UFAWU target of com

The target for a second time of a
combines investigation, the United
Fishermen and Allied Workers’
Union has appealed for assistance
from the trade union movement to
end the harassment of the union by
the federal body and _ has
demanded that all hearings into
the case be open to the public.

The UFAWU appeal was made

“after two of the union’s three titled
Officers were ordered to appear
fore a member of the federal
Restrictive Trade . Practices
Commission.
President Homer Stevens was

Friday, December 3, 1976

ordered to appear December 8 and
secretary Jack Nichol is to appear
the following day. é

Although the source of any
complaint has not been stated and
formal charges have not yet been
indicated, the summonses are
presumed to be connected with the
seizure of hundreds of union
documents by two combines in-
vestigators last year.

On October 29, 1975, the two
investigators arrived suddenly at
the union’s headquarters in
Vancouver and presented an order
signed by the director of in-

vestigation authorizing them to
seize or copy any documents
deemed relevant to an inquiry
“r@ating to the production, pur-
chase, sale, storage, tran-
sportation and supply of fish in the
province of British Columbia.”

The order calling on Stevens and
Nichol to appear before the
commissioner also cited ‘‘an
inquiry relating to the production,
purchase, sale, storage, tran-
sportation and supply of fish and
related products in the province of
British Columbia.”

Similar orders were to be sent to

PACIFIC

*‘a number of other persons’’ which
apparently included three mem-
bers of the Native Brotherhood
whose offices were also searched
by investigators last year.

The UFAWU surmises .that the
inquiry is related to the coun-
trywide salmon sales conducted by
the UFAWU as a strike relief
project last year.

As theunion then noted, the sales
probably caused some em-
barrassment to the fishing com-
panies since the fish were sold to
the public at less than half the
retail price.

1J=15

bines inquiry —

“Tt is understandable that the
fishing monopolies did not ap-
preciate having the wide spread
between prices paid to fishermen
and prices charged at the retail
level exposed to consumers as a
result of the salmon sales,’’ said
the UFAWU in a statement issued
at the time.

“Is this what is behind the in-
vestigation?”’ it asked.

But if the pretext for the latest .

inquiry is new, the use of combines
legislation against fishermen is not

See OPEN pg. 12

| Kitimat union to appeal

punitive ruling by LRB

Kitimat smelter workers will
appeal a clearly punitive ruling by
the B.C. Labor Relations Board
which increase penalties imposed
by the board after an 18 day
wildcat strike by 1800 members of
the Canadian Association of
Smelter and Allied Workers earlier
this year.

The LRB has given about 90
union membéfs who were
suspended for periods of up to six
months by the Aluminum Com-
pany of Canada the option of either
guaranteeing the repayment of
joans extended to them by the
union or else face unrestricted
disciplinary actions by Alcan. It is
assumed that Alcan would fire all
those ‘who did not agree to
guarantee repayment of the loans.

As well, the Board has asked 30
smelter workers to each give up 10

- days pay to Alcan, allegedly as

compensation for losses suffered
by the aluminum company during
the strike. Again, if these 30
workers do not comply with the
request, they will face unrestricted
disciplinary actions. :
CASAW business agent Peter
Burton, who was president of the
union at the time of the June work
stoppage, called the ruling an
“atrocious decision. We feel that

down by the full 18 member board
after Alcan appealed an earlier
decision made by a three member
panel of the board which ruled that
the company could not dismiss any
workers in retaliation for the strike
and allowed the company to

‘suspend workers for periods of up

to six months. After that ruling,
and the subsequent suspensions by
Alcan, the CASAW- membership
voted to Joan the suspended
workers amounts equal to 75 per
cent of their gross earnings while
they. were off the job.

Burton said that the order
demanding guarantees of

‘repayment was direct interference

in the internal -affairs of a union.

“This isn’t a question of whether
or not the loans should or should
not be repaid.-This is a question of
the right for a union membership
to decide what they will do with
their money. ;

“There was no indication from
the board that the loans were
illegal; and they should not be
interfering here,” Burton stated.

Five members of. the board,
including vice-chairman John

Baigent, disagreed with the
majority opinion, and.in a minority
report called the ruling an. un-
warranted interference in the
affairs of a trade union.

See LRB pg. 3-

Fed blasts
LRB- ruling

Charging the Labor Relations
Board with imposing ‘‘vicious
penalties” on Kitimat workers,
B.C. Federation of Labor president
George Johnston said in a
statement Tuesday that the LRB is
acting completely contrary to its
stated goal of improving industrial
relations. : ot

“The punitive decision which the
board has just made is destructive
rather than constructive and can
only erode confidence in the board
on the part of unions and working
people in general.”

it's contradictory to the original
order, and it certainly sets a
dangerous precedent for the trade
union movement.”

The LRB ruling was handed

- Britain’s labor movement took up the fight against oor RB all
giant rally in London on Nov. 21. Organized jointly by the seated their
and Trade Union Council, more than 25,000 people demons

f ing right
Solidarity with black workers. It was labor's answer ie Mae Robs
Wing attacks on minority groups in Britain. eshte

B.C. Tel seeks rate boost

; EDITORIAL - hehe et

The announcement this week of massive layoffs in B.C.’s forest

industry should lead to renewed demands that Ottawa and Victoria get

going immediately ona jobs-producing program. In the meantime, all
layoffs should be stopped. sages :

It’s only two weeks ago that Statistics Canada announced that the

- unemployment picture in B.C. had improved in October. This was

made much of by the big business media and the Socred govern-

ment. It led Premier Bennett, one week later, to tell a rally in Cran-

brook that ‘“‘B.C. is moving well. We’ve got B.C. turned around. I’m

Beneteau Said that higher earnings

Coming less than six months
after its last increase, B.C. Tel
announced this week that it is
applying in mid-December to
federal regulating agencies for
Permission to again boost phone
rates by an average 15 percent,
which will bring the company an
additional revenue of $27 million in
1977, :

The U.S.-owned company, which
has a monopoly of phone services
mB.C., increased its rates June 11
of this year. This was preceded by
a 10 percent interim increase

granted by the Canadian Transport
- Commission in Ottawa in July,

1975.

In addition to boosting the
Monthly residential phone bill, in
Some cases up to $1.60, the com-
Pany is also seeking permission to

~ $8.05.

increase long distance charges by
another 10 percent.

The recent increase Saw Van-
couver phone rates, which were
already among the highest in
Canada, jump from $7.65 a month
for basic residential service to

According — to information
released by the company, proposed
new monthly rates in the province

i] rise as follows: :
sheets up $1.20 to $9.25;
Victoria, up $1 to $7.65; Prince
George and Kamloops, up 90 cents
to $6.85. Among the hardest hit by
the new increase would be Haney-
Maple Ridge, up $1.60 to $12.25 and

Langley-Cloverdale, up $1.45 to
$11.10. : 2
Announcing the proposed in-

crease, B.C. Tel president Basile

are needed to ‘‘attract investors”’
and ‘‘reassure lenders.’’ Ap-
parently, there is no limit to the
amount of profit this monopoly is
demanding. At the time of its last
increase in June, the quarterly
financial statement of B.C. Tel
showed that profits had jumped 79
percent compared to the same
three months in 1975.

However, through its corporate
setup and dealings with associated
companies, which are part of the
parent General and Telephone
Electronics in New York, B.C. Tel
is able to siphon off much of its
profits to companies which are not
under government regulation, and
is thus able to show a smaller
return on investment to the public.

See B.C. TEL pg. 3

* more optimistic than I’ve ever been before.”

How hollow all this sounds now in the light of announcements by.
MacMillan Bloedel that layoffs have already started and that 9,000
workers will be laid off? Add to that statement by Crown Zellerbach
and B.C. Forest Products of additional layoffs, and the effect these
layoffs will have throughout B.C.’s economy, and you have a pretty

- grim picture facing B.C.’s working people this winter. i

When you add to all this the likelihood of sharply increased prices as
a result of the devaluation of the Canadian dollar, which will boost
prices of all imports into Canada; and the federal and provincial
government’s policy of cutbacks, wage freeze and rising charges for
services, and the picture gets even bleaker.

Something can and must be done about it. The labor movement must
not allow the government and big business to put the entire burden of
the growing economic crisis on the backs of working people. The

present policy of deliberately creating unemplo

ent by curtailing

the economy must be replaced by a program of full employment.
~- In'the meantime, emergency measures to ensure a halt to layoffs,
and adequate unemployment compensation for those already forced

off the job, are a must.

i