The pawn in the energy game of the U.S. government and multina- “ional oil companies to bring Alaska oil to the southern states, Canadians are being offered the choice of inevitable environmental disaster from oil supertanker traf- fic along the B.C.- coast, or a Massive, new U.S. pipeline and nergy corridor across Canada along the proposed Alcan gas + | Pipeline route. : The choices were narrowed this Month with the release of a U.S. department of energy report fcommending U.S. approval of the “Northern Tier’? oil port and Pipeline proposal which would see } Massive expansion of existing oil Port facilities at’ Port Angeles, ee 40,000 members of the Columbia Government penoyees” Union will be voting on aR tentative agreement which See wages and benefits rise by Percent over a three year con- | tract. BCGEU general secretary John Tyer released the terms of the pro- Posed settlement Wednesday at a Press conference at BCGEU: head- mes in Burnaby and claimed . the settlement got ‘everything bone was to get without a major Tontation with the Washington and the construcion of an all U.S. pipeline to the midwest. The report was the recommen- dation of outgoing U.S. energy secretary James Schlesinger to U.S. president Carter who will recommend to the U.S. Congress this fall on a route to bring Alaska oil south. The confidential report was released to the public by the con- sortium which has become the chief alternative to the Northern Tier route, Foothills Oil Pipeline Co., which last year won approval for the Alcan gas pipeline. Foothills had also proposed a west coast oil port, at Skagway on the Alaska Panhandle, but only BCGEU contract Wins 30 percent some sections of his membership because of the length of the agree- ment and the absence of a COLA clause. But he defended the package claiming that the wage in- creases negotiated would bring more money to union members than a COLA clause. In addition to the wage increase of 26 percent over the three years, the contract will improve vacation schedules, allow employees. access to personnel files, and add a new provision so that employees leaving the work force to raise a family can Tankers, pipeline twin th re es Prudnoe Bay ( ae 2 vee £ if \ Ss on Vas i (eee) 2 pes oN =~ ; Sy if Se ‘ i weeks earlier switched its support to an all land route doubling the Alcan gas pipeline along the — Alaska Highway. Posing as cham- pion of the environment, Foothill’s gamble was that the land route would be more political acceptable than tankers. The Foothills strategy was well calculated and the release of Schlesinger’s recommendation successfully prompted public statements from premier Bill Ben- -nett, federal environment minister John Fraser and former Oil Ports Commissioner Dr. Andrew Thompson giving tacit support to the overland route proposed by Foothills. Whereas the environmental hazards of supertanker traffic on the B.C. coast and in the Straits of Juan de Fuca were well reat to Canada documented at the West Coast Oil Ponis Inquiry in 1977, there are as yet few serious studies of the Alcan pipeline route. As with the gas pipeline, however, the oil pipeline along the Alaska Highway can only have a massive impact on the North, and the Council of Yukon Indians is firm- ly opposed-to any pipeline being built until its land claim is settled. The Foothill’s pipeline route has been likened to a ‘‘Panama Canal’’ through Canada which would open a huge energy cor- ridor that would siphon off large amounts of Canadian resources to the U.S. and lock Canada into a continental energy policy for years to come. An Approach to Collective Capital Formation @ SWEDEN: Social democratic theorists have been trying to find mare Morale is high among 79 UFAWU shoreworkers in spite of prospects of a prolonged strike at B.C. Ice and Cold Storage which could last well into winter months. The company has yet to offer anything a third road for Sweden 80Vernment.”” for nearly 50 years, but h retain seniority if they return to € settlement, reached without work within six years. Women on . COndi; | tion» | sume } that Oth : Rene. Yote, signalled an obvious maternity leave will also earn jeay the industry settlement won last month. Keeping the picket as Jack Phillips found in the ‘a in the bargaining stance of _ seniority for the time covered by the jing honest is Boris, a 135 pound Great Dane-German shepherd. his recent trip there, they . S0vernment, Fryer agreed. Ear- leave. Sasa SG Still haven ®. fond oe See Labor Comment, es from the government Te it wanted to hold wages to ; Percent and take away a €t of previously negotiated a tions. “‘There was a conscious 8€ in the government’s posi- Fryer said, ‘‘We can only t was because they knew aa €Twise there would have been ybrook.”” r : ie Yer predicted criticism from CLC pledges relief to Nicaragua The Canadian Labor Congress has launched a Canada-wide cam- paign to raise relief funds for Nicaragua. The CLC launched the campaign August | after John Simmonds, an ‘Which road NDP? fronten hundreds of delegates er throughout B.C. come tine €r this weekend at the Van- €r Hotel for the annual con- Vv. . ‘tion of the B.C. New ery . ™MOocratic Party, it will be an- eve Sus Closely watched by the pro- Sive labor movement. For no * 20 mai iti 5 Bressives tter how critical pro os May be of the drift to the that the NDP in recent years, Party remains a mass party People the support of working and ~~ The debate over policy i Search for new answers to ithe vam is ongoing within : — ’ and the direction which 6 ae takes the party is : €rn beyond its own ranks Whole labor movement. T ae NDP can be justifiably Provincial the result of the last 8over, election. The Socred Signif; ment was weakened Cantly and the largest ever percentage of voters broke with the old line parties. But what price are the member- ship of the NDP prepared to pay for electoral “respectability”? Will there be more reactionary EDITORIAL schemes like Dave Barrett’s railway from Alaska to the US; opening up the resources of B.C.’s interior to the continentalist aims of U.S. multinationals? Will there be complete abandonment of the principle of public ownership of key sections of the economy? will the party continue to ignore its responsibility to the people of French Canada and side with the chauvinists who would divide Canada by denying the right to self determination to Quebec? : There is another road which this convention can take, and although it will never lead to respectability with the establish- aide to CLCL president Dennis McDermott, returned from a fact finding mission to Nicaragua. “‘I feel like I returned from hell,” Sim- monds told a news conference in Ottawa. ment, at its end lies the victories, electoral and otherwise, that working people are seeking. This convention can help to set working people on that road by advancing policies which will stimulate the labor movement and its allies in struggle around their own needs. Policies to transform our economy and make a decisive turn to processing and manufac- turing, and with it full employ- ment; policies to stop the energy rip off and control the prices of essential foodstuffs and housing; policies to restore labor’s rights and repeal all essential services legislation — these kind of policies, and the determination to unite with labor, students, pen- sioners, women and other political parties, including the Communist Party, to achieve these objectives will bring success. On this road alone lies the cer- tain defeat of the Socred govern- ment and the election of a govern- ment with a mandate to carry through deep going changes to raise ‘living standards and extend democracy for all working people. The CLC has called for im- mediate emergency assistance to help alleviate suffering in the war ravaged country, and has promised to follow this with a campaign for long term assistance to help rebuild the country. “Our neighbors are starving, destitute and economically ruined,”’ McDermott said, ‘‘We must help them fast. It’s our duty as humans and as trade unionists. I urge all Canadians to join the CLC in this campaign to save them.”’ . McDermott said the congress has already contacted several major af- filiates regarding relief funds to provide food, medical supplies, shelter, clothing and other supplies. He said the congress intends to meet with the federal government urging them to join the CLC campaign for ~ emergency supplies and to provide air transportation to get the sup- plies to Nicaragua as soon as possi- ble. See COMMUNISTS page 12 We're back! After a two week break for staff holidays, the Tribune resumes regular publication this week with the last of our summer editions. By the first week of September all © of the staff will be back, at least partially rested, and will will fill out once again to our usual 12 pages. page 8. Vas 3-74 Cm @ ENERGY: A historic pro- test by U.S. auto- workers, a sharp resolu- tion from the Vancouver Labor Council: and an alternative energy policy advanced by the Com- munist Party are in- dicators of a growing fightback in the labor movement on energy issues, page 7. @ GDR: Former Sudbury miner Jim Tester is tak- ing a close look at the in- dustriai. education system in the GDR. We combine the first two of a six part series on pages 4, 5.