PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1974

Tenants at Vancouver city council Tuesday night demanding rollback of rents and urging council to go to Vic-

ria on tenants rights.

— Sean Griffin photo

Cement firms fined

hot cement firms, which
8ether controlled most of the
ment and ready-mix concrete
USiness in B.C. for a ten-year
Period between 1962 and 1971,
Were fined a total of $432,000
Onday in the B.C. Supreme
court for conspiring to limit
anne etition, fix prices, and
Ocate construction jobs.

The four companies fined were
Cean Construction Supplies
aa and members of the
Mere group of companies,
ade Concrete Ltd., Ocean’s
ap in Victoria and Butler
ae Supplies Ltd., also of Vic-

a.

In

announci fines
Susti uncing the fines Mr.

ce McKay pointed out that

€ conspirac \-
Year piracy covered a 10

in thi

Period of sustained growth
S province; that the product

involved is one that was a basic
ingredient in growth; that the
conspirators between them ac-
counted for sales of ap-
proximately 90 percent of the
product (cement) within the
province; and that throughout
the 10-year period, the public
was, by the unlawful act of the
conspirators, deprived of the
benefits that normally accue
from honest competition.”

The fine imposed is being
publicized by the press as the
largest ever imposed, however it
should be borne in mind that it
covered a ten year period for
four companies. A little-bit of
arithmetic shows that the
average fine per year on each
company over the ten year
period would work out to about
$10,800.

When one bears in mind the ex-
tent of the construction which
went on in B.C. over last ten
years, and the fact that they fix-
ed the prices of cement and con-
trolled the bidding on jobs, it
staggers the imagination how
much the public must have paid
out as a result of this criminal
monopoly arrangement.

Not a single official of the
companies involved were named
nor have any charges, fines, or
prison sentences been imposed
on the main conspirators. Some
of the officials must have con-
spired to violate the anti-
monopoly laws, but they escape
any punishment for their actions.
This is particularly incredible in
that it was brought out that the
records were destroyed after it
became apparent that the com-
panies were under investigation.

VOL. 35, No. 11

ENANTS DEMAND
ENTAL ROLLBACK

A rollback of rents to the level of Dec. 31, 1973 and
the passage of the Rent Review Bill and Tenant Collec-
tive Bargaining Bill now before the Legislature was
demanded this week by tenant, labor and pensioner

organizations.

The Barrett government is un-
der mounting pressure to act on
the critical rental situation on
the lower mainland and other
B.C. centres. Indications are
that a sharp split exists in the
government caucus over the
failure of the government to act
on this urgent issue effecting
tens of thousands of tenants.

A mass rally has been called
by the B.C. Tenants Organization
in John Oliver High School
Auditorium on Sunday, March 17
at 2 p.m. in support of their
demands.

All NDP MLA’s have been in-
vited as well as Len Guy of the
B.C. Federation of Labor, Jack
Lawrence, Vancouver Labor
Council, Burnaby Mayor Tom
Constable and Mayor Art
Phillips.

The Sunday rally will demand
the provincial government adopt
the follawing three-point
program:

e Pass the Rent Review Board
Bill introduced in the legislature
by Vancouver Centre MLA
Emery Barnes.

e Pass the Tenant Collective

. Bargaining Bill introduced on the

order paper by Burrard MLA
Rosemary Brown.

e Roll back rents to the
December 13, 1973 level as a
starting point for the above two
bills.

Barnes’ Rent Review Bill
would establish rental rates bas-
ed on related economic factors
such as the cost of living index,
and provide for just cause for
eviction. It would also require
each establishment to post the
date of an annual rent increase in
a prominent place.

The Tenant’s Collective
Bargaining Bill of Rosemary
Brown would provide for

recognition of block tenants com-
mittees and require landlords to
bargain with tenants represen-
tatives, and provides for landlord
and tenants bureaus. It would
also provide for mediation in the
event an agreement cannot be
reached, and in the event a
landlord does not implement the
terms of an agreement, the
tenants would have the legal
right to withhold their rents.

At press time it was reported
that the government is con-
sidering a plan for a rent control
program and freeze. However,
details of the plan have not been
announced. The B.C. Tenants
Organization Wednesday sent an
invitation to Premier Dave
Barrett to speak at the Sunday
rally at John Oliver High School
and to outline what the govern-
ment intends to do to meet the
needs of tenants.

Backing the Sunday rally and
the three-point program are ten
tenants organizations from
points throughout B.C. as well as
the Vancouver Area Council of
the NDP, the Vancouver Labor
Council, B.C. Federation of
Labor, Pensioners for Action
Now and the Federated
Legislative Council of Elderly
Citizens.

‘Imperialism
main enemy’

“‘Anti-imperialism has become
the most all-embracing struggle
of the post-war period’, Nigel
Morgan, B.C. leader of the Com-
munist Party told a student rally
Monday at Simon Fraser Univer-
sity, which opened the Student
Council - sponsored ‘‘Anti im-
perialist Week’’.

See IMPERIALISM, pg. 12

FACITIC TRIDUINE—TRIVAT, MARCI ZZ, 1¥Y74—PrACE 2

ee