From LE CANARD ENCHAINE, Paris —

Utah farce continues

Cont'd from pg. 2

the appearance of leaving the
door open for a continuation of
the hearing at a later date, and
by allowing appeal procedures
such as the appeal this week in
Victoria.

At the heart of the issue is the
right of the people to be heard on
important matters of this kind
affecting their environment. The
attempt of the government to
keep these hearings closed from:
most of the public, holding them
in isolated places, and adopting
courtroom procedures can only
discourage public participation.

Objectively, they are pro-
cedures which can only help the
corporations who are seeking
the cheapest way to dump their
waste into our coastal waters
without regard to the public
interest.

The battle of Utah Mine is the
key battle in the fight to halt the

runaway pollution of B.C.’s
coastal waters. Many other large
monopolies, such as Texada
Mines which this week applied to
the board for a permit to dump
2.15 million gallons of waste into
Georgia Strait, are watching the
outcome of the Utah hearing.

All the signs indicate that
there is solid ground for the
widely held suspicion among the
B.C. public that the Socred
government has already
decided to grant the permit but
is maneuvering to avoid serious
political repurcussions.

The public can win the battle
of Utah mine. But there isn’t
much time left. Public protests
can still turn the tide and force
the government to reject the
permit to pollute our coastal
waters, or force its delay until
the provincial legislature can
debate it in January.

Monopolies press

‘Cont'd from pg. 1

new price round

company profits will reach an all-

time record high in 1970.

““Dividend payments to
November 30 will total $1,382,-
651,037 whichis 5.6 percent
higher than for the same period
of 1969.”

Probably one of the best indi-
cations of the huge profits being
made by big business in Canada
is the report released this week
of profits made by leading Cana-
dian banks. :

It showed that the combined
operating profit — before
income tax— was up 12.2 percent
to slightly more than $526 million
for 1970. Not bad, eh? And this
during a period in which big
business was Supposed to have
been under a
commitment to keep prices
down! :

Leading the pace for Canada’s
Banks in 1970 was the giant Bank
of Montreal which had a
whopping 39.5 percent increase
in operating profit. Royal Bank
Was up 20 percent the Banque
Canadienne 23.5 percent.

voluntary_

The people are obviously up
against a new round of monopoly
price boosts in 1971. There is
every evidence of monopoly
arrangements among oil
companies, B.C. Tel, and insur-
ance companies in fixing rates,
but Ottawa, with its pro-big busi-
ness policies, can not be
expected to interfere with the
monopolies. Instead, it has
given them the go ahead.

Only strong public action by
labor, consumer and other public
spirited organizations can curb
the monopolies and hold back the
onrush of a new round of price
increases, which, added to the
mass unemployment will
compound the suffering and hard-
ships of hundreds of thousands
and millions of Canadians.

When the B.C. session of the
Legislature opens at the end of
January it should be faced with
rising public demands for the
takeover of B.C. Tel and car
insurance to provide these
services at cost to consumers
and end the profiteering gouge
of the B.C. public.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1970—PAGE 12 .

1 | | i

LABOR SCENE:

Hydro bus drivers face |

new threat by Bill 33

As the Pacific Tribune went to press Wednesday noather sharp confrontation

with the Socred government’s Bill 33 was in the making.

Eighteen hundred bus drivers,
members of the Amalgamated
Transit Union, have been nego-
tiating with B.C. Hydro since
August 30. On Tuesday of this
week government-appointed
mediator Gus Leonidas had his
term extended again until
midnight, December 24, leaving
the union with no power to
bargain.

Strike notice was served on
Hydro some time ago. The exten-
sion of the mediator’s term was
blasted by ATU negotiator
Frank Collins when he said, ‘‘In
the light of the progress
achieved under the mediation
officer, there appears to be a
move by the mediation
commission to prevent the
transit workers from exercising
their right to withhold their
labor in the absence of a satis-
factory settlement.”

In the meantime Commission
chairman Judge John Parker
announced there would be a com-
mission inquiry on Friday at
which B.C. Hydro and the union
have been asked to attend.

Union spokesmen say they will
not attend, as the move would
lead to compulsory arbitration.

Their position, endorsed unani-
mously by Vancouver Labor
Council delegates, was outlined
at the last meeting of the V.L.C.
ATU delegate Len Doyle said
that under no circumstance
would they appear before the
mediation commission, in line
with the policy adopted by the
B.C. Federation of Labor.

Parker says he is using certain
sections of the Mediation Act in
calling theinquiry.

Hydro has offered a mere 6.5
percent per year on a 2 year
contract ‘and refuses to budge

Benson budget hit
as jobless increase

B.C. labor has blasted Finance Minister Edgar Benson’s new
budget — if it can be called that— as being far too little to be of much
help in meeting the province’s serious unemployment crisis.

With official unemployment standing at about 70,000 in B.C., this
week saw additional large scale layoffs in Vancouver and throughout
the province. In Vancouver MacMillan Bloedel’s layoff of 1,200
workers just before Christmas came under sharp fire.

Already an estimated 800 members of the Vancouver’s 7,000-
member IWA local in Vancouver are jobless. This picture can be
duplicated in many other industries, notably construction and

shipyards.-

Syd Thompson, president of the Vancouver Labor Council and the
Vancouver IWA local said: “I don’t think those people in Ottawa
realize what we’re up against. What we need is a drastic infusion of
money and a tax cut. This budget won’t solve our problem.”

Newly-elected B.C. Federation of Labor president George
Johnston said: ‘‘This budget leaves a lot to be desired. The extra 10

percent in unemployment insurance is totally inadequate . .

ACS

all very well for the government to talk in percentages of unem-
ployment, but the person who has no job is 100 per cent unem

ployed.”’

ad

AN

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DALY NEWS (7

LIVING

UP- PRICES

RISE

ES
»

COSTS /~

“I'd feel. we were getting ahead if we
could just stay even.”

from that position. Hydro bus

drivers’ basic rate is $3.75 an
hour.

Bus service has been cut back
during rush hours, for the
drivers refuse to offer overtime
work as has been the custom.

Under union by-laws they can —

work up to ten and a half hours
overtime a week.

‘“‘Normally there is no
shortage of volunteers for
Overtime,’’ says Hydro
spokesmen. (Understandably,
with a base rate so low it is
scarecely a living. wage.)

Involved in the negotiations
are the bus drivers of both
Victoria and Vancouver.

* kK OK

Community centre recreation
programs took the brunt of Park
Board’s efforts to meet a
“deficit” in their budget when
133 community centre workers
were laid off last week.

With an election in the offing
and faced with protests from
groups and individuals from all
sections of the city, Parks Board
commissioners hastily restored
the employees to their jobs.

The affair points up the need
for Parks Board to look upon the
community centre programs as

something more than frills. If —

deficits occur in the budgets
necessary for recreation for

ordinary citizens, more money —

must be made available by city
council, who recently presented
the PNE with a $900,000 “‘gift’’ to
turf Empire Stadium.
* OK

Dave
secretary of Vancouver Civic
Employees Union and editor of
the union’s paper, wrote in the
December issue that ‘‘there is
every indication that a political

climate is being created which —

could result in a shift to the right
in Canadian politics.”’

Referring to the Public Order
Act, Werlin said, ‘‘A sign of the
times is the biased screening and

filtering of the news in English
speaking Canada-in respect to

the events in Quebec. For
example, the last meeting of the
Vancouver Labor, Council, a
large well-attended meeting,
unanimously voted to invite
Louis Laberge,. president of the
Quebec Federation of Labor, to
address a public meeting in Van-
couver, in connection with the
events in Quebec. Although the
news media was well repre-
sented at that meeting, this story
was blacked out except by the
left-wing Pacific Tribune.

“We believe it would be both
enlightening and helpful to the
democratic process if Brother

Laberge came to Vancouver to.

tell us the views of the Quebec
labor movement.”
* KOK
The B.C. provincial committee
of the Communist Party this
week informed the Retail, Whole-
sale and Department Store
Union that although they had
been customers of A.B. Dick,
(whose employees are now on
strike,) for over 20 years, they
have severed all transactions
with the company until the strike

is settled. The C.P. office is ~

equipped with a Model 350 Offset
press. s

Werlin, recording

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