GREATER VANCOUVER City moves to monitor nuclear shipments Vancouver city council voted June 12 to remove at least some of the shroud of secrecy surrounding the transshipment of nuclear materials through the city, and will urge the Greater Vancouver Regional District to take similar action. Council members voted overwhelm- ingly for a series of motions that would bring the shipment of radioactive mat- erials capable of sustaining a nuclear reac- tion to the closer attention of council and the city’s fire department. The motions, which came as recom- mendations from city staff, were promp- . ted by a request from Ald. Libby Davies of the Committee of Progressive Electors that procedures for verifying the potential use of nuclear material passing through the city be established. Since then, there have been a series of informal meetings among the city, trade unions, Greenpeace and city fire officials. The resolutions followed naturally from council’s declaration of Vancouver as a nuclear-weapons free zone, since little is known now of the ultimate destination of many of the approximately six-times yearly shipments of various enriched ura- nium types through the port. _ But the shipments also raise the imme- diate concern of safety, both for workers which handle the containers and for citi- zens of the GVRD. In two recent cases, local fire officials were unaware of shipments that passed through in March and May, Douglas Mulhall, a local spokesman for Green- peace International, pointed out in an address to council. “Neither the city, fire officials nor anyone else can get information on these shipments. Yet this is not a question of national security, but a commercial con- sideration,” said Mulhall. In his brief distributed to council, the Greenpeace organizer said the Canadian government “is clearly abrogating its responsibility for enforcing the inspection provisions of its bilateral non-proliferation agreements with other nations. “These agreement are monitored for Canada by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the past two years, several scientific and government authori- ties have exposed the [AEA’s inability to effectively report on diversions of uranium for weapons use in countries which import Canadian uranium,” said Mulhall in his brief. Mulhall said later that recent inquiries have revealed that nuclear materials not normally used for warheads — such as Cobalt 60, normally employed in cancer treatments — are now being studied for their possible military uses. Chuck Lewis, a spokesman for the Vancouver and District Labor Council’s hazardous materials committee, called the council motions “an important initial step in the process of obtaining knowledge about the movement of such materials through Vancouver.” The next step should be the establish- ment of a “safety co-ordinator” position similar to Seattle, where that person has absolute control of the movement of hazardous materials through King county, said Lewis in an interview later. Both Lewis and Mulhall raised con- cerns about the handling of radioactive materials by Vancouver workers such as longshoremen, arguing for greater trade _ union knowledge on radioactive containers. Chief among the resolutions, which passed with only Ald. George Puil opposed, was an instruction to the fire + department chief to “monitor all applica- tions for permits issued by the harbor- master for the movement of dangerous goods, and report to the city manager all permits relating to the movement of © radioactive materials capable of sustaining a nuclear reaction.” The city manager, Fritz Bowers, is also to obtain from the Atomic Energy Con- trol Board information on the nature of the material, “the consignee, the ultimate destination and the end-use of each shipment.” The city manager is to inform council of — all materials passing through the port which are apparently intended for nuclear weapons manufacture, and all other radioactive substances that could be used for such a purpose. Another resolution urges the GVRD to institute similar procedures so that other municipalities are aware of the movement of radioactive materials, and calls for a report on safety procedures at the Van-— couver International Airport, through which most nuclear shipments pass. A copy of the council report is also to be forwarded to the International Long- shoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union. DERA demonstrated need fo re-vamp The number of criminal acts involving knives is on the increase in Vancouver, and for that matter, the whole province. This was again brought to the attention of Vancouver city council, at its June 12 meeting, by the Downtown Eastside Res- idents Association (DERA), which has been campaigning for eleven years for legislation to control the sale and use of knives. And, as the city’s director of legal services pointed out to council: ““These crimes are being committed by persons who have no legitimate need to possess a knife of the kind used, or indeed of any kind, in the place where it is used.” The criminal and violent use of knives is directly associated with the use of alcohol, as all the evidence shows. As DERA noted, “alcohol intoxication and knives do not mix.” The law at the present time makes it an offence to possess a weapon for the pur- pose dangerous to the public peace. In other words, people can carry knives, for example, as long as it is not their intent to dangerously disturb the public peace. Intent is a difficult thing to prove; usu- ally it awaits some act that has already been committed. The present laws, as DERA notes, “do not make the Down- town Eastside a safe community to live in for its residents.” Many of the 3,700 members of DERA are elderly and dis- abled. The Downtown Eastside today has 83 per cent of all licenced premises in Vancouver. The many fights that develop in this area, often resulting from intoxication and involving the use of knives, often extend into the streets and hotel rooms. “A change in the liquor laws in B.C. would be a good beginning at reducing the use of knives as weapons,” says DERA. As a step in that direction DERA proposes that licenced premises be ordered to refuse entry to anyone car- rying a knife and be ordered to remove a patron who is carrying a knife. But DERA would go farther than that, proposing that knives should be banned from being carried in public pla- ces such as licenced premises, parks, streets and stores. The organization also suggests that the category of prohibited weapons include swords, machetes, throwing knives and lock knives. knife laws — Exemption to such laws could include workers (carpenters, fishermen, and so on, who need knives in their work and . are travelling to or from work) and reli- gious groups such as Sikhs. DERA recognizes that the problem is one of mixed jurisdiction but demands that all levels of government take some action. The city can do something about the display and sale of knives. The pro- vince can amend the liquor laws, and the federal government can amend the Crim- inal Code. All of these avenues must be pursued. The city’s director of legal services also had some proposals. He recommended that council ask the Union of B.C. Munic- ipalities “to adopt a resolution urging the provincial and federal governments to enact legislation within their respective jurisdiction prohibiting the possession of knives except where a legitimate purpose exists for its possession. “The extent of the legislation will Harry Rankin require further study, taking into consid- eration the Charter of Rights. However, it seems relatively clear that the provin- cial government could prohibit the pos- session of designated types of knives or prohibit their possesion in places where they are not required. they could also make it an offence to be in possesion of a knife while intoxicated.” City council in 1983 passed a bylaw _ aimed at controlling the carrying of knives. It was found to be beyond our jurisdiction by the courts and declared invalid. Council agreed to ask the Union of B.C. Municipalities to urge the provin- cial and federal governments to place a ban on the carrying of knives in public places including bars. Council also decided to look into a bylaw concerning the sale and display of certain types of knives. Aldermen Brown, Ford, Puil and Kennedy voted against taking action on this question. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JUNE 20, 1984 Pact held until Burnaby gallery workers settle A tentative agreement between civic workers and the Greater Vancouver Regional District will not be ratified until striking employees at the Burnaby Art Gallery receive the contract they’ve been seeking since 1982, several union locals have vowed. The dispute between nine gallery workers and the municipally-supported gallery isn’t the only outstanding issue in the way of a settlement, said an official of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 23. But it certainly is a key issue, said Kari Lasanen, whose local representing Burnaby civic workers voted overwhelmingly in April to reject an agreement until the gallery employees win a first contract. The employees, ranging from clerical workers to art curator, were certified as a bargaining unit in late 1982. Failure to reach a collective agreement with the gallery’s board of trustees was followed by a walkout Mar. 13. Atissue, said Lasanen, is “money — these people work at incredibly substandard wages for this day and age.” For example the curator — whose job is classified as a professional position — makes the highest salary at $15,000 a year, said Lasanen. Three other professionals each make an hourly rate of $8.24, while the receptionist’s job pays $5.60 an hour, he reported. By comparison, other galleries pay cura- tors between $25,000 and $35,000 yearly, he noted. The gallery is owned by members, but receives funding from the municipality of Burnaby, including an operating grant of $135,000 this year. “They also occupy rent-free space in a municipal building. So we’ve been trying to get council involved in settling the dispute,” said Lasanen. : The municipalitiy and the Greater Van- couver Regional District have been involved. A GVRD representative and member of Burnaby municipal administration have “assisted” the gallery at the bargaining table since trustees released a lawyer hired “at considerable expense” to aid in negotia- tions, Lasanen reported. Mayor Bill Lewarne has taken a “hard- line” approach in rejecting direct council involvement in the dispute, while municipal aldermen are split “about 50-50” on th issue, said Lasanen. But the CUPE representative credits the position of ald. Don Brown, currently act ing mayor, that council be involved, for th recent “movement” in talks between th parties. ae Last week the union sent a written prop- osal to the gallery’s negotiators, but “there's _ been no indication of a response yet,” said Lasanan. “We’ve been assured by several other (CUPE) locals that they back our position that there’ll be no signing of the GVRD agreement until this issue is settled,” said Lasanen. For its part, the GVRD negotia- tiors have maintained there will be no agreement until each local has initialled the tentative settlement. Other issues holding up the agreement involve two locals of the Vancouver Munic- ipal and Regional Employees Union (VMRED), he said. The recent tentative agreement between the GVRD and locals of CUPE and the VMREU was reached last week. Workersin the GVRD’s member municipalities have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 1982. Gary Johnson, the chief union negotia- tor, confirmed that there will be no settle- ment until the three outstanding contract negotiations are settled. Besides the gallery dispute, agreements have yet to be struck between the VMREU and Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Association and the Vancouver Police Board. Both groups have been without a contract since December, 1982. “We're not leaving them out in the cold. We're definitely waiting for a settlement,” said Johnson. The tentative agreement with the GVRD involves a three-year contract, retroactive to ~ Dec. 31, 1982, and “no concessions,” John- son reported. : The GVRD negotiators gave up their attempt to wring concessions in layoff and recall language in exchange for making application to the provincial government for exemption from the Bill 3, the Public Sector Restraint Act. aa The tentative pact was the result of two round-the-clock sessions June 8-9 and June 11-12, said Johnson.