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“verend John Morgan

On the tour is a public

clarify the new situation ushered in
by the new Landlord and Tenant
Act, to be proclaimed October 1.
Bruce Yorke, secretary of the
VTC and president of the B.C.
Tenants Organization, chaired the
meeting which also heard Van-
couver alderman Harry Rankin
and NDP MLA Harold Steves.
While being responsive to
Clarke’s remarks, the audience
gave unanimous approval to a
strongly worded resolution calling
on the provincial government to
“retain the 8% Rent Stabilization
Act indefinitely” and to ‘launch a
massive non-profit government

- ” ;
housing construction program. _

Clarke was non-committal to the
tenants and hedged on the question
of the maximum allowable rent
increase for 1975, but later, in reply
to a written question, stated that
his recommendation — due in two
weeks — would be ‘“‘in excess of
8%’.
ee guarded words added to
the tone of the meeting set right the
beginning when Bruce Yorke told
the audience, ‘‘We have recognized
that there is a changed situation, a
situation where it is more
necessary than ever to organize.
No government will hand us things
— we must organize!”

Harry Rankin joined voices with
Yorke in stressing the need for
tenant organization to provide for
the basic rights that the Act could -
not. ‘I don’t care what government
comes to power,” Rankin said,

Barrie Clarke (second from right) offers little reaction to
ca by alderman Harry Rankin at Wednesday’s rally. Tenants
limitation. (See story below).

‘people will have only those rights

that their organization is capable

of securing.’ Rankin said that, like

early trade union legislation, the

new act would be nothing more

than an “umbrella” under which
See CLARKE pg. 12

THEIR WAY BLOCKED BY R.C.M.P., reporters and photographers wait outside the entrance to th

School board employees in the
Trail, Castlegar and _ other
Kootenay regions, faced with the
same Cominco arrogance that has
pushed the strike of 5,000
steelworkers into its second month,
took to the picket lines last
Tuesday, leaving those southern
interior towns virtually
strikebound.

With the school board em-
ployees, members of the Canadian
Union of Public Employees, off
their jobs, a majority of schools in
the Kootenays remained closed as
the new school year began.

No quick settlement is foreseen
in either of the two major disputes
as Cominco continues its hard line
position, refusing to negotiate with
the Steelworkers and wielding its
influence in Kootenay school
boards to prevent meaningful
wage increases for CUPE mem-
bers.

“You can’t separate the two
disputes,’’ Aubrey Burton, CUPE
regional representative told the
Tribune, ““CUPE members want a
settlement that will put them
within range of Cominco em-

ployees, who themselves are:

fighting for a decent agreement. At
the same time, the school boards in
the Kootenays are dominated by
Cominco personnel.”

The B.C. Federation of Labor
added its voice to the growing
public outery against Cominco last
week in a statement which

inane ieemenn eee

se SS

‘Typical robber baron’
says labor federation

described the company’s refusal to
negotiate a settlement as being
“consistent with the robber baron
history of the CPR’’.
Federation secretary Len Guy
See COMINCO pg. 3

Chile goods
boycott set
Sept. 18, 19

A 48-hour boycott of all Chilean
transport, aimed at stepping up
international pressure against the
fascist military regime in Chile,
has been called for September 18
and 19.

The boycott was initiated by the
powerful International Transport
Workers Federation following its
3lst Congress in Stockholm last
month. This week, delegates to the
Vancouver and District Labor
Council unanimously endorsed the
boycott plan and moved also to
urge the B.C. Federation of Labor
and the Canadian Labor Congress
to do likewise. ;

The executive resolution was in
response to a letter from the
Canadian Area of the International
Longshoremen and
Warehousemen’s Union which had

See BOYCOTT pg. 12

Bonaparte Reserve. Both the Indians’ blockade and that put up by the R.C.M.P. were later removed
following a tense agreement between chief Ken Basil and an R.C.M.P. superintendent. But the housing issue

remains. (See story, page 3).

—Carey Robson photo