FRANK RIVERS Friday, July 25, 1975 ; ] agian 48 “\h VOL. 37, No. 30 By FRED WILSON The drama: of the forceful removal of two Native Indian blockades last weekend at Mount Currie, B.C. and Gold River, B.C. by massive squads of RCMP has moved into provincial courtrooms this week as a total of 85 protesters face charges of obstructing a high- way. Much more is at stake than the misdemeanors alleged by the ‘attorney-general’s office which ordered the mass arrests after dusting off two old and outdated documents to justify the action. The issue at both Mount Currie and Gold River is land claims. And although it has become recognized widely that Native land claims are just and must be settled, the provincial government has responded with force rather than negotiation. The largest number of arrests was at Mount Currie, a few miles east of Pemberton, on a road that links Pemberton with Lillooet. When the police reached the blockade more than 150 members of the Mount Currie Band were stationed on the road which runs through their reserve land. The blockade was dismantled, but not before 53 men were arrested and escorted to jails in Pemberton and Squamish. They were released.the following morning on their own recognizance. Monday, the Tribune visited Mount Currie and spoke to about 20 band members, most of whom had been arrested at the blockade. As they related their side of the story to us in the Band Council offices it became clear that the grievances of the Band are well founded — and long standing. “We can show you documents like the declaration of the Lillooet Tribe — dated 1911 — saying the same things as we are now,”’ ex- plained Verna Stager, wife of the band chief. ‘‘And they tell us to keep cool, negotiate. How many years have they done that?” The provincial government, however, had no _ intention of negotiating. Instead it was the See MOUNT CURRIE pg. 8 a i JOE JOSEPH - £0 bl More Photos, above, page 8). Unt Currie Band Council member Ltoyd Williams looks Ockade which ended last weekend with the forced removal o over the site of the band’s two-month road f native people and the arrest of 53. (Story, —Sean Griffin photos LABOR COMMENT Wood, pulp unity urgent | } By JACK PHILLIPS Ost of us learned at an early ae tt there is really no Santa in ae Members of the In- ational Woodworkers of ae ica waiting for the report of een mediator, Mr. Justice 8 Y Hutcheon, are well advised €member that fact. Ome 13,000 members of the two pulp unions, working basically for the same employers as the IWA membership, proved they don’t believe in Santa Claus dressed in judicial robes. They went on strike, despite the public appeal of labor minister Bill King to stay on the job. ; Because of the interconnection between lumber and pulp, many B.C. Sugar products placed on hot list Wholly ANitoba “deration of Labor. All products of the B.C. Sugar Refinery as well as those from its “Owned subsidiaries, Canadian Sugar Factories in Alberta and Sugar Refinery have been declared hot by the B.C. Sug lle all shipments in and out of the Vancouver plant of B.C. the Reve been effectively cut off by the strike there of members of "eported) Plants in from Sugar plant. tail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the company was y contemplating bringing in products from its two subsidiary Alberta and Manitoba. . ade unionists have been asked to refuse to handle any products € three companies or Rogers Syrup products from the: B.C. ung tative brands are available in most stores including products ery he “C and H” label, ‘‘U and I” and Amalgamated Sugar Refin- Oita They originate from the United States or from Redpath in sawmills and logging camps under IWA jurisdiction have closed down. Others have closed for main- tenance, or because of ‘market conditions.’’ By the time the mediator’s report is published, a very large part of the IWA operations will be down. Judging from reports, most officers of the IWA are more concerned with whether or not their members can get unemploy- ment insurance in case of a layoff, and continue to enjoy unemploy-— ment benefits in the event of a strike, than they are with preparing the members for a struggle. While there is formal contact at the top between the, IWA, the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the Canadian Paperworkers Union, there is very little contact at the local level. Unfortunately some of the divisions and bit- terness of the past have left bad feelings and suspicion. This has made it difficult for the officers of the B.C. Federation of Labor to play a positive, co-ordinating role. The key demand the employers _ presented to the IWA calls for a See LABOR pg. 7 Eleventh-hour talks between the B.C. Fisheries Association and all sections of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union were still in progress on Wednesday evening this week, but little was expected to change before the industry-wide strike deadline at 11 a.m. Friday. : Negotiations between the Association and shoreworkers and tendermen adjourned early Wednesday evening with a further meeting scheduled for Thursday. Fishermen also met with company negotiators Wednesday and were expected to come together again Wednesday night. Some slight increases — ranging from half a cent a pound to two cents a pound — were offered on various species of salmon but the increases still leave prices only marginally higher than 1974 minimum prices. No progress at all was achieved on the important demand for medical and dental coverage as the companies stood fast by their contention that fishermen ‘‘are not workers” and therefore not en- titled to the same fringe benefits as other unionists enjoy. Both shoreworkers and tendermen have been offered medical and dental coverage plans. The Fisheries Association was also insisting on a two-year agreement while the fishermen want a one-year pact. Commenting on the latest talks, UFAWU president Homer Stevens noted that it was the first time that the companies had begun to talk seriously in the several months since negotiations opened. He stressed, héwever; that they were still moving at a “‘snail’s pace,’’ adding that there was little likelihood that the gap between the present offers and the union’s minimum demands would be bridged before the Friday deadline. The same was true of negotiations with shoreworkers and tendermen as no new wage offers were tabled in Wednesday’s meeting. Shoreworkers organizer Helen O’Shaughnessy said that much of the meeting had been taken up discussing the issue of the length of the agreement with the companies again holding out for a two-year contract. Behind the companies’ stand are claims that Alaskan and Japanese salmon inventories are high and Alaskan fishermen and_ shore- workers have settled for little or no increases and, in some cases, reductions, in wages and prices. In countering the arguments, the UFAWU pointed out that all in- See FISH TALKS, pg. 8 Portugal to hame new ‘national unity’ gov’t The attempt of the Socialist and Popular Democratic parties to pressure Portugal’s Armed Forces Movement into firing Premier Vasco Goncalves and abandoning the path toward ‘‘a workers’ and soldiers’ state’? in Portugal has failed. Following weekend meetings with leaders of the Socialist and Communist parties and a lengthy session of the 30-member Supreme Revolutionary Council of the AFM, a statement on Monday pledged full and unequivocal support to Goncalves. Goncalves announced that a new “cabinet”’ or government would be formed soon to replace the old cabinet which both the Socialist and Popular parties have quit. The two parties quit the cabinet last week when the AFM refused to submit to their demands that a West-European style capitalist democracy. be established in the country. The new government has been described as one of “national unity” without political par- tisanship. The AFM statement said that it “will not be a coalition or exclusively military.” Inastrong statement against the attempt of the leaders of the Socialist Party to create political and economic crisis in the country, See PORTUGUESE pg. 7