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spats picket environment minister Jack Da
tence Tuesday. Fishermen were concerne

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1973

ae Se

federal government program. See page 12.

JO Be
PASKER3|

HAVE .
(s0VERNMEl

BACKERS

a

vis outside Hotel Vancouver where he was opening
d over handouts to the major fishing companies

Sean Griffin photo

Carpenters brief urges NDP
implement labor policies’

oA
The government will
eee te the negative and
he Lanatory provisions of
Desac Ne Relations Act and the
eka nions Act; guarantee the
fully os to picket peace-
pelea to make information
ee gZ to labor-management
ier €S available to the pub-
T
aa are some of the unequi-
cited in a epents of NDP policy
niiseic 4 brief prepared for sub-
n to Labor Minister King
enters oincial council of Carp-

Si
Sine by president Arnold
oa oe secretary Lorne
contains the council, the brief
NDP lab documentation of
1961 to ee policy over the period
atch Ge 2 including the ‘“‘elimin-
Steal €x parte injunctions’’,
“un cee en seene the

right

“ssembly and micketing © nae
€ policies show that King

has retreated a mile from
stated NDP policy in his call for
the labor movement to “wait a
year or 18 months’’ for changes
in labor legislation or even the
six to eight months that he told
delegates to the UFAWU con-
vention.

The carpenters also quote
King from his address tothe 17th
convention of the B.C. Feder-
ation of Labor. ‘‘One of my
criticisms is that labor has failed
to do an adequate job of organ-
izing the unorganized,’’ King
said in November, ‘‘Only 42% of
the labor force in British
Columbia is organized.”

The brief points out that the
percentage of the work force
organized dropped from 53.9%
in 1958 to only 40.9% in 1969.

“We believe that the reduc-
tion of 13% in the number of
organized workers was mainly
brought about by the restrictive
effects of the Trade Unions

Act,’’ the brief states.

“We must express deep
concern and disappointment
that although the government
recognized the priority in repeal-
ing the Mediation Act, a similar
priority was not acknowledged
in repealing or amending the
Trade Unions Act (Bill 43).”

“The NDP policy regarding
Bill 43 and the use of injunctions
in labor disputes, from the

See CARPENTERS, pg. 12

VOL. 34, No. 7

ARRETT BUDGET FAILS
TO TACKLE MAIN ISSUES

Disappoints

supporters,

reassures big business

By NIGEL MORGAN
While the fat cats of industry heaved a sigh of relief, working
people of British Columbia (including considerable numbers of
NDP members and supporters) found little ground for satisfaction
in the $1.7 billion budget NDP Premier Barrett brought down last

Friday.

Barrett’s first budget offered

nothing substantial in terms of |

relief of unemployment — a top
priority problem.

It proposed little in the way of
ashiftin the tax load. ‘‘Ability to
pay’ was completely ignored in
the imposition of a record high
$417 million Sales Tax which
hits hardest at the lower income
brackets, while fantastically-

profitable extractive industries .

are only being asked to con-
tribute $223 million for all royal-
ties, licenses, privileges and
natural resource taxation.

Premier Barrett is thus pur-
suing basically the same tax
policy as his Socred predec-
essor. :

Nothing emerged also from
what was expected to be a major
policy elaboration, on cancel-
ling out the Socred foreign
resource give-aways; regaining
control of our natural resources;

developing and processing and.

manufacturing of them at home
to provide needed jobs and a
better return to the people from
their rich birthright.
Disappointment with the new
budget merged with growing
disenchantment in the labor
movement over the NDP govern-
ment’s failure to bring forward
amendments that would wipe
the Socred’s anti-labor statutes
off the books,.and Barrett’s
apparent retreat from earlier
promises to bring the two giant
U.S. monopolies — B.C. Tele-

A new energy policy
for Canada needed

... See inside

phone and Westcoast Trans-.
mission — under public owner
ship.

NIGEL MORGAN, provincial
leader of the Communist Party.

Mining industry executives
are reported to be ‘‘surprised
that no mining royalties were
introduced.’’ And at that, they
weren’t nearly as surprised as:
many who voted for the NDP in
the last election. B.C. Chamber
of Commerce president D.A.L.
Tait likewise felt compelled to
praise the new government’s
policies, declaring, ‘‘It’s a bud-
get in which business should
find no cause for alarm. . . It
places us at no disadvantage to
other provinces’? — most of
which, like Ontario and Quebec,
have reactionary Tory Liberal,
big business administrations.

Essentially the budget raised
the spending sights for welfare,
education, health, highways as
well as salaries of the Premier,
cabinet ministers and MLAs.
Probably one of the most import-
ant advances was the allocation
for a long-needed expansion of

See BUDGET, pg. 12