EDITORIAL Clubbing labor on TV If there was any doubt about the Socred govern- ment’s anti-labor intentions they should have been dis- pelled by Premier Bill Bennett’s TV speech on Thursday, Mar. 29. His double barrelled attack on the pulp workers and construction unions is aimed at creating anti-union hysteria in the province to justify further draconian legislation planned by the Socreds against B.C.’s trade unions. That also explains the highly publicized nature of his announcement, which he could have made in the legislature. Bennett’s threat to cancel Expo 86 if the construction unions do not surrender to the government’s demand that the work be opened to non-union construction companies is pure blackmail. It’s an attempt to take advantage of mass unemployment in the construction _ industry to force workers to tear up their union cards if they want to work. There need be no crisis over the building of Expo 86. The only crisis is that created by the government’s determination to open the project to non-union bidding and to establish right-to-work practices in B.C. Expo 86 could be built the same way the B.C. Place Stadium was built, without any problems, by the Building Trades. But Bennett is determined to prevent that. He is prepared to sacrifice Expo 86 to his anti-union policy. Whether the Socreds are looking for a way out of Expo 86 because of the sharp escalation of the costs involved, and are looking for a scapegoat is hard to determine because the government has kept the details hidden from the public. But that could very well be the case. The premier’s attack on the pulp workers and his ultimatum that they return to work in 72 hours or face government action as well as the threat of a government-imposed settlement is a serious blow to collective bargaining. The legislation brought down Friday morning is vicious and unprecedented. It is a warning that the government intends to get even tougher with labor. At the same time it served notice on employers that if they lock-out workers and get into difficulties the government will bail them out with legislation. It’s regrettable that Dave Barrett, leader of the NDP, immediately jumped in to support the government’s back-to-work order. “What took them so long?” was his comment on a TV broadcast the next day. Other NDP MLAs appear highly critical of the legislation and there may be a division in the NDP caucus on the government’s measure. Only time will tell. Barrett’s reaction may be part of the continuing policy of the NDP leadership to keep their distance from the trade unions and their struggles in the hope of winning middle voters. If so, it is a gross disservice to the labor and people’s movement in this province. More to the point was the statement by B.C. Com- munist Party leader Maurice Rush who, in a speech in’ New Westminster Saturday night, called on the entire labor movement in B.C. to stand up to the government in defence of the pulp workers and construction unions. No recovery for jobless For some time Canada’s monopoly rulers, including their spokesmen in government, have been advocating patience — along with belt tightening. Unemployment could not be brought down until inflation was beaten; inflation could not be curbed until interest rates were brought down. In recent weeks the story has been that interest rates are considerably lower, increases in the cost of living have slowed to a mere gallup and business and profits are rosier than ever. Now about unemployment. Well, it’s still here Ottawa admits, ranging upward from the official 1.4 million (11.3 per cent of the workforce). In all the promises about jobs, jobs, jobs, none of the Tories or Liberals who crowd the corporate board rooms of the country have moved a finger to ease _ unemployment — nor have their likenesses in provin- cial and federal governments. < Forecasts reported in the Financial Post Mar. 24 are for a rising consumer price index through 1984, rang- ing, in the report’s figures, from 4.5 to 6.5 per cent, compared to 1983’s.5.8 per cent. At the same time most forecasters see the jobless rate sticking near 11 per cent. Even the optimistic Bank of Montreal Busines Review can’t see it dropping below 10.6 per cent (of an ever- aowine labor force), and that by the fourth quarter of Statistics Canada came out on Mar. 28 with a report that production had finally clambered back to mid- 1981 levels — but was now slowing down again. Faced with the fact that the rosy production report for January is in danger of fading fast, Finance Minister Lalonde takes it philosophically: “It’s better than a kick in the teeth,” he says. If that speaks for his concern for mass unemployment and declining standards of life among Canada’s working people, he may find that he: can have both his Statscan report and a kick in the teeth — politically that is. While interest rates hit home buyers and are reflected in price rises all down the lines, the Canadian dollar at 78 U.S. cents ups the costs of imports such as fresh produce. While Ottawa points to the advantage to exporters, it appears that the most influential sectors of big business, the multinationals and monopolies, would rather export jobs and resources than build a base fora healthy Canadian economy. . 1) Nd ee i . ‘ed wi ab N\A ST wT. / Wil i \ -Shultz's plan for Nicaragua's elections Marks-and Spencer Canada Inc., 54.3% owned by Marks & Spencer (Nederland), which is wholly owned by Marks & Spence! Ltd. of U.K., had after-tax profit of $7,858,000 for the year en Jan. 31/84. The previous year it was $5,027,000. M&S run more than 200 stores in Canada, some known as Peoples and D’Allairds: IRIBUNE Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON Business & Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR Graphics — ANGELA KENYON Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5 Phone (604) 251-1186 Subscription Rate: Canada — $14 one year; $8 six months Foreign — $20 one year; Second class mail registration number 1560 = —_— here have been a number of occasions over the past several years that we have mentioned the name of Hamish MacKay in this column — for his long fight to win admittance to the U.S., for his work as a People and Issues with a token ceremony and gift while it discards the plant — and the job — to which those people gave their working lives. eo ak volunteer mailer for the Tribune and for his generous support during Tribune financial drives, But it is with great sadness that we mention it once more, this time to pay him a final tribute. Hamish passed away in Vancouver General Hospital Mar. 29, unable to recover from the massive heart attack which had struck him only days before. Although he was born in Innisfail, Alberta Jun 10, 1905, Hamish spent much of his working life in the United States and it was there that he first charted the pro- gressive course which he followed through- out his life. He settled in Chicago in 1928 and worked there as a mechanic for a short time before moving to Portland, Oregon where he became active in the work of unemployed organizations, work which at one point brought him ten days in jail for picketing a relief office. He also joined the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Dubbed a subversive by McCarthyite U.S. authorities for his activities, he was arrested in 1949 along with several other immigrants and ordered deported back to Canada. With the assistance of the Com- mittee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, set up to help him and others, he fought the order for 11 years before it was finally carried out in 1960. Nor did the U.S. persecution end there. Hamish was repeatedly denied the right to return to visit his aging mother and only won limited rights after Oregon Demo- cratic Senator Mark Hatfield took up his case. Even at that, the rights were revoked when his mother died. In this country, he continued his union activism in Carpenters Local 452 and con- tinued to play a role in the union even after he retired from the trade in 1972. In his retirement, he gave much of his time to the Tribune, distributing the paper among Building Trades workers, assisting with mailing and frequently taking his place among the members of the 500 Club dur- ing financial drives. Active virtually until the most recent heart attack, he was a member of the pro- vincial executive of the Old Age Pension- ers Organization and often reported their conventions in letters to the Tribune. He was also a member of the Burnaby Club of the Communist Party at the time of his death. A memorial meeting has been set for Thursday, Apr. 5, 1:30 p.m. at the Carpen- ters Hall, 720 — 12th Street in New Westminster. * * * ost Tribune readers will no doubt be familiar with the oft-repeated car- toon scene in which the 25-year employee is given a gold watch at a big company ceremony and is then given a layoff notice. Well, it isn’t just a cartoon occurrence — it really is happening. Just this week, MacMillan-Bloedel is having a ceremony at the plush Hyatt Regency hotel in Van- couver for its 25-year employees. A good many of those emplcyees are from Vancouver Plywood which has just closed its doors forever, throwing some 375 workers, including the 25-year vet- erans out of work. For most of them, there is no prospect of any other job in the industry. It’s a comment on the social irresponsi- bility of the multinational corporation that it “honors” its long time employees the province back into the the 19th century. ormer Tribune staff writer Mabel Richards sent us a clipping last week quoting the operator of a Victoria food bank, Gipp Forster, who had praised 4 so-called “‘workers’ corner” in Calgary. Apparently, there is a street corner in Cal- gary where the unemployed congregate. People stop by looking for people to do odd jobs and strike a deal with a jobless worker waiting there. Forster liked the idea and wondered if it couldn’t be estab- lished in Victoria as well — to which Richards comments: “‘Now he is advocat- ing slave markets.” Not surprisingly, Forster was also quoted extensively in the Times-Colonist echoing the sentiments of Human Resour- ces Minister Grace McCarthy that the government should not have a role in pro- viding for the destitute. That, he says, should be the responsibility of private — groups and charities so as “to remind those who are better off that they are their brother’s keeper.” It demonstrates that the Socreds and the Fraser Institute have recruited a few. adherents to their cause as they seek to drag 4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 4, 1984