If you find the cost of produce and manu-
factured goods rising byeond your wallet’s
purchasing power, you can thank the

_ deregulation push by the federal govern-
& _ ment.

trucking firm or small-scale Owner, and
you’re now drawing welfare or Unemploy-
ment Insurance, you can thank the same
government.

Or possibly you’ve worked for years ina
company that was a branch plant of a U.S.
parent company. Now that you’ve received
the pink slip, you can pass the kudos on to
the Tory government:

That’s the advice of Canadian unions
representing those in the trucking and other
transportation industries, who also warn

of the industries are already here.

Coupled with Ottawa’s push for a tariff-
free U.S.-Canada border — the so-called
“free trade” issue — deregulation will
ensure that the entire pattern of Canada’s
trade will be reorientated, with the resulting

_loss of thousands of jobs, the unions warn.
__ “The push for deregulation comes from
Canada’s corporate leaders and their polliti-
cal allies. Deregulation is but one weapon in

_ an arasenal that includes privatization,

__wage controls, and a regressive tax system.

_ It will accelerate the shift of capital and

power away from ordinary Canadians and
towards corporate interests,” charges res-

__ searcher Alan Pryde in a booklet, Deregula-

__ tion: Boon or Burden?, released by the Can-

___adian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

___ Trucking deregulation has already cost

_ thousands of jobs and bankrupted hundreds

of businesses in the United States. But in

‘Canada there’s the added threat of takeover

by the big U.S. trucking firms.

“More and more export trade will be

_ going through American ports,’ warns

_ Steve Watson of the Canadian Brother-

hood of Railway, Transport and General

Workers, Local 100.

_ Watson, who chairs Local 100’s educa-

are concerned that some senior staff of the
city of Vancouver are pushing trucking
deregulation as a boon for Vancouver. The
unions want to warn city council that
exactly the opposite will happen.
Transportation regulation, Watson points
out, ensures that in the trucking industry,
small communties which are located on
“unprofitable” routes are served with equit-
able rates and certain commodities are
Tequired to be ¢arried.
_ These protections could be undone by
the efforts of federal Transportation Minis-
Don Mazankowsky. ;
__ His department produced last summer’
what could be termed the manifesto of
deregulation, Freedom to Move. That doc-
ument, since modified slightly by a majority
report from the House Standing Committee
on Transportation, “sets us squarely on the
_ path to deregulation,” the unions charge.
In a submission to Transport Canada
officials last Oct. 16 the Canadian Labor
Congress, the Council of Aviation Unions,
the Council of Maritime Unions and unions
_ in the transportation industry argued that:
___@ Canada’s east-west transportation grid
will be abandoned in favor of a north-south
border crossing system;
_ @ Service to regions and smaller com-
munities will be discontinued;
_ © Contrary to the assertions of its prom-
oters, deregulation will mean less competi-
Mm, not more, and will result in the
elimination of small and medium’size carri-
2
_@ Safety will suffer, with the intial entry
of myriad firms forced to keep rigs on the
road for long hours to stay competitive;
@ Workers’ wages and working condi-
» Canadian firms will be swallowed up
- large U.S. companies, which have
y eliminated much of the domes i

And if you’ve been an employee of a ©

that elements of the proposed deregulation

tion committee, said transportation unions -

‘Deregulation costs jobs

East-west trucking, which in Canada
involves long hauls between the major
urban centres concentrated either in the east
or the west, will suffer through the elimina-
tion of cross subsidization. That process
allows truckers to “back haul” perishable
‘commodities on a return trip from deliver-
ing manufactured goods at reduced rates,

the submission points out.

Their close proximity to the border
allows major U.S. trucking terminals to
treat runs to Canada as “short haul” trips,
where the economics of back-hauls are less
crucial, the trade unionists stated. Giant
_ US. trucking firms also have the edge on
their Canadian counterparts in their ability ©
to cut rates for volume, the submission

points out.

Pointing to the United States, which
deregulated trucking in 1980, the unions’
submission notes the destabilization of the
industry through the emergence of small
“mom and pop” outfits. ‘The result has
been enormous overcapacity on some
routes, and severe strain on some estab-
lished operators. The chief losers have been
the small and medium sized regional

carriers...” :

dal 3
is}

As the intense competition results in cut
rates to attract business, the pressure is on
for workers to make concessions, the
unions submission states.

“In the United States, deregulation has
created a chaotic industrial relations envir-
onment, marked most prominently by the
disappearance of hundreds of thousands of
good paying jobs. . . Thousands more saw a
generation of wage increases and working
benefits rolled back as the trucking unions
. ..gave concession after concession back to
the companies.”

Watson said the signs of deregulation in
the form of wage and benefit cuts are
already showing up in Canada.

_At Johnson Terminals, workers recently
took a $2 per hour wage cut, while at West-

UNCHARTED

release of Freedom to Move. Watson said
that according to a recent issue of the Cana-
dian trade journal, Motor Truck, some 90 to
95 per cent of all applications for trucking
licences are approved.

“The memorandum amounted to intro-
ducing the deregulation policy without a

change in legislation. A large part of tht

policy has already been implemented,” —
Watson charged. ‘

He said there are plans to dismantle the
Canadian Transport Commission, which
regulates truck, air and train shipping, with
a new body “that would streamline every-
thing.”

Vancouver city council already has a
motion on the books opposing deregula-

Prairies, he said.

son.

ern Carriers, new employees in B.C. are
working for $1 per hour, and $4 less in the

“Ever since the Memorandum of Under-
standing there’s been new policy directions
sent out to provincial boards,” said Wat-

He was referring to an agreement struck
among the federal and provincial transport
“uinisters at a conference following : the

tion. But council’s economic development —
committee will be meeting Mar. 15 to hear _
recommendations from senior staff prom-
oting the issue, said Watson.

Watson said his union and others in the —
industry call instead for a Royal Commis- —
sion into transportation policy. The CBRT
and Vancouver and District Labor Council
will be at the meeting urging aldermen sup-
port that stand.

M-B’s planned job cuts slammed |

The Communist Party this week con-
demned plans by forest multinational
MacMillan Bloedel to cut its Alberni
workforce by 1,000 over the next decade
and called on the Bennett government to
act to insure that M-B “‘lives up to its
responsibilities.”

CP leader Maurice Rush said in a
statement Feb. 6 that M-B’s plans for
rationalization of its Alberni operations,
outlined by the company senior vice-
president Bob Findlay in a speech last
month, “would devastate the commun-
ity.”

Findlay told the Alberni Valley
Chamber of Commerce that the com-
pany would have to invest some $200
million in new equipment and techniques
over the next three to five years to keep
its Alberni operations afloat and called
for “co-operation from government and

labor unions” to insure that the com-

pany could make a return on its invest-
ment.

The money would be spent on the .

introduction of thermo-mechanical pulp
production at the Alberni Pulp mill,
increased mechanization of logging and

a new automated small log sawmill, he *

said,
But those changes would result in cuts
in the work force of about 950, attained
both through layoffs and attrition.
Findlay also stated bluntly: “There is
not much opportunity for jobs for your

‘sons or your daughters in our Valley. We —

- will be shrinking.”
“The people of Alberni will be devas-

Dae

tated if the company is allowed to get
away with this,” said Rush, challenging
Premier Bennett to take action.
“Bennett has said that jobs are his
priority and that he has a partnership
with business. If that is the case, he
should order M-B to live up to its respon-
sibilities to a community which has made
that company rich,” he said.
“If M-B proceeds with plans to reduce
employment in the Alberni Valley, the
government must revoke the company’s
Tree Farm Licences (TFLs).”
International Woodworkers Local 1-
85 second vice-president Monty Mearns
said that the union had been going after
M-B for several years on its TFLs, urging
the provincial government to use the
licences to insure that the company
maintains employment in the Valley.
“We'll continue to fight to cut layoffs
and to make sure that M-B uses its TFLs
to keep our members working,” he said.
He noted that Findlay’s statements
also came at a significant times — just
before 1986 negotiations in the forest
industry and before 1986 taxes are
settled. “It’s a familiar M-B cry — wages
too high and so are taxes,” he said.
Although the company last year made
$8.7 million profit in Alberni — and
$42.9 million throughout its operations
— Findlay said that the company would
seek a 10 per cent cut in its taxes to help
finance modernization.
Mearns warned that M-B rationaliza-
tion is already beginning to have an
effect, threatening the long term employ-

a iti Ss ae

vincial economy,” he said.

ment base of the industry in the Valley.
“Already you don’t see any young peo-
ple working in the industry — there’s
nobody under 35,” he said. 3

And that’s a grim prospect consider-
ing the millions that M-B took out of the
Valley over the years, he added.
~ Rush said the Findlay’s statement
should prompt “morai outrage” from
the provincial government, especially the
warning that there will be no future
employment for Alberni workers’ sons
and daughters.

He termed M-B’s plan for Alberni
“exactly the opposite to what is needed.”
Instead of using money to reduce the
work force, the investment should go to
diversify production into new lines such
as those suggested by forest research
consultant Woodridge Reed, including
ladders, window sashes, treated wood
products and pre-fabricated housing
components, he said.

“Why doesn’t the government take
action to transform Alberni into a wood
manufacturing centre that will provide
the sons and daughters of Alberni
workers with a future?” he demanded.

“Instead of spending $3.2 billion to
build the Site C dam to export hydro-
electric power to the U.S., the govern-
ment should use the money to develop
secondary manufacturing industries. in
Alberni and elsewhere. :
“The fight to save Alberni is at the
front edge of the fight to save B.C.’s
forest industry and build a strong pro- ‘