Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 16, 1986 Ss" -

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Valerie Preston
In general, yes as
government workers
are union members like
any other unlon

employee. Essential

services should be
kept at no detriment to

' the public. My feeling

is that if the govern-
ment has people work-
ing for them, they

should operate as does"

any other business. |
know of no business
that can legally force
striking employees
back to work.

Mike Wood

| think they should
be given the right to
strike especially if
employees are not get-
ting the working condi-
tions they feet they are
entitled to.

' lockout

The Terrace Review asked:

Should government employees.
_ have the right to strike? |

Frank Howard

The current system
is Inadequate. . There
has got to be an alter-
nate way of govern-
ment employees
relating to thelr
employer. Perhaps
there Is a mode that
can be adopted such
as the system in
Australia where
government has work-
ed out an accord witha
longer term contrac-
tual relationship that
guarantees more
stability with strike or

almost non existent.

Marcee Sweet

Certainly. They
should definitely have
the right to strike.
That's simply their
basic right under a
union contract.

“ 1. they
should
operate
as does
any other
business.”

aspects

Constance Meisner

Yes. Thay are entitl-
ed to the same rights
as all workers who are
protected and govern-

ed by their collective

agreements which are
the negotiated terms
of employment bet-
ween employees and
their employers.

Don Saborin

Yes, of course. I’m a
trade unlonist and
belleve government
employees should be
afforded the same
rights as other union
members with ap-
propriate strike action
if necessary.

At Heritage Park

Heritage Park, located
in Terrace, B.C., is a col-
lection of original log
buildings depicting the
history of the pioneers-of
the region. Each building
has been chosen to repre-
sent a different aspect of
pioneer life, as well as a
different style of log
building construction.
These structures also
house interesting collec-
tions of artifacts and
histories relevant to the
original use of each
building.

Managed by the Ter-
race Regional Museum
Society, Heritage Park
has guided tours
throughout the summer
months and is the focus
of many fun-filled com-
munity events.

The Trapper’s
Cabin

Trapping was an im-
portant activity for many
pioneers in Northwestern
British Columbia. Paul

Schulte, who held the
trapline in the Spring
Creek - Deep Creek area
from the early 1930s to
the late 1970s, built this
cabin five miles north of
Terrace. Solidly con-
structed with lock joint
corners in round logs,
the small windows were,
necessary due to the pro-
blem of bears attempting
to break into the food
cache, as well as the
distance that glass had to
be back-packed into the
trapline.

— Contractor appeals

union certification

TERRACE — Rolfe
Hegge, the proprietor of
Hegge Construction, has
filed an appeal with the
Labour Relations Board
contesting the decision
which granted union cer-
tification to the Terrace

RCMP construction pro-.

ject.

by Michael Kelly

The certification rul-
ing, handed down by the
LRB May 14, compels
Hegge to negotiate a col-
lective agreement with
the members of the Ter-
race locals of the United
Brotherhood of Car-
penters and Joiners and
the Tunnel and Rock
Workers who are
employed on the site.
After two weeks of
fruitless negotiations the
site was struck by both
unions on May 30 and
presently remains behind
picket lines.

The certification was
granted under section 45
of the labor code, which
has been in force since
June of 1984, This sec-
tion adds an alternate
procedure to section 39,
an act which lays out the
provisions for unionizing
entire companies and
deems the certification to
be valid until it is either
voted: out
membership or the com-
pany ceases to exist. Sec-
tion 45 provides a code
for certifying individual
construction projects, a
process which requires
55 percent union
membership on the site
and is in force only for
the length of the project.

John Kinzie, chairman
of the B.C, Labor Rela-
tions Board (LRB),
stated that ‘‘not very
many’’ certifications
have been granted under
section 45, and he said,
“To my knowledge there
have been no appeals
previous to this one,”
Kinzie declined further
comment on the nature
of the appeal. He stated
that the action was still
in the submissions stage,
and he said that after all
the pertinent submis-
sions have been gathered
the information will go
to a panel which will
make a decision on the
appeal. Kinzie refused to
speculate on how much
time the process might
take.

Documentation in-
dicates that Hegge’s
solicitor, -William
Kaplan, is appealing
under section 65(2) of
the labor code with
regard to the definition
of ‘‘collective agree-
ment’’. The appeal
argues that an arrange-
ment struck between
Hegge and the unions at
the beginning of the con-
struction is a binding

by -the-

form of collective agree-
ment within the terms of
the section, despite the
fact that it wasn’t in
writing. The airange-
ment referred to in the
argument was a posting
in local union halls of
jobs available at the site,
with a wage offered at
$10 per hour for laborers
and $15 for carpenters.
Other oral understan-
dings are also the subject
of allegations on both
sides of the dispute. The
appeal claims that the
board ¥failed to deter-
mine relevant issues of
credibility”? in assessing.
the validity of unwritten
factors in the dispute,
and it called in conclu-

‘sion for the LRB to

direct the unions to
establish the oral ar-
rangements in writing.
The appeal further
contended that the
unions had acted in ‘‘bad
faith’’ by placing
members on the site,
then certifying the job
and putting forward a
collective. agreement

which would increase the
wages paid to union
scale.

As the summer wears
on with no resolution in
the dispute, the possibili-
ty emerges that the foun-
dations of the new

RCMP building may

have to sustain a nor-
thern winter in a
partially-finished state.
Municipal building in-
spector Gerry Lichten-
field stated that condi-
tions during the next
winter will determine
whether the structure in-
curs any weather
damage. Chris Peterson
of Peterson Engineering,
the Terrace firm that
designed the foundation,
said, ‘“‘We’re not -sure
what would happen, we
haven't considered that
possibility yet. I hope
that won’t be the situa-
tion, but if it is we'll

. have to look at the draw-

ings. If necessary we may
have to backfill around
the wails or insulate
them. of

Innovative ideas

continued from page 4

known at this time
whether he had any suc-
cess with Skeena
delegates. ‘“These people
are going to be asking
themselves, ‘does he
look like a winner? ”’
he said. ‘‘I believe I can
win if I get 100 to 150
committed delegates on
the first ballot. There is a
hole up the middle of
this party, and that’s
what I’m going for.’’’

The ideological centre
of a right-wing party like
Social Credit is
something of a moving
target, but Michael was
referring more to the no-
man’s-land between the
“‘machine’’ politics of
Bud Smith and Brian
Smith and the
‘grassroots’? approach
adopted by Bill Vander
Zalm and Grace McCar-
thy. In the event of a
deadlock between the
two factions, a com-
promise candidate would
become a real possibility;
there are. many
precedents for this situa-
tion, but the victor near-
ly always goes to office
under heavy political
mortgages to both sides.

Michael said he is
strong on forestry, and
he proposes closer ties to
the federal government
in managing the woods
resource, As an interim
measure he suggested the
reactivation of make-
work programs, such as
the Employment Bridg-
ing Assistance Program
{EBAP), which were
cost-effective and pro-

vided forest-related
training and work for the
unemployed. Michael
also proposed amending
the Forest Act to cut red
tape, which he said is im-
peding development, im-
prove the annual
allowable cut, and
simplify the labyrinthine
stumpage system.

Michael indicated that
as Premier he would tear
a page out of Ronald
Reagan’s book by in-
viting voluntary con-
sultants from every seg-
ment of the economy to
confer and make policy
recommendations to the
government,

In an astonishing
departure from the
party-line policy on
native land claims,
Michael advocates a
partnership relationship
between the provincial
government and native
bands and tribal coun-
cils. Having reached a
consensus, he said, the
two parties could go for-
ward into negotiations
with the federal govern-
ment. Unlike the
established Socred
policy, which would see
the B.C. government
seeking compensation
from the feds after the
negotiations are finished
and, in all probability,
tying the issue up in the
courts well into the next
century, Michael's pro-
posal .sounds like it
might actually work. Un-
fortunately, it appears
unlikely that he will have
an opportunity to imple-
ment it.

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