7 ‘Expo should be built at union rates: city Bill Bennett’s war on’B.C.’s building trades workers was countered Apr. 3 when Vancouver city council called for union rates of pay and benefits for all workers on the Expo 86 construction site. In the 64 vote council’s progressive majority-won the day with a motion from Committee of Progressive Electors alder- men Bruce Yorke and Harry Rankin that pledged council to work for a union scale project. It read: “Resolved that council urge the provincial cabinet that all construction work on Expo 86 be performed under con- ditions and benefits whereby all contractors pay wages and benefits equal to the recog- nized standard rates in the. construction industry.” The resolution placed council squarely mae against the Socred government’s aims to allow non-union contractors paying sub- standard wages, such.as J.C. Kerkhoff and Sons, to receive contracts for the massive world exposition project. : It followed an address to council by B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council presi- dent Roy Gautier, who said the Expo man- agement agrees that union standards should prevail at the site. “The only obstacle to this happening is the political position of the provincial government that the non-union contractors get a piece of the action,” he charged. Gautier’s comments were borne out dur- ing the weekend when talks between the Building Trades and Expo management broke down following 10 days of negotia- tions in which the provincial cabinet figured strongly. “Victoria is pulling the strings...We would make progress at the table, then (Expo chairman Jim) Pattison would run it over to cabinet and it would-be vetoed. They have held the veto all along,” Gautier has charged. In his address to council, Gautier noted the non-union construction sector was “breaking in” to the construction field, meaning more projects are being built by workers at substandard wages lacking benefits such as medical and dental cover- age and pensions, as well as apprenticeship programs. The non-union firms are able to do this because workers are “desperate” at a time VANCOUVER Council co-sponsoring 1984’s Walk for Peace Walk for Peace when unemployment among the trades runs at 65 per cent, said Gautier. the “We find it totally unfair that g government should be a party to exploit tion of workers under these unfortun@ circumstances,” said Gautier. : “This province has a long tradition that all major projects are built by union /40™" said Ald. Bruce Yorke in agreement. voice “City council is entitled to make its VO" heard-in the most powerful way possible, ; said Ald. Harry Rankin. Surprisingly, none of council’s right we spoke-in opposition to the motion. Ae men George Puil, Warnett Kennedy, * d guerite Ford and May Brown ren silent and simply voted against the motio? although Kennedy had earlier tried 0: a the Trades delegation deferred until a on union” representative could be foun address council. eet j The resolution does not stipuatle ie only union contractors be employed fort 0 Expo construction. But its call for fulluml0 wages and benefits for all employees 09 site effectively rules out low-wage outfits. Gautier and other Building Trades offi- cials said later they were satisfied with ee . council’s position, although they were nm optimistic about the future of negotiations: Construction of Expo and the B.C. Plat sites became an issue last fall when the Bem nett government declared the megaproye would be open to bids from non-unlo contractors. Z In Bennett’s.televised address Mat- Ze Expo management were ordered to reac’ an agreement with the Building Trades on the contentious. issue within 10 days. During that process the trades have made considerable concessions, offering 4 9° strike pact for the duration of the constru@ tion, and suspending the non-affiliatio® clause under certain circumstances. Those circumstances appear to be a CO dition that all workers be paid the unio? scale and receive full benefits — points 0? which Expo management purportedly agree. z But the Bennett cabinet has stonewalled on that agreement, and has struck dow® points of agreement reached between ma agement and the Trades. McCarthy’s welfare cuts reminiscent of Thirties _ Saturday April 28 Assemble 11 AM Kitsilano Park Rally 2 PM, Sunset Beach END THE ARMS RACE > POSTER advertising this year’s Walk for Peace in Vancouver is ready for distri- bution. It also comes in hand- bill size. Phone End the Arms Race at 736-2366. : Vancouver’s Walk for Peace took on an important new dimension Apr. 3 when Vancouver city council agreed to become a co-sponsor of the event. In a 7-3 vote council accepted the invi- tation of End the Arms Race, the spon- sor of the Walk in 1982 and 1983, to join in sponsorship and underwrite the costs of signing, policing and barricading, and - agreed to seat a city representative on EAR’s steering committee. The costs of the services is estimated at approximately $10,000. The spirit of the move was marred only somewhat by Ald. Marguerite Ford’s attempted amendment, which died without a seconder, that the city co-sponsor the Walk for Peace only if “Communists” were excluded from ° participating. Organization of the walk, which - happens this year on Apr. 28, involves assembly at 11 a.m. at Kitsilano Beach Park for all groups — political, peace, community, professional, student and church — with the exception of labor. Trade union delegations are asked ‘to assemble at the corner of Cornwall and Burrard streets, near the south entrance to the Burrard Street bridge. From there the march, in which tens of thousands are again expected to par- ticipate, will move across the bridge, through downtown Vancouver and back toa2p.m. rally at Sunset Beach Park on English Bay. Speakers so far include former Liberal cabinet minister Walter Gordon, and entertainers are Judith Forst and Jane Mortifee. Peace walks are also set the same day for Victoria and Campbell River. In Campbell River, the walk begins at 12:30 p.m., leaving the labor centre and mov- ing through town to a rally at the Fore- shore Park. — Amazing Grace McCarthy, Minister of (in)Human Resources is at her favorite occupation again — cutting welfare grants for the poor, the needy and the unem- ployed. In the Feb. 20 provincial govern- ment budget, welfare grants were cut by $31 million, and this at a time when more people than ever are in need. . - Thousands of people will have their monthly benefits cut by $25 to $80, while thousands more will be refused welfare while they are waiting for their unem- ployment insurance benefits, which could take months. People who quit their jobs or _ who are fired will be denied welfare, which encourages employers to harass and intim- idate their employees and place the whole blame on the dismissed employee. To add ‘insult to injury, McCarthy announced that people in need should exhaust their lines of credit, sell their assets and take out mortgages on their homes rather than applying for welfare. McCarthy’s new rules are very similar to those we had in this province in the Hungry Thirties. Then people had to be in utter, complete and abject poverty before they could get “relief,” as welfare was then called. What is so galling and unjust about McCarthy’s new rules and cuts is that they -are completely unncessary. It is just not true that the government does not have enough money to keep up welfare pay- ments or increase them in line with the rise in the cost of living. The provincial government is spending approximately as much money this year as last. The problem is that the government is changing spending patterns. Money that used to be spent on education, health and welfare is now being diverted to Premier Bennett’s megaprojects — such as B.C. Place, Expo 86 and northeast coal. These are being subsidized by money previously spent on social services. Money is being taken out of the pockets of people and diverted to corporate pockets. In following these policies Grace McCarthy and the provincial government are carrying out the policies advocated by the Fraser Institute, the reactionary think- tank of the big corporations that control the economy of B.C. It advocates that unemployment insurance and welfare should be abolished and replaced by pri- vate charity. It would take us back to the days of child labor and poor houses, des- cribed so vividly by Charles Dickens in his books about the industrial revolution in England. ; Even though the word “unemploy- ment” wasn’t mentioned in the Feb. 20 provincial budget, and even though the provincial government now no longer issues statistics on unemployment (appar- ently this is Social Credit’s way of abolish- Rankin ing unemployment), the fact is that unemployment still does exist on a wide scale. : The number out of work in the province is officially 212,000 and 91,000 fewer are working than when the provincial govern- ment brought in its July 7, 1983 budget. But still the government cuts welfare grants. Could anything be more unreason- ‘able, unjust, cruel and punitive? Cabinet ministers assert that much of the unemployment is due to people from other provinces coming to B.C. Govern- ments in other provinces are putting uP exactly the same kind of argument to jus- tify their failure to do anything about jobs. Those statements are as stupid as they are untrue. B.C. cabinet ministers also say that if people want work they can go up to Tumbler Ridge. That is also a cruel deception. The fact is there is just no work to be had — anywhere. For Statistics Canada to announce, as it did last week, that the recession is officially over, is a sick joke. For working people the recession will be over when they get jobs, and not one day before. The duty of government in a time of recession is to provide jobs. The provincial budget should be directed to that end. We need manufacturing industries in B.C., a large program of building afford- able housing, and a Canadian deep-sea merchant marine. It is to projects like these that provincial government efforts and funds should be directed. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 11, 1984