Friday, October 29, 1982

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Vol. 44, No. 42

What after the vote?
— page 5 —

Unionists for peace
—page 7 —

A children's message
— page 6 —

ae

UI claim denial fuels anger
after jobless stage sitdown

The Unemployment Insurance Commission added injustice
to injury Monday for more than 100 laid off cabinet workers,
declaring them ineligible for jobless benefits—even after some
60 to 70 of them had staged a sit-in at regional UIC offices last
Thursday to demand action on their month-old claim.

The unemployed workers from Citation Industries in Rich-
mond and Cloverdale, many with sleeping bags and lunches,
staged a peaceful occupation Oct. 21 to force.a decision on their
benefits claims which had been outstanding since Sept. 28.

Carpenters set rally to protest UIC action
Oct. 29, 12 noon, Georgia and Burrard.

But Vancouver police, together with plainclothes RCMP,
moved in quickly to evict the workers. By 7:30p.m.., all had been
physically removed and the commission had still given no
answer as to the eligibility of the claims.

And this week the members of the Carpenters’ shop Local
1928 were informed that they were ineligible because the com-
mission considered them still on strike — despite the fact that a
memorandum of agreement had been signed with the company
Sept. 27 following a four-month work stoppage.

See UIC page 12

Taki sen | Joyed carpenters who staged a sit-in at regional UIC. of-
in is led out unemploy rp 9 reg
[ont te Vancouver Pie ae cae eat sales pet to evict fices (bottom) to press for immediate action on their UI claims.

TRIBUNE PHOTOS — SEAN GRIFFIN/DAN KEETON

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B.C.’s longshoremen headed
back to the bargaining table
Wednesday under the shadow of a
back-to-work order federal
government ministers were

threatening to impose as early as
Monday, Nov. 1.

But there was no indication their
employer, the B.C. Maritime
Employers Association, was
prepared to budge on any of the
key disputes that finally ended
negotiations after a year of talks.

The issue of who handles con-
tainer cargo — on which the jobs of
many dock workers depend — is
considered the most outstanding
unresolved dispute in the week-
long employers’ shutdown of
B.C.’s ports.

The BCMEA, owners of the
warehouses through which
Canada’s import and export trade
must pass, imposed the lockout
Oct. 20. The ILWU has been
without a contract since Dec. 31,
1981.

The move back to negotiations
came after federal labor minister
Charles Caccia threatened possible
government intervention in a
telegram Tuesday — the historical
method by which waterfront work
stoppages have been handled.

An agreement to resume
negotiations was struck Tuesday
after the International Longshore-
men’s and Warehousemen’s
Union contacted the BCMEA. The
move to do so came after the first
full meeting of union represen-
tatives from all ports since the
lockout, said union secretary-
treasurer Frank Kennedy. ‘

Federal finance minister Marc

} Lalonde added substance to Cac-
| cia’s threat when he announced
| Wednesday that the parties had un-
| til the following Monday to settle
} the dispute, or face government in-
} tervention.

Any government back-to-work

} order may also impose on
} longshoremen the terms of the
| Hope conciliation report — which
| called on the union to give up its
k Sagi cites a a