wet ON STRIEE agate bc MARTH EWAN a all Homeowners vs CPR - A t Reena ManiTing EMPLONEES iG ag . —Jack Phillips photo “ON STRIKE.’ ILWU strikers manning the picket line in front of Vancouver's historic Ballantyne Pier. Old timers will recall the “Battle of Ballantyne Pier’’ in 1935 when the Shipping Federation with the aid of the police tried to break the longshoremen’s picket lines. This time the lines are standing firm with support from labor up and down the coast. key issue at Arbutus The overflow public meeting held last Thursday under the auspicies of the Vancouver City Council to reconsider once again the C.P.R.’s attempt to force an unwanted shopping center at 25th & Arbutus illustrated a fundamental truth in contemporary North American politics. This truth is that the interests of the monopolies (the C.P.R. is Canada’s largest) runs counter to those of all other classes in society, and that a united front of all those affected can be success- ful in curbing the monopolies. In this particular instance the _ leadership in the anti-monopoly fight was taken by the home- owners in the area. They know that the proposed development would turn their relatively quiet and settled area into a traffic and commercial nightmare. In the main these homeowners represent the middle strata in Vancouver society — profes- sional people, small business men, middle management personnel and the like. Although their particular interests were somewhat narrow, nevertheless they objec- tively stood in the way of the C.P.R.’s long standing plans to capture the existing West Side shopping market, wipe out a number of individual merchants and force all the taxpayers of Vancouver to pay for the addi- tional transportation facilities and the like required. Their spokesman, John Volrich, at one point placed the issue quite squarely—- namely, that it is the right of all the citizens of Vancouver to deter- mine how the city is to be developed, not the arbitrary right of the developers. A number of civic organi- zations concerned with planning etc. spoke out against the C.P.R. proposals. So did the merchants in the South Granville and Kerrisdale area. The Parent- Teacher Associations added _ their voices to the protests. i PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 3, 1969—Page 12 It should be pointed out however that the C.P.R.’s cam- paign to appeal to the narrow interests of people in outlying areas for so-called convenience did attract some support and this should not be underestimated. It is sad to have to report that representatives of the working people, who have always been the chief victims of the C.P.R.’s greed, were unrepresented at the meeting. The possibility of defeating monopoly on all ques- tions is strengthened immeasur- ably by the participation of labor. Historically labor has always spoken out for the inter- ests of groups in society with pressing social problems. LABOR SCENE: which closed its three-day session this week in Kelowna, B.C., resolved among other matters, to uphold the B.C. Federation of Labor policy by directing its officers not to appear before the Bill 33 Mediation Commission. This decision is all the more important since officers of the Carpenters will be engaged in province-wide contract negotiations next year, bargaining for some 8,500 carpenters in construction work. Next year carpenters locals throughout the province will also be faced with the newly-formed employers’ organization, the B.C. Construction Labor Relations Association (CLR). This decision is mandatory upon all council officers, so that any ‘‘invitation’’ by the Mediation Commission to appear before it for a hearing relating to any dispute, will be ignored as per convention decision. With the establishment of the Construction Labor Relations Association (CLR), that body will now have a 5-man team of “professional” negotiators who will sit on all construction trades bargaining. In face of this set-up - the Carpenters’ convention laid particular stress on the need of unity if wage and other gains are to be won in 1970. Many resolutions were adopted by the convention affecting all locals of the Building Trades. Canadian autonomy, pollution, inter-union relations, increased taxes, living costs, etc. The 7-hour day is also now on the docket of demands. Convention delegates also turned thumbs-down on a proposal by the CLR for a 1-cent levy on building contractors to help finance the operations of - CLR. Union officials described such a levy as a fund ‘‘to be used against the unions’. General concensus’ ofthe Council delegates was that ‘‘next year’s bargaining is going to be tough”’ since comparative wage rates in the construction industry are now far behind that obtained in other industries. * * * High on the agenda of the B.C. Government Association (BCGEA) annual convention _ Carpenters meet decides ‘thumbs down’ on Bill 33) The 27th Annual Convention of the B.C. Council of Carpenters which opens this week in Prince products of the establishment George, _will be an a Canadian-built, Canadiah intensification of the BCGEA registered, and Canadiat 1 struggle for’ the right of manned merchant marine Wo collective bargaining with its be increased economic activ! i employer, i.e., the Bennett for the port of Vancouvel | Government, B.C. is one of the resulting in additional ; four Canadian provinces which revenues for the City, both dire denies its government and indirect.” employees that basic right. : The BCGEA annual convention this year is expected to be the largest in the organization’s TES TS history with over 125 delegates Cont'd from pg. | : slated to attend. three major campuses dec! — to stage a mass blockade at Through the media of a well- .S. border Wednesday i prepared Brief on the urgency protest the test and have called and need of a Ganadian op campuses all across Cana Merchant Marine, Monday of to join them. They planned this week the Marine Workers stage mass protests 0 t and Boilermakers Union made a_ highways leading into Canada# submission to the Vancouver .S. border points. oe City Council, proposing among —_ Jp Alberni, which was a cel other things, that City Council: “of the earthquake disaster (1) Establish a three-member 1964, more than 500 people add@” committee of Council members their names to a write-in C#! a. to hold public hearings on the paign sponsored by the loge : question of aCanadian Merchant paper for a mass wité 3 Marine. Interested parties would president Nixon, while 4 es include the various trade unions sponsored by Channel 8 T in the shipping and ship-building brought an overwhelm! fields, Vancouver-based shipping response from the public. He companies and ship builders, citizens who phoned the sta? merchants in the supplies foynd the switchboard pluge® industry, exporters and withcalls. importers, and naval architects and engineers. FIGHT GOES ON (2) That upon conclusion of the hearings the Vancouver City Among the trade union Council draw up an independent BC. to strongly condemn Brief for presentation to the test was the B.C. Federation ° Canadian Transport Labor, IWA District Count : Commission. the 5000-member IWA local? The union brief drew City Alberni, and the 8,000 mem Council’s attention to a United Fishermen and All! commitment made and signed Workers Union. aq bY ] some fifty-six years ago by the The UFAWU letter, signed ; { Canadian National Railways and ynion president Steve Staver™ its predecessors, (Canadian warned that ‘should nucle Northern and Canadian Northern radiation find its way in the Pacific Railways) to establish sea, it would not be outside ihe ' and ‘‘permanently maintain” a yealm of possibility that fi ) trans-Pacific passenger and entire fish population Of © freight steamship service. No North Pacific would beco™® At action of any kind has since been contaminated that it woud? forthcoming on this long-past and end to the fisheries 9 it q “deal”. -North Pacific as we know 5 iD The Marine Workers Union ae municipal councils pave brief to the City suggests that in adopted resolutions cor its support for a modern demning the test Include! Canadian Merchant Marine, it » ort Albegea 3 : among these was Por ape could impress upon the federal Nanaimo. and Campbell Riv government the above long- standing :commitment to the City’. The union’s brief also emphasizes that ‘‘one of the by- on Vancouver Island. This Wy Vancouver City o ie _ endorsed a wire by May Campbell protesting the test. 3 Protests came from all P#,, Double shifting hits schools 4,200 students on shifts last September. The past- president of the Coquitlam Teachers’ Association , “It’s as bad, if not worse, this Lack of adequate provincial - government support for education, which has been worsened under the new “‘anti-educaticn’’ formula, has brought Vancouver schools to the point where for the first time since 1954 the school board is " compelled to resort to shift classes. At present about 210 school children are attending classes on a shift basis at Grandview annex and Hastings annex. construction freeze imposed by Victoria has held up eight elementary school building projects which were delayed and now are not likely to be ready for occupancy until near December. in the city are overcrowded, using makeshift classrooms on a Many other schools temporary basis. Other school districts are also hard-hit. Particularly hard hit is Coquitlam where the school construction freeze resulted in more than said last week year.” The. school denied some He said the provincial government released some money last fall as a result of protests by teachers, parents and the school board, but ‘‘not nearly enough for the needs of our district.”’ Almost 1,300 elementary school pupils in Coquitlam are on shifts and some students are subjects activities because of overcrowded conditions. The extent to which education in B.C. is being starved by the Socred government was brought to light in the recent report of the Economic Council of Canada. It showed that the number of students per teacher in the secondary school system of B.C. averages the same as poor Nova Scotia and is among the worst in Canada. of Canada as well as from U.S., Hawaii, Japan and ° world centres. In Washlte many elected representa ‘in condemned the tests, inclu® Senate leader J.W. Fulbright. Toronto the Central Exel” , of the Communist Party seal wire condemning the tea demanding they be called off- The fight against the leutit’ tests does not end this hee: must go on to demand tha the further tests be conducted ae North Pacific, or anywhere “pat World opinion must demand the test ban treaty be exter ing to ban all underground td and that greater speed be toward banning the ™ facture and use of all nue weapons. Until that is doBé and _ extra-curricular world lives on a razor’s edg®