,

Y

Tepresentative James Lorimer and
mmunist Party leader Nigel
organ for sharing the platform

on making the largest May Day

Y in Vancouver in recent years

@ Success,

Unity and action were the
meats of May. The heralded

“rger Report appeared May 9, a

victory for the northern peoples.

aa Month, as well, the Dene,

€r native groups, the B.C.
en of Labor and church
in pose eninental groups united

Moratorium to campaign for the

Mplementation of the report.

= €re was also action in May on
mployment, with a march and

€monstration by 200 carpenters

“ita downtown New West-
inster demanding jobs.

this busy month, score the
Teer Report five for the people
oe 8ive another point to the

SL aaeeabe But dock the labor

of ae points for the defeat

i eration secretary Len Guy in

id for an executive post at the
pecan:

m May, the triumphant
tate of Dolores ‘‘La Pasionaria”
ee to Spain after 40 years
ay Scored for democrats all

€r the world.

“pce six and seven — June
hee uly: Usually quiet months,
oa of ’77 shook with the
eave pe vement of the year, to
Board © Vancouver Resources

from the hand of Bill Vander

Who introduced Bill 65 to kill
and pave the way for a

T .
raluetion of social services in
Hheouver,

of ein days of the introduction
in pa ill, 500 turned out to a rally
= St Vanvouver. The next
Stata June 28, 400 demon-
legis] Ts paraded on the steps of the
24 ae in Victoria. Then, July
marched. Vancouver residents
and fil over the Granville Bridge
Save — the Orpheum Theatre to
Mansi VRB. August 13, 30,000
- verites signed a petition to
me end.
Uniteg ovement to save the VRB
organi Some 60 community
nizations, Vancouver City
Baba the Parks Board, School
the Fae: Federation of Labor,
oa ral, Conservative, New
“Saale soe San as
m others. The govern-
betoret#ved its ground, but not
Cabinet solidarity was

Photos by
Sean Griffin

€ B.C. Working Group for.

cracked and the vulnerability of
the Socreds shown.

The VRB movement deserves 5
points. ;

Round eight — August: Tenants
are the losers after the Residential
Tenancies Act is rammed through
the legislature after only five and a
half hours debate and is
proclaimed into law less than two
weeks after its introduction. Rent
controls were decimated by the Act
and every right of tenants was
made subject to the ‘‘discretion”’ of
Rentalsman Barrie Clarke.

Score three for the landlords and
two for the god-like powers of
Clarke over tenants.

Round nine — September: The

‘trade union movement is the loser

as Bill 89, the amendment to the
labor code are introduced, passed
and proclaimed in a week. ‘‘The
‘philosophy behind these amend-

‘ments is right to work,” building

trades president Jim Kinnaird
declared in an interview with this

per.

Tally five for the employers’
council, the inspiration for the code
amendments, at the expense of the
B.C. Federation of Labor, still too
divided to fight back. That month
IWA leader Jack Munro used the
podium at the BCGEU convention
to attack the Federation leader-
ship.

Round ten — October: The
Socreds and labor battled again as
the valiant Ferry and Marine
Workers Union defied a Labor
Relation Board back to work order
and a cabinet imposed cooling off
period in their struggle for a
collective agreement.

The ferry workers were back on
the job, though, before the
government introduced what our
lead story termed ‘‘a body blow at
the fundamental rights of the labor
movement” through the Essential
Services Disputes Act, stripping
public employees in B.C. of the
right to strike.

Five points for the Socreds, and
five more for the big business Tory
sweep in the October 11 Manitoba
election. Match it with two for the
ferry workers and the same for
Harry Rankin and the Fishery
Opposition to Tankers and Oil.
Ports who creamed the oil com-
panies at the West Coast Oil Ports
Inquiry, proving conclusively that
there is no need for an oil port on
B.C.’s coastline.

Round eleven — November: “If _
we don’t pull together now, we may,
not have a recognizable labor
movement in the future to carry on
the struggles we have undertaken
over the years,” George Johnston
warned as he opened the B.C.

LEFT: UBC students protest projected tuition fee increases. RIGHT: Demonstrators in Victoria June 30 demand withdrawal of Bill 33. ;

Establishment forces: 30

Federation of Labor convention
November 1.

The 800 delegates responded to
his call a day later when they rose.
to their feet and sang a verse of

“Solidarity Forever’ and gave

unanimous support to a_ policy
statement authorizing the
Federation to boycott, and if
necessary, defy, the ‘‘essential
services” legislation.

In the face of the attacks upon it,
labor did pull together at the
Federation convention. Five more
for militant trade unionism.

Score a point each also for the
Burnaby Citizens Association,
Eunice Parker, George McKnight,
Larry Ryan and Lorraine Hocking
for their victories in the November
19 municipal elections in B.C.

Award as well points for the
Soviet Union on the occasion of the
60th anniversary of the revolution

and for the adoption of its new
constitution, enshrining in law the
world’s most advanced
democracy, while in contrast the
revelations of RCMP criminal
activities against democratic
movements in Canada stunned the
country.

Round twelve — December: The
word this month is unemployment:
1,000,000 unemployed in Canada.
Add to it the Christmas shutdowns
at B.C. pulp mills and at other
industrial sites across the country
and the picture is bleak.

End this year by charging five
points against a worn out and
battered economic system, unable
to meet the needs of Canadians.

The score by this review is 39 for
the people’s movement and 30 for
the establishment forces.

Such a result will no doubt leave
many with the opinion thatthis was

ee

a fixed fight. It wasn’t, but we will
grant that the odds go with the
promoter who picks the fighters,
and decides which blow will score.

There will be no split decision,
however, on the point that where
labor was united in a program of
action, gains were made, and when
it appeared divided, it ‘faced
challenge after challenge.

Next year promises to be a
different kind of struggle again.
Two main factors influencing
events will be the phasing out of
wage controls and the rejection of
tripartism by the majority in the
trade union movement.

And if the kind of unity expressed
at the B.C. Federation of Labor
convention can be maintained
through all the rounds in ’78, the
big successes that eluded labor this
year may be delivered.

Until then, enjoy your holiday.

Clockwise from top left: Norman Richards of the Southern Africa ‘Action Coalition demonstrates March 17

at the Hotel Vancouver where South Africa Department of Tourism was holding a convention; Chile groups
protest Noranda’‘s investments in Chile, May 5 in Vancouver; Reverend Kenneth Wotherspoon was the
speaker at the August 6 Hiroshima Day memorial meeting in Vancouver's Gastown.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 16, 1977—Page 9