Action needed now on CLC program

— page 7

Wednesday, June 13, 1984

Newsstand Price 40° Vol. 47, No. 22 =

New cover-up,
sellout haunts
N.E. coal train

es

FISHERMAN PHOTO — GEOFF MEGG

Australian seamen and Canadian trade unionists display si ;
run over to flag-of-convenience vessel and fire the union crew. Sign reads

Australian seamen staged a demon-
stration at a Delta port Saturday that has

_ Tamifications not only for the South

Pacific Commonwealth nation, but for
Canada, and by inference, the world’s
mariners,

With a huge sign in block letters deck-
ing the port side of the Australian timber

carrier Allunga, the crew, members of the

Seamen’s Union ‘of Australia, declared
their unanimous opposition to their
company’s attempt to do away with
union seamen and'replace them with a
“flag of convenience” vessel.

The sign — accompanied by several
others, including one supporting Cana-
dian seamen in their decades-long fight
for a Canadian merchant marine —
asserted: “‘We’ll be back, we won’t take
the sack.”

Their employer — PAD Shipping
Ltd., a consortium of 10 major shipping
companies financed with -50-per cent
Swedish capital — plans to end the
unionized Allunga’s 14-year run and
replace it with a vessel registered under a

foreign flag, such as Panama or Liberia.

Canadian vessels, such as those owned
by Canadian Pacific, fly under such flags.
In this way they avoid the more stringent
safety and maintenance regulations of
the home countries, and are free to hire
foreign, and mainly non-union, crews.

Already, PAD has three flag-of-
convenience ships on the Australia-
Canada run. But the Allunga crew, and
their union, have vowed to resist the
move, said SUA ship’s delegate (shop
steward) John Christie. ;

‘“There’ll be a very intense response
when the ship returns home,” Christie
promised.

The Allunga crew will stage a sit-in
once the vessel reaches Sydney, Austra-
lia. Tugboat crews and linesmen, also
members of the Seamen’s Union, will
‘refuse to handle the vessel, and support
from other port unions, such as the long-
shoremen, will also keep the ship from
moving, crew members said.

Militant strikes in Australia have often
netted participating unions heavy fines,

po Se

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cccracercceneceetloce

ign that protests attempts by PAD Shipping Ltd. to turn trans-Pacific timber
‘Australian National Line, Yes. Flag of convenience, No.’

but they'll be expecting a bit better from
the Labor government of Prime Minister
Bob Hawke, who with trade unionists’
support ousted right-winger Malcolm
Fraser’s government last year, said
Christie.

The SUA will also initiate a cross-
country campaign to promote the
UNCTAD agreement — a United
Nations document that calls for 40 per
cent domestic crews and ships from each

of the two trading partners, with the

remaining 20 per cent left to “cross trad-
ers,” Christie reported.

As such, the Australian union’s cam-
paign will publicize the demand for 40
per cent of the crews in Canadian-
Australian trading to be Canadian, he
said. ;
International trade union solidarity
was expressed by officials of Local 400 of
the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway,
Transport and General. Workers —
Dave Forsyth, Gerry McCullough and
Dave Crain — and other CBRT mem-
bers who attended the dockside protest.

cera

eared

— page 3

g the line for $85

Tribune readers know that, despite
our somewhat fanciful graphic, we
don’t run banner headlines announc-
ing the target in the yearly financial
drive.

But we think after surveying this
week’s standings, that perhaps we’ll
have to in the near future.

. From a relatively respectable figure
last week, we've fallen seriously
behind. To put it plainly, we’re some
$8,000 off schedule.

With $51,879 gathered as of Mon-
day, and only 12 weeks to go before
the Tribune Victory Banquet June 23,
there’s a big hole to fill to achieve the
$85,000 target.

By comparison, we’d reached a fig-
ure of $60,000 at approximately this
time last year. Even at that, it took a
last minute collection at the banque
to put us over the top.

But we must hold the line there.
With the increased costs that face all
publications, we must achieve that
$85,000 target in this year’s press
drive.

Since we don’t think the top story
in the paper should be about the press
drive, we’d like to ask our friends to
redouble their efforts to make the
drive a success.

If one is strapped for that extra
cash, chances are there’s a friend or
two that wouldn’t mind hearing
about the Tribune and its fight for

jobs, peace and prosperity for B.C.’s
working people. And if they already
know and support the paper, see if
they wouldn’t mind making a finan-
cial commitment to back that support.

see 1/2 WEEKS page 12