.__ Continued from gage] a eee. result...” the letter ae We urge you to develop a oF as Which protects the principle me el and affordable access pate s telephone system which Pai fan no increase in local another letter was sent to Pat nation e B.C.’s Minister of Inter- Gan Trade and Science and pee on, calling on him to MG ht the groups’ views and to PPose rate re-balancing” when h ae the federal-provincial 2. nay icouver city council added its ry, alc” those opposing rate ‘re- Crease” ‘and the consequent -°S in local rates in a chee lous Vote Feb. 18, following apps Vice-president Ada Brown’s pearance before the council ting, - on the immediate agenda in People’s organizations hope is the Me a cross-country debate F Issue of “ Fences Te-structuring, as oppo- ce Correctly call it. vate companies, whether tt Y Or publicly-owned, cur- bothy €rive their revenues from ger: 8 distance and local phone a Os, Oth business and residen- fe s me distance service is the ates for side of the business with ' clea : Ocal service tending to fall lephis Ctual costs. But because the Boho ne companies are regulated ceria Poles — and guaranteed a i of Teturn on investment si (oak obliged to “cross- the local rates from long With Profits, a the sudden new growth in Ssio Tket oe Ee rroation ce ae an ideologically ations foverament in Ottava Ompanies, including gh, ,1®lecommunications, have .'0 Move into the profitable On win, oe Service in competi- Trt the telephone companies. Phone © 22's, including B,C. Tele- OPPocewwd Bell, have nominally he crTe's competition before ou trog 1S simply to delay the Uch tr O82 Of competition until Ir ‘1 4S they can “re-balance” foulq ; ture” their rates. That distance NYolve reducing long- lY ing Charges “while dramati- cee ts the cost of local “10) Bs : he miOtsly, the corporate sector, eS, Woe Of long distance ser- y. Ould be the main benefi- oh aeic last year nominally © Compa. CN-CP’s application Vice ok for long distance ser- at it wy the Tuling made it clear Mer Teally only a postpone- expect Year, the commission is fromonce hear a new application Bony -P and a new set of hear- hed} Stk Te-structuring is to be “been er ough no date has Vent wit REC — which, in any he govern take its direction from Panis 3 Ment — allows the com- hres Te-structure their rates, . ‘Atal and small business rate re-balancing,” - but their longer-term ’ J a eae, 1 & - q : . S : a = = § _ 5 : 7 ¢ 5 4 _._—_iésaefmeeée — users can expect huge increases in their telephone bills for local ser- vice. In the U.S. where telephone de-regulation is well underway, residential users faced increases ranging from 200 to 400 per cent. The demand from big business to de-regulate telecommunications, both to allow new companies into the lucrative long distance market and to provide “free market” rates, has prompted the Tories to launch their “telecommunications review” which is expected to move into high gear with the federal-provin- cial meeting next weekend. The Tories strategy for carrying out that review was outlined in a confidential cabinet document which was subsequently leaked. A copy was also obtained by the Tribune. It is full of suggestions for con- sultation to ensure access to tele- phone service but the thrust of the policy is to allow more competition and to change the regulatory struc- ture to permit “cost-based pricing” and the replacement of cross- subsidies on local rates. Significantly, the document re- veals that it will be big business which will benefit from the changes at the expense of residential users and warns that the government ' De-regulation to allow competition in long distance service will inevitably result in massive increases in local phone rates — but the government doesn‘t want the public to see it that way. will have to head off any “common front” of opposition. “A new telecommunications policy could be considered as favorable to big business,” it states. “Therefore the government must develop a strategy to dissipate the formation of a common front between the public and the provin- COS : The document acknowledges that the Tories’ policy direction will be to allow “‘cost-based rates” which will result in cuts in cross- subsidization and therefore in- creased local rates. It admits, according to what it calls the most objective study, that rate increases up to 12 per cent per year would be expected which could result each year in 2,500 to 7,5000 subscribers across Canada having to give up their phones. It also notes that “local mea- sured service’ (LMS) may be introduced as a result of de- regulation. Under LMS, subscrib- ers pay for every call. The system is widely in use in the U.S. and else- where and has forced curtailment of phone use for many low-income people. Not surprisingly, the document warns the government to avoid any reference to the U.S. experience where de-regulation has resulted in huge increases in local rates and often chaotic service. Even more important, the superior ability of such giants as General Telephone and Electronics — B.C. Tel’s par- ent company — to prevail in a SS Ss SS competitive market has resulted in even greater corporate concentra- tion in the industry. The document also urges the government to “launch a major consultation program” to “prevent — the formation of acommon front,” and to arrange the timing of any rate re-structuring so that the CRTC, not the government, is seen as the author of the increased local rates that will inevitably result. For the Mulroney government, the opposition from the Prairie provinces, which have publicly- owned telephone companies, is a significant factor to be considered. On the other hand, B.C. and Onta- rio are cited in the document as favoring competition and McGeer, particularly, is an avowed propo- nent of full-scale telecommunica- tions de-regulation. The hidden strategy of the government has also added to the - anger of those opposing de- regulation and re-structuring of rates. “It’s taxpayers’ money that the government is using to tell us something that they know them- selves isn’t true,” said Nichola Hall, a SPARC volunteer and one of the co-ordinators of the Feb. 13 meeting. “Tt’s revealing that they acknow- ledge that local rates will increase — but they don’t want the public © to see it that way.” She emphasized that the com- mittee would continue to do every- thing possible to ensure that there is a common front of community groups and others to oppose the ‘rate re-structuring. Telecommunications Workers Union researcher Sid Schniad also noted that the next major move toward de-regulation could come relatively soon if the CRTC decides to reconsider the CNCP applica- tion to enter the long distance market. CNCP was turned down last year but the changes that the CRTC ordered to the structure of telephone rates indicates that the commission may now be moving ‘on the Tories’ agenda for de- Tegulation. At the time of the decision, last August, the CRTC followed the advice of various corporate inter- _ venors and limited the amount of long distance revenue that could be used to cross-subsidize local rates. It also opened the door to the re- structuring of rates. ' If the competition is allowed, Schniad warned, it will mean lower long distance rates and a decline in long distance revenues for com- panies like B.C. Tel. “And does | anyone think that they’re just going to accept those lower revenues? If they lose the profits from long distance, they’re going to jack up the local rates — and keep jacking them up the way they have in the U.S.,” he said. The TWU has urged consumer groups, unions, senior citizens’ organizations and others to write the CRTC and oppose the intro- duction of competition into the long distance market and to oppose any rate re-structuring by the telephone companies. “say in running this province and this country that we will not be “upset them, and wait for the next election in hopes that we elect an BILL MACDONALD. . .with union’s bargaining motto. ‘Stand firm’ in 1986 bargaining, HEU told Public sector workers are facing a “determined onslaught” on their wages and working conditions from both employers and governments but they shouldn’t be afraid to stand their ground despite attempts to make them an election issue, Hospital Employees Union president Bill MacDonald declared Sunday. Speaking in Vancouver, MacDonald told the 400 delegates to the union’s convention and wage conference that the Socreds’ restraint program has meant layoffs for hospital workers, cuts in real wages and safety standards, as well as a decline in the quality of health care for patients. And the government is still committed to Testraint, he warned. ; “But the time to stand our ground has arrived,” he said. “We have to show government and big business who haveso much to ~ inhibited in any way from our task of defending the interests of the members of this union. . “I’m sure many of you are asking yourselves: what’s the solution? .... It’s easy to say that the solution. is political and we should lie _} low, keep quiet, not put our case to the public for fear that we might} NDP government. “That unfortunately is the attitude of some leaders in the labor movement in B.C. today. “But what that says to me is that they don’t believe in themselves. and they don’t believe in the labor movement. It’s an unacceptable attitude, it’s a defeatist attitude and it’s the attitude and tactics that has lost us the last three elections,” MacDonald said to applause. He urged unionists to continue their activity in central labor organizations “and to work together to build an organization that can, as in the past, confront any government if the need ever arises.” MacDonald’s remarks came in the second session of the six day convention, called to set policy for the next two years and to establish HEU demands for the upcoming 1986 bargaining. Dele- gates were slated to take part in several closed-door sessions to discuss bargaining demands for a new master agreement which comes up for renewal March 31. The 24,000-member HEU is coming off a 51-month contract and union secretary-business-manger Jack Gerow warned members earlier this year that they would face “the most reactionary set of concessions demands ever seen by the union and its members.” Both the HEU and the B.C. Government Employees Union have already declared that they will not make concessions in 1986 con- tracts. And with virtually every major union contract in the public sector up for renewal this year, public sector bargaining will be a significant factor in the provincial election campaign widely expected this year. B.C. Federation of Labor president Art Kube touched on that issue in his address to the convention Sunday, telling delegates that the Socred government.was a government “which has created ae unemployment. ..and has deliberately set out to hurt people. “You have a major responsiblity,” he told delegates, “to see to it that Bill Bennett does not form the next provincial government.” He also warned delegates that they would face new threats from de-regulation and free trade, both of which are being actively promoted by Ottawa and Victoria. . “A lot of people think that de-regulation simply means that they'll be able to travel to Toronto for $120,” he said. “Well, it won’t” he stated. “In fact, de-regulation will affect all workers negatively.” ; As for free trade, he warned, if it is introduced tomorrow, “We won't be selling lumber to the U.S. — we will just be selling our logs down the river so they can be sawn across the 49th Parallel. “We will be even more the hewers of wood and drawers of water,” he said. “There is nothing for workers in free trade — we should fight it,” he said. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 26, 1986 e 3 ES