ple, was one indication of the degree of discipline behind the tightly-run occupation. The first sign was when the individuals in- volved marched in an orderly fashion into the offices to tell the premier’s top assistant, Patrick Kinsella, and a secretary-receptionist the nature of the unexpected visit. ‘He left when he was told this was a peaceful protest,’ said Lorne Robson, secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Provincial Council of Carpenters, at a press conference held at the premier’s desk. ‘This demonstration is necessary to bring the issue front and centre to the premier,”’ said Robson, flanked by the other occupa- tion spokesman: Jim Green of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, Gail Meredith from Women Against the Budget, and Hospital Employees Union vice-president Bill Macdonald. In the middle of the assembled spokesmen sat the plush, upholstered premier’s chair, empty. ‘‘He’s welcome to come, but so far he hasn’t,’’ said Robson. “Bennett hasn’t listened to 30,000 people demonstrating in Victoria, and he hasn’t listened to 50,000 who protested in Empire Stadium. And governments have to be responsible for their actions to the people,”’ Robson explained. *‘He’s been hoping that the protest against his budget will disappear from the pages of the press — and we’re making sure it’s not going to disappear,’’ he asserted. At the receptionist’s desk, the swit- chboard was lit up as well-wishers and reporters — and at least one startled cabinet aide in Victoria — called in. All calls were answered - with the greeting, ‘‘people’s government.”’ Well-wishers, and a minority of detrac- tors, continued to phone the office throughout the occupation. In the evening a contingent of HEU members, led by secretary-business manager Jack Gerow, delivered fried chicken and several extra- large ‘‘people’s pizzas” to the hungry oc- cupiers. The next day, as several groups of volunteers collecting signatures for the Solidarity Coalition province-wide cam- paign were winding up operations on the streets below, the occupiers prepared to leave. They emerged into the cold clear sunshine of a pre-autumn day and descended the ter- raced stairway of the Robson Square com- plex to be greeted by the overwhelming cheers, whistles and applause of thousands of Vancouver residents who had just march- ed the four blocks from Drake and Seymour streets. : Rally chairman George Hewison led the greetings, shouting into the microphone that if the Bennett government continued to . PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 21, 1983—Page 12 Rally crowd links arms in salute as occupiers make their way down Robson Square steps Saturday. —_—— i GAIL MEREDITH. . . government “has not been listening” to mass protest. refuse to listen to the growing protests, ac- tions such as the occupation ‘‘will be repeated again and again around this pro- vince.”’ Speaker Al Blakey, past president of the B.C. Teachers Federation, agreed, calling the occupation ‘“‘the beginning of a new stage in the protest.”’ The HEU’s Gerow noted that Bennett had termed the occupation ‘‘reprehensible.”’ But, Gerow asked, ‘‘Was it not reprehen- sible for Bennett to strip you of your human rights? Was it not reprehensible to punish the sick and the injured through health care user fees?’’ As he went down the list of those adversely affected by the Socred legislation, he received a thunderous ‘“‘Yes’’ to each question. . ‘T understand and support their actions,”’ said Gerow of the occupiers. ‘‘They are courageous partisans in the fight for democratic rights and freedoms.’’ Kim Zander, coordinator of the Van-- couver and District Labor Council’s unemployed action centre, brought a class analysis of the Socred budget and legisla- tion: ‘‘Bennett’s loyalty is to his class — the class that owns and the class that controls this province.”’ Zander warned that the government is seeking to emasculate trade unions, pointing to the leaked Labor Code changes and the growing numbers of unemployed that the government hopes to use as a “‘reserve army’’ to break organized labor and drive wages and working conditions down. “But by our actions we are changing that partisans’ army trom a reserve army to an angry army. It’s our move and we have to make it strong,”’ she said. Hewison announced that the “people’s: government had a cabinet meeting and they’ve appointed a premier’’ when he in- troduced Meredith to the thunderous cheers of the protesters. : Meredith said that “‘Bill Bennett hasn’t been listening’’ to the protests against the Socred bills, noting that a request from Van- couver city council to meet with the cabinet over the legislation had been ignored. “There is a feeling in the community that the time for stronger action is approaching,” she said, adding the people’s government “‘is now dissolved, until such a time as we can elect a real people’s government in B.C.” Organizers of the occupation and the Solidarity Coalition action expressed no sur- prise at Bennett’s response to the occupa- tion. And it was predictable that media such as the Province newspaper would editorialize against the action, as it did in the Sunday edition. But there were no doubt many who were ‘disheartened by NDP leader Dave Barrett’s comments that the occupation ‘‘served no useful purpose.”’ zs Barrett’s remarks added to the disap- pointment many have felt concerning the performance of the official Opposition. Mike Kramer, secretary of the B.C. Federa- tion of Labor and a Solidarity Coalition leader has noted with dismay that the NDP MLAs plan to block only a limited number of Socred bills from passage in the legislature. “