LDB flouts community in booze sale On July 1, 1981, on the insistence of city coun- cil, the Downtown Eastside Residents Associa- tion (DERA) and many other groups, the provin- cial government closed down its liquor store at Main and Hastings. The easy access that chronic alcoholics and others had to cheap liquor at this outlet led to no end of problems for the police, the merchants and the general public. About a block away another liquor store was in operation, the Mandarin Trade Centre liquor store at 627 Main Street. It was supposed to bea specialty store serving the Chinese community. But once the Main and Hastings store closed, the management of the Mandarin liquor store started ordering and selling large quantities of low cost wines. It was obviously catering to the alcoholics and drunks who could no longer get their cheap wine at Hastings and Main. They even went so far as to take down their specialty store sign! As a result of this policy, the number of sales at the Mandarin liquor store doubled in one year! And the problems created by the drunks have just been moved one block further down Main Street. : City council set up a task force to monitor the situation created at the Mandarin liquor store. After meeting with community workers and: Chinese organizations it was unanimously agreed that the Liquor Distribution Branch be asked to “‘stop all sales of cheap wine and liquor at the Harry | Rankin Keefer and Main liquor store and that the store revert back to being a speciality store and that the speciality store sign be re-installed.”’ Thereply of the general manager of the Liquor Distribution Branch was an outright refusal to meet this request of the task force. His reasons were that the ‘‘local customer’s right to buy’’ must not be interfered with, and that it would have “‘little beneficial effect’’ in any case. That kind of attitude is hardly surprising. The fact of the matter is that the provincial govern- ment benefits very directly from the profits generated by increased liquor sales. That is why this government has always worked hand in glove with the liquor interests to provide more outlets. The revenues it gets from its high mark-up on li- quor sales are huge and run into the hundreds of millions annually. And all its media propaganda about drinking drivers is just so much hypocritical whitewash. To say that the government has a conflict of in- terest in a case such as that of the Mandarin li- quor store would be an understatement. But its policy is not only immoral and hypocritical — it is also short-sighted and self-defeating. I wouldn’t be surprised if the extra costs that come about from alcohol-related crimes and car accidents cost the government just as much as it makes from liquor sales. Steps that should be taken by the provincial government, if it really wanted to deal with the problems created by increasing liquor consump- tion, would include an end to over-serving at bars, an end to serving drunks, cutting down on the number of liquor outlets and providing ade- quate treatment facilities including rehabilitation for those who have become the victims of alcohol. Unless specific steps such as these are taken, all talk about the problems of alcohol becomes pious platitude and so much hot air. BRITISH COLUMBIA Part-time workers held hostage in layoff dispute, HEU charges The Hospital Employees Union has charged that the province’s hv spitals are ‘holding part-time employees hostage”’ in an effort to force the union to re-open: negotiations on the collective agreement. Some 600 part-time permanent staff have been laid off because the hospitals’ bargaining agent — the Health Labor Relations Association — has “‘conscious- ly erred”’ in its interpretation of a recent arbitration award governing employee status, HUE secretary-business manager Jack Gerow has charged. Gerow said the -HLRA has arbitrarily decided ‘‘to eliminate part-time employees in British Columbia hospitals. _ In response, some 500 staff at the Lions Gate hospital in North Vancouver and New Westminster’s Royal Colum- bian hospital are staging continuing sit- down actions, and further actions were pending at press time. Up to 2,000 regular part-time staff could be affected by the move, under which the HLRA is stripping the employees of their part-time status and reducing them to the role of casuals. Casual employees have no regularly scheduled work week. They can be called in on a day-to-day basis, and laid off at any time, said HEU spokesman Lecia Stewart. ' They also lose benefits, including medical, dental, long-term disability and life insurance, which account for 35 per- cent of their wages and benefits package, _ Stewart told the Tribune Tuesday. The HUE considers the layoffs a lockout, and has filed two separate ap- plications for a hearing with the Labor Relations Board, said Stewart. = Several sections of the 27-month col- lective agreement between the HLRA and the HEU have been submitted to ar- bitration. Last month arbitrator Dalton Larson ruled that as of July 1, casual employees would no longer be automatically eligible for part-time status after completing 180 hours of work over a 12-week period. The HRLA’s response was to issue notices to 600 part-time employees of Lions Gate, Royal Columbian, St. Paul’s (Vancouver) and Surrey Memorial hospitals. Gerow, who sat on the arbitra- tion board but refused to sign the award, said the move clearly violates Larson’s ruling. Gerow said Larson’s ruling applied to employees with the casual status after Ju- ly 1, and was not meant to apply to employees who have already achieved — or will have achieved prior to that date — - regular, part-time status, Union officials say that the HLRA is seeking ways of making employees pay for the drastic cutbacks to hospital budgets under the Socred government’s restraint program. The average wage earned by members of the 25,000-member HEU is $1,200 per month, she added. Stewart noted the HLRA is “unhappy”’ with the current agreement, which provides wage hikes of eight per- cent from August, 1982 and five percent from April this year, plus retroactive payments to Jan. 1, 1982. The April in- crease has not been paid because the association is urging Compensation Stabilization Program commissioner Ed Peck to impose a three-and-zero percent solution retroactively, said Stewart. \ Gerow has said the HLRA has ‘‘con-_ sciously erred” in its interpretation. of Larson’s arbitration’award by laying off the part-time staff, and has indicated it | will rescind the layoffs if the union agrees to re-open negotiations on the collectivé agreement. ' * By “holding a gun” on part-time staff, the employers hope to wring concessions from the HEU which would involve and increased use of casual labor at the ex- pense of part-time employees, the union charged. ‘‘We maintain that the layoffs amount to a lockout (under Part 5 of the Labor Code) and we have every intention of ex- ercising our full rights under the cil cumstances,”” said Gerow in a recent statement. 5 : The HEU had given hospitals until | midnight last Sunday to withdraw the layoff notices. Nanaimo regional General hospital had complied and withdrew its notices last Friday. Suspensions ranging between one and 12 days have been issued to most employees involved in the sitdown ac tions, the HEU has stated. : Following separate applications from both the HEU and the HLRA, Larson, considered a hospital ‘‘troubleshooter,”’ was to meet with both parties at the Lions Gate hospital Wednesday. HAVE YOU RENEWED YOUR SUB? N 0 one but the corporate publishers whose names litter its -roster could draw any great inspiration from the press council that was annouced last week with great fanfare. The list just about complete but so far it only includes one working reporter, and any community representatives yet to be named will be swamped by the newspaper executives already ap- . pointed. Excuse our cynicism, if you will, but we’ve yet to seea publishers’ press council — and that’s really what it is — that has acknowledged any community responsibility on such issues as racism or sexism in the media or, for that matter, any number of other issues. In fact, we had a glimpse of how the media approaches the _issue of sexism in the outcry over comments made by right wing bigot Doug Collins during a television commentary on CKVU television May 12. : : Collins was commenting on a group called Media Watch, set up by various women’s organizations to monitor media ap- proaches to women. In atypical gutter monologue he referred to the members of the group as “‘loony libbers’’ and ‘‘hot-eyed feminists.”’ And he ended up with these words: ‘‘If there ever is a conven- tional war, it’s my hope that Media Watch and its army of snoops would be found in the front line where they can beraped by the Russians.”’ The remark was undeniably offensive and should have been repugnant to any responsible editor or producer. Understan- dably, the comment drew vigorous protest from the Vancouver Status of Women. Yet CKVU management has refused to apologize for Collins or even acknowledge that the remark was offensive. Instead, in a response typical of commercial media, it offered Media ‘Watch the option of air time to rebut Collins or a televised debate with him. Needless to say, Media Watch-representatives declined the ludicrous proposal. How could they rebut Collins’ remark? Woud they say, ‘‘No we hope there won’t be a conventional war and that women won’t be raped?”’ If the school board in Eckville, Alberta had followed CKVU’s logic, it would not have fired Jim Keegstra but would have let him continue teaching and merely given someone from the Jewish community an opportunity to come to his class and rebut his anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, with Collins, it’s not just acommentary over CKVU; he also produces a column on Saturdays for the Col- umbian, a column full of the same kind of offensive remarks about immigration policy, Quebec and ethnic minorities. Of course, for CKVU and the Columbian, Collins’ com- mentaries are freedom of the press in action. What they refuse to see is that Collins’ remarks fuel racist and sexist attitudes; they help to provide ideological justification to those who PEOPLE AND ISSUES would spray paint racist slogans on East Indians’ homes or blame unemployment on immigrants. So it was also a little dismaying that the B.C. Federation of Labor should decline to support a Media Watch boycott of | | CKVU with the argument, ‘‘...while we don’t agree with Doug } Collins, we don’t want to give the guy any publicity.” The federation will make whatever decision it sees fit on the issue of a boycott. But to back away from such action on the basis that it would give publicity to Collins is hiding from the issue. The fact is that Collins already has wide publicity — he getsit | regularly over CK VU, through the pages of the Columbian and } elsewhere. And until people begin to challenge the slurs, the of- fensive comments and the bigotry that are broadcast and printed; until the trade union movement demands that the | media have a responsibility to the community, he will continue to get it. * ok Ox : WwW e’re not in the habit of selecting a quote of the month but if we were, the one by Noranda boss Adam Zimmerman | inthe June 1 issue of Financial Post magazine would win easily, | even without considering any competition. ‘‘For me,’’ says Zimmerman (if you will suspend your disbelief for a moment) | “to be considered an adversary of any other employee of any company with which I am associated — that offends every bone in my body. I am dedicated to the process of the employer being fair, reasonable, profitable and providing a good en- vironment in which to work.’’ L It’s interesting that Zimmerman’s comments appear at the | same time as a piece in the Barker, put out by Local 1-217 of the IWA, which notes that while other forest firms are beginning to | put some union members back to work, “‘MacMillan Bloedel, which is controlled by Noranda, is acting in aruthless manner | » with detrimental effects on our members.”’ * * * any of the 17 B.C. delegates to the World Assembly for Peace and Life, Against Nuclear War left Tuesday for | Prague, Czechoslovakia where the historic international con- ference is to begin June 21. But Hospital Employees Union | secretary-business manager Jack Gerow was not among them, as the Tribune erroneously reported last week. Gerow was slated to go, but union business compelled him to takehisname | off the delegation list and we didn’t learn of the change until | after we had gone to press. — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 17, 1983—Page 2