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‘Wednesday, August 14, 2002. -

A bit of daylight in SCI darkness

NEGOTIATORS FOR Skeena Cellu-
lose and its unionized sawmill workers
here met earlier this week in an at-
tempt to reach an agreement to re-start
the company’s mill here.

An agreement may or may not be
reached to meet a cumpany-imposed
deadline of tomorrow ta have an
agreement in place, but the two sides
have developed some wiggle room to
set the stage for negotiations.

At issue is SCI's “Fresh Start
Agreement” calling for wage reduc-
tions of 20 per cent and benefits and
holiday time rollbacks to follow the
company’s position it needs lower la-
bour costs in order to operate.

This agreement would replace an
existing IWA contract with SCI and
has already been rejected by union
members.

But both SCI CEO Dan Veniez and
the IWA agreed late last week there's
room in which to negotiate.

Those new positions came out of a
Terrace council committec-of-the-
whole session Aug. 8 which featured
Veniez as a guest.

The council meeting chambers
were full of IWA members, with the
effect that Veniez was speaking to his
employees as much as he was to
council members.

Veniez indicated he'll keep health
and medical benefits as called for in
the current contract and pay skilled
workers more than first proposed.

He also agreed to change probation
period ianguage in his proposed con-
tracis so as to do away with the im-
pression that senior employees are
subject to the same 30-day trial period

Mi Deadly devices?

TERRACE-KITIMAT Airport security agent Deb-
bie Walsh holds up a nail file, scissors and a

sengers in the past few months. Since Sept. 11,
stricter regulations stop passengers fram bringing

m@ Labour Relations Board
rules against “illegal lock
oui” claim, Page A2

HB SCI sells Smithers mill,
Page A2

m Costly cleanup in Rupert
planned, Page A2

wage costs have to be reduced.

“PIL pay for you to have your own
independent auditors to look at our fi-
nancial statements,” Veniez continued
in a remark addressed at IWA mem-
bers at the council session. ;

The SCI CEO also won't budget
from holiday pay reductions called for
in-his proposed agreement.

as are newly hired people,

But Veniez was adamant that the
20 per cent wage reduction portion of
his proposed contract, in return for the
prospect of profit sharing later on,
would stay.

“Profit sharing is a key component
of this package. It’s not negotiable,”
said Veniez in repeating his theme
that for the company to be viable,

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they are going to have to yard up the
_whole system and we, the users, are
going to have to pay for it,” says Weston.

But Russell Seltenrich, the environ-
mental health officer overseeing the si-

“The vast majority of Woodland Utili-

He said latest samples of water being
taken have been coming back clean. He
added the results of an engineering firm’s

A $200,000 contract let last week will
result in the addition of-a proper sidewalk
on the east side of the bridge, transporta-

Ramsay of the sidewalk width, essential-
Jy matching the width of the sidewalk on
the west side of the overpass, _

He anticipates construction will take
approximately six weeks. The existing

added to the overpass.

tion for those with 10 years or more
seniority, three weeks for those with
10 years or less and two weeks for
those with five years or less on the job.

For senior workers, that’s a major
reduction, but Veniez now says he's
offering a one-time pay cut of the dif-
ference between what they would have
received and the proposed maximum
four-week limit.

That’s the same provision being ex-

ingle person

water is not safe to drink without

being boiled first.

‘I’m getting the vague impression that
i
i

ion, says that’s not likely.

” infrastructure is plastic piping which

is not subject to corrosion,” he said.
“We’re not even looking at that as a

on.” .

a

by early fall. '

t

ministry manager Don Ramsay said.
This will be 1.8 metres wide,” said

h of the roadway itself won’t change
foundation for the sidewalk will be

des-

There’d be four weeks of paid vaca-°

mination and the final possibilit
film within the water system. :

tended to pulp workers in Prince Ru-
pert.
Several times during the session,
Ventez said he needed an agreement
by tomorrow to set in motion a plan to
have both the sawmill here and the
pulp mill in Prince Rupert up and fully
running by Nov. L.

And a failure to have new labour
agreements in place by the end of Au-
gust risks a start up this year al all.

“On Sept. | I have to make a hard
decision on whether to start up the bu-
sinesses this year,” he said.

A key to the start up plan is build-
ing logging roads lo bring in the waod
to the sawmill here. As fall and rain
approach, the chances of doing that
successfully begin to fade.

Should there not be an agreement

Cont’d Page A2

Residents meet to query |
bad water in Thornhill

RESIDENTS of upper Thornhill want to
__know how long they'll have to boil water.
Marianne Weston, who is organizing a
meeting tonight, said residents want a so-
lution to the problem which has forced
them to boil water for seven weeks now.
“We were oul giving out notices out
. last (week) and thereisn’t ‘a:
who isn’t behind this. and e&ényone has a
4: story,” Weston says of the meeting. ~~
The advisory was’ issued’ after’ fecal:
and total coliforms were found in the
water supply. The contamination means

interim report were received Aug. 8.

That report identified four possibitities

of contamination.

“One is cross contamination within a

home where negative pressure on the sys-
tem causes the water to flow back from
the sewer lines,” he said. “There are a
number of possible scenarios that happen
within a home that
tamination.3

can lvad to cross con-

-- Some examples of that type. of conta-

mination could be caused by leaving tele-
phone cord- style shower heads or kitchen
sprayer dangling in water. -

The second possibility is poor sampling

where the sample is contaminated during

ts collection, he said. The third possibil-
ty identified is well water source conta-
y is: bio-

“What the utility has been doing is

doing some testing to try to establish the
most likely source of contamination and
how to address that,’ Seltenrich said. .

He hopes to have some results from

that testing available this week.

“We are probably close to a decision

on this,” said Seltentich. He’ll be at ta-
night’s meeting which starts at 7:30 p.m.

t the Thornhill Community Hall. .

; 2 a
Overpass sidewalk coming
PEDESTRIANS, USING the Sande Over-
pass should have a brand new sidewalk to

One potential benefit of providing an

additional and safe pedestrian passage
across the overpass is to stop as much as
possible people from crossing CN’s

racks, Ramsay added.
For its part, CN is to provide and pay

for flaggers to either control train traffic
or construction work during the project to
prevent possible accidents, he said.

“That’s a considerable cost and CN

agreeing to pay for it will help,” Ramsay

aid of the overall project budget,
The city will eventually construct

sidewalks to both sides of the overpass to
“hook up with the new sidewalk.

All that’s in the city’s current five-year

pocket knife — just a few the dozens of everyday
items that have been confiscated from local pas-

kind on board.

things like corkscrews,
“It's dangerous stuff,” sald Walsh.

nail clippers or tools of any

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
A FORMER Terrace resident says he
wants an apology from Prime Minister
Jean Chretien after he was arrested ai
an Aug. 1 ceremony in Vancouver.

Social worker William Christian-
sen, 41, was arrested when RCMP be-
lieved he might use a piece of cake he
was holding against Chretien during
the opening of the Chinatown Mille-
nnium Gate.

RCMP Constable Danielle Efford
said officers determined the cake
could be used against Chretien. She
said efforts were made to peacefully
resolve the issue but the situation es-
calated, resulting in Christiansen’s ar-
rested for obstruction of justice.

Christiansen admits he had apiece -
of pineapple sponge cake in his hand
but he says he had gp intention of «

throwing it at Chretien.

He says the resulting media atten-
tion is marring his name and could
prevent him from securing employ-
ment. “If (Jean Chretien) were to apo-
logise to me directly through the pub-

lic it would clear my name and it

would show to the public that yes, (the
RCMP) can make mistakes,” said
Christiansen last week.

Christiansen said he went to China-
town after receiving a generic invita-

tion while at a Human Resource De-
_ velopment Canada employnient train-

ing session in the neighbourhood,
-.Once ‘he ‘arrived, he. overheard
many people who were upsel Chretien

was appearing: for.a celebration when .. .

the. plight. of poor’

people nearby was-
tot addressed. Boa! ve

“Why is-he- celebrating when just a

block.and a half away there are people
sticking needles in their azms,” Christ-
iansen said some people were asking.
He admits he got “caught up” in
events and thai’s when the trouble
started. He approached an RCMP se-
curity agent and asked: “So where is
that pr--k?” Christiansen admits say-
ing. He now says he could have cho-
sen his words more wisely,
Christiansen left the gathering to
get a snack from a nearby grocery.
store and returned to the crowd. He.
says he was about 50 feet from Chre-
tien when he unwrapped the. cassette

‘tape-size piece of cake and was ap-

proached by a RCMP officer.

her I’m going to eat it,” Christiansen |

~ says. “I think what started the whole *

“This ties in with the natural pe
trian flow and will join up with city side}
walks being planned on both sides, said
Ramsay.”

Local man wants apology from

“She came-‘up to me and asked me.”

what I’m going to do with it and I told-”: closed that day.» 3:

thing was that she was a foot and half
away from my face and asked ‘why
don’t you eat it riglit now?’”

He said the officer touched him and
that it made him feel uncomfortable.
He says ‘he asked her twice nat to
touch him and that’s when three more
officers arrived,

He says while the officers were
handcuffing’ him, his arms ..were
brought up behind his back, even with
his shoulders causing him some pain.
The incident was caught on tape and.
photos of his arrest were published.

Christiansen says the situation is

_ even more frustrating because of his

court date. It is for Labour. Day ~ Sept.
2 = a' statutory Holiday:and courts are

He says he'll. show: up on the steps
of the | courthouse’ as: ordered and -see-

‘ford.

plan and is subject to money being avail-
able, said city official Herb Dusdal. For
now, it'll widen the approach pathways
leading to the new sidewalk, he said.

Chretien

what hap-
pens.
The
RCMP
were not
able to
‘say why
that date
was cho- |:
sen. ,
“That
could
simply
have been
an over- fF
sight that
could be
corrected
later on,”
said Bf-

William
Christiansen —

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