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The imperative of disarma

Some 66 members of Local 1717 of the Association of Commercial and Technical Employees took on the Im-
Perial Optical monopoly Oct. 9, launching their strike in Vancouver to back demands fora first contract, and
Wage parity for men and women. Imperial has almost complete control over the optical industry from
Manufacturing through the retall outlets and was the subject of a Combines investigation which concluded
in 1978. ACTE is urging a boycott of all imperial subsidiaries including such companies as Prescription Optical

\ 8ame agreement sought with Imperial.

Natives protest action

— page 3 —

PHOTO—SEAN GRIFFIN

‘ 2
its z eee a
a

4

8nd Hale Optical. Eyeglasses can be obtained through London Drugs-Optical which has already signed =

C. Tel

The 11,000-member Telecom-
munications Workers Union last
week launched a petition campaign
calling on the provincial govern-
ment to take over B.C. Telephone

-Company and place it in the hands

of a Crown corporation.

The petition, which has already
been circulated widely throughout
the province, is aimed at both the
provincial government and the
federal government and is part of
the union’s campaign to focus on
B.C. Tel’s anti-union stance and on
the company’s record of providing
poor service at ever-increasing
rates.

Both the labor record and the
service quality at B.C. Tel have
been central issues at the still
continuing Canadian Radio-
television and Telecommunica-
tions Commission hearings in Van-
couver into B.C. Tel’s application
for a rate increase.

In urging that the U.S.-owned
telephone company be placed in
the hands of a crown corporation,
the TWU petition states: ‘The
citizens of this province have
observed the quality of telephone
service steadily worsen over the
years. We believe that a crown cor-
poration would be sensitive to our
needs and able to secure the en-
thusiastic allegiance of all
employees in providing the high
quality service that British Colum-
bians deserve.”

On Tuesday, delegates to the
Vancouver and District Labor
Council unanimously endorsed the
petition and will be sending it out to
all affiliated unions for distribu-
tion.

TWU spokesman Larry Arm-
strong said that the completed peti-
tions would be sent to federal labor
minister Gerald Regan and the pro-
vincial government.

Terror in El Salvador
wins gov't agreement ||documented by church

ment

— page II —

TWU petitions province ,
of B.

12,000
rally in
Ontario

By MIKE PHILLIPS
TORONTO. More than
12,000 angry trade union
members came from every cor-
ner of Ontario, Oct. 18 to warn
Ontario’s Tory government in
Queens Park “‘put Ontario back
to work or get out of the way.”’
Representing more than 30
trade union organizations and
labor councils throughout the
province, workers flooded the
steps of the Ontario legislature -
which were almost buried under
wooden coffins identifying
plants which were shut down.
Rockwell, Houdaille,
Chrysler Foundry, Columbus-
McKinnon and the names of
many more were painted in
stark white on the black coffins
and laid at the door of the big
business government responsi-
ble for allowing Ontario’s in-
dustrial base to wither away.
Dave Lee and Len Hender-
son from St. Catharine’s walked

the 90 kilometres to Toronto to

bring a coffin protesting the re-
cent Columbus McKinnon
closure which took away the
jobs of 240 workers.
Conservative estimates place
the number of Ontario workers
who have lost their jobs due to
plant closures around 65,000.
The message driven home by

See ONTARIO page 12

— page 6 —