Friday, April 22, 1983 Newsstand Ee 18 price 40c Vol. 46, No. 16 rama Eps Vancouver | declared n-weapons free zone Peace marchers taking to the streets in thousands this Saturday will be marching in a nuclear weapons-free zone. Vancouver city council Tuesday voted inine-to-one in favor of a motion from COPE aldermen Bruce Yorke and Libby | Davies that the city be declared a nuclear weapons-free zone, the latest and perhaps most significant of a series of peace mo- tions adopted by the civic government in the last year. “T have no apologies for raising the peace question again,”’ Yorke, the mover lof the motion, told council, ‘‘because since we have taken these steps the danger | of war remains high.”’ In addition to the nuclear-free declara- tion, council also agreed to ‘‘strike acom- | mittee to bring forth practical proposals to put specific content into the declara- tion.” The declaration means council has banned ‘‘the manufacture, storage, See VOTE page 2 B.C. is no haven—Walk for Peace Those who propose that nuclear was is inevitable and that British Columbia |would be a haven during and after a holocaust are obviously not in their “right minds,’’ according to the president of End the Arms Race. Frank Kennedy, who is also president of the Vancouver and District Labor Council, attacked the ‘‘misleading”’ statements of a federal government of- ficial who told the Vancouver Province last week that B.C. would be spared in an all-out nuclear conflagration. “Scientists around the world have con- cluded that Canada will be a major target for nuclear weapons. Given that we area member of NATO, that we are manufac- turing parts for the guidance system on cruise missiles — given these facts, who in their right minds would say we can sit out World War III?” asked Kennedy in a re- cent statement. Demands that the Canadian govern- ment refuse permission for the U.S. military to test the cruise missile in Canada and that the country be declared a nuclear weapons-free zone will be the themes of this year’s Walk for Peace on Saturday. Demands that the Canadian govern- ment refuse permission for the U.S. military to test the cruise missile in Canada and that the country be declared a nuclear weapons-free zone will be the | themes of this year’s Walk for Peace on Saturday. The story in the Province last week concerned statements by Fred Cooper, tegional director of Emergency Planning Canada, and a former weapons expert at | the nuclear test site in Nevada who goes See NEW page 12 TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON Socreds’ return would attack on labor, warns VDLC The Vancouver and District Labor Council Tuesday urged voters not to be misled by the false issue of ‘‘democracy in the workplace’ being raised by premier Bill Bennett and warned that a return of Social Credit to office would bring ‘“‘chaos and confrontation in labor relations’? and continuing depression-level unemployment. “The Socreds are attempting to make the labor movement a central issue in this cam- paign,”’ said a statement adopted by council. “But attacks on the labor movement will not bring about stability. Provocative policies and statements inevitably lead to confronta- tion. “The real issue before the people is jobs, economic development and a future free of the crisis we have suffered in recent years,” the statement declared. Unanimously backed by delegates who underscored its warning that re-election of the Socreds would mean “‘a further attack on working people’ the statement was the first major labor response to the anti-labor thrust that Bennett has carried into the elec- tion campaign. From the opening of the campaign, Ben- nett levelled the Socred’s guns at organized labor, vowing to strip ferry workers of the right to strike and declaring that teachers would not be given rights under the labor code. Four days later, he stated that a Socred government would remove the discretionary power of-the Labor Relations Board in decertification votes and would pave the way for automatic decertification votes if sought - by 40 percent of employees at a plant. Even before the election call labor minister Bob McClelland had openly discussed impending changes to the labor code which would include the decertification proposals referred to by Bennett as well as restrictions on the right to strike and secon- dary picketing and provisions for appeal to the legislature of LRB decisions. The proposals were an echo of those sought by the Employers’ Council and the B.C. Construction Association. Other anti-labor legislation is also being held in abeyance by the Socreds—including adraft bill which would exempt employers in the government’s Discovery Park facilities from the provisions of the labor code — awaiting the election outcome on May 5. See RESTRAINT page 12 bring ‘febless demos dog Bennett Labor's promise to ‘haunt’ Bill Ben- nett on the campaign trail has become a reality. In Terrace, Comox and the Lower Mainland the Socred premier’s speaking engagements have been picketed in protest over the government's threatened right- to-work legislation and the unemployment situation. Here jobless members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Carpenters, joined by volunteers at the Unemployed Ac- tion Centre, picket Bennett's speech to the Rotary Club at the Hotel Van- couver Tuesday. The premier has proven himself adept at avoiding the picket lines, doubtless having gain- ed experience from his pre-election tour of the Interior, but the protests continue.