Se ere eee |, |L000 ere eile (te tee | 1 SS |e nt tie i eel ee || 6 ec al un | GLEN UH LW) BL PE LE IE i 1 _— BRITISH COLUMBIA Broad youth festival group leaves July 24 It will be the experierice of a lifetime for young trade unionists, church people, students activists, Native Indian workers and others in a variety of fields meeting their counterparts from around the world at the 12th World Festival of Youth and Students, organizers of the British Columbia contingent say. Twenty B.C. delegates and 10 “tourists” will swell the ranks of more than 100 Canadian youth heading to the festival, established in 1947 to prevent a recurrence of world wars. “] think our delegation is a really top-quality group and will make find contributions in one form or another,” says Kim Zander, co- ordinator of the festival’s B.C. preparatory committee and a leader of Vancouver’s unemployed movement. : Delegates leave July 24 for the festival, which runs July 27 to Aug. 5 in Moscow. Ata series of weekly meetings the B.C. delegates have been examin- ing the various themes to be aired in forums at the festival, including the economic crisis and unemployment, world disarmament, culture and the Native movement. Canada will host the forum on the latter, and the B.C. contribution is “first rate,” said preparatory committee member Reg Walters. B.C. will also contribute to the cultural side, said Walters, when Canada hosts a concert with Vancouver’s rhythm and blues band, the Questionnaires. The addition of the band, at the last minute, has added some $2,000 onto the expenses for the trip. Collectively, delegates raised more than $60,000 towards the costs. “We've solicited funds from every organization and individual you can imagine. People have been very generous, but we’re still short,” said Zander. “We've still got quite a debt load.” Donations can be sent, payable to the B.C. Festival Committee, to 2235 East 9th Ave., Vancouver, VSN 1V4. and Yukon Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union for damages resulting from the picketing last year at the condomi- nium construction site owned by Pennyfar- thing Development Corporation. The site had been the scene of picketing by hundreds of unemployed Building Trades members and other unionists who sought to prevent J.C. Kerkhoff from taking over the con- struction contract which had previously been awarded to a union firm, Stevenson Construction. The LRB also gave Pennyfarthing itself permission to launch a damage suit against The decision by the Labor Relations Board to allow anti- union contractor J.C. Kerkhoff and Sons Construction to sue the Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union over the Pennyfar- thing dispute may have been intended to deter similar ac- tion, but it won’t BILL ZANDER stop unions from fighting for their rights, Carpenters provincial council president Bill Zander declared this week. “Ata certain point, you have to stand up | and fight for what you believe in,” he said. > “The decision won’t deter us from fighting for what we believe in — the right of work- ing people to jobs and a decent standard of living.” Ina ruling borught down July 11,a LRB panel chaired by LRB chairman John Kin- zie gave Kerkhoff permission under Section 54 of the Labor Code to sue both the B.C. the council and the union and gave Kerk- hoff the right to seek damages against the Building Trades and the Carpenters for picketing last year of the Kamloops armory project and the Gibson’s underpass project, then under construction by Kerkhoff. Although it is some 15 months distant from the Pennyfathing events, the lawsuit will inevitably inflame a dispute which has left bitter memories with thousands of unionists. Unemployed Building Trades workers began picketing the gate in Janu- ary, 1984 following reports that Pennyfar- UNIONISTS OUTSIDE PENNYFARTHING PROJECT. . .more than 1,500 gathered at one point in stand against government, non-union contractors. 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 17, 1985 thing was going to turn the condominium contract over to Kerkhoff, and within days hundreds more joined them, many of them standing vigil for 24 hours a day despite injunctions limiting pickets to 12 at each gate. At one point, close to 1,500 people filled the street outside the project in a stand against the notorious anti-union contractor. But a LRB ruling ordering a halt to picket- ing which was subsequently filed in Supreme Court finally compelled the Build- ing Trades Council to call a halt under the threat of massive fines and jail terms for council and union officers. The council and the Carpenters Union were fined $30,000 in B.C. Supreme Court in June, 1984 for con- tempt. Zander said Thursday’s LRB decision “came as no surprise,” although he emphas- ized it was “an unwelcome hammer against the trade union movement. “The Kerkhoffs are part of the business establishment and they have the support of the government in attacking unions,” he said, adding that the courts “are also part of the establishment.” The lawsuit “‘is a step backwards in labor relations,” reminiscent of the contempt cit- ations and damage suits levelled against trade unionists in the 1960s when scores of unionists were jailed and several unions faced crippling fines for exercising the right to strike and to picket, he said. Bill Kerkhoff has not yet stated how much his company will seek in damages but the suit is expected to be considerable, based —_—_____. Name PIOBSS. papas eee lam PACIFIC RIBUNE Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5. Phone 251-1186 o 0 © 20 @ 2 «0-0, 0 sien 5 0(@. pie '0 Wie ee 9 8.0 28 850.» 8.0 bie 0)'e W508) 8. 028.8, B.C. DELEGATION AND TOURISTS TO YOUTH FESTIVAL (13 not pictured). ..BACK ROW (left to right): Tim Pelzer, high school student; Judy Lahti, Finnish Organization; Jim Davidson, Machinists; Alan Surrette, AUUC; Kim Zander, Unemployed Action Centre; Mark Fettes, UBC Students for Peace and Mutual Disarmament; Gail Johnson, Canadians for Democracy in Chile (CDC); Terry Harasym, tourist. MIDDLE ROW: Leo McDougall, CBRT, Mike Proniuk, Unemployed Action Centre; Donna Morgan, Canadian Federation of Students; Karen Kindrid, CUPE; Cheri Wishinsky, tourist; Brian Mulligan, Longshoremen. FRONT ROW: Kevin Downton, tourist; Sandra Bryce, Congress of Canadian Women; Debra Jacobs-Morris, Squamish Band; Teresa McGee, Catholic Youth; Jacque- line Shields, CDC. on claims that he lost some weeks in begin- ning the project and based on his penchant for high-profile publicity in his anti-union crusade. Ironically, Kerkhoff admitted in an interview with the Province during the Pennyfarthing dispute that he had expected a five-week delay as part of his confronta- tion with the trade union movement. Kerkhoff’s case is being handled by Bill Kaplan, a lawyer with the firm of Jordan and Gall which has gained notoriety for pursuing cases which attack union rights. Kerkhoff also stands “for everything we're opposed to,” Zander said. “He embodies the power of employers to take advantage of workers under the current economic climate. “We're in an uphill battle with the employers, the Kerkhoffs and the govern- ment to maintain a decent standard of liv- ing, working conditions, pensions, appren- ticeships and safety on the job. “It’s one more example of property rights in power triumphing over working people — but it won’t deter our union from fight- ing for the rights of working people,” he said. Zander also emphasized that the Penny- farthing dispute won’t be the last battle of that kind, particularly if the employers and the government continue on the current anti-union course. Considering what the employers are try- ing to do in our industry in particular, there are going to bea lot more reactions and a lot more battles to come,” he said. Ce