dia ca == = ee a ee a eS SSS = Part of the crowd which gathered Saturday 0 Minute 0" strike while last- tinuin N*Rotiations were con- luring Wednesd: een N ednesday ang t the Major building unions lations construction Labor tract oe a (CLRA) on -ONtr, : : Indy ye in the construction bout Sy opted Tuesday night as febared : Construction workers he A hit the bricks unless Satis : comes up with Minute »,°°Cessions at the last Sthuction Weeks ago the con- Wited in eons, Most of whom are eel re is called the 10-pact tagging fee the CLRA for and failin feet in the negotiations Senuine as Come up with any & ile oe on the major issues. Tangs ..°! the various trade have been settled, ac: Ci FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1974 t av © Saturday's rally at Comox. cording to reports, the major wages and hours demands were left unsettled and were the subject of critical negotiations Wednesday as the PT went to press. The CLRA spokesman Charles Connaghan said if the unions strike after the Tuesday contract expiry date the contractors will take “defensive action.” This is In- terpreted as meaning that they plan to impose a lockout as they did in 1970 and 1972. However, at press time the CLRA had not yet given the required 72 hours notice to declare a lockout. Construction workers have reached a higher level of unity in. negotiations this year, despite the fact that some building locals have decided to go it on their own. Joint demands involving the major unions have spotlighted their economic demands. In a bulletin - issued by the B.C.-Yukon Building Trades Council the joint demands of the unions was spelled out with the statement that “‘the continued escalation in the cost of living and increased productivity more than ‘ustify the demands.” rhe. bulletin points out that iti the 1973 trend of inflation continues a 1974 increase of 12 per cent or more in the cost of living is likely -_. jt is obvious the Building Trades Unions must make sub- stantial gains in the 1974 negotiations.” Calling for an agreement to cover the period from May 1, 1974 to April 30, 1976, the construction unions placed as their top demand an increase in wages of $1.50 per hour in the first year across the board and another $1.50 per hour in the second year. Tied with this was the demand for a cost of living clause. The unions made it clear in See BUILDING, pg. 12 utside the Comox base to protest storage there of nuclear warheads. Tribune <8 1 ie VOL. 35, No.18 nuclear arms were first brought into Comox in 1965 converged outside the Canadian Forces Base Saturday to demand that the federal government remove the U.S.-controlled warheads from the site. More than 300 people filled the parking lot outside the base in the demonstration organized by the Victoria Peace Council. It followed a motorcade which had left Vic- toria earlier the same morning and numbered some 60 cars — all emblazoned with signs calling for the removal of nuclear warheads — by the time it passed through Courtenay. Endorsed as well by the Victoria NDP, the Victoria and Nanaimo Labor councils, the B.C. Voice of Women and other groups, the demonstration was the culmination of World Disar- mament Week, proclaimed by the non-government organizations of the United Nations and marked in B.C. by several events throughout the week. “It’s too bad this demonstration is not on the steps of the ~ Parliament Buildings in Ottawa,” NDP MLA Karen Sanford told the crowd, ‘“‘where the federal government could hear clearly how Canagians feel about the presence of nuclear weapons on Canadian soil.” Emphasizing that the warheads —jntended for use with the CF-101 bombers as air-to-air missiles against manned bombers — are utterly obsolete, she reiterated her —Sean Griffin photos The biggest demonstration since | call voiced a week earlier at the ‘disarmament conference for the removal of all nuclear weapons from Canada. She pointed out that removal would not mean a loss of jobs for base personnel since it could be used for expanded air-sea rescue operations and other purposes. Dr. James Foulks, representing the B.C. committee for the World Congress of Peace Forces, noted the heavy drain on the federal budget that nuclear weapons’ storage entails and stressed the need to make the issue one of concern to everyone by combining the question of peace with prac- tical economic questions. - Several other speakers also addressed the rally including local NDP representative Don Barker, Victoria Peace Council secretary Lillian Money, Port Alberni school board chairman and Communist Party candidate for Comox- Alberni, Mark Mosher and Port Alberni alderman George McKnight. UFAWU organizer Bert Ogden acted as chairman. Some local high school students in conjunction with. several off- duty military personnel from the base, attempted to stage a counter- demonstration and parked their sound truck at the side of the parking lot with signs reading “Keep the weapons — Remove Commies.” Later they unfurled a banner with the words ‘Save us from Sanford — Save Comox from Commies’”’ scrawled across it — only to have it promptly fall apart. MAY DAY RALLY TEMPLETON HIGH SCHOOL 717 Templeton Drive SUN. MAY 5 — 2 PM.