LABOR Union demanding gov't close tariff loophole as Shipyard jobs lost While Canadian shipyard workers are suffering the worst unemployment in decades, taxpayers’ dollars are going to subsidize Scottish shipyards — and the Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union is demand- ing that the Tory government take action immediately to close the loopholes that allow it. Marine Workers Union president John Fitzpatrick fired off a letter to Ottawa last week calling on the federal government to compel a Canadian company to pay the required 25 per cent duty on two offshore oil vessels even though the company is doing an end run around the legis- lation by leasing, rather than purchasing, the two ships. The demand was prompted by an article in a recent issue of a Scottish newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph, which revealed that Fer- guson-Ailsa shipyard in Scotland has just con- firmed a £9 million order to build two offshore oil vessels for a Canadian ee Pee JOHN FITZPATRICK The article noted that “complex, hush-hush negoti- ations” had been going on for some time but that work on the first Vessel had now begun. It added that the contract would provide ciamSyinent for some 400 __ shipyard workers at the company’s yard in Port Glas- gow until year-end. The two vessels are intended for offshore oil work in the Beaufort Sea. John Townsend is thought to be acting as the leasing company for another Canadian corporation, Arctic Resources, Fitzpatrick said. And it is through the lease arrangement that the oil company is able to take advantage of a gaping loop- hole in federal legislation that was originally intro- duced to assist Canadian shipyards. Bill C-16, passed by the Liberal government shortly before Parliament was dissolved for the Sept. 4, 1984 election, provides for imposition of a duty equal to 25 per cent of the value of a vessel on all ships which have been built outside Canada but are to operate in Cana- dian waters. Under that legislation, John Townsend would normally pay 25 per cent of £9 million — approxi- mately $3.3 million at current exchange rates — in duty when the vessels were brought into Canada from the Scottish yards. “But because they’re leasing the ships, they pay only 1/120 of their value per month to the federal govern- ment, and that’s peanuts.” said Fitzpatrick. “But there’s also depreciation of the vessel. The less they’re worth, the less the company has to pay,” he said. In addition to depreciation, the.oil company is able to take advantage of tax breaks under the federal Petroleum Incentive Program and write off the leasing fees paid to the government. “So they end up paying nothing — and Canadians are subsidizing the oil company and the Scottish ship- yards,” he said. That is particularly galling since shipyards not only in British Columbia but across the country are, “at the lowest ever’’, according to the union leader. The cut in the federal shipbuilding subsidy from 20 per cent to nine per cent several years ago resulted ina sharp decline in Canadian shipbuilding. Fitzpatrick cited figures showing that between 1980 and 1983, 38 vessels worth a total of $1.5 billion were built outside , Canada and then brought here for use in Canadian waters, mainly in offshore oil exploration. It was in response to pressure from shipyards and the various unions including the Marine Workers, that the Liberal government finally passed Bill C-16 with the intention of forcing shipbuilding contracts back into Canadian yards. But now companies are using the leasing loophole to circumvent the bill’s provisions while continuing to build ships offshore. “It's Canadian taxpayers’. money ‘that’s being used — and that kind of nonsense has got to be stopped,” declared Fitzpatrick. The union has called on the Tory government to close the loophole and impose the 25 per cent duty on the two ships when they are brought to Canada some time later this year. ““We’ve demanded that the bill apply even though the vessels are to be leased,” he said. “We've also told the government: better still, pass legislation similar to the Jones Act in the U.S. which states that any vessels operating in U.S. waters must be U.S.-built, period. “That should be the rule here, too. Ships in Cana- dian waters should be built in Canada and manned by Canadians,” he said. “If it’s good een for the U.S., it should be good enough for us.” TWU action protests scheduling Directory assistance and long distance operators at B.C. Telephone staged a one-day walkout Feb. 22 to protest attempts by the company to limit use of a “coverage board” which operators use to provide . _ some flexibility in their often gruelling shifts. Telecommunications Workers Union Local 10 shop steward Stella Crampton said Monday that the board allows operators to post unpopular shifts such as a Saturday night shift which can then be picked up by other operators. Although it has been in existence for decades, B.C. Tel management began calling people into the office Feb. 22, announcing that coverage in the future would be limited to 10 days a year, Crampton said. After an hour-long meeting with B.C. Tel brought no results, TWU representatives walked out, taking with them most. of the directory assistance and long distance operators on the day shift. Crampton emphasized that the coverage system, and another voluntary time-off arrangement which B.C. Tel also wants to limit, are particularly important to operators who often work 10 days at a stretch on odd shifts. Without it, she said, “‘Operators will either have to commit their lives totally to the job or quit.” Operators are already under increasing pressure because of staff reductions through attrition and new electornic monitoring systems. At a meeting Monday between the TWU and B.C. Tel, union officials tabled the demand that there be no changes in the coverage ssytem and no reprisals against those who took part in the walkout. The company has two week to respond. RIBUNE Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 125. Phone 251-1186 Postal Code lam enclosing 1 yr. $140). 2yrs.$250) 6mo.$8 Foreign 1 yr. $200 Bill me later ~=Donation$ READ THE PAPER THAT FIGHTS FOR LABOR _ 12. ¢ PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 27, 1985 Dnoeeoeede WE'RE STRIKING FOR OUR FIRST CONTRACT GIVE US A QW 88:27:50 Strikers tour will spur Eaton boycott The Eaton’s boycott campaign will get a major push in this province when two strikers from the retail chain’s Toronto store tour the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island Mar. 4-10. Lynda McFann nd Claudia Giouinetti, members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, will be here as part of a country-wide tour being co-ordinated by the Canadian Labor Congress in its campaign to compel Eaton’s to return to the bargaining table and sign a first collective agreement. CLC regional director Len Ruel told the Tribune that the week- long tour, which kicks off with a major reception at the airport Mar. 4, will take the two to several union locals and plant gates in Vancouver as well as meetings in Victoria and Duncan. On Mar. 6, they will be part of a leaflet blitz at 12 noon outside the Eaton’s store in Victoria. On Saturday, Mar. 9, McFann and Giouinetti will be marching with the International Women’s Day parade in downtown Van- couver. The march assembles at Victory Square at 11 a.m. and will go past Eaton’s Pacific Centre store on the way to a rally at the Art Gallery. The CUPE women’s conference, where the two strikers will also be speaking, will adjourn for two hours to allow delegates to participate in the march and rally. Although media attention to the strike has been focused on the Southern Ontario area where six Eaton’s stores have been behind picket lines since Nov. 30, leafletting of stores has been going on regularly on Friday nights and Saturdays i in this province, Ruel | said, Local unionists are out for two hours each day urging consumers not to patronize the chain and to turn charge account cards back to the store. In addition, a women’s support organization, Women Supporting the Eaton’s Strikers, targets a different Eaton’s store each Saturday for a major leaflet campaign. “Tt was slow at first but the boycott campaign is picking up momentum now,” said Ruel, noting that the list of volunteers for the leafletting has grown considerably over the last few weeks. “We also want to use the campaign to throw more attention on the current strikes in this province where boycotts are also in effect — at Slade and Stewart and Canadian Tire,” he said. The Eaton’s strikers are scheduled to pay a visit to the Slade and Stewart picket line outside the company’s Vancouver warehouse. Ruel also noted that the boycott campaign is having some effect, “although Eaton’s will never acknowledge that.” A straw poll taken by unionists leafletting the store found that roughly 10 per cent of patrons were being turned away after talking to boycott supporters and the boycott committee is seeing an increasing number of account cards being cut up and returned to the retail chain. Across the country, the boycott is of critical importance in forcing the chain to bargain a first contract which it has stonewalled since talks first began nearly a year ago. The RWDSU recently completed hearings before the Ontario Labor Relations Board (OLRB) after charging Eaton’s with bad faith bargaining but evena ruling favorable to the union is not likely to be enough in itself to force Eaton’s management off its current bargaining stance. Top executives for the corporation acknowledged before the OLRB that they were not prepared to grant the union anything more than the coniditions under which non-union employees cur- - rently work. ; Support action for the strikers is being stepped up in Ontario next month with demonstrations planned for Mar. 2 and 9 as well as a mass rally Mar. 16, jointly sponsored by the Metro Toronto Labor Council and the Ontario Federation of Labor. The Canadian Labor Congress has also sent out a country-wide financial appeal to all unions, calling on them for a one-time assessment of 50 cents per member to create a $1 million campaign fund for the Eaton’s strikers.