BRITISH COLUMBIA B.C. teachers support labor, Solidarity at annual meeting The province’s public school teachers have agreed en masse to stay the militant Course charted by the B.C. Teachers Federation. Some 500 delegates from around B.C. gathered at the Hotel Vancouver over- whelmingly endorsed an emergency resolu- tion supporting the B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council in their fight to Prevent the non-union takeover of Penny- farthing’s Harbor Cove project. They voted earlier, by the same large Margin, to maintain the federation’s mem- bership in Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition, a course urged by retir- ing BCTF president Larry Kuehn in his Speech opening the three-day convention on Sunday. Delegates also approved at press time Most of 10 recommendations from the BCTF executive highlighted by a program of co-operation between teachers and par- ents in fighting the Social Credit govern- ments’ school cutbacks. The 68th annual convention of the BCTF Was in a sense a testing ground for the policies of a militant leadership that made the federation a major and leading partici- pant in the Solidarity fightback against the Socreds’ bills last fall. Kuehn stressed that commitment in a Speech that linked the problems caused by Victoria’s slashing of the public education financing with the loss of social services and the attacks on unionized labor in the private sector. “We felt that we had to act in response to the attack on our rights as teachers, on the Service we offer in the education system, and On the rights of others in our society,” he Said: © . Kuehn acknowledged that among the wins and losses of the Operation Solidarity strike action in November, one “win” that didn’t materialize was the agreement, hammered out in discussions that led to the Kelowna accord, that money saved by the three-day teachers’ strike be returned to local school boards to preserve education. The government did not deliver on Operation Solidarity’s understanding of the deal or its promise to the school boards,” Kuehn charged, suggesting two reasons for the Socred backtrack. “Teachers challenged (Premier Bill Ben- Nett’s) election promise that they would never withdraw services in this province. Teachers ignored the heavy threats thrown _ at them in the days leading up to the with- drawal. Teachers — above all others — Could not be seen to defy the government and win.” The teachers president said the extra money would have allowed schools to open in 1984 with approximately the same number of teachers as in 1983. “But a crunch would have come in January, 1985, _ With either massive cuts in teachers and disruptions in mid-school year, or the S0vernment being forced to pump in sub- Stantially more money for 1985 that was Called for in their three-year master plan for chopping the system. ..” Kuehn said it would be unrealistic to ask Solidarity “to return to the (militant) condi- tions of mid-November...events have Moved on and the situation has changed.” On the other hand, he asked, “Should we _ Cut our newly formed ties with the labor Movement and with the educational, pro- fessional and community groups that make up Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity alition? “T know that my answer to that is that we must maintain those ties. The gains we have Not made, the desperation of many in our Society, including many of the young, and a Commitment to social justice all lead me to feel that we have to put aside our disap- Pointments and continue on in a collective Search for something better,” he stated. Kitty O'Callaghan, executive member of the Vancouver Elementary Sc ool Teachers Associ tion, takes to the microphone to urge support for the Building Trades unions at the B.C. Teachers Federation convention Monday. “We did not start the confrontation in this province, but we cannot allow the twin policies of retribution and indifference to rule without challenge,” he asserted. Kuehn’s remarks were aimed at the dis- appointment some federation members have felt with the continued layoffs and cutbacks after a summer and fall of activity against those cuts, and made to counter rightwingers who seek to exploit that disap- pointment and who have campaigned against the BCTF’s so-called “confronta- tion” policies. But little opposition to the BCTF’s exec- utive recommendation that the organiza- tion continue its Operation Solidarity and Solidarity Coalition membership material- ized. Instead, speakers took to the micro- phones during debate to back the recommendation. Kitty O’Callaghan of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association said teachers’ involvement in Solidarity does not alienate them from the public. List- ing several Coalition member organiza- tions, she stated, “They are the public.” Past president of the BCTF, Al Blakey, acknowledged there were difference on direction within the Solidarity movement: “Tt is not always a bed of roses, but we have a role to play in that movement.” Only a handful of delegates opposed con- tinued membership in the coalition, which was celebrated by prolonged, standing applause, whistling and table-thumping from the convention floor. That sentiment for solidarity was echoed in the vote to support the Building Trades’ struggle “for basic trade union rights and, in particular, for the right of organized labor to work at the Pennyfarthing construction site.” By an extraordinary motion, delegates had voted to suspend the convention rules and allow the motion, from the Vancouver Secondary School Teachers Association, onto the floor, following an address by BCYBTU president Roy Gautier. Gautier told the teachers there was “no reason the project can’t go ahead with union labor, other than greed and the drive for more profits.” But, he added, the fight is as “political” as it is “economical.” “If we were to fail here, the government will run as strongly as possible to go non- union at the B.C. and Expo 86 sites,” he warned. Speakers favoring the support motion far outweighed those opposed. Elsie McMurphy, unopposed candidate for the position of first vice-president of the federa- tion, drew a parallel between the threat the skilled Building Trades members face from an unskilled or underskilled non-union workforce and cutbacks which could see laid off teachers replaced by unskilled community volunteers. That parallel was echoed by Prince George delegate Doug Smart, a former vice-president who asked delegates to “stop and think how you’d feel if someone brought in people from outside the province to do the job BCTF members do.” Smart’s support for the Building Trades was indicative of the breadth of that senti- ‘ment, since in his campaign for the presid- ency of the federation he has voiced subtle criticism of the fightback policies of the BCTF executive. “IT am convinced even this (Socred) government can be persuaded to talk,” Smart, who last year unsuccessfuly opposed Kuehn in a bid for the presidency, said in arguing for “rational discussions with trus- tees and government.” In contrast, current vice-president Pat Clarke argued for continued militancy in his campaign speech to the assembly Sunday: “Advocacy has brought us much criticism. The premier says we are ‘bad British Columbians.’ But we can’t be intimidated into becoming appeasers. People in this province have a right to equal and open public education.” Sentiment for Clarke’s campaign of strong fightback was mirrored in the adop- tion of several other recommendations from the executive committee. Delegates handily passed motions calling for greater co-operation between the BCTF and parents who have become increasingly outspoken as the government’s cutbacks have cancelled classes and laid off teachers in several communities during this school term. One resolution carried calls for a pro- gram to assist parents’ groups in fighting cutbacks, while another approved a provin- cial parent-teacher conference on public education sometime in the future. Backing also went to a provincial cam- paign of information on class sizes and sup- port services to “improve working conditions for teachers and to maintain and improve education quality for students.” Another plan adopted mandated the BCTF leadership to request the provincial government become involved, along with the B:C. School Trustees Association, in structuring a “public commission” on edu- cation. Failing that, the federation will organize the commission on its own. Teachers also agreed, after lengthy debate, to use the federation’s reserve fund “as an effective defence fund“ to pay for extraordinary legal fees and back members who lose pay through protest actions against cutbacks. Among the “extraordinary” legal fees the federation may require are those relating to a possible challenge, approved by the dele- gates, to the School Act which limits teachers’ bargaining to salaries and which the government claims makes teachers’ strikes illegal. Rush seeks delay in NEB Hydro hearing Reacting with alarm to the prospect of more B.C. rivers being dammed and more farmland flooded, B.C. Commu- nist Party leader Maurice Rush is ask- ing for a postponement of a National Energy Board hearing into B.C. Hydro’s application for increased export sales. The hearing, scheduled for Mar. 26, concerns the crown corporation’s application to extend “firm” power sales to the U.S. on a long-term basis, and Rush pointed out the date allows intervenors little time to prepare. In its application before the NEB, B.C. Hydro is seeking renewal of its licence allowing the export of firm power, with modifications extending the current 12-month limit to six years. “The upcoming hearing is of major importance to the people of B.C., and we are of the opinion that more time should be allowed intervenors to study the application in order to adequately prepare their intervention,” said the C.P. leader in a Mar. 15 letter to NEB secretary G. Yorke Slater. B.C. Hydro’s bid to extend firm power sales to the U.S. follows on the heels of a recently signed three-year agreement with California utilities, under which the province is committed to supply surplus power to the state, regardless of B.C.’s future needs. The move follows a visit earlier this year by Premier Bill Bennett and Hydro chairman Robert Bonner to California to discuss with local officials future power sales. Following that visit, Bennett announced the government was open to considering “extending or broadening” export power sales. Last month, the U.S. federal agency, the Bonneville Power Administration, ' invited B.C. Hydro to join U.S. Pacific Northwest utilities in a block sale of _power to California. Under that arrangement, B.C. Hydro could contribute up to one-third of the total power sold for the next 15 years. “At stake may well be the future of B.C.’s valleys and farmlands which might in future be flooded to provide hydro to power the air-conditioners in California,” said Rush. Rush’s contentions were echoed in a joint submission to the board from the Consumers’ Association of Canada, the Old Age Pensioners’ Organization and the Federated Anti-Poverty Groups, who urged the NEB to main- tain the ceiling on Hydro exports. “Firm contracts will encourage the southwestern U.S. utilities to place undue reliance on this source of energy, and will inevitably require the construc- tion of additional generating facilities dedicated to the export market in order to meet the terms of those contracts,” their submission stated. The Society Promoting Environ- mental Conservation (SPEC) has also asked the NEB to postpone the hear- ings pending a progress report on Alcan’s application to B.C. Hydro for power to service the Kemano project. The Communist Party opposed last year’s firm power sale to California, arguing that in seeking a way to salvage its disastrous overbuilding of generat- ing facilities, such as the Revelstoke Dam, the corporation was locking B.C. into an agreement that would keep that power from being used for the provin- ce’s own future needs. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 21, 1984 e 3