BRITISH COLUMBIA VSB standing firm against cuts With the future of B.C.’s public educa- tion at stake, Vancouver school trustees and some seven or eight other school boards Were set Tuesday to defy the provincial government and pass tax bylaws that would Set their yearly budgets in excess of educa- tion ministry guidelines. In the context of a conflict that has pitted trustees, teachers, parents and students against the cutbacks in education stemming ‘from the Social Credit restraint program, the ball will be in Education Minister Jack . Heinrich’s court. Vancouver trustees were set to hunker down Tuesday night to pass the district’s bylaw setting a mill rate on residential prop- erty taxes that reflects the board’s “mainte- nance” budget, which exceeds what the ministry has budgeted for the district by $14 million. Just prior to that board meeting, at Mount Pleasant Elementary school, parents and teachers were to meet to plan their Tesponse to the board’s defiant stance. Fol- lowing the pattern set by recent history, their endorsement of the trustees’ action seemed certain. BCGEU hits layoff of log scalers The B.C. Government Employees Union has warned against provincial government moves to privatize log scal- ing, a move the union says could “threaten the future generaitons of this province.” In a recent brief to government and opposition MLAs the BCGEU said continued reduction of the B.C. Forest Service, whose employees count timber . cuts by the forest companies and assess revenues for the province, is coupled with amendments to. the Forestry Act which if passed will “open the door” for private forest companies to hire their Own scalers, - “It’s definitely a case of the fox guarding the chicken coop,” BCGEU spokesman Robbie Robinson com- mented. He referred to recent scandals such as the Shoal Island case in which it was estimated the province had lost millions of dollars in revenues over sev- eral years because of deliberate under- estimation of stumpage fees. The union has reported that some 18 Scalers in the Prince George area Teceived layoff notices. BCGEU presi- dent Norm Richards said the union understands a total of 76 scalers were to be laid off by the end of May, with another 40 to receive pink slips in 1986. The workforce has already been reduced to 224 from 371 scalers between January, 1984 and February this year, the union reports. The union is demanding the Socred government conduct a review of log Scaling to “assess the effectiveness of Our present valuation of timber process M meeting its obligations to the provin- cial treasury.” Until the review is completed, the BCGEU states, the government should Continue assessing timber cuts using Forest Service scalers. Robinson said continued govern- Ment privatization of the industry, Including tree planting, silviculture and Nurseries, threatens the future of B.C.’s forests. “All you have to do is look at the Miles and miles of clearcut on northern Vancouver Island,” he said, noting Tecent studies by forest experts citing the imminent demise of B.C.’s timber Stands. ee At press time, it was predicted that the vote on the nine-member Vancouver board would be 5-4 in favor of the bylaw, with the majority Committee of Progressive Electors trustees holding forth over the four trustees from the right-wing Non-Partisan Associa- tion. Board chairman Pauline Weinstein acknowledged. that the bylaw’s passage would be the acid test in the schools funding fight. “The board has made its commitment to passing a needs budget and holding firm. We made a commitment not to make budget cuts,” she said. But the Vancouver board — not the first one to declare its in- tention stand against Socred cuts, but seen by that government as the spiritual leader of the schools fight — will not be alone, according to predictions. Board also expec- ted to defy Victoria PAULINE include Courtenay, WEINSTEIN Port Alberni, Burnaby, New Westminster, Grand Forks and Coquitlam. North Van- couver and some other districts were ques- tion marks, but indications were strong that North Vancouver would hold the line. Initially, 34 B.C. districts declared their opposition to the cutbacks, and many, while ultimately complying with ministry directives, sent their budgets in with strong protest notes attached. Many of those had ignored the ministry’s demand that budgets be tabled by the end of March. Some complied when Heinrich set Apr. 15 as an extension deadline, but the legal limit is May 1, when districts must have bylaws in place setting the mill rate for residential property taxes. The residential tax is the only independ- ent tax power remaining to trustees after the province seized commercial and industrial taxes shortly after the restraint program was imposed in February, 1982. Districts now receive the bulk of their to our members & friends RETAIL CLERKS UNION Local 1518, UFCW funding through monthly government grants. There are a number of ways the Socred government can move against the trustees. The ministry can temporarily impose a trusteeship on the boards, appointing its own trustee for a 24-hour period to pass a tax bylaw in compliance with the ministry’s cutbacks budgetes. It can take a more severe route and abol- ish the board — or remove those trustees which vote for a no-cuts bylaw — perm- anently. In Vancouver’s case, the ministry could remove the COPE trustees and appoint another trustee to join the four NPA members and achieve quorum, avoid- ing a byelection in which the Socreds’ unpopularity would be the key issue. The provincial government could simply decide to cut off the monthly grant and “starve us out,” according to Weinstein: “We'd have no money for salaries after May 15.” The government could charge the errant trustees under the Offences Act, with the. possibility of the courts levying fines or jail terms . Or, it could amend legislation from Victoria and impose the cutbacks bylaws. “Essenually they’re all powerful — they can do pretty much as they want,” said COPE trustee Phil Rankin, a lawyer. But, he cautioned, whatever option the Art Kube, President eS cY¥d ministry takes will engender more parent and teacher wrath. The Defend Educational Services Coali- tion, a three-year-old amalgam of trade unions and others in the public and post- secondary education community, was the organizer of the parent-teacher meeting Tuesday, in conjunction with the Van- couver teachers associations. DESC organ- izer Chris Taulu said the meeting, which will discuss among other items the possible layoff of 150 teachers this term if the cuts go through, “will provide the direction and support for our trustees.” The boards’ determination not to be the locally-elected hatchetmen for the provin- cial government will undoubtedly also dom- inate discussion at the B.C. School Trustees Association annual general meeting, which begins this Thursday in Vancouver. The association has already been rocked by the resignation of outgojng president Bill Lefeaux-Valentine from his seat on the Queen Charlotte Islands school board. Weinstein is optimistic about continued community support for the school board, saying the COPE trustees have no choice but to follow the “mandate” under which they were elected last November. ““We’re doing what integrity says we have to do. We can’t and won’t preside over the death of the public school system,” she declared. MAY DAY GREETINGS to the working people of British Columbia from the B.C. Federation of Labor Cliff Andstein, Secretary- Treasurer STUNNUUUAUAUUUEAUEOUUEOUUGGUUOAUOOUEGOUAQUUEOUEOUUOQUOQUOUGUEOUEOUEGOUEOUEGUEOOUEOUOOUEOOLEEOUEEOUEOOEOOUOOOEEOOEGAUEOUEEOUEOOUEOOEOOOOOOUOOOUSOOEOUODTR, SSS Sea Ga Sed Ee Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1004 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 1, 1985 e 3 a7 Cees