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Friday, Jan. 15, 1982

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30°
Vol. 44, No. 2

U.S. role
in Polish

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Transit
workers

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John Reed: the man behind the movie

— pages 6,7 —

‘Free Chilean unionists’
demand of Jan. 19 demo

A demonstration to demand
release of two top trade union
leaders held in Chilean jails will
be held in Robson Square at
6:30 p.m. this coming Tuesday,
Jan. 19, the Solidarity Office
with the People of Chile an-
nounced this week.

The two leaders, president
Manuel Bustos and general
secretary Alamiro Guzman of

the Coordinadora Nacional
Sindical, were among nine
unionists seized on General
Augusto Pinochet’s order last
July after they called a press
conference to announce presen-
tation of the Petition of Chile to
the military junta.

Seven of the nine subsequent- *

ly were released on parole, but
Bustos and Guzman continue to

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Ss eho.

Workers from St. Catharines and other areas set up a picket line
outside laid-off auto worker Richard Ryder’s home in Fort Erie as
the Bank of Nova Scotia moved to evict him and his family from
their house in sub-zero temperatures. Evictions are looming as

more and more of a threat as the layoffs in auto and other indust-
ries worsen and John Cunningham (left) expects that his home in
St. Catharines may be the site of the next picket. Unable to meet
higher payments, he too, faces eviction. Story page 8.

PHOTO—MIKE PHILLIPS

XX

When homeowners receive their
municipal tax notices in another
four months they should vent their
anger at the increase in school taxes
against the provincial government,
Not their local school boards.
Bos ion Credit returned to

T In 1975, the purpose of all
the changes in its complicated edu-
Cation finance formula has been to
reduce the share of costs borne by

€ overnment and to increase the
Proportion paid by homeowners.

us year’s increases are the cul-
mination of that policy.

In 1976, the McMath Commis-

“um V GW 49 4 GY GY Gy GEE

sion recommended that the provin-
cial government pay 75 percent and
local governments .25 percent of
school costs:

The Bennett government has
followed the reverse policy. In 1977
it was paying 43 percent of school
costs. Last year its share declined to
38 percent. And this year it will
drop to 36 percent or even less, ac-
cording to the B.C. School Trust-
ees Association.

The increasing difference is
made up by local taxpayers, for the
most part homeowners victimized
by assessment practices concealed

in a general underassessment of in-
dustry and business.

The Assessment Act needs com-
plete revision to eliminate the in-
equitable, conflicting and often ir-
rational assessments which cur-
rently are presenting boards of re-
vision with a large number of ap-

peals.

Assessments made months ago
on market values that since have
declined by one quarter or more
have prompted outraged home-
Owners to appeal, particularly
when they compare assessments

and discover the disparities be-
tween similar properties.

“How many people know that
even the mortgage they have on
their homes can affect their assess-
ment?’’ asks Betty Griffin, chair-
man of the Committee for Fair As-
sessments. “If you have a long
term, lower interest mortgage, that
can make your home more saleable
than a similar home with a short
term, high interest mortgage, so

your higher assessment is reflected

in higher school taxes.”’
See NEW page 12

be held in prison. All were
charged with ‘disseminating
subversive ideas” and ‘‘illegally
representing workers.”

Signed by more than 2,000
representatives of the one
million workers organized
under the illegal CNS, the peti-
tion listed these demands:

@ A 31 percent wage
readjustment for workers and
raising of the minimum wage
‘from the present 1,300 pesos
($39) a month to 9,860 pesos
($320) a month;

e@ Anend to repression, tor-
ture and expulsion, and disclos-
ure of information on the fate of
‘‘disappéared’” prisoners;

e@ Annulment of extraordin-
ary repressive powers ‘‘in transi- |
tional article 24 of the Pinochet

| constitution;”’

@ Reinstitution of labor
courts and the right to negotiate
and strike;

@ Abolition of all laws pro-
hibiting free exercise of trade
union rights;

e@ An end to denationaliza-
tion of copper and other na-
tional resources;

@ The right of those forced
into exile to live in their native
land.

In its preamble, the petition
said these were minimum de-
mands made by the working
people in their determined
struggle against hunger and
unemployment, oppression and
injustice, until freedom and
democracy were regained.

Next Tuesday’s demonstra-
tion will also focus attention on
the hunger strike staged by other
political prisoners to demand
adequate medical attention and
guarantees of personal safety.

The hunger strike followed
the poisoning of five political
prisoners in Santiago Peniten-
tiary on Dec. 9. They were taken
to hospital in a coma and one,
Victor Corvalan, was dead on
arrival.

The incident, which went un-
reported by the Vancouver
press, prompted a fast at the
Lutheran Campus Centre here
Dec. 30.

Postal rates are up, rents are up,
even wages are up. And printing
costs, the largest item in our bud-
get, rose by 26.8 percent last year.
Inevitably, our subscription rates
have to go up, too, much as we re-
gret having to increase them. Ef-
fective Feb. 1, the price of a one
year sub will go from $12 to $14.
For details, see page 12.

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