ee See a wid —Sean Griffin photo Braving unrelenting rain, B.C. fishermen took their protest over the impending salmon sellout into Vancouver ' harbor last Saturday, staging a “sail-in’ off Brockton Point. Some 50 boats took part, representing all fishermen’s groups opposed to the proposed treaty — the UFAWU, Native Brotherhood of B.C., Vessel Owners Association, Pacific Trollers Association and the Prince Rupert Co-op. Six boats had come all the way from Pender Harbor to participate. ; : Tenants lobby receives receptive gov’t hearing The British Columbia Tenants Organization travelled to Victoria last Tuesday to once, again argue the tenants point of view with the provincial government — but this time a more receptive air hung over the NDP caucus room and as the tenant lobby left for home they were hopeful that some concession were won. The sixteen tenant represen- tatives from local tenant councils throughout the province together with BCTO president Bruce Yorke spent five hours in meetings with - individual MLA’s, the full NDP caucus, a committee of MLA’s headed by A-G Alex MacDonald and later with John Brewin, chairman of the Rent Review Commission. “We want to get the message home to you about the political situation among tenants and their experiences in dealing with the two agencies you have established,” Yorke told the caucus, ‘The continuing attitude of this government of neutrality is doing great harm. It is turning tenants against you.” Noting that the rentalman’s office is “stacked with anti-NDP elements’’ while the Rent review Commission is “inviting landlords to break the law,’’ Yorke warned, COLUMBIA Continued from pg. 3 Naughton didn’t live long enough to know the full extent to which “the - occupants were skinned alive’’ but _ the total subsidy this province will have to provide for the dubious privilege of giving the U.S. cheap power is fast approaching one billion dollars. It has cost us, in addition, more than 6,000 jobs. Certainly the Liberals, Con- servatives and Socreds can be expected to take no action to right the enormous wrong that was done with the passage of the Columbia Treaty. Among them, they drafted the terms of the betrayal and carried it through to the end. And we can expect only more such giveaways of our water, our forests and all the natural wealth of this province if any one of those three parties ever assumes power in Victoria again. _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1975—Page 12 “These agencies are not winning any friends for the government.” The tenant spokesman charged that the rentalsman and the Rent Review Commission had ‘gone beyond neutrality’’ to acquire an openly ‘‘anti-tenant bias.”’ The stated position of John Brewin as chairman of the Rent Review Commission has been that landlords should take the initiative in setting rents with the onus on tenants to dispute them. “This spells trouble for the. government, Yorke emphasized. ‘‘It’s tan- tamount to an open market situation.” Turning to the housing question, he stated plainly to the caucus: ‘““Your housing policy is weak.”’ He called on them to “‘beef it up” and take a first step by calling a con- ference on housing. “This con- ference shouldn’t be just another study session,” he emphasized, “‘it should include the trade unions and tenant organizations and hammer out a program on housing with which the government can go on the offensive.’” As the MLA’s left for the legislature, the applause and table thumping indicated an ap- preciative response from most of those present. In the smaller committee of MLA’s, the lobby discussed specific proposals and although no promises were made, MacDonald did agree with two immediate legislative changes. The two changes sought consist only of amendments to the regulation of the law but contain far reaching implications for tenants in the province. The first deals with evictions. The BCTO asked that all letters of eviction be sent to the ren- talsman’s office as well as to the tenant. This would enable the rentalsman to have an overview of evictions and would be followed by a letter from him informing the tenant of his rights under the law. “This would remove much of the intimidation of an eviction notice,” Yorke explained. The second regulatory change the lobby demanded related to the posting of the legal rent approved by the Rent Review Commission in each rental unit. Following the lobby’s meeting with John Brewin Review Com- mission, Yorke said that assurances were given that the BCTO, as the major tenant group, would be included in the Rent Review Commission’s study of the rental market in B.C. The Com- mission agreed to grant a sum of money to the BCTO to aid in preparing a submission but Yorke said they were pleased that .no restrictions of any sort would be placed on the tenants in their research work. JOBLESS Continued from pg. 1 tempting to set by the example of the mint workers who were out on strike for nine weeks ‘‘and now they’re back on the job and facing binding arbitration.” Commenting on the current strike of the Public Service Alliance and the stalemated negotiations between postal workers and the federal treasury board, Hamilton told delegates that the government has refused to budge from its ridiculous wage offers that are less than the current rate of inflation. He called on the Public Service Alliance to take the lead in the situation and coordinate action on a 48-hour strike of all federal civil servants — ‘to bring the federal government to its senses. “We can’t live on these poverty wages, anymore,” he stated. Council delegates also endorsed a motion, submitted by Office and Technical Workers delegate Ruth Smith calling on the provincial government to make represen- tations to the federal government ’ to protest the construction of the proposed U.S. submarine base at Bangor, Washington. Smith’s resolution noted that the base would make the Strait of Juan de Fuca ‘‘a U.S. militarized zone”’ © “in violation of the ~ principle of peace and detente.”’. and was One delegate vehemently op- posed the council action, saying, “at the risk of sounding like .a Yankee warmonger, I think that what the U.S. does on its own property is its own business.“ Delegates replied that he did, in fact,.sound “‘like a Yankee war- monger.” a Woodworkers delegate Sam Alcock drew a round of applause when he told delegates: “Our own interests in security will best be served by abolishing all bases.” Maritime employers 7 forced negotiation | collapse, says union | Cont'd from pg. 1 nothing to do with the loss of trade from B.C. ports. Several, other factors over which the union has no control explain the diversion of trade to American ports. The multinational corporations which control the B.C. Maritime Em- ployer’s Association and Canada’s federal government must bear the full responsibility for the loss of Canadian trade. Most important, B.C.’s container facilities are hopelessly inadequate. At present there are only two such facilities in the Lower Mainland area and they are not scheduled to be completed until late 1975. ‘‘We say the containers should first be built,’’ Garcia ex- plained, ‘‘and then we can study the impact of them on _ our situation. We are prepared to settle for a shorter contract and then negotiate after the study is com- pleted.’’ Responsibility for port development rests with the federal government but despite consistent appeals from the ILWU, port ex- pansion has been slow and awk- ward. Another important factor is the legacy of the Vietnam war. While the ILWU both in Canada and the U.S. was outspoken in its op- position to American involvement in Indochina, the economics of the war was such that it seriously undercut Canadian trade. “The result of the war,’’ Garcia recounted, ‘‘was that big American shippers like Sealand Navigation made tremendous profits carrying war supplies and reinvested those profits into their operations. This - established trade patterns with Asian nations that bypassed the port of Vancouver. They were able to undercut Canadian trade because they were subsidized by ‘the American military setup.” High port costs in B.C. also work toward weakening the competitive position of B.C. ports. Presently it - costs roughly as much to ship to Seattle and then truck goods north to Vancouver as it does to ship event and the issue at hand & ~ sovereign trading nation. The directly to Vancouver. The mail| reason for this is that the U.S. Maritime Transportation Association, a conglomerate of big. U.S. merchant owners, absorbs the port fees which shippers to Val) couver must pay the port. a The problem is _ further aggravated by a 22% surcharge) levied on all incoming freight 1 B.C. ports by the same maritime} — employers who now blame thé union for loss of trade. “‘They saw 4} wage increase coming,’ Garcia). said, ‘‘and so in December they slapped on the rate increase {| cover it.” a Add to that the 15% increase it rail freight rates and the sum) result is a neatly manipulat sabotage of Canadian trade. As for the ‘‘efficiency”’ of longshoremen unloading con) tainers on the dock, what. the) employers fail to note is that the only. containers which af — unloaded are those whose contents) _ are destined for more than one) location. ‘These have to be} unloaded and redirected in any whether the work will be done by] ILWU members or by cheap labor at some unorganized warehouse | The strike on B.C.’s waterfront involves big issues not only for thé livelihood of the longshoremen bul for the strength of Canada aS # ILWU is not prepared to be thé scapegoat for the betrayal of the big business interests behind the) Maritime Employer’s Association On the other hand the Maritime Employers are quite prepared 1 let our ports sit idle so long as theif profits continue to roll in south 0 the line. jj NOINFLATION HERE : Soviet Weekly magazine repor, that taking 1970 as 100, the cO sumer price index in the Sov1i Union stood at 99.7 in 1974. Moré and better goods are coming to U® shops but their overall pri remain practically as they were me ei __ Office of the Mayor CITY OF VANCOUVER BRITISH COLUMBIA Proclamation "ONTERNATSONAL, WOMEN'S DAY” WHRAS to vote; and ane WHEREAS Women's Day; and WHEREAS an Vancouver. 1S Gnternational Women's Day is a contribution of American women to the + world wide women's movement; and $6 had its origin in a rally by U.S, women garment workers who, on March 8th, 1908, protested working conditions and demanded the right On February 274h, 1909, “Women's Dey" was organized in the U.S. gor the first Line and women grom coast to coast held meetings demanding political rights for women; and At the 2nd International (Conference of Women in Copenhagen in 1910 (100 women grom 17 countries) March 8th was proclained International How the movement has grown is indicated by the fact that 6,000 partici- pants attended the World (Congress of Women in 1963; and The United Nations has proclaimed 1975 a4 International Women 's Year with its theme of "Cquality, Development, Peace"; and The 1975 Snternational Women's Day takes as its slogan the U.N, Inter- national Women's Year theme, and the activities in connection with that Day will propect ideas for the advance of women's role in Society; NW THREIRE 9, Arthur Phillips, Mayor of the City of Vancouver DO HEREBY PROTAM, March 8th, 1975 as . "nternational Women's Day" Above is the Proclamation issued by Vancouver Mayor Art Phillips to . mark International Women’s Day, March 8.