The conditions that B.C. president Gordon MacFarlane has placed on a return to work are } ‘irrational and irresponsible”’, the Telecommunications Workers Union said this week, and have “made it impossible for the (bargaining) committee to con- ja the alternatives available to q i a _ The TWU, in a statement issued in a press conference Wednesday, also said that the implication made by MacFarlane that employees was conte- “insulting and mptible.”’ The TWU comments were in | reaction to statements voiced by j the B.C. Tel president that no ef | might damage company property’ striker would be allowed to return to work without first signing a pledge not to take part in any job action; to “work productively” and" not to damage company property. The demand for individual pledges from each worker, reminiscent of the ‘“‘yellow-dog contracts” of decades ago by which workers were told to sign pledges not to join a union, framed the company’s response to the call earlier by federal minister John Munro that TWU members return to work pending a report by newly- appointed industrial inquiry commissioner Justice Henry Hutcheon, expected in two weeks. Hutcheon was appointed Monday to inquire into the bitter dispute »o +28 * 2 B.C. Federation of Agriculture president Pat Hibbert (left) told a press conference in Vancouver Wednesday that B.C. farmers will be consider- ing a number of actions to protest Socred government decisions to scrap the B.C. Farm Income Assurance Program. The Federation also announced plans for a tractor demonstration at agriculture ministry offices in Cloverdale. (Story, page 7) - —Sean Griffin photo although the time given him — two weeks coupled with the provocative stance of the company on the key issue of the Hall report has made his job difficult. MacFarlane threw up yet another obstacle to the resolution of the lockout Tuesday when he said in a television interview that, should Justice Hutcheon come down with recommendations which parallel those of mediator Dr. Noel Hall, the company would not accept them. “That indicates that the com- pany is the one perpetrating this dispute upon the people of British Columbia,”” TWU president Bob Donnelly told Wednesday’s press see TWU pg. 8 TWU PRESIDENT BOB DONNELLY .. . | Union blasts B.C. Telephone ‘conditions’ a conditions imposed by | company have made it impossible for the union to consider a return | to work. Refuse Kitimat Pipeline application UFAWU urges Kitimat Pipeline Company re- applied this week to the National Energy Board for approval of their plans to build a supertanker oil port at Kitimat, B.C. But the main opposition to the Kitimat oil port, the United Fishermen and Allied. Workers’ Union,..has.called_ on the. federal cabinet to order the NEB not to accept KPL’s application, at least until West Coast Oil Ports Inquiry commissioner Andrew Thompson has submitted his interim report on the need for a port. In a communication to the " federal cabinet and ail B.C. members of parliament last Wednesday the UFAWU .also demanded that the phase two hearings of the suspended Thompson Inquiry be resumed before February 15, 1978, and that the NEB be instructed not to hold any hearings into the KPL ap- plication until phase two of the Thompson Inquiry is completed. Phase two of the Thompson Inquiry was boycotted by KPL and ‘Referendum’ reveals junta split Left rallies in Santiago In defiance of fascist repression, _ the first Left street rally since the 1973 coup took place in Santiago last week, the day before Pinochet’s fraudulent ‘‘referen- dum” vote. Sources reported that more than 700 people marched down the downtown Alameda Avenue chanting ‘‘Chile, si! Junta, no!” They paused in front of La Moneda, the former presidential palace in which Salvador Allende was murdered and sang the national anthem before police were ordered to attack and disperse the rally. Marchers said they belonged to the outlawed Communist, Socialist Rapid transit strategy ‘meeting set _ Civie organizations, community for Jan. 19 groups and labor will meet in a Special conference January 19 to form a common strategy to win a ight rapid transit system in the Lower Mainland. __ The conference is co-sponsored by the Committee of Progressive Electors (COPE), the Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA), the Vancouver Labor Council and the New Westminster Labor Council. _ All interested individuals and organizations in the Lower Mainland _8re urged to attend the conference in the IWA Hall, 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver at 8 p.m. EE and Christian Left parties, all members of the underground Popular Unity coalition. The Communist Party, in an earlier statement issued clan- destinely, urged Chileans either to vote ‘‘no” or to abstain from voting altogether and called for “resolute struggle to overthrow the fascist dictatorship.” Although Pinochet claimed a “victory” in his rigged referendum held last Wednesday, it was a hollow victory for the fascist dictator as the vote and results revealed widening divisions among the leaders of the fascist junta. Chilean Air Force commander General Gustave Leigh refused to participate in the ‘‘victory’”’ celebrations, continuing his earlier public opposition to the “vote’’. Admiral Jose Merino, Chilean Navy commander, also opposed the phony referendum. The fourth junta member, General Cesar Mendoza, was non-committal. finally suspended before it finished hearing evidence on the need for a west coast oil port. ‘‘If the Inquiry remains adjourned and if the NEB allows KPL to reactivate its long dormant proposal, KPL will successfully avoid public scrutiny of this proposal,” the union said in a statement. “The UFAWU objects most strenuously to this manipulation of our regulatory agencies by KPL.” KPL also announced this week that Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) had joined the consortium, providing the financial backing to make the Ktitmat project work. The addition of Sohio to KPL “confirms our worst suspicions,” the UFAWU responded. The union pointed out that Sohio owns more than 50 percent of the “north- slope” oil passing through the Alaska pipeline, and has large _ surpluses of oil that it “seeks to dump on the American market via an oil port at Kitimat.” KPL’s application to the NEB was timed to coincide with the See KLP pg. 2 CPR, Algoma blamed 7 as steel layoffs loom The Communist Party has at- tacked discriminatory freight rates, the CPR and. Algoma Steel for the expected loss of 2,000 steel workers’ jobs in B.C. The jobs will be lost as a result of a recent decision by the federal anti-dumping tribunal to boost duties on imported steel, largely used by the B.C. steel fabricating industry. “Under no circumstances must a single layoff in the B.C. steel fabricating industry be per- mitted,” CP leader Maurice Rush declared in a_ statement, “Workers’ jobs and livelihoods are not expendable.” Rush said that the Communist Party supports the demand of the Steelworkers Union for import duties against foreign competition, but said that ‘‘more is involved”’ in the present crisis. Rush pointed out that the tribunal’s action was prompted by Algoma Steel, which in turn is 51 percent owned by CPR. ‘“‘Algoma hopes to use the new duty to strengthen its monopoly domination of the steel industry and market in Canada with the support of the discriminatory freight rate system imposed by the CPR,” he said. “The jobs of steel workers in B.C. are threatened not only by the higher price of steel, but also by the Algoma-CPR monopoly which is seeking to use this situation to their advantage.” The CP leader called on the federal government to remove the discriminatory freight rate structure against B.C. ‘‘since they hold back Canada’s economic development and contribute to regional disparity.”’ In addition, Rush said, the government should adopt whatever measures necessary to protect the jobs of B.C. workers. _ INSIDE sae e LABOR: Commentator Jack Phillips looks at the much-debated issue of a joint bargaining council for building trades unions, page 8. GDR: The Tribune discusses | occupational training in the | German Democratic Repub- lic — where unemployment is unknown, page 4.