LABOUR Labour briefs The injunction prohibited the display of placards, buttons and balloons which called fora boycott of Woolco within sight of Woolco’s location, Pine Centre Mall. Approximately 500 yards from the mall, police were in evidence and unidenti- fied people were busy taking photographs of the marchers. The march dispersed after reaching Pine Centre parking lot. Ensure shipyard is maintained, union demands The Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union is demanding that the federal government insist that any future buyer of Versatile Pacific’s North Vancouver ship- yard guarantee that the yard will remain as a shipyard and continue to provide jobs for shipyard workers, said Marine Workers vice-president Bill Scott. “Tn light of all the money that the fed- eral government has put into this yard, we want them to make sure that it will stay as a shipyard and not end up on the auction block to some realtor,” Scott told the Tribune Dec. 9. The demand is particularly critical because Versatile Pacific has a letter on intention from the federal government to build the $350 million Polar 8 icebreaker. Interior rally hits Woolco’s strike stance PRINCE GEORGE — Strong sup- port for the Retail Clerks, Local 1518 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, was shown at a support rally and march held on Saturday, Dec. 5 to protest Woolco management’s unwilling- hess to negotiate a new contract. Speaking at the rally were Kim Balmer (UFCW), Dave Swab (CLC), Donn Stan- ley (Joint Labour Council) and Lois Boone, NDP MLA for Prince George North. During her speech, Boone stated that working people had to resort to ral- lies, demonstrations and boycotts, because the provincial government and manage- ment “forces this kind of confrontation.” She added that it that it is likely that the boycott would continue even after a set- tlement was reached because many people would no longer shop there as a result of management’s actions during the strike. Boone also pointed out that we are in the middle of a right wing social revolution in this province, a statement that was underlined heavily when, earlier in the tally demonstrators were marshalling, they were served with copies of an injunc- tion. The company, working with the engineer- ing firm of Sandwell Swan Wooster, has already been given a $6.8 million contract to design the vessel, promised by External Affairs Minister Joe Clark two years ago. Debt-ridden Versatile Corporation has put the yard up for sale and the only bid so far has come from a management team, headed by company vice-president David Alsop. He wants to purchase the yard and dismantle the western end of the yard, leaving it open for possible rezoning and redevelopment for residential purposes. And that has Marine Workers members worried. “We would be strongly opposed to any residential strip going in there,” said Scott. “It wouldn’t be able to co-exist with a shipyard and if there were a conflict, it would be the shipyard that would go.” Over the years, the federal government has pumped millions into the construction and upgrading of the yard which employed a work force of more than 20,000 during WW II. The government has also promised a further $18 million to upgrade the yard in preparation for the Polar 8 contract. “The investment by the Canadian tax- payers in this yard is tremendous — but they don’t have a nickel of equity,” said Scott. Marine Workers president John Fitz- patrick told delegates to the B.C. Federa- tion of Labour convention, “there is an DT ————— SS alternative to the sale of that yard. “That alternative is to nationalize it,” he said. Canada Post - using legal harassment TORONTO — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is going to Federal Court to appeal a decision by the government-appointed mediator-arbitra- tor who has refused to rule on discipline imposed on striking workers. CUPW national president Jean-Claude Parrot said he was “truly shocked” by Judge Laurent Cossette who claimed that he had no mandate to rule on 32 union members who were fired and a further 135 who received lengthy suspensions during the postal strike earlier this year. Cossette accepted Canada Post’s argu- ment that CUPW members did not have the right to grieve discipline since the col- lective agreement was not in effect during the strike. However, Bill C-86, the harsh law which ended the walkout and created the mediator-arbitrator’s position, states that the agreement negotiated between the corporation and the union in October, 1986, would remain in effect until a new one was imposed. Port Alberni and District Labor Council extends our greetings to all our affiliates and the working people of B.C. What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all. In solidarity President HENRY NEDERGARD Secretary JOHN VEZINA ‘ < Ba x Season's Gree from Marine Workers and Boilermakers Industrial Union, ; Season's Greetings to all and thanks for your support in the past year. In solidarity in the struggle for decent jobs and incomes! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Vancouver Unemployed Action Centre 17 E. Broadway, Vancouver, B.C., V5T 1 V4, 875-8616 or 875-8311 : New Year filled with humankind. Local 580 Our hope is a peace for all Retail Wholesale Union Season’s Greetings For Peace, Security and an Independent & Sovereign Canada. United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union 111 Victoria Drive Vancouver, B.C. 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 16, 1987