Wednesday; February 8, 1984

Newsstand Price 40° Vol. 47, No. 5

CORED

S55

Uranium mine
. Practices"

"scrutinized

he signs say it all as parents, students, teachers and trustees rally in Victoria Saturday to demand restoration of funding for
' s

chools in Qualicum and Nanaimo where more than one hundred jobs, and several classes, were cut mid-term.

= In a bond of solidarity unknown even
during the massive protests against Socred
cutbacks last fall, an amalgam of teachers,
parents, trustees and students from Van-
couver Island communites brought their |
message to the steps of the provincial legis-
lature Saturday. ;

Some 250 people from Comox and dis-
trict, Qualicum, Parksville and Nanaimo
demanded the education ministry end the
funding cutbacks that have already cost the
communites hundreds of jobs and classes.

““We must maintain our protest — a per-
sistent, chronic protest until these cutbacks
are ended,” declared Bill Holdom, chair-
man of the Nanaimo school board, from
the stone stops of the legislature’s front
entrance.

The | p.m. assembly was the last rally ina
series that began at 8 a.m., when a group
headed out from Parksville to pick up oth-
ers on the down-Island trek. Smaller rallies
took place in two stops — Nanaimo, and
then Duncan — as the cavalcade headed to
Victoria.

What made this rally, dwarfed in com-
parison to the gigantic demonstrations last
year, significant, was the official presence of
trustees, elected officials forced to make
devastating cuts to staff and classes to
accommodate the worst financial shortfalls
in the province.

“T have to say I feel quite comfortable
being on the same platform as the president
of the B.C. Teachers Federation,” said
Holdom, underscoring the unity teachers
and trustees have achieved following the
January cutbacks.

Members of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, Local 8, maintain 24-hour vigil outside deat at ee
|} Harmac plant near Nanaimo. The 1,200 Harmac workers, among more than 12,000 pulp workers locked out by the forest : :
_ | giants last week, are bitter, said the pickets. Angry over demands for concessions in pensions and statutory holidays from pst Hi aoe gD te sia any. een
/} the companies’ negotiating arm, the Pulp and Paper Bureau, Harmac workers also have local grievances, such as g Socred

supervisors continually attempting to perform union jobs. Story on the provincial situation on page 3. Ke see RALLY page 11

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