A % a Lou a ad cin. Laberge, president of the Quebec Federation of Labor at last Cana ae $ May Day rally where he called for a more militant, a more ap labor movement to emerge from the upcoming Canadian Gelegat Ngress convention. He reiterated his call when he spoke to Story €s to the Vancouver Labor Council Tuesday night. (See May Day Pg. 3). —Sean Griffin photo Determined to win substantial wage gains and a cost of living clause to protect their members from the ravages of inflation, B.C.’s major construction unions representing about 60,000 workers, last Friday rejected the un- satisfactory offer put forward by the construction bosses repre- sented by the Construction Labor Relations Association (CLRA). Cy Stairs, chief negotiator and: spokesmen for the 10-pact, which is the united front of 10 major building trades unions in joint negotiations, said the unions were offered an increase that was in many cases more than “30 cents below that given to the other trades that everybody is aware of and that was rejected.” The electricians and plumbers have already turned down a similar offer. Stairs said the unions considered it was futile to continue talks until UFAWU Ottawa lobby wins fisheries fight SUpport in 2 BR % the peeing from meetings with Mmitte of Commons standing - totes €e on fisheries and Severa], and discussions with Mpg 7,8°vernment and opposition Worker ted Fishermen and Allied a Union lobbyists in Ottawa breakthe announced that a “real ' Ough” had been achieved Sug Was “probably the most SUeg Con, mae lobby the union has ever + Le Home. ey UFAWU president Geo, A tevens and business agent e unig ew ison, 25 members of Stag = had gone to Ottawa to "Solve lft government action to North the crisis of depletion of halibut acific and Bering Sea the jp, SOCKS as well as to head off Interac “nding sellout of Canadian Mon In the Fraser River Alyy ushery. legat Ugh, as Hewison told Stri.s, (0 the Vancouver and Labor Council Tuesday Positions, nevertheless the & Committee did effectively =< longstanding UFAWU on both North Pacific din fisheries and a Canadian-U.S. reciprocal fishing treaty. Not unexpectedly, the Liberal members of the standing com- mittee abstained from voting when confronted by the union lobby, but Conservative and NDP members combined to carry, with sizeable majorities, resolutions proposed by NDP MP Tom Barnett and Harry Olaussen. The resolutions will now go before the House and cabinet. One resolution calls on the government to withdraw from any position it has taken in current talks on Canada-U.S. reciprocal salmon rights that does not coin- cide with 1971 principles governing mutual interceptions — principles on which the standing committee has endorsed the union’s position. Those principles are: : e Each country should reap the benefits of its efforts to maintain or increase stocks of salmon. e Each: country should fish salmon bound for its own rivers and should seek to avoid in- terceptions of salmon bound ‘for rivers originating in other coun- tries. e There shall be an equitable balance between the interception of the two countries. At this time, the dollar value of Canadian bound salmon intercepted by the U.S. far exceeds the U.S.-bound salmon intercepted by Canadian fisher- men. e The equitable balance should be achieved, where possible, by reducing, rather than increasing, interceptions. _ PIB VOL 35, No. 19° the contractors were prepared to deal with the reality of wages and were prepared to offer a uniform. and just settlement for everyone in the industry. He said the CLRA had made no move on a cost-of-living clause, which the workers were determined to win. The 10-pact spokesman said that the employers were trying to divide the workers with the la.est offer, and added that ‘“‘until there’s a rational and uniform settlement, further talks are futile.” A total shutdown appears certain by the end of the week throughout B.C. which could affect up to about 90,000 workers. Stairs said the unions ‘‘want to act in a responsible manner and get down to the bargaining table again with the CLRA. We’re willing to meet at any time provided there is a settlement in line with reality and not divisive of our trades.” Labor minister King met with representatives of 16 building trades unions and the CLRA Monday and after five hours nothing came out of the meeting except an announcement by the e Each country should seek to = make adjustments to _ its © techniques and economics of its fisheries which will make © reduction of interceptions possible. e These adjustments must take into account the overriding — requirements of conservation. Some months ago, the UFAWU : charged that the latest set of — proposals advanced by Canadian : : negotiators constituted a potential — sellout of a valuable Canadian © resource. - minister that his proposals had been rejected by the unions and that the dispute now goes back to the bargaining table. The PT has learned that King put four propositions before the meeting which were turned down. The four points are reported to have contained the following propositions: © That the building trades unions accept the CLRA wage package, which had already been rejected by. the electrical workers and plumbers. _° That an industrial inquiry commission be set up and that it examine what increments would be given to higher paid workers at the beginning of the agreement and what would be given to lower paid workers at the latter end of the agreement. (The PT understands that this was one of the major points of dispute in the talks with the CLRA). o The cost of living clause would only come into effect when in- flation had completely eaten up the wage increase negotiated in the agreement. This would have meant See UNITY, page 12 oct Federal environment minister Jack Davis responded angrily to the charge and stated that Canada would not use ‘gunboat diplomacy”’ to negotiate a treaty | with the U.S. The union pointed out — See FISHERIES, page 12 The mining that Davis was trying to avoid stop them from crying that disaster faces the pings from the daily press shows. But that doesn’