_ BRITISH COLUMBIA

‘Hoist labor bills,’
NDP meet demands

Calling them part of a right-wing agenda
to kill the province’s trade unions and
teachers organizations, B.C.’s New Demo-
crats condemned bills 19 and 20 at their
Convention April 11-13 and pledged to
work with labor on a campaign of opposi-
tion to the Socred legislation.

The annual convention, which had heard
Speeches of condemnation from outgoing
Party leader Bob Skelly and B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor president Ken Georgetti,
urged the NDP caucus to “achieve a legisla-

tive package” that will have all-party sup-
port.

References to the Labor Act of 1973,
through which the NDP as government
ushered in the province’s Labor Code, were
Tepeatedly made during debate in which
Speaker after speaker condemned the pro-
Posed Industrial Relations Reform Act and
the Teaching Profession Act.

“If they (the Social Credit government)
want some action from labor, they have
Only to continue on the course they are
taking,” Georgetti vowed.

Earlier the federation president in an
address had declared, “We will not permit
this government to continue on the path
they have chosen with their budget and bills
19 and 20.

““We will not be governed by this legisla-
tion and we will make every. sacrifice to
defeat this legislation,” Georgetti asserted.

Angela Schira, president of the B.C. Pro-
vincial Council of Machinists, advised dele-
gates to view Bill 19 as part of an “overall
development” that includes the federal
government’s plans for free trade, privatiza-
tion and deregulation.

“Tt is no accident that (federal Transport
Minister) John Crosbie was out here talking
about privatizing the airport,” said Schira.
She said it was also no accident that Bill 19
covers federal workers at provincial facili-
ties, and that under Ottawa’s scheme, the
piport will likely pass to provincial jurisdic-.
ion.

“We are not dealing here with just
another piece of labor legislation,” warned
B.C. Fed secretary-treasurer Cliff Andstein.

“This is social, economic and political
legislation because it is designed to strike at
the power of working men and women . . . it
___ WSdesigned to make them subservient to this
'. &onomy, designed to make them servants
i the work place,” he said.

MLA (North Island) Colin Gablemann .

Said the Socreds’ objective “is in fact to
bring back a 19th-century liberal laissez-
aire economy which does not have unions
Setting in the way of their making money.
Gerry Stoney, secretary-treasurer of the
International Woodworkers, said last fall’s
job action could, had Bill 19 then been in

Ist Annual

effect, have seen workers legislated back to
work. He said terms of the proposed Act
could see forest workers working 10-hour
days for seven days a week for a six-month
period, allowable as long as the hours aver-
age out to 40 per week.

John McKnight of the Plumbers Associ-
ation, Local 170, compared the bills to
South Korea’s labor legislation and won
applause when he declared, “We'll have no
part of that here in the province of British
Columbia.”

Bill King, the former minister of labor
who under Dave Barrett’s 1972-1975 NDP
government introduced the original Labor
Code, said Bill 19 removes power from the
legislature and “hands it to some obscure
backroom Tsar.”

“Unless they withdraw their attack on
labor, which is clearly a campaign to desta-
bilize and decertify the trade union move-
ment, then I will be strongest voice in our
party for reciprocal legislation directed
against business,” he declared.

Saying the New Democrats will “no
longer sit passively by,” King — whose
remarks were followed by a spontaneous
chorus of “Solidarity Forever” from the
delegates — asserted: “To hell with them.
If they want war, we'll give it to them.”

Earlier, outgoing leader Bob Skelly said
the legislation shows the Socreds are follow-
ing “precisely the same kind of agenda as
(U.S. President) Ronald Reagan.”

Responding to remarks Georgetti made
in his convention address, Skelly denied the
NDP was planning on severing its ties with,
or distancing itself from, the trade union
movement.

“Those would see us split from labor are
seriously mistaken,” he said.

Continued from page 1

Sheena Hanley, president-designate of
the Canadian Teachers Federation, told
teachers that the current CTF president
Frank Garrity was going to Britain to
attend a conference of the Confederation
of Organizations in the Teaching Profes-
sion.

“And one of the first topics of the
agenda will be these heinous pieces of
legislation, Bills 19 and 20,” she
announced to cheers.

Hanley also noted that the CTF had
established a solidarity fund to assist the
BCTF in its campaign against the legisla-
tion. “The first donation of $100,000
from the Alberta Teachers’ Federation is
already in,” she said.

Teachers had earlier marched over to
the legislature from the Empress Hotel
where the BCTF had convened an emer-
gency representative assembly to discuss
strategy in the continuing campaign
against the legislation.

The all-day meeting had been sche-
duled to wind up at 4 p.m. for the rally
but re-convened for several hours later as
delegates from the federation’s 75 local
teachers association debated tactics in a
closed-door session.

BCTF president Elsie McMurphy told
reporters following the meeting that the
federation would go to the membership
asking for a mandate for possible job
action against the legislation. That action
could include an instruction-only, work
to rule campaign as well as rotating
strikes and a province-wide walkout.

CTF sets solidarity
fund for B.C. fight

:
SS

Victoria Teachers’ Association presi-
dent Gary Robertson carries ballots at
rally April 9.

Immediately, teachers will wage a
public information campaign about the
effects of the two bills on teachers and
students and on the educational system
itself.

Asked about teachers’ willingness to
take action against the legislation,
McMurphy said she had “no doubt
about the commitment of teachers.”

Later, the BCTF president told a rally
organized by the B.C. Federation of
Labor April 14 that Premier Vander
Zalm had made it clear to teachers dur-
ing a meeting earlier that day that the
government was not prepared to con-
sider substantive changes to the legisla-
tion. “That leaves it up to teachers, by
their action, to show this government the
level of opposition that there is against
this legislation,” she declared.

Arms initiatives spur peace walks

Negotiations between the U.S. and the
USSR on reduction of medium range mis-
siles in Europe have provided a mood of
optimism and hope to peace activists all
across the province as they put together the
final plans for this year’s Walks for Peace.

British Columbians will be taking to the
streets in the northern part of the province,
in the Okanagan, in the Kootenays, on
Vancouver Island and in the Lower Main-
land on April 25 to raise again the call fora
comprehensive test ban treaty, for an end to
the Star Wars program, and for a world free
of nuclear weapons.

In Vancouver, actions for peace begin on
April 20 when Dr. Benjamin Spock,
renowned expert on children and a peace
activist, will speak at John Oliver Secon-
dary School on “raising children in the

Saturday, April 25
Ukrainian Hall,

805 E. Pender
(downstairs)
Refreshments 4 p.m.
Dinner 4:30 p.m.
Tickets at door $6

All proceeds to
Pacific Tribune

nuclear age.” Tickets for the event which
begins at 8 p.m. are $5 and are available
from End the Arms Race, 736-2366, all
VTIC/CBO outlets and at the door. ~

Vancouver school children will express
their concern for a peaceful world on April
23 with participation in SBI — the School
Balloon Initiative. Scheduled for the Van-
couver city hall steps at 10:30 a.m., SBI will
see the launching of hundreds of helium-
filled balloons, each one containing a mes-
sage for peace.

The sixth annual Vancouver Walk for
Peace on April 25 returns this year to its
familiar format. Participants, other than
trade unions, will gather at Kitsilano Beach
park, at 11 a.m. Trade unionists will assem-
ble at Seaforth Park at the corner of Bur-
rard and Cornwall. The five-kilometre
march through downtown begins at 12
noon on its way to the rally at Sunset Beach
park. The main features of the rally will be
the four students representing Students
Against Global Extermination who are
presently touring across Canada, a child-
ren’s tent and festival.

Also scheduled as part of the rally are
peace polling booths, the first step in the
Canada-wide Peace Pledge Campaign, an
initiative of the member organizations of
the Canadian Peace Alliance. The cam-
paign will see voters sign a card pledging to
vote only for pro-peace politicians in the
next federal election.

In Victoria, marchers will leave Centen-
nial Square at 12 noon on April 25, walking
under the banner “You can make a differ-

ence” through downtown along Douglas
Street to the rally at the legislative buildings.
Speakers at the rally, which this year focuses
on the urgent need for a comprehensive test
ban treaty, include Mary Wynn Ashford,
who attended the recent Peace Forum in
Moscow, and a representative of the Latin
American community.

Further north on the island, peace acti- ©
vists in Campbell River, Courtenay and

Quadra Island have co-operated to organ-
ize this year’s Walk for Peace in Courtenay.
The walk begins at 11:30 a.m. and proceeds
through downtown to a rally, which will
highlight the call for no Canadian participa-
tion in Star Wars, at Lewis Park at 1 p.m.

Peace groups in Kamloops have this year
moved to co-ordinate their activities
through the newly-formed organization
Kamloops Peace Umbrella, which will
sponsor this year’s Walk for Peace.
Marchers will gather at Allan Matthews
elementary school at 11:45 a.m. on April 25
proceeding from the school to a rally at
Riverside Park scheduled to begin at 12:30
p.m. Speakers at the rally include Rev.
Allan Richards of Kamloops United
Church and John Harper from the Kam-
loops and District Labor Council. In the
event of rain, all events will be moved to St.
Annes Academy gymnasium.

The Prince Rupert Organization for Dis-
armament is organizing that northern city’s
third annual Walk for Peace. The march
through downtown begins at 10:30 a.m. on
April 25 at the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union hall.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 1987 e 3