Federation brief petitions Socreds for jobs The B.C. Federation of Labor Met with the provincial cabinet last Thursday and presented to it 4 31 page brief containing the Federation’s annual proposals to the government. The highlights of — the Federation’s submission was an economic program for jobs and Proposals for a new national energy policy. It also dealt at length with labor legislation, Women’s rights, and pollution and environmental concerns. Claiming a real unemployment Tate of 13 percent in B.C. in March — some 160,000 workers — the Federation declared _ P.F. denies Zimbabwe massacres Zimbabwe Patriotic Front co- leader Robert Mugabe has challenged the propaganda storm im the western media over the alleged massacre of 12 white Missionary families in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) June 23. Mugabe, whose Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), a part of the Patriotic Front, was immediately blamed for the killings, says he has wit- nesses to prove that the murders Were actually committed by Soldiers of Ian Smith’s Rhodesian army. Remindful of similar horror Stories in Zaire whipped up recently by the capitalist media, Mugabe charged that the misin- formation was being spread to Incite world opinion against the liberation forces of Zimbabwe, and to reinforce the unstable regime of Tan Smith and his three black lieutenants, Muzorewa, Sitthole and Chairaus.”’ News reports from Zimbabwe — Which all must be approved by 80vernment censors — described every grisly detail of the alleged murders in an attempt to wring propaganda value from the Tagedy before the facts of how the Missionaries were killed became Own. : a ee if it were orchestrated in bi Vance, Rhodesian Anglican shop Paul Burrough im- Mediately called for ‘British 8unboat diplomacy” — the sending z troops of Zimbabwe which received wide coverage in the western media. immaberation leaders fear foreign zs €rvention to prop up the Smith ase as Patriotic Front forces ae Control large sections of the th ntry and operate freely even in € Suburbs of Salisbury. unemployment its highest priority. But the solution to unemployment, it pointed out, will require basic structural reform in the province’s economy. “The single most critical problem facing the economy of B.C. and Canada is the complete lack of economic planning on the part of government,” the Federation said, ‘Our govern- ment continues to cling to the outmoded belief that the private sector can provide the answers. It cannot and the present economic mess in B.C. proves the point.” Loaded with 95,000 po unds of fish, the Freeport could “Among the main demands in an immediate economic program for jobs advanced by the Federation were: e reduction of provincial in- come tax for low and middle income earners. : e increased assistance to pensioners and those on social _ assistance. ea roll back of ICBC rates, ferry fares, hydro rates and medical premiums. e the maintenance of rent controls and the institution of price controls on gasoline, home heating fuels and natural gas. ‘'t find a peas shoreworker in Vancouver to unload its hot cargo. The boat is a member of the Prince Rupert Fishermen’s Co-Op which last week locked out its shoreworkers, Amalgamated Shoreworkers Union. members of.the Prince Rupert —Fred Wilson photo ea major capital works . program to improve educational, hospital and _ transportation services, especially in rural areas. The Federation also called for the establishment of a govern- ment agency to provide overall economic planning of the provincial economy and for pressure on the federal govern-: ment to undertake national economic planning. ea moratorium on energy projects until a national and provincial energy policy, based on public ownership and operation, is established. e the repeal of the Essential Services Act and of legislation requiring government supervised strike votes. @ a 24hour universal child care ‘program. e the firing of human resources minister Vander Zalm and the re- Other demands raised in the Federation submission included that for: The trial of seven members of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union ended in Van- couver Tuesday with a verdict to be brought down by Judge D. D. Hume on August 31. The UFAWU Seven have been charged with ‘impeding an Inquiry” by the Combines In- vestigation Branch in December of 1976 which union leaders feared was aimed at ‘‘dismembering”’ the union. UFAWU president Jack Nichol, secretary George Hewison, past president Homer Stevens, vice presidents Ken Robinson and Walter Tickson, welfare director Bert Ogden and fisherman Dave McIntosh all pleaded not guilty to the charges.’ Defense counsel Harry Rankin wound up his defense of the seven Tuesday by challenging the prosecution’s allegation that the fishermen attempted to impede the proceedings of the Combines In- vestigation Branch. The fishermen were prepared to co-operate with the Combines investigation, Bakke ruling fuels racism Civil rights leaders and democratic spokesmen. throughout the U.S. this week blasted the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the “Bakke Case”. which overturned the affirmative action program at the University of California Medical School. Bakke, a white ‘student, challenged the affirmative action program which reserved places in| the medical school for minority racial groups. Bakke’s victory at the Supreme Court has been seen as undermining all affirmative action programs in the U.S. and as fueling a new, racist attack on minority and black rights. The Supreme Court decision continued the reactionary course of the court over 200 years, Justice Thurgood Marshall, one of the four Johnston w GEORGE JOHNSTON on’t contest Fed post George Johnston, president of the B.C. Federation of Labor, will not contest the presidency of the Federation at next November’s annual convention, he announced last week. Johnston, who has been a member of the Federation executive for 18 years, eight years as vice-president and eight years as president, cited personal reasons for his decision. ~ intended to run but have given a great deal of thought to the fact “T had ° that when the election takes place in November I will be 62. I am of the opinion that the onerous duties of the full time presidency can be better filled by a younger person who can run for more than one term.” The decision was met with regret by many in the labor movement as the contest for the top Federation posts at the November convention will likely reflect a stiff challenge to the principled policies adopted by previous conventions. fia’ Supreme Court judges in the minority, said following the decision. Henry Winston, national chairman of the Communist Party of the U.S.A., appealed to “‘the higher court than the Supreme Court — the court of public opinion and action’’ to reverse the decision. The Bakke case, he said, was “symbolic of a program by monopoly and- its political spokesmen to discredit and render impotent the entire struggle of Blacks for economic, political and social equality.” Charles Hayes, vice president of the Amalgamated Meatcutters’ Union and co-leader of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said the decision will give em- ployers and racists the feeling “they have a _ license - to discriminate and not extend themselves to make any change in their racist hiring and promotion practices.” establishment of the Resources Boards throughout the province. in Vancouver and UFAWU Seven await verdict Rankin argued, but they wanted to do so in public. “There is no evidence that any of the accused did anything other than press their point that any probe into their union should be held in public,” Rankin told the court, ‘“‘How else were they to make their views known?” Replying to the implicit charge that the Seven had “conspired” to obstruct-the Inquiry, Rankin said, “that none of the evidence suggested the existence of a conspiracy. ‘‘It shows a group of people saying, ‘We want a public hearing to which we can go and know what it is we face.’ That is what this is all about.” If the impeding charge is to stick, Rankin contended, it would have to be shown that the Seven intended to impede the Inquiry. But on the contrary, he said, ‘“‘the aim was to have it go ahead — but in public, not behind closed doors.” See UFAWU page 8 _ INSIDE e HARRY RANKIN: Rankin fires back at Vancouver Sun columnist Doug Col- lins, a man he says has a “misanthropic hate’, page 2. e JACK PHILLIPS: The author of Labor Com- ment has won the dis- pleasure of the IWA newspaper, the Western Canadian Lumber- worker. Phillips responds to the Lumberworker’s editorial criticism of the Tribune, page 8. e NEXT WEEK: Coquitlam School Board chairper- son Eunice Parker will explain the real reasons for rising school taxes and declining education standards. Watch for it.