“Facts show wages still behind inflation Statistics released last week by the Employers Council of B.C. in an attempt to portray wage settle- ments as inflationary and beyond the rise in the consumer price in- dex are contrived and misleading, » countered labor economist Emil Bjarnason. _ The Employers Council figures were given immediate promi- hence by the Vancouver Sun March 12in alead story which cit- €d average wage increases of 14.9 _ Percent and a 13.3 percent annual Tise in the consumer price index. These figures, argued Sun labor writer Peter Comparelli, proves that the ‘‘explosive labor relations scene in B.C. is (not) a result of wage earners losing to in- flation.”’ However the Employers Council figures portray a false picture, said Bjarnason in an in- terview this week. To begin with the projected 14.9 percent wage gain, based on a surmised 15.7 percent average settlement in the public sector and a 14.1 percent Settlement in the private sector, are drawn from a relatively small _ Number of settlements in recent months and projected over 1981. Most major groups of work- ers, munigipal workers, wood- workers, steelwarkers, and others have yet to negotiate an agree- ment, and most of these workers are coming off two- and three- year agreements. They have lost to inflation and that is one of the major reasons for the determination of unions to win large settlements this year. Even if the specific situation of workers currently entering col- lective bargaining is ignored, the Employers Council figures are still wrong, said Bjarnason. In order to make the picture look better, from the employer viewpoint, the Employers Coun- cil compared wage settlements to the Vancouver consumer price in- dex. That is ‘‘completely absurd,’’ said Bjarnason. To prove the point he cited the Vancouver index on inflation in housing which showed a rise in the price of housing in Vancouver between November 1979 and No- vember 1980 of 10.3 percent aver- age, and for’ ‘‘owned accommo- dation”’ of 14.3 percent. ‘‘We all know the actual increase was closer to 100 percent,’’ he said. According to the Vancouver CPI WAGES’ PROFITS’ 1977 | 160.8 284.13 7.808 1978 | 175.2}+ 9%] {301.26 6% 1979 191.2] 9.1] |327.14] 8.6] }14.491] 85.5 % % % + + + 211.5 366.69]12.1| 15.767] g. 1980° 19.6] BA 88 1977-80} +31.5% +29.1% + 102% 1. National revised index 2. Average weekly wage in B.C. 3. After tax profits of industrial corporations with assets of more than $10,000,000, in billions of dollars. 4. To July 1980 for CPI, wages, annual rate for profits based on 3rd quarter. Source: Statistics Canada regional consumer price index the cost of living has increased by 27.7 percent in the three years from 1977 to 1980, while wages increased an average 29.1 percent over the same period. However the national consumer price in- dex, which Bjarnason argues is a more accurate indicator, shows an increase over those three years of 31.5 percent. The average worker in fact lost a percentage point and a half to inflation over the last three years. Early indicators for 1980 do show a higher average return for workers, but that should be com- pared to the higher inflation rate in 1981 which is still rising. The Vancouver inflation rate between December 1979 and December 1980 was 11.9 percent. The Cana- dian Labor Congress estimated that the federal budget would cost the average Canadian family $500 in 1981. The B.C. provincial bud- get with its increased taxes and likely increased medical prem- iums will add about the same amount to the annual expendi- tures of an average family. To- gether those budgets alone ac- count for an inflation rate of five percent, beyond the normal infla- tion before the budget. “The very powerful compari- son which must be added to the picture,’’ Bjarnason said, is the huge increase in corporate prof- its. In the same three-year period between 1977 and 1980, the net, aftertax profits of industrial cor- porations in Canada with assets of $10 million or more increased by 102 percent. And that would take account of a mere 39.7 per- cent- increase in wages, salaries and material costs. 2 Seer TWU goes back ‘all together’ Continued from page 1 io a. LAARAAY Shoppers coming out of the Safeway store at Kingsgate Mall in Vancouver were only too anxious to sign the “roll-back food prices” Cards being handed out by members of the Consumers Against Ris- ing Prices group Mar. 14. CARP organizer Velda Doran said the response was “overwhelming,” with 1,000 cards signed in two short hours. Next target: the Woodward's store in New Westminster, 610 -6th St., Sat. March 21 at 11 p.m. To get in touch with Consumers Against Rising Prices, phone Velda Doran at 521-5847 or write to her home address at 214 St. Patrick St., New Westminster, B.C. Students launch budget protest week | A gathering storm of student Protest actions on post-secondary Campuses around the province, in- Cluding rallies, marches on ad- Ministration meetings, class boycotts, a soup kitchen on the legislature lawns, and petitioning, has followed in the wake of the pro- Vincial budget brought down last Ludgate pointed out the ripple ef- fect that consistent underfunding has on the ability of institutions to maintain the quality and scope of post-secondary education. “Cutbacks in the number and variety of courses available, over- crowding of classes, out-of-date libraries, and shortages of equip- week. ment and facilities are the crend in The B.C. Students’ Federation, post-secondary institutions,” she which has been coordinating many _ said. of the student actions, declared March 16 a week of protest against At Simon Fraser University Tuesday, a dozen students turned the paltry allocation in the budget out for an early morning informa- for post-secondary education and _ tion picket line where bulldozers the shifting of the financial burden _and their drivers were clearing 80 Onto students and staff by way of acres of land adjacent to the tuition fee hikes and poor wages. __ university for a research park. At arally in the mall that follow- ed, student society members blasted the government for funnell- ing $50 million of public funds into the ‘‘pro-corporate’’ project while tuition fee increases were being gouged from the students to make The 13.8 percent increase in the Operating grants for B.C.’s three Universities is only marginally higher than last year’s 12 percent inflation rate and because univer- Sities experience a higher inflation Tate than the average, students are ‘students have held or will be students will be gathering signatures for ‘‘declaration on education’’ petition. The five-point declaration, endorsed by BCSF, the College Institute Educators’ Association (CIEA) and the Association of University and Col- lege Employees (AUCE), calls for: @ the democratization of the governing boards of post- secondary institutions; a comprehensive plan for education involving the govern- ment, the education communi- holding general meetings to talk about government cutbacks and tuition hikes. Some of those meetings were expected to turn into rallies. Capilano College students will take their fight against the 84 per- cent hike in their tuition fees and the $700,000 cut in Cap’s funding to the lawns of the legislature Wednesday, where they plan to set e up a soup kitchen, and ‘‘if necessary , tents, until the educa- tion minister (Brian Smith) comes out and talks with us.” eo RonesCs eeeraer The same day, students fromthe © an accessibility study to target University of B.C. have called for a those segments of society which class boycott and rally in the after- are prohibited from obtaining a noon. Like the University of Vic- post-secondary education by toria students who marched on tuition fees, lack of housing and their board of governors meeting summer employment and so Monday, UBC students will focus on; their opposition on the indexing of @ a student assistance program tuition fees to the operating costs of which guarantees sufficient stu- TRIBUNE PHOTO—FRED WILSON smelter — have been seen as the decisive factors in bringing pressure to bear on B.C. Tel to settle the dispute. Labor minister Jack Hein- rich, who for months had de- clined to take action to break the company’s intransigence, inter- vened last week, bringing in law- yer H. Allan Hope who will now be sole arbitrator on the out- standing issue of reinstatement of 24 workers, fired for picket- line incidents. The settlement reached Sat- urday provides for Hope, once the agreement is ratified, to make an interim decision by March 22 as to which of the 24 workers will be suspended pend- ing arbitration. That decision will be based on submissions from both the union and the company. Arbitration. for those. sus- pended will begin March 23 with Hope as sole arbitrator. The key to agreement was the provision to allow all TWU members to return to work to-: gether. Those suspended March 22 will report for work and then leave to await the outcome. They will receive full pay al- though if their cases are lost, the union will be asked to reimburse the company. Tuesday, TWU delegate Dol- ly Storey told the Vancouver and District Council that the Nanaimo strike, “‘which was 98 percent effective,’’ and the im- minence of a similar shutdown in the Kootenays had been ef- fective in bringing about a settle- ment. She said that the union would be continuing its campaign for the nationalization of B.C. Tel ‘*o get rid of this U.S. employer before the 1982 negotiations.’’ TWU members were voting anticipating more cutbacks. At a press conference last Sun- day, BCSF chairperson Catherine up for budget deficits. At the King Edward, Douglas, Caledonia and Okanagan colleges, the university — which now stands dent aid; at 10 percent. @ and fair and decent wages for During the week’s activities, teachers and faculty. PACIFIC TRIBUNE— MARCH 20, 1981—Page 3 on the proposed pact Wednes- day and Thursday of this week.