KITIMAT officials will be
here Tuesday May 6th to
give Terrace residents
their take on the Alcan
power sales issue.

The town hall meeting
happens.at 7:30 p.m. at the
Best Western Terrace Inn,
organizers say,

They want to pressure
the provincial government
to take a firm stand to halt
sales of electricity by
Alcan.

“Many Kitimatians be-

lieve the company will - if

- union chose to

- mentally,”
. Pozsgay, a volunteer with

‘allowed - increasingly sell
power at the long-term ex-
pense of aluminum pro-

-duction and smelter jobs.

“They’re doing it incre-
said Gaetan

the anti-power sales group
Save the Northwest, “It’s
like the frog in the hot
water.”

One option is to seek a
court ruling on whether
those power sales violate
Alcan’s past. agreements
on its use of the water
from the Nechako water-
shed.

The town hall meeting

‘will feature a presentation

by Kitimat mayor Rick

Wozney and town mah-
ager Trafford Hall.

Save the Northwest is
also extending its petition
campaign to Terrace.

Ray Brady says they
have so far gathered the
signatures of 2,827 people
in Kitimat, or nearly 65
per cent of registered vo-
ters there.

It urges the government
to insist Alcan honour its
commitments “by using
water power for the pur-
pose it was given, that is,
aluminum production.”

Stew Christensen is one
Terrace city councillor
who has signed the peti-
tion — although not for the
same reasons as its au-
thors.

He says he signed be-
cause he agrees Alcan
should live up to its 1950
commitment to use the
power “in the vicinity of
the works.”

“I don’t see the
‘vicinity of the works’ just
being Kitimat,” Christen-
sen said, adding power
could be used in Terrace
or even Vanderhoof.

“As long as the power
is being used in the vicin-

Excel drivers
reject offer

UNIONIZED truck drivers
for Excel Transportation
Inc, narrowly rejected a
new contract offer last
week.

The

latest company

offer asked workers to take

a 10 per cent reduction in
the total cost of their col-

‘lective agreement.

The company gave the
union the choice of where
to make the cuts, said Rod
Park,. business agent with
IWA local 1-424. The
leave
wages alone and cut major
portions of the benefits
’ package.

“So basically we gulted
. the collective agreeBiént
and got rid of a lot! of
things most people take for
pranted,” Park said,

Of 110 workers who
filled out ballots in Prince
George and Terrace, 57
per cent voted to kill the
deal. It was the second ne-
gative result in almost two
years of negotiations.

- Excel runs chip trucks
for Canfor in Prince
George and Eurocan Pulp
and Paper in Kitimat. It

_ employs about 60 workers

in the Terrace area.
Truckers working for the

company have béen with-
out a contract for more
than 18 months.

They had come to the
table hoping for increases
in wages and benefits.
Those demands didn’t
even make it onto the
table, Park said,

Excel had previously
sent a letter to employees
saying it would be forced

to shut down its operations

if drivers didn’t agree to
deep wage and benefit
cuts.

“The company is indi-
cating if it does not get
significant changes to the
collective agreement, their
plans are to vill | down the
operation “and” "for all in-
tents and purposes per-
manently close it,” Darrel
Wong, president of IWA
local 2-171, said in early
March.

Park expects to sit
down with the company to
discuss how to get past the
current impasse.

Florent Foucher,
Excel’s general manager,
confirmed the agreement
had been rejected, but
could not comment further
on what the company's
next move might be.

~ TO MAKE ROOM — HALF THE INVENTORY
UST BE CLEARED, INCLUDING NEW STOCK!

| ne ee |

MAKE SURE
TO CHECK
OUT THE

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ity of the works I can live
with that,” he said, adding
that would most likely be

Kitimat or perhaps on land
between Terrace-and Kiti-
mat.

“I don’t want to chase
the power away from here
either,” he said. “I want

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - A7

Alcan power issue focus of town hall meeting

things to happen in the
northwest."
Kitimat’s mayor is to

make a presentation to
Terrace city council April
28 on the issue.

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