Education un

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he

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; ninployees at Malaspina College in Nanaimo are shown here on the

Pi et line as Nanaimo and district CUPE Local 606 had many of its . Mbers locked out last week. In Nanaimo City all public works have €n shut down or curtailed. Union representatives have charged that

a8 newly-formed Mid-Island Public Employers Association has become all blocking realistic negotiations.

der attack... Pg.

Labor condemns

Socred cutbacks

Opposition and condemnation of cutbacks in government services to people, and the granting of huge concessions to big business highlighted the B.C. Federation of Labor’s annual brief to the provincial cabinet last week.

In presenting the 22-page memorandum, Federation secretary-treasurer Len Guy was particularly harsh in his criticisms of government taxation policy, which the brief states “‘shifts the burden of taxation to poor and working people.’ Guy said that government actions “sadden us, but it does not surprise us.

“Rather than collecting more from resources your government appears to want to collect more by penalizing transit users, automobile owners, householders and commuters,” the brief said.

The Federation brief calls upon the government to repeal the sales tax, just recently raised to seven per cent by the Soecred govern-

ment, to remove school taxes from .

homes and family farms, and to remove welfare costs from municipalities. The Federation said that these items were cost items and that alternate sources of revenue are required, and more

On wage freeze

| Of th

the]

os NDP opposition in the B.C. on ature last Friday gave its legigh t to Socred government eon signing B.C. up under eral wage control program. kno er aucing the legislation a as_ Bill 16, Premier Bill 7 ett said B.C. is signing up for the Se until April, 1977, but that tego. government does not me ae abandon controls at that itso, € stated that B.C. will have by wt 8uideline program in place at time. sist leader Bill King told the Over ure he is pleased the Socred : Beet has “‘now been able to K Clear stand.” He added that tee government would not oe € inflationary pressure of Mcreases. In stating support os federal government wage Teeat program, King was Barrett © the stand taken by the ‘ government before its eg also lining up support Sketch NDP with the stand of Ver ewan and Manitoba NDP the nments, which have opted for free €deral government wage

7e program, despite strong

Op hee EC Position jn those provinces by

f ‘or movement. tableg” days before Bill 16 was R In Victoria, the B.C.

e : donee ation of Labor, representing trade unionists, presented a Premier Bennett and the cabinet voicing strong

brieg Provincial

NDP backs Soc

opposition to B.C. joining the federal guidelines program.

Branding the federal wage control program as “unjust

because it places the burden of -

inflation on salaried and. hourly

paid workers,” the brief presented by George Johnston, president, -

and Len Guy, secretary-treasurer, said B.C. labor ‘‘vigorously rejects the federal wage control program.”

“We are not prepared to be limited to wage increases of eight per cent, six per cent and four per cent respectively over the next three years while the cost of housing, rent, utilities, auto in- surance, food rises unchecked. We believe the so-called price controls are a ‘sham... Collective bargaining as we have known it for decades is over and your govern- ment’s decision to opt in will not improve industrial _ relations in BCs

The brief adds: “‘Acceptance by the former government (NDP) was.a mistake which this govern- ment should not repeat. We are totally opposed to wage con- trols . . . and we are determined to break such programs. We support the 10-point program of the CLC to fight inflation. This program, if implemented, would be effective and should be adop- ted.’

The stand taken by the NDP in the legislature stands in sharp

red bill

contrast to that the trade union movement. Undoubtedly the NDP position undermines labor’s struggle against the program and once again points up the reason for the strong stand taken recently by CLC president Joe Morris on the need for labor to adopt an in- dependent political stand on issues affecting the unions.

particularly that the revenue can be collected from the province’s rich natural resources and through the implementation of a more equitable tax system.

The brief noted that initial government actions in financing have been in ‘‘the wrong direction”’ and away from the proposals and wishes of most British Columbians and urged the government to reconsider its approach financing.

The brief was highly critical of the manipulations ~ and misrepresentation of the provin- ce’s financial situation, both in the new provincial budget, and in the February 28 speech by premier Bennett on B.C.’s financial status. The brief accused the government of misleading the people of B.C. by including Crown corporation statements .within the regular budget and by including all potential expenditures in the 1975- 76 {fiscal year, while potential revenue for the same period was held over to the 1976-77 budget.

The Federation said that had the former NDP government used the “same sleight-of-hand when they assumed office in 1972, they would have been able to show a Socred deficit of more than a _ billion dollars.”’

The government’s approach to the whole question of social assistance and welfare was cited as the most serious indictment of the Socred’s attack against the working people and the poor in the province. Human_ resources minister Bill Vander . Zalm’s statements regarding welfare recipients were characterized as “nothing less than disgusting” by the Federation, which said that they ‘‘illustrate the backward and unacceptable attitude that the minister’s priority is to reduce the

See LABOR, pg. 12

to.

B.C. Federation of Labor secretary Len Guy presented hard-hitting brief to Socred cabinet.

Health cost under fire

Building trades unions in B.C. have expressed grave concern over the impact on their members of the provincial government decision to boost medical premiums by 50 per cent.

A meeting called by the B:C. and Yukon Building Trades Council of administrators of construction union health and welfare plans Monday decided to send a representative delegation to Victoria to voice their concern to the ministers of health and finance.

Construction union health and welfare plans affect 46,000 workers and their families. An example given at the meeting was that bricklayers will require a 10 cent per hour boost in pay to cover additional costs.

City May Day rally May 1

“Control prices, profits — not wages”’ will be the theme as Vancouver holds its May Day celebration on Saturday, May 1 with a car cavalcade followed by a public rally.

The mass rally will be held at the Van- couver Technical School, 2600 block East Broadway at 2 p.m., and will be preceded by a ear cavalcade which will muster at the PNE grounds at 12 noon. The May Day Committee has called for a large turnout of working people for both the cavalcade and

rally.

Feature speakers at the rally will include Art Kube, regional director for the Canadian Labor Congress, Ald. Harry Rankin, Lorne Robson, secretary of the Provincial Council of Carpenters, and Jack Phillips, B.C. Communist Party organizer. Chairman of the rally will be Cliff Rundgren, vice- president of the Vancouver and District Labor Council. A musical program will ‘be

on your living

Committee.

“Bargain at Half the Price.”

“From its beginnings 90 years ago around the fight for an eight-hour day, May Day has been used by working people the world around to celebrate their achievements and torenew their struggles for a better life. May Day, 1976, is dedicated to stopping the attack

standards,”’ says the call

issued this week by the Vancouver May Day

The call points out that working people

governments.”’

song group,

today are faced by: ‘‘a savage attack on your living standards by big business and its

Hitting out at the Socred

government’s recent budget and its attack on labor’s rights, and the Liberal govern- ment’s wage freeze program and its attack on collective bargaining, the call says ‘‘both big business governments can be compelled to retreat if all those affected unite for new and progressive policies.”’

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