‘.

GVRD won't break union, warn staff

Continued from page 1

ployees. Our intention was peace- ful discussion. We will stay outside and conduct ourselves peacefully. We are hopeful that the police will also behave peacefully,’’ it said. Presumably under pressure from aldermen the cancelled city council meeting became un-can- celled and the lights were turned on so that council could hear two rep- resentatives from the senior staff and approve Harcourt’s proposal to cancel the rest of the meeting.

- However the whole incident had enraged the three COPE aldermen, Harry Rankin, Bruce Yorke and Bruce Eriksen, who had not been informed of the proposal to lock ci- ty hall and cancel the meeting

“The union has madea perfectly proper request to meet with us. I completely reject that this was a provocation. . .and I don’t accept the police information,” said Yorke. “‘A large principle of de- mocracy is involved.

Rankin added that he didn’t be- lieve that the union members would do any harm to city hall,

urging that the meeting continue |

andthe doors to city hall be reopen- ed. Council was setting a danger- ous precedent in closing city hall because of the possibility of a pro- test action, warned Eriksen.

Not unexpectedly, the right wing NPA aldermen joined in the attack on Harcourt for cancelling the meeting, but also attacked the un- ions and argued against reopening the doors of city hall.

Council voted unanimously to continue the meeting as regular, but the NPA and TEAM joined to form a majority to keep the doors to city hall closed. A motion from Yorke to invite the delegation of 38 senior staff members to appear be- fore council was also defeated, sup- ported only by Rankin, Eriksen and Harcourt.

Two representatives of the VMREU senior staff members did speak to council and used the oc- casion to disabuse council of any notion that the union’s ranks were split.

GVRD negotiator Graham Les- lie “is playing a waiting game and doing nothing on the assumption that we will finally come whimper- ing back, broken financially and in

B.C. doctors want an in-

‘from the government for pa- tient visits, operations and other services they perform. An in- crease is justified, their expenses are going up too.

How much that percent in- crease should be is another mat- ter. The doctors are demanding a 41 percent increase; the gov- ernment is offering 15 percent. The final figure is something to be settled by negotiation.

The doctors will have to justi- fy their demands the same as anybody else. They’ll have to produce some facts and figures that can stand up to public scru- tiny. And they should stop those insulting and hypocritical radio ads which tell us that they only want an increase so they can serve us better. They want an in- crease because they want more money in their pockets — it’s as simple as that. The ‘‘help us to help you’”’ argument smacks too much of Imperial Oil’s argu- ment that it wants oil prices in Canada doubled to world levels because it will be good for us!

But that’s by no means the worst aspect of the tactics of the B.C. Medical Association in trying to get what it wants. It has announced that unless it gets its 41 percent increase it will begin extra billing patients. This means that for every visit you make to the doctor you will be personally charged $5.50. This is in addition to the $12.50 which they already get from the government for each visit.

Also they announced that they will extra bill each patient for operations. For a tonsillect- omy for which they now get $73.00, they will bill you for an extra $41.00. Obstetrical care will bring an additional bill of $201.00, in addition to the $249.00 they already get from the government. An appendect- omy will bring you a bill for $75.00 in addition to the $166.00 they already get.

Ban extra-billing

crease in the payments they get

_ lots of money you'll get the best

Extra billing is fundamentally wrong on at least two counts.

(1) It will not only cause ser- ious hardship for many people with, low and moderate in- comes, what is worse is that - many will put off seeing a doc- tor to the detriment of their health. A problem that prevent- ive care could have remedied in its early stages may developinto . a major health problem later re- quiring operative and hospital treatment all of which will only add to the total costs of medi- car

Harry Rankin

(2) An emus important and sinister aspect of extra billing is that it will undermine the whole system of medicare. From being a universal system of. medical aid available to all who need health care, it will now be based on ability to get. If you’ve got

of care; if not you can just go without and suffer. The Cana- dian Medical Association and its B.C. branch have always op- posed medicare.. They want to be free to charge all the traffic can bear and apparently don’t care what will happen to those who can’t afford it or what will happen to the health standards.

I don’t think they should be allowed to get away with it. They want the best of two worlds — they want to be subsi- dized by the government and still be free to charge whatever extra they want.

In my view extra billing should be banned in B.C. just as it is in Quebec. There should be no opting out for any doctors in B.C. If they want to use our hos- pitals and equipment, all of which are paid for by the public, then they should be required to

stay within the medicare system.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— gab 20, toeher ne 2

Me NC Se eta tate ae

BRITISH COLUMBIA:

TRIBUNE PHOTO—FRED WILSON

VMREU MEMBER STAN SMITH.

ka eed

. senior worker in city finance department addressing rally of about

300 union members in support of a delegation of 38 VMREU members who normally.advise city council.

spirit, content to take whatever pit- tance is offered,’ said finance de- partment employee Stan Smith, “Graham Leslie is wrong and time will prove that.’’

Another finance department staffer with 22 years service, Addie Derby, questioned council’s knowledge of strike issues. ‘‘You have trusted our opinions and judgments for years. Why do you suddenly perceive us now as either liars or idiots.’’

Derby blasted council for its ap- parent stand that female clerical workers are being treated fairly. “A base rate of $843 (per month) is not considered a living wage in our

present economic climate. Yet you seem to think we are being treated fairly. Is it any wonder we are frus- trated enough to withdraw our ser- Vil ices 2 ””

Derby said the union recognizes that it will not achieve all of its de- mands, but the GVRD is “‘playing a waiting game trying to break the union.’’ She urged the city to in- struct the GVRD labor relations committee to “‘bargain realistically with no preconditions on a contin- uous basis to get city employees back to work.”’

Tuesday evening at the regular meeting of the Vancouver and Dis- trict Labor Council, CUPE dele-

gate Harry Greene warned that the strike could continue for another two months unless the GVRD makes a substantial move towards the unions.

Municipal politicians have been manipulated by negotiator Gra- ham Leslie and are now backed in- to a corner, he said. ‘‘They refuse to admit they bought a bad deal from Leslie, and he won’t back off now or else he will lose credibility with the politicians.

“Unless they back off we’ll be on the pavement for another two months. And I assure them we are prepared to do that rather than ac- cept what has been offered now.”

Vancouver to ask Socreds for home rule over ward system

Vancouver city council took a decisive step towards electoral reform in the city this week voting six to five to apply directly to the provincial government for legisla- tion allowing the city to implement a ward system in time for the 1982 elections.

A motion to begin the process ,

towards implementation of a ward system had already passed by the same margin in January, but

without any clear direction on the.

manner in which it could be done.

Tuesday, the three COPE aldermen, the two TEAM aldermen and mayor Harcourt joined in a majority to approve seven recommendations which would have the effect of granting the city enabling legislation to establish a ward system by bylaw, without provincial interference or approval.

The recommendations proposed by clerk Bob Henry would have the

province replace the present wor-

ding in the city charter with a.

similar provision to the Municipal Act governing other municipalities in B.C. which would allow the number and boundaries of the wards to be established by bylaw.

The resolution fixes the max- imum number of wards at 12 and would require a two thirds majority of city council to amend the bylaw once it is in place.

Other recommendations adopted would retain the present qualifications for voting and for running for office, with one excep- tion. Council also approved an amendment to Section 73-A of the city charter to allow for affidavit ballots to be cast and counted by those left off the voters’ list. The reform had been fought for by COPE for over four years, but con- sistently denied by the former NPA majority.

The city council decision also

calls for meetings with the parks board and school board to discuss implementation of the ward system at those levels. In the case of school board an amendment to the pro- vincial Public Schools Act is also required. ;

“Speaking for COPE,~ Harry Rankin said the independent Gray Report, proposing 12 wards for the city; was acceptable as a starting point for ward boundaries. It was commissioned by the Socred dominated Governmental Review Commission of 1979 and not associated with any political group, he argued.

All of the decisions were oppos- ed by the right wing NPA group on council who stated openly that they will use their influence with the Socred government to block the - implementation of the ward system. ‘‘I will fight this to the death, personally,’’ said Warnett Kennedy.

Demolition fight at Melton Court

The municipal strike proved to be something of a godsend for the - 40 tenants of Melton Court in Kit- silano because, until their landlords get a demolition permit from city hall, their plans to tear the building down and replace it with | expensive condominiums remains in limbo. Their imminent eviction spurred the tenants to file a collective dispute at the Rentalsman’s office on the grounds that the building’s owners, a group of professionals called 2310 Development Ltd., have received neither demolition or redevelopment permits from the ci- ty. At a press conference last Fri-

day, Greater Vancouver Renters’ Association president Tom Lalonde called Melton Court a ‘“‘prime example’’ of how developers are capitalizing on Van- couver’s acute rental housing shor- tage by tearing down older, affor- dable units and replacing them with “fewer, high-priced executive ghet- tos.”’

Lalonde estimated that there are about 350 rental units that are destined for the wreckers’ ball in the next three months, depending on the status of the strike.

Melton Court was purchased by Aquilini Ltd., two and a half years ago for $479,000, outbidding the

tenants who wanted toturnitintoa cooperative using. Central Mor- tgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) financing.

Aquilini, like a lot of developers, flipped it, selling it to the 2310 group for $1.3 million.

The GVRA is among 19 organizations which have indicated that they will appear before Van- couver city council in support of COPE alderman Bruce Eriksen’s motion calling for a one year freeze on demolitions. The special meeting has been re-scheduled for March 26 at the Plaza 500 Hotel, 8 p.m.