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The Prince George
Citizen
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1986
40 CENTS
U.S. careful about Syria 7 Nuclear power in Cuba 11 Mets complete comeback 13
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LONG DISPUTE TAKING ITS TOLL HERE
IWA strike: Mediator gives up
Citizen news services
 VANCOUVER — Mediator Don Munroe said Monday he is suspending his efforts to reach a settlement in the three-month strike by 20,000 woodworkers that has idled most of the sawmill production capacity in British Columbia at a cost of millions of dollars.
  Munroe said he has taken the talks as far as he can and held out little hope of a negotiated settlement. However, he said he would continue to be available to labor and management negotiators.
 As the mediator all but threw in the towel, both sides — the International Woodworkers of America and Forest Industrial Relations, which bargains for the forest companies — again accused each other of bargaining in bad faith.
  The woodworkers said in a news release the companies have refused to bargain on the contentious issue of contracting out work to other companies which would mean a loss of union jobs.
  “The chief executive officers of about eight giant forest conglomerates, a handful of men, are holding this province’s economy af ransom so that, out of sheer vindictiveness, they can get a pound of flesh from their employees.
 “We have done everything in our power to reach a fair settlement. But we cannot submit to vindictiveness.”
  Industry negotiator Keith Bennett called the strike a calamity for the province and accused the union of refusing to negotiate.
  “The amusing part about the union statement is the final sentence where they say they’ve done about everything in their power to reach a fair settlement. They have done nothing.”
 The union said the companies would not talk about contracting out and pensions until agreement was
 reached on six-day production at sawmills and wood plants. That would see workers scheduled to work Saturdays at straight time. Workers currently receive a shift premium tor working Saturdays.
   Bennett said shift flexibility has been on the negotiating agenda since the talks began and “you can’t negotiate with someone who won’t negotiate.”
   Frank Everitt, president of IWA Local 1-424, representing workers in the Northern Interior, said the lengthening strike is worrying members.
  “You put anyone on the streets for three months without a job and you’re going to get a lot of worried people.”
   Strike wages are only a fraction of normal salaries. Everitt said the IWA pays $70 a week to married workers with $7 extra for each dependent. Singles or those with working spouses receive $55 a week.
   “To top things off, someone stole our picket truck at Isle St. Pierre over the weekend,” said Everitt.
  The 1970 white and gold camper truck was used to shelter IWA pickets outside Canfor’s sawmill.
   Everitt said the union was renting the truck from a member. It went missing last Friday night. The vehicle had moose and bear decals on the front and a rainbow trout on the back.
  Mediator Munroe is the third person who has been unable to help the parties reach a new contract. Mr. Justice Henry Hutcneon of the B.C. Court of Appeal, failed in his role as a convenor. Premier Bill Vander Zalm failed to keep the two sides talking during the provincial election campaign.
   The premier has also hinted he could call a short session of the house to legislate an end to the dispute but that won’t come until at least after Nov. 4 when absentee and other ballots are counted. There is a possibility they could change some ridings that were close in the Oct. 22 election.
'Did you advertise for an experienced salesman in ladies underwear?"
Citizen photos by Lisa Murdoch
Painful moment
Aaron Brown’s mild curiosity at nurse’s daubing his thigh with antiseptic, top photo, turns into one of life’s most bitter lessons in his whole 10 months, when she jabs him with a vaccination needle, centre photo. But the tender kisses from his mom. Kim Brown, soothe him and help him to forget it all. Aaron was attending one of the regular child health clinics held throughout the Prince George region.
2,100 off job in north
by MALCOLM CURTIS Staff reporter
  Northern B.C. has been hit less severely than the rest of the province by forestry disputes, but lengthening strikes are keeping more than 2,100 union workers off the job in this region.
  Twelve mills are shut down and the Council of Forest Industries claims that almost one-third of lumber capacity has been knocked out in the Northern Interior lumber sector.
  The mills are owned by forestry giants Canfor, Northwood Pulp and Timber and B.C. Forest Products.
  “They’re major players,” said Greg Jadrzyk, COFI regional general manager, who says they account for 31 per cent of the output of COFI’s members in the north.
  The first two companies remain at loggerheads with the International Woodworkers of America, while the Pulp. Paper and Woodworkers of Canada union has struck BCFP’s Mackenzie sawmills and shut down the company pulp mill.
  Northwood says 900 mill hands are on strike at Houston and the company’s three mills in Greater Prince George.
  The majority of lumber companies in the region are still cutting wood.
  Twenty-two companies, members of the Council on Northern Interior Forest Employment Relations (CONIFER), signed an agreement with the IWA that limits contracting work out. This is a sticking point with firms that bargain independently with the union.
 CONIFER’S members employ 3,500 workers, about 2,500 of whom are unionized, according to David Gunderson, executive director of the council.
  The continuing unrest is beginning to worry area businessmen as the traditional Yuletide boom period nears.
  “Prince George isn’t as hard-hit as some of the smaller communities like Mackenzie,” said Tom Griffiths, president of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, commenting on the impact on retail sales here.
  “But there is definitely an effect with the community with people hesitant about making purchases .
. . at this point I haven’t heard of
-★-
  The tally
    Here are the mills affected by strikes in the Northern Interior with approximate numbers of workers off the job:
   NORTHWOOD PULP AND TIMBER; Houston sawmill, 350 IWA members on strike. Prince George, Shelley and Upper Fraser sawmills, 550.
   CANFOR: Chetwynd sawmill, 225. Fort St. John, 120. Fort St. James, 285. Isle St. Pierre, 125.
   B.C. FOREST PRODUCTS: Mackenzie, three sawmills, 550 PPWC workers on strike. One pulp mill, 200 CPU members off work due to PPWC pickets.
anyone yet who’s had to lay someone off because of the IWA dispute, but we’d certainly like to see an early resolution to this.”
  In Mackenzie, 195 km north of Prince George, local businesses are starting to smart as an 11-week
strike affecting 750 workers there lengthens.
  “It’s starting to impact us now.” said Leonard Watt, manager of Mackenzie Consumers Co-op.
  “I’ve laid three people otf and if it continues I’ll have to lay more off.”
  Watt said sales are down by 20 per cent, with purchases of meat down particularly.
  “People are just buying the basics — hamburgers, wieners and baloney.”
  “Business is definitely down, but
I	haven’t heard of anyone yet who’s going under,” said Bev Carlson, Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce president.
  B.C. Forest Products’ three sawmills and its pulp mill have shut down because of pickets set up by striking Pulp. Paper and Woodworkers of Canada.
  Union members are having to cope with $40 a week in strike pay.
  Carlson, a realtor by trade, said she is personally beginning to feel the pinch.
  “House sales are down — when people aren't working they don’t qualify for mortgages.’’
  But Carlson feels that workers are still able to fall back on savings, at least in the short term.
Enough cash raised for Barb's operation
by BERNICE TRICK Staff reporter
  Barbara Green, a 23-year-old Prince George woman suffering from a rare liver and kidney disorder. plans to leave for England in mid-November for a double transplant that may save her life.
  The trip has been made possible by public donations to a trust fund set up by the Elks Lodge 122, which today totals $34,100.
  Barbara’s parents, Roy and Shirley Green, say it’s enough money for them to take Barbara for the liver and kidney transplant in Cambridge, where the world's only surgeon who can perform the rare procedure is in practice.
The B.C. Medical Plan will pay all medical costs, but the parents
needed help from the public to pay other costs like transportation and accommodation during a three to six-month stay in England.
  The family has been overwhelmed by the generosity of people throughout Western Canada who’ve made donations and sponsored fund-raising events which are still earning money for the fund.
  While in England, Barbara will undergo assessments, the surgery (once a donor has been found), six-weeks of recuperation time and re-ular kidney dialysis which has een keeping her alive ever since her kidneys were removed six years ago.
  The parents have discovered they can stay part of the time at the hospital or nurses residence, especially during crucial days during and after surgery, but believe the cost will be substantial.
  They will also accept an invitation to stay part time with an English family who have offered them hospitality and the loan of a car.
  Even if Barbara gets the transplant, the risk is great she will not make it through the surgery, “but it’s tho only hope she’s got,” said her father Roy.
  The sooner Barbara receives the treatment, the better, for her health is fast deteriorating.
  The rare disease — primarv hyperoxaluria - has destroyed both Barbara’s kidneys, given* her severe arthritis, and, since age seven. has necessitated about 50 operations with the majority being for kidney stones as well as the recent amputation of a toe due to gangrene.
 TORONTO (CP) - Public support for the federal Conservatives has dropped to 33 per cent among decided voters since June, the lowest level since the 1984 election, suggests an opinion poll published today.
 The popularity of the federal NDP, meanwhile, has jumped to 29 per cent, its highest level since the party was founded in 1961, indicates the poll conducted for the Toronto Globe and Mail.
 The Liberal party got the support of 37 per cent of respondents, two points fewer than in June. The number of undecided voters remained at 20 per cent, while one per cent favored other parties.
 The Conservatives are down three points and the New Democrats are up five points since June.
  Support for the NDP is 10 points higher than the 19 per cent of the popular vote the party won in the 1984 federal election and five points higher than the previous poll.
 The survey was conducted by Environics Research Group Ltd. and based on telephone interviews with 1,982 eligible voters across Canada between Sept 24 and Oct.
15.	It has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20, meaning the Conservatives and Liberals could each have the support of 35 per cent of decided voters.
 NDP gains, made at the expense of both the Liberals and Conservatives, have come from the party’s traditional base of male skilled and semi-skilled workers and members of private-sector unions, Environics suggests.
 The survey, conducted at the mid-point of the Conservatives’ first term in office, shows a strong resemblance to the pattern of party support at the mid-point of the Liberals’ last majority government.
Observatory closure 'disastrous'
 VANCOUVER (CP) - Closing either of British Columbia’s astro-physical observatories would be a disastrous loss for Canadian research science, say the directors of the institutions.
  One of the three national observatories will be shut because of cuts made to the National Research Council’s budget two weeks ago. The three observatories are the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton and the Algonquin Radio Observatory in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park.
 Lloyd Higgs, director the the Penticton observatory, said the decision on which facility will be closed will be made within a month, and “if it is our institution, it will be a disastrous loss for Canadian radio astronomy.”
 The Penticton observatory has an annual budget of $1.5 million, employs about 20 people and specializes in studies of large objects in the Milky Way galaxy.
 Victoria’s director Jim Hesser said he is shocked the federal government would consider closing any of the facilities.
.. .and
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 in tomorrow's Citizen...
 Pat Carney, Canada’s international trade minister, has surprised many observers by going for a full-throttle challenge to the 15 per cent duty imposed on softwood lumber by the U.S. An article on Wednesday’s editorial page explains why the minister made this decision.
  Also planned:
 ■	How Halloween is changing
 ■	Mudslinging in the U.S. elee tions.