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The Prince George
Citizen
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5,1986 50 CENTS
INCLUDES^
TV
TIMES
Higher air fares feared 5 Wrench skins Hackner 13 Thief conned society 34
.........2,3 .........36
......22,23
GOV'T WILL ACT IF IWA TALKS FAIL
Back to work next week!
Jobless rate lower here than Coast
Citizen news services
The unemployment rate in the northern Interior, including Prince George, was 12 per cent in November, up from 10.5 per cent in October, Statistics Canada said today.
The pattern across the province is unusual, with the rate for this area better than in Vancouver, which stands at 13.0 per cent, the Squamish/Lillooet area at 17.8, or the Okanagan at 17.3.
In a major shift, the lowest unemployment rate in B.C. is the sparsely-populated north — the Peace-Liara, Queen Charlottes, Kitimat-Stikine and Skeena regions, where the jobless rate is 10.6.
Rates for individual cities are not seasonally adjusted because the number of people interviewed is relatively low, Statistics Canada said.
In contrast, the unemployment rate in Toronto stands at 4.4, with Oshawa at 7.0 and Thunder Bay at
8.2
For the province of British Columbia as a whole, the unadjusted rate was 13.5 while the seasonally adjusted rate is 13.3.
Nationally, Statistics Canada said there has been almost no change in the job market over the last year.
There were 1.173 million unemployed in November, 57,000 more than in October. But adjusted for seasonal variations, the unemployment rate was unchanged from October at 9.4 per cent.
The figures come on the heels of the Forget commission report into unemployment insurance, which calls for significant reductions in jobless benefits for many unemployed, especially seasonal workers in poorer regions.
Forget also recommended introduction of a separate income support system for the needy.
. . .and in tomorrow's Citizen...
A former RCMP investigator has a file full of commendations for his work, but it made no difference when he needed help from the force. In the Saturday Forum, you’ll read why he thinks the RCMP turned its back on him.
Also planned:
■ A preview of the high school basketball season in Prince George.
■ An interview with Paul Hogan, the Australian actor who found fame with the movie Crocodile Dundee.
Interest
relief
promised
NANAIMO (CP) — Interest rate relief is coming for small business in British Columbia, says Frank Hussey, the Tourism Ministry’s manager of tourism industry development.
The provincial government is establishing an interest buy-down program, he told the Nanaimo tourism bureau Thursday. Details of the new program, called Banking on B.C., should be available early in the new year.
'NEW EVIDENCE
Air-lndia
Southam News OTTAWA — Solicitor General James Kelleher says new evidence has given investigators “some hope” that charges will be laid against terrorists who blew up an Air-lndia jet last year.
Appearing before the Commons justice committee Thursday, Kelleher refused to say what the evidence was, how or where it was obtained or whether charges would actually result.
But, he added, “I think I can say there is new evidence which gives us hope. I am heartened by some
charges?
of the evidence that must now be evaluated to see if it will support the laying of charges.”
The Air-lndia jumbo jet went down off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, most of them Canadians.
Kelleher said it might jeopardize the investigation into the crash if he revealed more details, though he told reporters the information was “fairly recent.”
The federal committee overseeing Canada’s security service suggested last June that the investigation may have been botched.
John Reynolds named Speaker
VICTORIA (CP) — The government and Opposition have reached agreement over the appointment of John Reynolds as Speaker of the B.C. legislature, government house leader Bruce Strachan said Thursday.
NDP house leader Mark Rose (Coquitlam-Moody) confirmed his party has agreed to second Reynolds’ nomination when the first session of the legislature opens.
In the meantime, Reynolds (SC-West Vancouver-Howe Sound) will be Speaker-designate and will carry out the duties of the office.
International
Christmas
Godril Sudibjo, 23, on guitar, joins Albert Jenson, 85, on harmonica demonstrating music is truly an international language at the Parkside Extended Care Home. The music continues at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Multicultural Services Society free Interna-
tional Christmas party at Prince George secondary school. Indonesian students will join a variety of other cultures in providing the entertainment, and the food will be international too, if you’re from somewhere else — turkey and ham.
Hospital technicians okay pact
VANCOUVER (CP) - British Columbia’s unionized health care technicians have voted 86 per cent to accept a three-year contract that narrows the wage gap between themselves and other health care professionals in Canada.
Jack Campbell, executive director of the 5,500-member Health Sciences Association, said Thursday the settlement, reached last month with the assistance of mediator Vince Ready, is a substantial improvement over an industrial inquiry commissioner’s report that was rejected by his members.
The union, whose members include X-ray and laboratory technicians, pharmacists, dieticians and psychiatric nurses, went on strike at about a dozen hospitals for brief periods last month.
The contract, retroactive to April 1, includes wage increases of 10.6 per cent over the first two years and a wage reopener in the final year. In addition, union members who reach the top pay increment level during the life of the agreement will receive an additional wage increase of 1.4 per cent.
Citizen news services
VICTORIA — British Columbia woodworkers will be legislated back to work next week if no negotiated agreement is reached today to end their bitter five-month-old strike, Premier Bill Vander Zalm said today.
Vander Zalm said he hopes a settlement will be reached today because both sides appear anxious to reach agreement and don’t appear to be looking forward to legislation.
Negotiations have resumed following a proposal by an unidentified third party, but if they fail once again, Vander Zalm said the next step is legislation.
The premier said the legislature would be recalled today or Monday at the latest, meaning the sitting would begin Wednesday or Thursday.
Vander Zalm also said he has already consulted with NDP Leader Bob Skelly on what the Opposition thinks should be included in the legislation and was waiting for a written response.
More than two thirds of the 30,000-member International Woodworkers of America is off the job in a strike which began July 23 over the issue of contracting out.
Meanwhile, union negotiatiors met again this morning with Graham Leslie, the deputy minister of labor, who was acting as a go-between for the union and the employers’ agent, Forest Industrial Relations.
IWA leader Jack Munro said a “snag” continued to be the issue of contracting out work. It is that issue that has kept the two sides at odds since July 23.
“We’re disappointed,” he said. “We thought we did enough work on it Thursday to get an agreement. But it hasn’t happened.”
Following a 2^-hour meeting with Leslie Thursday night, Munro said the union thought it had an agreement in principle Wednesday night and that meetings Thursday would be needed only to work out the details.
The new proposal was submitted by an unidentified third party. Both sides agreed not to name the instigators of the new initiative, but Premier Bill Vander Zalm said the proposal came from a group of business people within the forest industry.
Leslie met with the union early Thursday morning and spent most of the afternoon meeting with Forest Industrial Relations negotiators.
But he stressed that he is not acting as a mediator.
On another front, the end of the bitter five-month-old woodworkers’ strike will precipitate a collapse in North American lumber prices, say forest industry analysts.
When the strike ends, the amount of lumber available to be shipped will almost double, and
Continued page 2
HQ played key role
Strike
by DIANE BAILEY Staff reporter
Its contents are sparse and its only window dressing is a couple of picket signs, but the International Woodworkers of America strike headquarters is among the busiest spots downtown this Christmas season.
The headquarters, on Third Avenue, is the focal point for 675 sawmill workers involved in a four-month strike against four Prince George mills that will come to a legislated end next week if a settlement is not reached.
Here they collect strike pay, buy cheap food, get the latest negotiation bulletins, and sometimes just spend a little time over a free cup of coffee.
In one corner, a small group plays cards. Another groups stands in the middle of the room talking, while a few more lean their chairs against the window, reading.
Ruth Henwood, wife of one of the food bank workers, keeps an eye on a pot of macaroni she is boiling for lunch. She asks a visitor about potential babysitting jobs to supplement the $77 a week strike relief her husband receives.
It is a good place to pass a few
hours in a long week. Picket shifts take only about eight hours a week, entertainment is expensive and even casual work is hard to come by.
"I know a good deal of them spend a great deal of time here,” said food bank manager Roy Brown.
Earlier this week nobody at headquarters was debating the merits of the strike, or even discussing it much at all.
“We did at first. Every little thing that came in, we were hyper about. Now, there is not that much,” said Canfor employee Ken White.
Discussion is reserved for major developments, like the announcement today by Premier Bill Vander Zalm that workers will be legislated back to work next week if the strike is not settled in the current round of negotiations.
This morning there were about five people there, wondering about the details on developments that may put them back to work.
The end of hectic pay days at strike headquarters is in sight, when when most members went from picking up their relief cheques to the bank, then straight
back to buy groceries.
“On pay week we take in a thousand or more dollars on foodstuffs,” Brown said, adding the food bank easily went through 120 dozen eggs, 400 litres of milk and 150 loaves of bread.
The food bank is a long table, almost the length of the room, piled with basics. Soup is 40 cents a can, eggs are 90 cents a dozen and 10 kilograms of flour is $4.
There is cereal, canned vegetables, toilet paper, laundry detergent and even a stack of old clothes piled at one end. The products are bought wholesale and sold below cost, subsidized by the local union.
Anything that is donated is given away, although the board of health has ordered the union to stop distributing uninspected milk from local farms.
Brown said about three-quarters of the striking membership use the food bank, up from about 150 members a couple of months ago.
“It has expanded immensely. I would think it is probably better accepted now than in the beginning,” he said.
“Now, the money has dwindled and people are thinking in terms of
how far they can stretch their strike pay.”
Before the news of pending legislation. the food bank was working with some church groups and witn working IWA members to put together Christmas packages for strikers. Weldwood employees in Quesnel donated $2,300.
“As of now, we are trying to secure some money, as well as some food and gifts so we can provide them witn some semblance of Christmas,” Brown said.
“It is not so much for the membership, but for the children who do not understand why mommy or daddy is on strike.”
Despite the season and despite their financial difficulties, the resolve of strikers has remained strong. They describe an industrial inquiry report designed to end the dispute, but overwhelmingly rejected by the membership, as almost insulting.
The report gives the companies flexibility in scheduling shifts, but does not deal with the issue of contracting out mill work. It also calls for improved pensions, a wage increase of 40 cents an hour in the
Continued page 2
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