131

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1983

Newsstand och SSID 48
price
40c Vol. 46, No. 40

The B.C. Federation of Labor has |
outlined a contingency plan for a r
€scalating public strike which would be

ered by government firing of any
Public sector worker under the terms of |
Bill 3, the Public Sector Restraint Act, |
Now proclaimed by the Legislature.
And if that public sector strike is

gainst unionists, it will escalate swiftly
Into a full scale general strike including
€ private sector, the federation warned.
The contingency plan, developed by |
the public sector co-ordinating commit-
tee for Operation Solidarity — which in-
Cludes B.C, Fed affiliates as well as the
Building Trades, Hospital Employees }
Union and others — was announced ‘
| following a meeting of the B.C. Fed ex- |
cutive council Friday. It will now gotoa }
full meeting of Operation Solidarity Oct.

Under the plan, the firing of any or all

7 Of the 1,600 B.C. Government

<mployees Union members now
Scheduled for termination would be met
With a full-scale BCGEU walkout Nov. 1.
If that failed to bring results it would be |
followed three days later by a walkout of
UNionists in the education sector, in-
pets members of the B.C. Teachers
tederation.
The strike would continue to escalate,
Other public sector unions joining |
© walkout every few days. Included §

} “ould be employees of Crown corpora-

Uons. The last to join would be hospital
Workers. :
Unions would also be involved even if
€Y Were not in a legal position to strike.
And not only the scheduled BCGEU
firings Would trigger job action. B.C. Fed

lf the government goes ahead and starts
Ming people under Bill 3, particularly the

See THREATENED page 12

Ire

&

Thursday night, in the face of a

: Movement that was clearly growing in

and in face of the determination of

: es _WNionists to mount province-wide

mo dinated job action, Premier Bennett
whet a little. And a Solidarity Coalition
ae Temains united and committed to ac-
Can move him again.

inett’s television address had only two
Politi Points despite the 22 minutes of
tone Propaganda: given the right condi-

+, 20 agreement might be reached which _

| Gulalter the terminations facing 1,600 B.C.
E over
amith the legislature adjourned, some

€nt Employees Union members
Make them contract layoffs instead;

Dieoes €nts might be considered to some
f sia legislation still before the house.
oe than anything, the speech was in-

Secretary-treasurer Mike Kramer said: \

é

to take the pressure off the hair trig-
a the BCGEU negotiations. With an
agreement pending which would circumvent
the provisions of Bill 3 and replace the firings
with layoffs carried out with due regard for
seniority, the BCGEU job action which
could touch off a general strike would not be

ae a ting such a possibility Bennett
te the trade union movement

to ove
cpt other constituent groups within the

idarity Coalition. A general strike or even
SS ott strike would have created a
major crisis for his are an =
is address was carefully design
Sap es ce of conciliation. But the

day after his speech the lieutenant-governor

was called in to give quick royal assent to
eight bills, including Bill 3.

~ Itsnot
¥ toolate:

Signs reflect there of Canadian protests, which drew thousands.

Some 10,000 Vancouver marchers joined millions on International Day of Protest Saturday.

| tOuched off and the government ; |
| lesponds with back-to-work legislation, |
_ | decertifications or criminal actions | 7

That action is a clear indication of how
much conciliation anyone can expect from
this government — unless there is the conti-
nuing pressure from the Solidarity Coalition
and citizens all across the province.

There is speculation that the government —

will attempt to frame agreements covering
layoffs throughout the public sector to avert
the inevitable job action that will result from
any indiscriminate firings.

Any such agreements would be a major
achievement for Operation Solidarity and
the Solidarity Coalition. But they would still
leave the legislation — including Bill 3 — on
the statute books or pending.

The legislation not yet passed can still be
withdrawn. Even those bills which have been
passed can be repealed.

Vancouver’s streets were filled with peace
marchers for the second time this year as an
estimated 9,000 to 10,000 protested against
cruise missile testing Saturday.

They joined more than two million others
who in several countries in Western Europe
marched, formed.kilometres-long humas
military bases Saturday and for nine days
preceding the International Day of Nuclear
Disarmament.

The European marches, and events across
the United States focussed world attention
on the planned deployment of cruise and
Pershing II missiles — considered to be the
worst destabilizers of a precarious arms
balance in almost three decades of nuclear
arms escalation — this fall.

In Canada, thousands took to the streets
in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver,
Victoria and several other B.C. communities
demanding the federal government cancel
the agree allowing the U.S. military to test
the air-launched cruise missile over northern
Canada beginning in January.

In Vancouver, a long line of marchers
headed out from the barracks at the west end
of Jericho Beach Park, as — almost pro-
videntially — the morning’s heavy rain
disippated and a brilliant sun broke through
the cloud cover.

The large turnout was all the more im-
pressive considering the rain, which un-
doubtedly reduced participation, and the

See VETERANS page 3

ay

There is continuing massive opposition to
the legislation — as evidenced by the rally
Oct. 15 and the recent meetings of the
Solidarity Coalition.

The Solidarity Coalition was given a man-
date last weekend to develop a plan of action
to escalate the fight aginst the legislation.
and to seek the assistance of Operation
Solidarity in mounting that fight by means
of job action.

Bennett has shown that his government
can be moved. If the Solidarity Coalition
puts its mandate into action — and Opera-
tion Solidarity demonstrates the unity that
has marked the movement from the beginn-
ing — the government can be forced to take _
the step backit should have taken three mon-

ago.