G Terrace Review — Weimesday, June29, 1988 it Another ritual complete Graduation from high school is probably the closest thing this society has to a coming-of-age ceremony. Many of the Caledonia students who went through this rite of passage Friday will find themselves carry- ing on in the relatively insulated environment of university; others are being rather suddenly projected | into the workaday world most of the rest of us in- habit. | ~ Few adults can forget the charged sense of freedom and release that characterized leaving high school. The interference of conservative and inertia-bound teachers and parents became resigned to the past, and acting upon the world to change it went from the realm of possibility to that of reality. Many of us would like to know at what exact mo- ment we became transformed from people fighting the generation that came before us into a generation with its own youth crowding up hard from behind. Perhaps it was a series of widely-spaced moments, small realizations that the world is a vastly complex phenomenon difficult to come to grips with outside a very personal circle of experience. And perhaps the realization that the first requirement of a worthy bat- tle is correctly identifying the adversary. Like Pogo in his cartoon swamp, one day we look around and have to say, ‘‘We have met the enemy — and they is us.”’ - We wish the Caledonia grads, not luck — wishes don’t have much effect on that — but early revela- tions. interested In helping the Scouts or Girl Guides, or the community? Short on time, but still Interested? The B.P. Guild will help you help, without necessarily filling your calendar. If you don’t have the time to become a Scouting leader, you can still help Scouts through the Gulld, or if you wished you had gone into Scouting, the Guild can get you helping with Scouting events. For more information, contact Finn Larsen at 638-1377. Terrace Association for Community Living needs ad- vocates for handicapped people living in Terrace. For more information please phone Janice at 635-9322 or ’ Carol-Ann at 635-3940. Kermode Knit Wits, a club for all persons interested In furthering machine knitting. Regular monthly meetings will be held on the 2nd Tuesday at noon and the 4th Thursday at 7:30 p.m. For further information call Audrey at 638-1335, Jan at 635-7517 or Nancy at 635-5319. Everyone welcome. & CNA Terrace Review Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. All material appearing in the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra: tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro- duced for any reagon without permission of the pubilsher. Publisher: Errors and omissions. Advertising Is accepted Mark Twytord on the condition that in the event af Editor: - typographical error, that portion of the advertis- : ing space occupied by the erroneous item will Michael Kelly not be charged for, but the batanca of ths adver- ot - tlsement will be paid for at the applicable rate. : Staff Reporters: Advertisers must assume responsibility for er . Tod Strachan rors in any classified ad which ts supplied to the _ Terrace Review in handwritten form. . in compliance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will ba published which - Charlynn Toews = Advertising Sales: <> Mar] Twyford discriminates against a person due to age, face, a». Jean-Luc Roy . religion, color, Sex, nationally, ancestry or place "=" Typesetting: ‘Linda Copeland 4535 Greig Avenue, “ Broductian: Terrace, B.C. "Jim Hall, Alvin Stewart, VBG 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 °° urbax Gill, Linda Mercer, “oS. Arlene Gaspar Office: Carrie Olgon en — _: Accounting: ie year eu seriptions: ' Mar] Twyford Out of Canada $80.00 Seniors In Terrace and District $12.00 Seniors out of -Tariace and District $15.00 Second-class mall _ tegistration No, 6896. * Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Piease include your telephone number. The editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those ot the Terrace Review. _ More than money on — _ the bargaining table — “some municipalities. by Victoria correspondent Mark Collins The big issue in this year’s contract talks between the pro- vincial government and the B.C. Government Employees Union is whether civil servants should be treated like employees of the business or members of the family. The desire to have a more businesslike approach is incor- porated in the government’s philosophy about the BCGEU’s benefit package. As Bob Plecas, the government’s chief negotiator puts it, ‘‘we will be looking at a wage settlement that moves toward community standards as the benefits and conditions and terms of work move toward community stan- dards.”’ An example he gives of the richness of the BCGEU’s benefit package is the special leaves clause. Almost $300,000 of our tax dollars were spent last year paying government employees who took a day off with pay to move household furniture or effects. This is not a job transfer situation, but one where a BCGEU member moves to a new apartment or a different house. “It’s one of | those things that came in the 70’s and it is a symptom of a bigger problem of a rich benefit package,’’ Plecas said. ‘Removal of it in itself doesn’t do much when one percentage . point is $10 million.” Plecas seems calm about the whole situation, wanting some minor adjustments but the union wants much more, The BCGEU is angry about the wages earned by clerical workers, many of whom make less than what it calls the poverty line of $26,256. Isobel Prewett, chairperson of the BCGEU’s administrative component, says the vast ma- jority of these people are wom- en and many of them are single parents. She says the union is committed to eliminating poverty level wages that keep women poor, Plecas says the union’s choice of that poverty line means half of the wage earners in the country are poor, but no matter where you draw that line, if you take a business point of view there’s no reason to give the clerks and typists a raise. ‘We have no problem at all in recruiting those people,” Plecas ‘said, “If we were just a pure employer we would not have reason to want to address that kind of issue because we have waiting lists for those kinds of jobs. We have lots of applicants for those kinds of jobs.”” Plecas says the government is willing to negotiate a raise for the administrative services com- ponent because the union’s co- operation is wanted to increase wages for people such as public health inspectors. The B.C. government is having trouble recruiting because it has lower wage rates than the competition, the federal government and The government’s push for a more businesslike relationship seems quite reasonable except for the presence of a third . force at the bargaining table. What might be called the ghost of the Compensation Stabiliza- tion Act is also a factor. In 1983 as part of Premier Bill Bennett’s restraint pro- . gram, the Social Credit govern- ment passed legislation to allow negotiated wage settlements to be rolled back. Bven a settle- ment reached through the ser- vices of an independent ar- bitrator was no longer sacred. The government’s recruiting problems today are its own fault because it allowed short- term political considerations to override the collective bargain- ing process. . BCGEU President John Shields says the union needs major revisions to the contract because the government has been changing the rules of the -game,° “The Public Service Act con- ‘templates that all people work- ing delivering government ser- vices are hired on the basis of merit and are government employees. This government - has taken the approach that they will not hire on the basis of merit. They are going to hire on the cheap and it doesn’t matter how good the services are ot-how meritorious the | employees are as long as they can get a cheap bottom line... The whole collective agreement now has to be rethought... the government is acting in ue- fiance of its own legislation.” These negotiations could be simple if money was the only - question, but Shields’ view of the situation makes it clear that it will be a long hot summer at ihe bargaining table — if not... a : . on the picket line.