ae .
frend to look

Philosophical about the whole question Premier Barrett

SEE PHOTOS, STORIES BELOW

tra © unionists questioning him on impending labor legislation.

—Sean Griffin photos

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1973

Grave dan

By NIGEL MORGAN

Disillusionment and deep con-
cern over the ‘‘We-represent-the-
employers-as-well-as-labor”’ line of
the Barrett government is develop-
ing in the trade union movement of
British Columbia. i

Unless some drastic changes are
effected in the new labor legisla-
tion, which has been studied by
Cabinet but has yet to get the ap-
proval of the NDP Legislative

’ caucus, a sharp confrontation

between the labor movement led

Tenant leader Bruce Yorke addressing lobby.

r
‘ament buldings to

Ste
Ten - legislation.
“Panse PT@ME up on the huge

lawn and hundreds
as several tenants
Mee the massive
Nd unjustified evic-
S that | j ed evic
Osing oh fedlords have been im-

The opp nants.

~__ -¥Was a high point in the

eir urgent need for,

B.C.T.O. campaign aimed at get-
ting the NDP government to live
up to election promises to establish
rent review boards, to enact
legislation guaranteeing ‘‘just
cause for eviction” and to begin a
public housing program. Tenants

_came from as far away as Prince

xeorge to demonstrate the urgency
of such legislation.

While at the time of the election
of the NDP government in August,
1972, apartment vacancies had
fallen to extremely low levels,
tenants emphasized that “the situa-
tion has deteriorated with rent in-

creases of $30 and $40 now becom-
ing typical and increases as high as
$95 a month appearing in some
apartments.’’ Tenants who are un-
able to pay the increase are simply
evicted.

At the same time, tenants noted
bitterly, the profits of major
developers are up enormously par-
ticularly Dawson Developments
which enjoyed a profit increase of
500%. in the first nine months. of
1972.

After the demonstration outside
the Legislature, meetings were

See TENANTS, pg. 12.

Vol. 34, No. 39

by the B.C. Federation of Labor
and the new NDP administration is
in the making.

The new Labor Act is expected
to be tabled in the Legislature next
week — possibly as early as Mon-
day.

The ‘‘give Premier Barrett
time’, ‘“‘play it cool” approach of
some’ leading trade unionists — the
vast majority of them NDP
members themselves — is giving
way to bitter disappointment as
rough outlines of the Barrett-King
administration’s proposed new
legislation emerges.

The determination and unity ex-
pressed at Monday’s suddenly-
called B.C. Fed conference of staff
members from across the province
(and particularly the fact that it
drew double the number expected
on such short notice), with the sub-
sequent lobby to Victoria on Tues-
day, is indicative of the changed
moods.

While: the centre of the B.C.
Fed’s concern is presently focused
on the prediction in the Throne

oi a

eee 50

Unions, tenants lobby Victoria

Tribune

15°

gers for unions

Speech of a “religious exemption
clause,’ (which labor rightly
regards as “‘opening the door to in-
dividuals and groups to undermine
the democratic decision of the ma-
jority hard-fought-for forms of un-
ion security), enough has been said
to indicate the new draft bill is like-
ly to provoke a sharp storm of
protest.

Labor Minister King in the
Throne Speech debate last week in-
dicated the new draft Labor Act
will advance “new enforcement
structures on the issue of strike and
picketing control’; an alternative
to strikes “when it seriously
threatens or imperils the public in-
terest and welfare’; ‘methods to
ensure that the rights of in-
dividuals, whether employees or
employers, are not trampled on”;
and “opportunity for individuals
and minorities to seek redress from
the abuse of their right whether

—they suffer from the mistakes of
the government, a trade union, an
employer or others.”

See LABOR, pg. 11

&

Faced with the threat of further
employer attacks on the trade un-
ion movement in B.C., more than a
hundred unionists, including the
executive officers of the B.C.
Federation of Labor questioned
NDP MLAs in the halls of the
Legislature Tuesday to make
known their opposition to impen-
ding changes in provincial labor
legislation.

The lobby was prompted by in-.
dications that the new labor legisla-
tion would include clauses allowing
workers to ‘‘opt out”’ of a trade un-
ion on religious grounds. Some 350
union representatives packed the
IWA hall Monday to press for labor
action in Victoria.

Delegations of unionists assigned
to question the MLAs found vary-
ing attitudes to the opting out
clause and other questions of labor
legislation and some government
members indicated that they had

not seen the proposed legislation.
The changes in labor law have not
yet been brought to the caucus
although the question has
reportedly been raised frequently
in caucus meetings.

Some members of the lobby
assigned to speak to labor minister
King commented later on the dis-
cussion and said that they had rais-
ed the question with King of the
erosion of the union shop rights
and union leadership that that
religious exemption would in-
evitably bring.

King’s reply indicated that such
legislation was imminent and he
said that he thought the Federation
“should be particularly concerned
about the rights of the individual.”
He added that he had no intention
of eroding rights and that the
legislation ‘‘would be profound
and far-reaching and if it proved to

See UNION LOBBY, pg. 12