WEATHER Saturday: Sun and clauds High 9C, low °C. FRIDAY February 21, 1997 Labor dispute costs North Van shipyard work By lan Noble News Reporter WORK has slowed dramatically at Vancouver Shipyards as the shipbuilding and repair company reviews a mediator’s Valentine’s Day proposal. The company’s industrial relations manager Ian Lewis said the dispute with the company’s four unions is costing the North Vancouver shipyard business, and workers their jobs. Shipping firms are loathe to leave their vessels with Vancouver Shipyards for repairs when they know strike notice has been given, Lewis said. Also, some companies with vessels in for repair have asked that the ships be fixed “as best we can” and removed, added Lewis. “They don’t want their vessel to get caught behind a picket, line. Consequently, the level of work activity has declined dramatically,” said Lewis, who added that approximately 60 workers have been laid off recent- iy, B.C. Labour Relations Board mediator Brian Foley recommended the $25.03-an-hour workers receive a 10-cent hike above the final offer the company presented to four unions toiling at the company’s Pemberton site. The company’s current offer calls for a combinanion of wage and “wel- fare and pension plan” increases of 30 cents per hour on Nov. 1, 1996; 30 cents on Jan. 1, 1998; and 50 cents on Jan. 1, 1999, in a deal that stretch- es to the end of 1999. Foley's recommendations bump up the increases to 30 cents, 40 cents and 50 cents per hour. Foley submitted his recommendations to the nvo factions Friday. He urged the parties to consi proposal — which he called a fasr effort to avoid a strike — without delay. “I believe the settlement Fam recommending is what would eventually result should the company and the unions allow this collective bargaining dispute to deteriorate in a prolonged work stoppage,” Foley said. “The com- pany and the unions should consider the long-term damage that would result from a work stoppage — financial, workplace and personal.” Foley asked the Machinists Lodge 692, Marine and Shipbuilders Local 506, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 213 and the Pipefitrers Local 170 to submit his recommendations to a secret vote of their memberships. Thar hasn't been done. NEWS photo Terry Peters Saints sharper than Sabres ST. Thomas Aquinas forward Kevin Goodmurphy (left) battles Sutherland Sabre forward Scott Carlsen during a triple-A tournament wildcard game Wednesday night. In one of the most exciting games of the season, the Fighting Saints outlasted the Sabres for an 82-75 double-overtime win. See Mediator page 3 Parents say their children will miss out on all the leadership opportunities and activities that go along with being in the senior year at an clementary school. Sports captain, monitor By lan Noble News Reporter —— Caulfeild students caught in UNDER a gently falling rain, parents hurried past the luxury cars scattered throughout the Caulfeild elementary parking lot and lining the adjoining road on Wednesday night. The destination was the school gym to and attacked a proposal by school deal with overcrowding and budget we ipality. Facing a Caulfeild school that is bursting at the seams and where parents listened strict administrators to in the upscale munic- WV District 45 cash crunch a possible $1 million deficit for the 1997-98 fiscal year, district administrators have proposed that next year’s Grade 6 Caulfeild classes attend the new high-tech Rockridge middle school, That school now houses stud many Grade 9 students leaving next year, the school is expect- ed to have ample room to he two new Grade 6 clas But parents living in the Jush hillside community overlook- ing the Pacific prefer that their 10- and 11-year-old students stay at Caulfeild. from Grades 7 to9. With @ North Shore a This Week s leisure guide Awards pay homage to heritage | week and student council positions are important for self-esteem and growth and Grade 6 graduation is an important rite of passage, they argue. Parents also don’t want the community fragmen- tation they say will occur with the propo Bill Beegen said be doesn’t relish the idea of his son gol to Rockridge next year, adding he’s not ready for an environ- ment in which some kids smoke and take drugs. “It’s really disappointing we're looking at this based on what is the economics of the facilities and we’re not really looking at what’s important here, which is the education of See Rockridge page 3 Honda Prelude a study in contrasts homes 915