RECENT CHILLY weather made the fountain at Loz2dale Quay an icy work of art Frida: raing. that Sunday through Tuesday will be sunny with cloudy periods and highs ranging from -1 to 1°C; . T VANCOUVER irr SAYS COM se PANY REP NEWS photo Terry Peters A slow warming trend is forecast for thie next few days. The weatherman says lows to -5°C. 7 SAFETY “UNCOMPROMISED., d = Union blasts CN Rail = over N. Van job cuts CN RAIL’S elimination of four carman jobs at the Lynn Creek Yard in North Vancouver will compromise local rail transport safety, according to a union official. The job cuts mean that instead of two carmen working each shift to inspect air braking systems and check for safety hazards on rail cars passing trough the rail yard, one carman will be assigned to each eight-hour shift. Said Lodge 773 Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of Canada presi- dent Jerry Houle, whose job was By MICHAEL BECKER ys Reporter abolished Jan. 27, ‘*The whole theme of the railway now is cut, cut, cut. You can justify some cuts. There have been technolegi- cal changes. But now they're get- ting into safety areas. Areas that shouldn't be cut.” But said Al Menard, CN Rail manager of public affairs, ‘‘it’s basically a realignment of the way we assign jobs. Three carman jobs have been established at the Van- couver terminal.”* Menard confirmed the Lynn Creek yard job cuts will mean that one carman will be assigned to each shift rather than two. But he said, ‘‘We are satisfied that the safety level is uncompromised.’” During busy periods at the transfer yard, which handles ail BC Rail traffic and transfers CN and CPR cars to the BC Rail line, carmen may safety-inspect as many as 600 train cars per shift. The carman's job includes responsibilty for tying up braking system air hoses between cars, making a visual inspection of cars to ensure loads are properly posi- tioned and inspecting train car wheels. Said Houle, who managed to re- tain a local carman position by vir- tue of seniority rights after his job was eliminated, ‘‘When Lynn Creek is very busy — and it’s a narrow yard ~— trains back up. With the carman reduction we think they will then lean on the train crews to do our work. Train crews are not qualified for this type of inspection.”” The Lynn Creek yard handles train car cargo that includes wheat, sulphur, potash, coal, chlorine gas, caustic soda, propane ana liquid petroleum products. The yard has traditionally been working with two carmen per eight-hour shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.