January 18, 1995 1969-1994 THE VOICE 40 pages MISSING MAN issac George, 19-year-old son of Burrard Band chief Leonard George, has been missing since Friday. NEWS photo Terry Petors “ory OF North Vancouver yard workers walked off the job Tuesday morning for one and a half hours to protest slow negotiations with the city. Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Stephen Stalberg (left) articulates workers’ concerns to the city’s Richard Shore ‘while workers ‘watch. 800. local municipal workers want new contract NORTH VANCOUVER City works ‘employees’ mounting frustration with the low pace of labor negotiations caused ‘them to walk off the job Tuesday morning and demand that management listen to -them. By Ian Noble * News Reporter _ Stephen Stalberg, the yard’s union official, said he gave the yard workers a bargaining report. They “became upset and stopped working. He advised workers to return to work, but deter- - mined Local 389 Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members continued to walk an “informational picket line” until city director of personnel Richard Shore arrived. Stalberg said workers — who have been with- out a. contract since Dec. 31. 1993 — demanded to “know why negotiations are taking so long. “They had sonie hard questions they wanted wo ask ‘the City of North Vancouver,” said Stalberg. “They wanted some answers.” “With concemed workers gathered around him , and rain coming down, Shore talked to the workers, who then returned to work at about 9:30 a.m. Shore, the city’s representative on the employ- ers’: Ul-member bargaining committee, told the News the half-hour discussion allowed workers to vent their frustration and deliver a message he will take back to his bargaining tam. & 6 CUPE said seven months of mostly fruitless bar- gaining occurred during 1994 between CUPE locals and local employers... gg Shore assured workers no disciplinary action would be taken against them. North Vancouver City yard workers .are involved in a Lower Mainland-wide labor dispute that: pits 8,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees workers — about 800 of them inside and outside municipal workers on the North Shore —~ against the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Employers involved in the negotiations include the City of North Vancouver, the District of North Vancouver, the North Shore Union Board of Health, the North Vancouver Reereation Commission, and the North Vancouver Public Library. ; Local 389 president and CUPE municipal nego- tiating committee member Mike Hecevar said library workers have taken a strike vote and are EEA STAN baat solidly in favor of walking. Stalberg said yard workers will take a strike vote if negotiations continue at a snail’s pace during the next scheduled bargaining session Jan. 25, 26 and 27. Said Stalberg, also a negotiating committee member: ‘We want to go in, lock the doors, and come out with an agreement.” CUPE said seven months of mostly fruitless bargaining occurred during 1994 between CUPE locals and local employers before regional bargain- ing began in mid-October 1994. Mediation com- menced Oct. 27. Hocevar said the union tabled a three-year con- tract Dec. 14, 1994, calling for a 0% wage increase for 1994, a 2% increase for Jan. 1, 1995 and 1996, and 1% in July 1, 1996. _ Those increases are based on an average annual wage for CUPE employees, and workers would be given an across-the-board wage increase, Hocevar said. Workers on the North Shore currently make between $9.48 per hour and $25.31 per hour. Employers have offered 0% in 1504, and 0.59% Jan. 1, 1995, and Jan. 1 and July 1, 1996, Although Shore said the employers are flexible on the wage issue, there will not be any change in the employers’ wage position until some employ- ers” issues, such as flexibility of work hours, are addressed. Other issues on the table are benefits and first-aid premiums, said CUPE, Workers are in a position to strike with 72 hours notice, said Stalberg. Hocevar said union members are angry, and added, “We're just getting to the point some- thing has got to happen.” Fated ROTARY CLUB As of last Nov. 1, B.C. Tel is charging all customers with rotary phone lines 75 cents more per month. Distribution 986-1337 25¢ inside — the news @ Business 25 @ Classified......................33 inside Storios..............15 BD Sports... cecenseeeeeseeee TA @ Table Hopping............ 16 B TV Listings..................22 . BW. Van film preducer Matthew O'Connor: 15 @ True concessions in Whytecliff Pari: 16 NS News paper chase continues NORTH SHORE News read- ers may notice that their fav- orite sections in the newspa- per are looking leaner these days. A __ newsprint-production strike in the province has lim- ited the amount of available newsprint for all newsprint consumers in B.C. The News is therefore attempting to conserve its sup-- - ply of newsprint in a number of ways, one of which is by reducing the newspaper's edi- torial content. Fletcher Challenge pulp and paper workers went on strike in December. Weather Thursday: cloudy with showers High 8°C, Low 3°C.