Maternity leave money remains missing for mom By fan Noble News Reporter IN case of delay, the old standby excuse is the cheque is in the mail. But Samantha Tiessen’s problem is not with the much-maligned Canada Post. The new North Vancouver moth- er has to deal with another govern- ment agency —- the newly titled Employment Insurance. And after dealing with that feder- . al body for three months, she has no faith left in its ability to deliver her maternity benefits. “Somebody just tell me why,” Tiessen said. “Nobody has a reason why I haven't got a cheque. They are giving me the runaround.” The Employment Insurance office did not return News calls by dead- In an attempt to avoid complica- dons with her claim and a waiting period for beriefits, Tiessen said she visited the Employment Insurance office in North Vancouver on Oct. 10 to get the claims process started. ‘Tiessen, who worked for a private investigator, gave birth to daughter Amber Lynn-Anne Tiessen Dec. 1. - : "On Dec. 9, she told Employm the birth and three days later she received a letter _ Saying her application for maternity and parental Weekend | North Van school district yard work atissue ‘union leaders to determine the unions’: response to their mem- ‘bers’ rejection. : J+ Other; than that, he had no comment,” |. - mo, .. Friday's vote marked | the fourth rejection by union work- ers ‘of 'a. Vancouver. Shipyards’ offer, although * it’ was the first carried. out... under. the B.C. Labour Relations’ Board. Others were union-run votes. According to Vancouver Shipyards, the, rejection of the seven-day-a-week. schedule has led to more work fcr inc compa- ny’s. Esquimalt. shipyard, where the more fiexible pay arrange- ment is in place. The “dispute has also meant less. work for a fifth union — Marine... © Workers ‘and Boilermakers Industrial Workers Local ‘1° members work at “|: Mancouver. Drydock but did not vote on the offer. . . The four unions that rejected the. Vancouver Shipyards offer have been without a contract for nearly two years. The . shipyard’s . unionized workers typically carn $25.08 per hour.: Much of the work on the $70-million B.C. Ferries .fast- ferry is being done at Vancouver Shipyards. B.C. Ferries senior vice-presidenc Tom Ward said he’s not worried that the dispute could affect fast-ferry construc- tion. North Vancouver shipyards have a history of settling disputes without work stoppages, he said. “I would doubt that this would be any different,” Ward added. ent Insurance of Wednesday, January 15, 1997 — North Shore News — 3 hi il 2 mal & < Ras Sa a ae oF NEWS photo Terry Paters SAMANTHA Tiessen {left} had maternity benefits approved a month ago, but hasn't received them. She hopes to get the cheques before husband Bryan and daughter Amber get much older. benefits had been approved effective Nov. 18. After a few phone calls and being told the cheque would be ready, the first monthly anniver- sary of the approval passed without the cheque being sent. employees She said she was told the delay may be. duc to the fact she hadn’t dropped off report cards, but she had been told in writing that report cards weren't necessary. Tiessen, who's husband has just started cn leng- term disability leave after working five years as a computer programmer, said things are tight at her home. But the four-member family is getting by. Meanwhile, they wait. OK strike vote By ian Noble News Reporter CUPE members for North Vancouver School District have approved a strike yote _ if their labor dispute is not solved before Jan. 26. The move comes after the British Columbia Public Schools Employers’ Assaciation ‘(BCPSEA) rejected a locally mediated proposal because it overshot BCPSEA idelines. ; a All provincial school district deals require approval of the BCPSEA. ° ; The rejection doesn’t sit well with Mike Hocevar, the president of Local 389 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. “We're choked. All we know is that both the school district and ourselves said this is a deal we can do,” said Hocevar. “Now we're left with really no choice but to stand up for our rights.” : The deal rejected by BCPSEA called for a 15-cent-an- hour, across-the-board hike retroactive to June 30 and a similar hike in March 1998. Benefit improvements were also slated to kick in in March 1998 for the district’s 750 CUPE workers under: the 30-month deal, said Hocevar. The deal would have run to December 1998. Currently, CUPE members working in che school district earn between $12.54 and $25.92 an hour. Only one librarian pulls in the higher figure. Members include tradesman, maintenance workers, clerical support staff and special education aides. Hocevar said that on Saturday the membership authorized the union’s bargaining committee to proceed with a strike vote if there is no resolution to the dispute within two weeks. BCPSEA officials would not discuss why they reject- ed the deal other than to say it was too rich. Officials said a solution to the dispute is still being sought and they have no further comment. : Schoo! district negotiator Keith Denley said a repre- sentative of the BCPSEA was at the mediation sessions. But no advice was received from the representative that the mediated deal exceeded BCPSEA guidelines. Denley expects the mediator to ask CUPE and the school district to meet within the next two weeks. . City pay cut motion scuttled By Deana Lancaster Contributing Writer NORTH Vancouver City mayor and councillors will have their pay reviewed by a committee, and not by coun- cil newcomer Bob Fearnley. Fearnley’s motion at Monday night’s council meeting to reduce. the mayor’s and councillor's indemnities by an amount equal to 44% of a coun- cillor’s pay was defeated. In fact, he got roasted. “I think attending three council meetings doesn’t make you entirely knowledgeable about this subject,” said Coun. Barbara Perrault, referring to Fearnley’s short history at the citv. He was elected on Nov, 16 last year She called the amount of his pro- yrosed reduction “peanuts,” According to Mayor Jack Loucks, the move would save each North Vancouver City household 29 cents in taxes this year. Fearniey said he knows the amount isn’t much in the face of provincial cuts to the municipality. He termed the proposed reduction “a symbolic act.” He said he considered the role of council “more in: the nature of public service” than a job. “I agree, if it was a job, we are grossly underpaid,” he said. Asked Fearnley, “How are we going to ask people to make do with less if we aren’t willing to absorb some of the cuts?” Said Coun. John Braithwaite: “I have been giving so-called public ser- vice for 17 long years and that’s worth something.” He said the councillors are worth their pay. “Maybe we're worth more but we're not getting into that other ball game like the dis- trict.” Many of the councillors called the motion “playing politics with council- lor’s indemnities,” and suggested it was a ploy to get publicity, which according to Braithwaite, “doesn’t make for a good council. It makes for back-biting and deception, and I’m sick of it.” The motion was defeated 5-2. Only Fearnley and Coun. Stella Jo Dean voted in favor of it. A council indemnity review com- mittee had already been decided upon as the means to look at the amount council collects for doing the job. Legal opinion sought From page ' The business in question is International Business A&M LTD. at 133 West 15th St. When contacted by the News for cons- ment, an employee said he could not speak English. Davis said that advertising in a language only a fraction of the population can understand is exclusive. He told council it is an aspect of multiculruralism that isn’t working. Dans emphasized that his proposal is not meant to be discriminatory or racist, but rather, inclusive. “In order for all these different cultures to exist in harmony there has to be a common thread con- necting them all. That thread must be language.” He also told council about an American TV show on the subject. One segment told of a man who nearly died from a heart attack while visiting the Vietnamese part of his town. “The tragic part of this story was that the man was on the very doorstep of a doctor's office but there was no English on the win- dows to tell him. I do not wish to sce situations of this nature occur- ring here,” he said. “You have the power to see that it doesn’t.” The city, however, doesn’t believe that it does. Frances Caouette, administrative manager of development services for. the city, said that language issues are “constitudional in nature,” and are therefore covered by federal regu- lations. He said he didn’t think the city’s sign bylaw, which covers size and location, could be extended to cover the language on a sign. Which is ost certainly a relief for council. Language, as demonstrated in Quebec, is political poison. There, said Caouette, the provincial law to legislate French on signs was first struck down by the Supreme Court as being contrary to the. Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Later the province used the “notwithstanding” clause to opt out of the charter and reinstated the sign laws. “It’s very dangerous when you start talking about language,” Coun. Perrault said. Bur Coun. Barbara Sharp said Davis’ proposal had aspects “worth exploring,” and suggested that the best place for the exploration “is in the laps of the committee we created to deal with this sort of thing.” Council voted unani- mously to refer it to the multicul- tural committee. It also decided to "get a legal opinion on the munici- pality’s jurisdiction over the issue. wm Sports...... Morth Shore Hews, founded in 1949 as an snde- penden suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Facise Tax Act, is published cach Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadizn Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request.