THE VOR

CE OF MOR TEL A

Ait B WEST

Union calls for appointment of
industrial inquiry commissioner
in face of local BC Rail losses

THE PORT of Seattle is hoping to profit from a strike that
has cost North Vancouver-based BC Rail over $13.5 mil-
sion, according to a Vancouver Port Corp. (VPC) official.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Moe
Sihota. was scheduled to meet
Tuesday with the two sides locked
in a 17-day-old labor dispute that
has closed the operations of BC
Rail and is costing the Crown cor-
poration’s North Shore and Inte-
rior customers lost revenue each
day of the strike.

The Council’ of, Trade Unions
(CTU), which represents seven BC
Rail unions, went on strike against
the rail company on July 19,

Last week the company and the
unions met separately with Labor
Relations Board mediator Jim
Breckenridge to see if there was
any point in sending the two sides
back to the bargaining table.

But BC Rail spokesman Barrie

’ Wall said after the company and
the. unions met on Friday, the
CTU said ii was not prepared to
negotiate further and applied to
Sihota for the appointment of an
industrial inquiry commissioner.

The CTU is asking for a 30-
month contract with a 2.05%
wage increase in the first year of
the contract; a 2.2% salary hike
and cost of living allowance
(COLA) in the second year and a
1.1% wage increase and a COLA
adjustment in the third year of the
contract. °

BC Rail has offered a 42-month

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

contract with a 2% wage increase
in each of the first three years of
the contract and a 1% increase in
the last six months.

“Tt’s (strike) been at a critical
Stage for a long time now.
Whenever you’re losing $800,000 a
day, it is at a critical stage. And
the poor fellows out on the picket
line are not muking any money,”
said Wall.

He added that other than the
financial impact of the strike, BC
Rail is worried that it and the
province’s reputation as a reliable
carrier will be hurt in the foreign
markets it exports products to.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Port
Corp. spokesman Jim O’Hara suid
the two’ terminals being hurt the
most by the strike are North
Vancouver-based Vancouver
Wharves Ltd. and Fibreco Exports
Inc.

He added that Fibreco, which
exports. woodchips, is receiving
“significantly reduced supplies.”’

O'Hara said the VPC's com-
petitors, such as the Port of Seat-

See BC Raii page 5

NV driver arrested as
11 injured in weekend
Upper Leveis pile-up

IMPAIRED DRIVING

charges

are being considered

against a 33-year-old North Vancouver tow truck driver
following a multi-vehicle accident on the Upper Levels
Highway Sunday afternoon. The accident sent 11 people to

hospital.

A - North Vancouver RCMP
spokesman said a tow truck failed
to stop while travelling east along
the Upper Levels Highway near
Westview Drive at 2:05 p.m.

The truck crashed into a vehicle
ahead of it, causing a chain-reac-
tion crash involving five other
vehicles.

Five of the J1- injured
travelling in ane vehicle.

Police reported the 11 were sent
to Lions Gate Hospital wish
non-life threatening injuries.

The driver of the cow truck was
arrested at the scene.

The other drivers involved in
the accident were identified as

were

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Nabat Damji, 56, Susan Stanton,
24, both of North Vancouver,
Janele Woodley, 30, of West
Vancouver, Karla Scribner, 21, of
Vancouver and Glen Mitchell, 44,
of Pitt Meadows,

The multi-vehicle pile-up was
attended by the North Vancouver
RCMP, the Port Mann RCMP
Freeway Patrol, the B.C. Am-
bulance Service and the North
Vancouver City Fire Department.

The Port Mann RCMP Freeway
Patrol is investigating the incident.

: UMERE ES LOR RSA RSE

VANCOUVER

TAX TIPS
Mike Grenby laoks at
tay saving Strategies

for the seli-emploved.

COASTAL TALES

Jim Spilsbury remembers
his trailblazing day's
along the B.C. Coast.

Classifieds 986-6222

Sound surfers

WINDSURFERS race across Howe Sound, enjoying the great weather which
finally arrived on the south coast in time for the B.C. Day long weekend.

Distribution 986-1337

PA ER 86
News photo by Paul McGrath

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