pret aenee ne ne anata te en rt eee erm FT nan nen omens pet tiga Spe an engage isters vote osition TEAMSTERS LOCKED out of the North Shore LaFarge Concrete ready-mix plant voted Tuesday afternoon on the company’s last offer, after two unsuccessful attempts by the union to block the vote. Ordered by the Industrial Rela- tions Council (IRC), the vote was subsequently challenged by the union in B.C. Supreme Court and with the IRC. But Teamsters Local 213, which represents the 91 locked-out LaFarge employees at the com- pany’s three Lower. Mainland ready-mix concrete plants, withdrew, its application Monday for a B.C. Supreme Court injunc- tion halting the vote. ‘A union application to the IRC for a stay of proceedings in the vote was denied Monday, but an IRC decision on a Teamster appeal of the council's original order to vote on-the offer had not been made to press time Tuesday. The union maintains the IRC order had contravened clauses in the Industrial Relations Act by ordering a vote‘on a final offer during a lockout. Don Doerksen, business agent for Local 213, said Monday, union members will not know what they are voting on becguse a clause in the company’s fihal offer states that. the offer will only remain open until a strike or lockout oc- curs, at ‘which ‘time a different of- Business.............44 ~ Classified. Ads........58 Doug - Céllins-........ 9. Comics weed AD: ‘Di: Ruth... 0.6... 46 - Editorial Page........ 6 Food... 220.2... 56 Bob .Hunter..........:4 : Lifestyles ........0.0.45 - Mailbox. ...........5.7 + Sports, ....0...060., 27 TV -Listings.......0..57 : What's Going On:.,...52 Wednesday, cloudy. Highs near 10°C. Thursday, periods . of rain, Second Class Registration Number 3885 News Reporter fer would be tendered. He said the local’s membership voted 60 to 14 against voting on the company’s Feb. 24 final offer. But Rod Ainsworth, division manager for LaFarge’s ready-mix and concrete production, said the company believes its employees should be. given an opportunity to vote on the offer. He said the statement described by Doerksen was in the contract's preamble and had nothing to do with the offer, A new contract, Ainsworth said, would have been tabled if a vote had rejected the final offer and a strike or lockout ensued. But no vote, he said, was taken by the Teamsters. Ainsworth said Tues- day’s union vote would be on the company's original final offer. Teamsters were flocked out of the company's North Shore, Van- couver and. Richmond ready-mix concrete plants on March 11 after contract negotiations collapsed. Operations at LaFarge’s three ready-mix plants, two Lower Mainland gravel yards and one concrete, production plant have . been at a standstill ever since. The lockout affects between 10 and 1S employees at the North Shore plant and affects about 160 LaFarge employees overall. A three-year contract: between the company and its Teamsters ex- pired Dec. 31, 1987. Ainsworth said LaFarge wants to negotiate a one-year contract that calls for a 40 cent per hour wage rollback to bring company ‘Teamsters in line with their counterparts working at LaFarge's unionized compctitors elsewhere in the Lower Mainland. The company, he said, also wants more flexibility in working conditions such as employee star- ting times. But Doerksen said the union has estimated the overall effect of the company’s final offer would be to teduce Teamsters wages by $4 per hour. He said LaFarge also wants to eliminate two statutory holidays, reduce wages for employees who work on statutory hotidays and dictate employee vacation times. The average union wage for LaFarge Teamsters is currently $17.50 per hour. Results 'of Tuesday’s vote were not available to press time, .but Doerksen said Monday he expected the contract offer would be over- whelmingly rejected. J - Wednesdays, March 300, 1988 - North Share NEWS photo Mike Wakefield FOUR-YEAR-OLD Gregory Hasler enjoys the spring sunshine in North Vancouver District's Cates Park. MAHON-AREA RESIDENTS PROTEST DECISION Split-up lots oka yed in NVD NORTH VANCOUVER District Council approved future subdivisions on upper Mahon Avenue despite residents who say the move will ‘neighborhood. Council’s decision will allow res- idents living between 3348 and 3440 Mahon Ave. to subdivide their property into 33 foot lots. At its last council nieeting, Mayor Marilyn Baker said she received “‘copious’ amounts’? of petitions and letters both favoring and opposing subdivisions on Mahon Avenue. _ destroy the character of - the By EVELYN JACOB Contributing Writer Some. residents who attended last week’s ‘public hearing on the future of Mahon warned that ap- proving smaller lots in the area would turn existing properties into “thin slivers of land,’’ and allow the creation of “multi-storey NORTH VANCOUVER District Council voted Monday to reinstate the Court House West Lounge’ s business licence, but it warned it may remove it again if the operation fails to comply with the correct zoning bylaw. Owner Andrew Redman had his licence revoked without notice when the municipality determined that Court House West Lounge no longer met the requirements of the zoning bylaw, which is for enter- tainment and recreation purposes only. 'The sports complex has been in receivership since 1986 and was ordered to close down most of its operation with the exception of an ice rink. The owner’s lawyer, Gary : Nelson, told council at a previous meeting that the site continues to fall under the entertainment bylaw @eee errr grrr rete By EVELYN JACOB Contributing Writer because of video games, pool tables and the live entertainment the facility presently provides. Ald. Joan Gadsby said if the ice rink closes, council should con- sider removing Redman’s licence. But she said because he was not given sufficient warning that his licence had been cancelled, council] should be more lenient and reinstate his licence. Ald. Bill Rodgers however, re- So monsters.”’ Those who favored subdivisions say it is the only way young cou- ples can afford to live on the North Shore, or that they need the extra rent money an additional house would generate. Gerry Kelly, who presented a petition to council in support of subdivisions, denied that the char- acter of the neighborhood would be ruined as not everyone who owns property in the area will decide to split their properties into 33 ft. lots. NV DISTRICT COUNCIL WARNS BUSINESS Sports complex licence reinstated jected Nelson’s argument that the lounge is functioning principally for entertainment purposes, and warned that reinstating Redman’s licence would be settirfg a prece- dent. “The. lounge is in operation twice to three times as much as the rink,”’ Rodgers said. But Ald. Murray Dykeman said by denying Redman a_ licence, council would be ‘‘interfering with the law’? as the ice rink was ordered to remain open pending an appeal trial in October. He added council approved Court House West’s business licence in 1987 and that there have been no substantial changes to the licence since then, But one North Vancouver District resident who conducted a survey among residents reported that 75 per cent of property owners on and around Mahon did not support 33 ft. lots. He said many of the people who signed the petition do not reside on Mahon. Presently, roughly 53 per cent of the 17 lots on Mahon are small. The municipality's small lot infill policy requires that 50 per cent of an area considered for subdivisions must already consist of small lots. NORTH Vancouver District Ald. Murray Dykeman...‘‘interfering with the law.””