NORTH VANCOUVER-based BC Rail has begun placing full-page ads in the North Shore News and other Lower Mainland newspapers in an attempt to explain to its cus- tomers, employees and the public what the Crown cor- poration maintains are the ‘‘facts’’ about the labor dispute that has brought its province-wide operations to a grinding halt. A strike by the Ceuncil of Trade Unions (CTU). which rep- resents seven unions and 1,700 BC Rail employees. entered its 11th day today. A BC Rail ad in today's News, entitled, We'd like you to know the facts about the strike at BC Rail, focuses on the controversial issues of contracting-out, wages, what the unions’ other ‘‘de- mands’’ are and what BC Rail has been doing to try to bring an end to the strike, which is costing BC Rail about $500,000 a day in lost revenues. The ad states that the complete union package would increase the present annual union payroll from $78 million to $123 million, an in- crease of nearly 60 per cent in one year, BC Rail chief negotiator Brian Foley said the ads were designed to ‘make the public, our shippers By Surj Rattan News Reporter and the employees aware of the facts,’ and to “correct the im- pressions the unions are leaving that contracting-out is the only issue."* The CTU has said it wants a similar contracting-out clause won by unionized BC Tel workers, and that once the contracting-out issue is settled, the other issues could be resoived quickly. But Foley rejected the CTU's argument. “The BC Yel contracting-out language says that every contrac- ting-out decision should be subject to union or third-party approval." said Foley. ‘‘That’s not in the cards.”' BC Rail’s newspaper ad states Greenpeace targets CanOxy plant Chlorine shipments blocked GREENPE.ACE MEMBERS disrupted business at a North Van- couver chemical plant Tuesday to draw attention to their call for an end to the use of chlorine in the pulp and paper industry. &¥ Michael Becker News Reporter While two of the protesters blocked the rail line leading to Canadian Occidental Chemicals (CarOxy) by sitting inside a steel be. dolted to the tracks, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior and accompanying activists tied up two chlorine and caustic soda transport barges on the water- front. According to Canadian Oc- cidental plant manager Brian Thornton, the protesters arrived at the plant just after noon. The Rainbow Warrior was tied to a barge at the plant’s loading dock, two protesters chained themselves to a barge loaded with caustic soda and the _ steel box was bolted to the track in a bid to halt chlorine shipments. The box effectively halted rail traffic on a line used to bring in empty rail cars and take out loaded cars. Said Thornton, ‘‘It was quite annoying and an aggravation because they were disrupting lawful commerce.” The protest action ended early Wednesday when the chemical company responded with a court injunction to remove the pro- testers. Said Thornton, ‘‘Approximately between 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. an injunction was served on Greenpeace members on our property. They peacefully departed our property between 4 a.m. and 5a.m.”’ Vancouver Port Corp. spokesman Barbara Duggan said Ports Canada police observed the situation but made no arrests. Added Duggan, ‘‘The Rainbow Warrior had indicated earlier that it was going to take on water at the Lynnwood Marina. We had no indication that there was another agenda.” Chiorine and caustic soda are used in pulp mills to break down pulp or bleach paper. But Greenpeace charges that the government has failed to control the discharge of chemicals they maintain are carcinogenic and the source of toxic compounds. Environmentalists argue that chlorine use should be phased out. Said Greenpeace Canada toxics campaigner Brian Killeen, “If a substance is known to be harmful, we have to ban its production."’ The North Vancouver chemical plant produces chlorine, caustic soda and muriatic acid. It pro- duces just over 400 tonnes of chlorine and 450 tonnes of caustic soda daily and has been a fixture Alderman blames From page 1 Mayor Jack Loucks, who had indicated that he would not sup- port Dean's motion when it_ was last before council, voted in favor of the motion Monday night. “T feel strongly that this could possibly lengthen the time before LGH gets a pad,” he said. Suggesting that residents near the hospital will not be happy about a pad being built there ci- ther, Loucks indicated that he hopes Grand Boulevard residents and council support it after rejec- ting this site. Bell said the Grand Boulevard site is an ‘tunsafe landing area,” that sole Fridav. Septemper 14. 1990 - North Shere News - 3 BC Rail labor dispute becomes a war of words, public relations Union maintains issue 1S contracting out that it “makes far more sense" to hire local earth-moving machinery and operators to clear rock Slides or washouts in remote areas of the province than it does to maintain full-time BC Rail crews in those areas. ft adds that in 1989, BC Rail spent $192,000 on backhoe and operator rental equipment. To have purchased that equip- ment) and = maintained a crew year-round would have cost the company more than $3 million, according to the ad. But CTU president Ray Callard maintained that contracting-our is the sole issue in the labor dispute. “They're (BC Rail) stilt postur- ing. They know what the issue is, they know it's contracting-out,”* said Callard. He also dismissed Foley's claim that there are 150 outstanding issues on the bargaining table. “Foley's playing games with his 150 issues. Really there are 47 trade issues and 12 main table issues,"’ said Callard. Foley rejected Callard'’s claim that all the other issues could be resolved quickly if a settlement were to be reached on the issue of contracting-out. “They said everything would fall into place then...but we're not going to be duped by that.”” said Foley. ‘‘We're at serious odds over contracting-out.” While the CTU had orginally proposed a wage increase of 23,5 per cent in a one-year collective agreement, Callard said that fig- ure was only a starting point for negotiations. But Foley said the CTU has reduced that figure and is now secking a wage hike of between i2 and 15 per cent over one year, which he said ‘twas not in the cards."* Currently, wage rates for union- ized BC Rail employees range from $16.51 an hour to $22.70 an hour. A 36-month $ contract: between BC Rail and the CTU expired on June 30. The last strike between the unions and the company was 10 years ago. It lasted five weeks. NEWS photo Stuart Davis WEST VANCOUVER’S Dr. Rodney Glynn-Morris speaks at Wednesday night’s Social Credit nomination meeting for the newly created riding of West Vancouver-Garibaldi. Glynn-Morris, who won with 248 votes, beat out five other candidates, including West Vancouver school trustee Margot Furk, who received 165 votes. Glynn-Morris won the nomination on the third ballot. | on the North Vancouver water- front since 1957. Meanwhile, a truck trailer car- rying 2.400 U.S. gatlons of sodi- um chlorate crashed along the Squamish Highway Wednesday afternoon, spiliing approximately 50 galtons of the chemical into a roadside ditch. The sodium chlorate was on its way from the Squamish-based Canadian Occidental plant to a pulp mill in Bellingham. The tiq- uid chemical is used in the pulp- making process. The trucking mishap blocked highway traffic for about two LGH for but pilots landing on the boule- vard use the ‘‘uncontrolled en- vironment’’ beeause there isn’t another appropriate site. Vancouver Wharves, Bell add- ed, was rejected as a short-term site because of the railway tracks that separate it from LGH. But Bell said council should noi hours) while emergency crews worked to secure and clean up the accident site. West Vancouver Fire Depart- ment crews were called to the scene at 3:24 p.m. The truck trail- er left the road near Furry Creck between Porteau Cove and Britannia Beach. Investigators said the coupling connecting the trailer to the lead trailer of the truck broke as the vehicle rounded a bend in the highway. According to a fire department source, the spilled chemical was confined. e e be blamed for inaction on the helipad issue. “EGH should be blamed.” he said, ‘‘for not building the pad where it belongs: at L-GH."" And while the concerns of the residents are real, Bell said. some- times sacrifices must be made “for the sake of life."” index @ Automotives ........ 29 Classified Ads ....... 35 BB Ecolnfo @ Editorial Page @ Home & Garden @ Trevor Lautens @ Mailbox .......... & Paul St. Pierre @ Rex Weyler @ What's Going On... .27 Weather Friday. sunny. Highs 21°C. Saturday & Sunday, cloudy with chance of showers. Highs 18°C, lows 10°C. Second Class Reg:stration Number 3885