company has charged. But a company official has said the new payment formula is designed to weed out non-produc- tive drivers and will actually make more money for those drivers who hustle for trips. Under Sunshine’s new plan, the company’s drivers pay a percent- age of fuel costs and a set lease for the use of the company’s cabs. - Drivers then keep the balance of the money they earn during their shifts. Previously, drivers paid no lease fee and kept a perceniage of the money earned during those shifts. _Unlike most other taxi com- panies, whose taxi licences are owned by individual drivers, Sun- shine owns all of its taxi licences. But driver Clay McCallum said many of Sunshine’s drivers don’t like the new leasing system. ‘¢\..depending on what shift you work, once you pay for your fuel By Surj Rattan News Reporter and collect the GST, a lot of guys will be left with under $30,’’ said McCallum. ““We want to make money. We don’t want to see the company go out of business, but that’s what will happen.*’ The drivers, he said, have now formed an association and have tried to express their concerns about the new lease system to company management. But the company, he said, has been unwilling to listen. McCallum said several drivers _did not show up for work on Wednesday in protest over the leasing system. “The owners have completely ignored our concerns. They said this is the way it’s going to be. A for of the drivers are concerned, and it’s causing them problems in their family life,’ said McCallum. He added that the association has asked the drivers not to sign the leasing agreements, although some already have. “Other drivers are losing money tight now, because they don’t know what to do,"’ said Mc- Callum. ‘I can’t believe the money I’m not making.” But company spokesman Paul Jhooty said about 90% of the taxi companies in North America operate on the leasing system, which, he said, is better for both the drivers and the company. Jhooty said Sunshine has a rela- tively smali fleet and most of its drivers work only eight-hour shifts, while drivers for other taxi companies usually work 12-hour shifts. * He added that it is not econom- ical for Sunshine to bring in a driver to work for only four hours. “The lease system gives them (drivers) the incentive to work Moth assault round two begins NORTH SHORE residents were abruptly rattled awake early Friday morning as round two of the aerial spray application to eradicate Asian gypsy moths began. At dawn, three low-flying DC-6 aircraft dropped thei: Joad of bacterial imsecticide over the North Shore and part:. of Vancouver and Burnaby. A Bell 212 helicopter sprayed | Foray 48B (Bacillus thuringien- - sis kurstaki) near the Second Narrows Bridge and at the Capilano watershed. But Agriculture Canada of- ficials admit they have yet to find Asian gypsy moth caterpil- lar corpses littering the spray- zone battlefield. Said spray program spokesman Jon Bell, ‘‘Unfor- tunately we haven't found any. We do take leaf samples to the lab where they are tested on Asian gypsy moths.”’ Motions By Michael Becker News Reporter Meanwhile, a Federal Court of Canada chailenge of the aerial spraying program will gc to trial later this year. North Vancouver neurologist Dr. Donald Cameron said the trial has been scheduled for September. Cameron said some of his patients have reported adverse health symptoms following ex- posure to the first local ap- plication of Btk. Said Cameron, ‘'There was one p3tient who has been seen by about five doctors. Follow- ing exposure to the Btk she had asthma for the first time in her life. “One of my patients came in with a sore throat and also nausea and skin irritation fol- lowing a spray. Another person in her house developed the same symptoms and later in the day developed diarrhea,"”’ he added. Cameron criticizes Agriculture Canada efforts to assess the effect the spraying of Foray 48B is having on people living in the spray zone. “We really don’t know the full spectrum of the possible illness following exposure to this particular formula because it is untested. Twenty-two physicians around the city are doing random nose and throat swabs on five patients who come into their office, whether they are exposed or not — that’s it,’’ Cameron said. Sunday, May 3, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 Cabbies protest switch to lease system Sunshine officials say new pay formula will help weed out poor drivers A DECISION by Sunshine Cabs Ltd. to change the way its drivers are paid will result in some employees making as little as $30 a shift, a driver for the North Shore-based taxi fonger. With the lease system we're trying to encourage those drivers who want to work to come in,’’ said Jhooty. “Under the present system some drivers don’t work as hard. The people who are serious and are good drivers wijl make more company’s plans to switch to a lease system. Jhooty said there are three types of drivers in the taxi business: the committed driver who enjoys the work, the one who nas to drive a taxi to make a living, and the driver who is not committed. 44... a lot of guys will be left with under $30.99 money (under the new system).”’ Jhooty said that a trial use of the lease system has found that out of 23 drivers, three made less money than they would have under the old system, eight made the same amount and !2 made more money. “The drivers are going to have to make a choice about if they are serious about working as a taxi driver. We’re not so naive to think if a driver is only making $30 a shift that he is going to stay with us,’’ said Jhooty. He added that the company has met with the drivers and had given them two weeks’ notice of the Report thefts From page 1 at one with a fingerprint glass, that’s when I could tell it had been changed. “To a merchant it may look good, it goes through the system as a legitimate card. The merchant will phone in and be told the number is good.”’ Because they work with active account numbers, fraudulent card users have as long as a month to make purchases before the true holder of the account number re- alizes what is going on. Wahl said the card users often purchase home electronic items, which are easily sold. A credit card is a popular item to steal. A thief will use it, forg- ing the rightful owner's signature, and then sell the card on the black market for $50. The police advise that if a credit “We don’t want the non- committed driver. And let’s face it, some drivers are committed but just can’t make it as a driver. They’re going to have to decide if this is the line of work for them,”’ said Jhooty. . He added that the lease formula wil! also result in a faster payment for the drivers. Shooty said a driver will now complete a shift and pay the company the lease amount and fuel costs. “They would then be paid their money at the end of the shift rather than having to wait 15 days.”’ immediately card is lost or stolen, the incident should be reported to banking authorities and the police in:- mediately. ; . They also recommend that peo- ple: @ never leave a credit card in a vehicle; . @ destroy all carbon copies of charge slips; . @ be careful who they give their credit card numbers to over the phone. Added Wahl, ‘Society is using more credit cards, so we'll see more of this kind of crime. I would say it's a major concern, and I feel it is a growing con- cern.”” : . For more information, call the crime prevention unit or fraud unit in North Vancouver at 985- 1311 or the West Vancouver Police at 922-4141, made to save NV school programs District 44 summer school, music programs to be funded through user fees NORTH VANCOUVER District 44 School Board trustees set their philosophical beliefs aside at Tuesday night’s board meeting and approved in principle motions that could allow well-established District 44 programs to con- tinue for the 1992-93 school year. Next year's budget, currently in Victoria for Ministry of Education approval, would eliminate summer school, the elementary band and strings programs, the outdoor education’ program and other District 44 programs. In a motion passed by the board at its March 24 meeting, the board offered to consider pro- posals from concerned groups with alternative funding ideas to preserve threatened programs. District 44 assistant superin- tendent’. Chris Kelly, a repre- sentative of. the Summer School Advisory Committee, presented the board with a proposal Tues- day night that outlined a self- - sufficient summer school system funded entirely through course fees. The fees would range from $140 to $200 per course for students within the district. Out-of-district fees would be slightly higher. For those students unable to pay the fee, a limited number of bursaries would be available, to a By A.P. McCredie Contributing Writer maximum of 75% of the course fee per individual. In passing the motion, several trustees expressed concern about the ‘‘philosophical ramifications” of implementing a fee structure system, but all agreed that the loss of a program carried more weight than the concept of universality. “These are desperate times, which call for desperate measures,”’ said Trustee Don. Bell, | as he pledged his support for the proposal. . The board also approved a mo- tion that will allow the band and Strings program to continue if parents of children wanting to participate in the program are willing to “‘pay-for-play.’’ The estimated cost of saving the program is $583,200. At a previous board meeting the Music Parents Task Force — a group lobbying to save the NORTH VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD threatened” music program — presented the trustees with a survey in which 97% of music parents polled were in favor of a fee structure program. But the numbers the task force used within the survey were inac- curate, so the board deferred its decision until a future meeting. Having received the correct cost estimates, the task force met with District 44 superintendent Robin Brayne prior to Tuesday night’s meeting and reasserted the parents’ desire to fund the band and strings program through a fee structure system. Depending on the program, the cost per student would range from $175 to $240 -per student for the 1992-93 school year. The board passed the motion on the conditions that a commitment of funds be made by ine task force no later than Mey 15 and that a bursary system be estab- lished. Another popular program that has been eliminated for the 1992-93 school year is the North © Vancouver Outdoor School (NVOS). NVOS allows students to expe- rience the natural environment in both educational and recreational situations, including a farm setting and a fish hatchery. Over the last 21 years over 100,000 kids have stayed at the. school. : Doug Parke, a NVOS alumnus, presented the board with a plan to continue outdoor school pro- gramming for children in the 1992-93 school year. The plan calls for a funding formula that includes: @an increase of rental fees charged to groups from outside North Vancouver; @ a restructure of outdoor school programs (larger classes, out-of- district students); @ a fee structure program ($45 to $95 per student per five-day stay). Parke aliso suggested establishing a foundation to fund the NVOS. Fred Wright, an experienced volunteer fundraiser representing the NVOS alumni, said the com- munity would support the outdoor school and the business communi- ty would also be attracted to such an environmentally beneficial program. if the foundation were estab- lished, it would be allowed to fund capital projects but not operating expenses. Sutherland Secondary student and outdoor school teacher assis- tant John Lenko, representing a student group organized to save the NVOS, presented the board with a petition of over 1,500 names and addresses of District 44 high school students who support - the NVOS. Lenko also outlined plans for a “This is what I would miss if there was no outdoor school’ compilation of essays and art work by students in North Van- couver that will be sent to the ministers of education arid finance to protest school budget cuts. - All trustees agreed with the group that the NVOS was an in- valuable asset to the district, but the board questioned the realistic chance of raising the $450,000 needed to run the program next school year by the May 15 deadline. An open public forum on all District 44 program cutbacks was scheduled to be held today at 1 p.m. at Kinsman Stadium (18th and Jones Avenue in North Van- couver City).