6 — North Shore News — Sunday. December 10, 2000

OW much are nurses worth?

That’s-a question we wil! all

be debating next year when

contract. negotiations open between
unionized nurses and the government.

~ Union’ leaders have already gone
. public with a list of opening demands
., .that are shocking at first glance: top
“xate wages of $42, up fron: $26.50;
“night. shift premiums of S6 an hour,

:, Up from $1 an hour; weekend premi-
“ums of $3 an hour, up trom 50 cents
an hour; on-call premiums of $12 an

‘hour, up from the current $1.25 an .

hour for the first 72 hours.
“2 Jin an era of wage increases that fol-
“ow the cost of living and lite else

: besides, those percentage increases are’

staggering. But the fact remains that
this: province’s hospitals are under-
staffed and will likely remain so unless
more nurses can be attracted, trained

“Z told her to call the helicopter, pilot ‘Bialit” ”
North: Shore: hiker ‘Jem <Tari- describes how: he. kept

injured Sandy Riley taughing after she fell down 2 100-foot
slope on Mount Seymour, (From a Dee. 6 News story. de

990.

Why ‘vould (Paul), Martin or “the province g give A 7
money? They'll turn around and: ‘say, ‘Well you ve

get the levy...

—VIEW PoINT—

. or persuaded to stay here.

The union says the top rate in
Ontario is $30.24 an hour and some
US. hospitals ‘are paying approxi-
mately twice the top B.C. rate (in
Canadian dollars).

Apparently, over 900 B.C. nurses

“began the process of moving else-

where last year, Meanwhile, 567 new
nurses. graduated. The math is com-
pellingly obvious: the staffing levels of
our hospitals is not increasing any
time soon. Factor in the retirement of
4,000 nurses cligibic right now and
another. 14,000. over. the next ten
years ‘and what have we got? More
empty wards, closed because of
staffing shortages and more patients
being turned away at the front door. .
When you are sick or injured, nurs- -

. es are worth their weight in gold. Are
they worth $42 an hour?

Rug

celebration. The.
-. release of two ‘in
one week is more.’
' like some kind of a
miracle. ° a

TransLink board -member and West Vancouver Coun.

Victor Durman says now the board has-voted in favour of a
“transit levy; there’s less chance of a government contribution

0 TransLin! Frown a Dec. News story.) .

Sit was creampuff.

North Vancouver vintage’ car owne7. Chris Pro Wse foo
ack at his pride and joy, 2°63 Ford Falcon that got bent out
in a car accident on the Upper Levels’ Highway: fast 7
] ; ‘8 Vancouver.-— where his longtime, love «

8 News stur} )

‘A miracle; that i is, to
2 those who call Pete’a ~
* fiend, something Pm.
"proud and honoured to
say Ido." 25
‘The Gibsons- based . 7
author/poet, who;
' divides his time between
’ the Sechelt Peninsula anid North’.

-and ‘soul mate Yvonne Klan resides -

| ged lif

“THE release wore anew Peter.
Trower book is cause enough for

ater is 5 the basic life-giving elemént that the ;

citizens have to have control over.” «:
Seymour resident Olga Schwartzkopf objects to GVRD :
o pts o privatize water filtration services. (From a Dee. 8 -

lived his share of hard times. 7".

And though Trower is the fir. }
admit that many’a cold grey dawn was:
_s brought on by himself, others were unde-

~niably doled out by the bitch- -goddess of
* fate over ‘the course of seven, decades on 2.”
; .. to each samme:

~~ the planet.

kind of Santa-ish: If y ¥

clothes he'd be like a short version PF Santa.”. 0
Vancoiiver. resident: Kerry McPhedran, a loyal cus-.
tomer of Christmas tree seller Guido Carbone, (From a Dee.’

put him in ‘the he right

BO.YOU HAVE A REWS TIP?

After all, this is a guy "who logged his

; way ‘through . 25 years of “gyppo shows”

‘up and down“he B.C. coast during the :
1950s and 1960s. Dangerous, poorly

“managed, fly-by-night | logging operations © :
“* gun by rounders and ne’er-do-wells, there
“is a world of difference between the bush” =

camps Trower knew and the o ones out.
‘ there today.: :
io. While ogging has never - meant a

comfy scat in a heated office, back chen

was always suicidal work: Then again, the
time spent out of camp was general

Dispiay Aalertising

980-051 (217)
ushitmangnsnens.

mite).

_ those w ; often earned just enough’ to”
get back to the city; drink it away, and.
start the wretched ‘process all over again
In short, it was’ one he
-Juva lifes :
* Take.a stroll along
. Hastings around Main.
Street on a welfare |.
Wednesday sometime
“Vand you'll find what is
left of Trow:
_.. poraries: beaten, broken
men tiving in one-room
_hovels'and seed
joints. :
fae These w were once the:
high-riggers and * ”-
whi tlepunks that strolled “Skid Read” in.

‘ YS Of
"Whine or
_Neuroses

* “zoot suits half-a-centu

Those ' rippled. ‘old ve be of
death itself, aré the legacy of B.C.’s log-
ging | industry; not the jagged stumps

 breeze-brained idealists chain themselves

+In that sense, Trower i is lucky ~— he

“gor out of “the life” while he still had
“Te 's eherefoe only fitting chat his latest :

ther day, Y; somebody said to me, ‘Look

“man, you’re going to be really famo

when ycu’re dead.’ I thought, ‘Holy.

‘content: :

a SPITE THE wom

SETBACKS. AL GORE
‘REFUSES TO CONCEDE
PRES

THE PRESIDENCY,
MIKE PLOFTSN...

=. OUTSIDE THE GORE:
WHITE HOSE,

* - she*! What “god is ‘that going to

me”.
” Yet, what once seemed an inevita
a pauper’s grave and a stack of do
red tomes ~~ is now just“cne more b:

., joke told a long time ago. Like Rodin

Dangerfield, Peter is finally ge
ting the respect he so rich

When a gagote’of fiend

the single Most sentiny

the clinking of

from the makeshift stage. was,

have thought he'd hit:70?
The answe

~ bestowed his love and ‘support on Yvonn

as she fought hi
with cancer.

Gough 3