BC Rail

talks

continue despite
S7% strike vote

NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN North Vancouver-based BC
Rail and its unions are continuing despite an 87 per cent
vote supporting strike action by Council of Trade Unions

membership.

But both sides say talks, which
thus far have been ‘‘amicable,”’
could heat up later this month
once individual trade union issues
have been addressed and the three
big issues — wages, contracting
cut and the phasing out of
cabooses — are up for discussion.

The vote favoring job action
was counted June 25.

Company management and the
council, which represents seven
unions and about 2,000 BC Rail
employees throughout the pro-
vince, have been negotiating for
several months in a bid to setdle a
new contract.

The previous three-year collec-
tive agreement expired June 30.

Under one of the terms of that
agreement the company has the
right to contract work out. The
unions want to see the contrac-
ting-out clause, which was in-
troduced to the collective agree-
ment in 1984, removed.

Meanwhile, BC Rail wants to
follow the cabooseless policy im-
plemented by CN and CP and
replace cabooses with monitors
that measure pressure. But

By MICHAEL BECKER

News Reporter

trainmen fear rail safety will be
compromised with the removal of
manned cabooses.

The third issue, wages, remains
up in the air.

According to BC Rail vice-
president and chief negotiator
Brian Foley, the union has made
no specific wage proposal to date.

“Eve asked them for that but
they've said we'll determine that
when we get to it,”’ he said.

The contracting-out provision is
a contentious issue for the people
who repair locomotives for BC
Rail, which recently took delivery
of 22 new GE locomotives.

Members of the United
Association of Plumbers and
Pipefitters maintain those engines,
and according to Mike Suter,
business agent for Plumbers,
Pipefitters and Steamfitters Local
170, the maintenance package ac-
companying the new locomotives
calls for parts to be repaired in
the United States.

“We would just end up as parts

Construction

A CONSTRUCTION boom
has hit the Lower Lonsdale
area of North Vancouver
City as an unprecedented
number of highrise devel-
opments are taking shape

and changing the face of
the area’s skyline.

By SURJ RATTAN
News Reporter

And while some area residents
have voiced opposition to the de-

3 — Wednesdays, July 4. 1990 - North Shore News

N EWS photo Torry rs

800 PEOPLE gathered on top of Grouse Mountain on Canada Day on Sunday to form a gigantic Cana-
dian flag. The event was organized by the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

men,”’ Suter said. ‘tThe parts
would be sent down and repaired
back East. We always did that
work.”’

Suter added that he was op-
timistic about the talks, but said,
‘*The cantracting issue is still the
number-one issue that’s got to be
settled in negotiations. That's go-

ing to be the big crunch. Council's
position is that it has io be settled
at the main table.”’

But Foley believes the two par-
ties can find some middle ground
on the contracting-out issue.

“The middle course is probably
some strengthening up of the
wording in that contracting-out

language. But at this point they
are saying thou shalt not contract
out,”” he said.

Foley confirmed the company is
‘*pursuing some type of
cabooseless operation.””

Approximately 335 unionized
BC Rail employees work in the
Lower Mainland.

boom hits NV City

velopments, arguing that the con-
struction projects are too large, at
least five major highrise projects
are currently under construction,
while another two are before city
council.

Projects under construction in-

: a ~
NEWS photo Neil Lucente

A CONSTRUCTION boom has taken off in the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver City. One of sev-
eral construction projects currently under way is the Knock Maroon Holding’s four-level, three-story multi-
cinema complex being built for Famous Players Theatres at the corner of Esplanade and Chesterfield

Avenues.

WV School Board stands firm

From page 1

than what is stipulated in the
School Act.

She argued that by doing so the
board would be contravening the
School Act and thereby breaking
the law.

But while Brummiet said Friday
night that no punitive action will
be taken against school boards
that defy the dual-entry program,
Deputy Education Minister Wayne
Resharnais said dast) week that

those boards could be taken to
court by focal taxpayers for
spending money on activities that
are not contained in the School
Act.

Stephens also dismissed
weekend media reports — stating
that the LMIPCDE will join the
Citizens Opposed to Dual-Entry in
a demonstration today oat the
Richmond constituency office of
Premier Bill Vander Zalin and will
then protest against Brummet
when he gives an address Thurs-

day at Simon Fraser University.

Stephens said the Surrey group
“has a different agenda’ from
PACODE and LMPCDE and that
PACODE and LMPCDE felt it
would be better to ‘distance’’
themselves from the Surrey group.

She added that she will attend
Brummet’s SFU speech as an in-
dividual, and not us a PACODE
or LMPCDE representative,
because she is a graduate of SFU
and is interested in what Brummet
has to say.

clude:
ethe 28-story Cressey Develop-
ment Corp. project being built on
the site of the former St. Alice
Hotel at 120 West Second St. One
of the largest highrise develop-
ments on the North Shore, the
Cressey project is a mixed residen-
tial and commercial tower con-
sisting of three units per floor for
a total of 72 units.
*a 12-storey, 29-unit mixed resi-
dential and commercial building
being built by the Fama Group on
Wes: Second across from the
Cressey project.
ea I4storey, 48-unit resicential
and commercial Fama Grow}
tower being built on the site of the
former Olympic Hotel at 140 East
Second St.
ea tour-level, three-storey
Famous Players multi-screen
cinema complex being built “;
Knock Maroon Holdings at Ches-
terfield and Esplanade.
@a_ six-storey retail and office
building being built by the Nor-
wood Group on West Esplanade
adjacent to the north end of the
Lonsdale Quay overpass. The
building will house, among other
things, the new consolidated of-
fices of North Shore Health.
ea 16-story residential tower go-
ing up at 123-127 East Keith Rd.
Two other highrise develop-
ments are currently awaiting city
council approval;
*an eight-story, 52-unit residen-
tial and commercial building pro-
popsed by Intercon Development
on the site of the old Olympic

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Hotel parking lot.

© a Fama Group proposal to build
a residential building at 567
Lonsdale consisting of a 150-foot
tower which would retain an ex-
isting heritage house.

And while the projects are
keeping construction companies
busy and will provide an influx of
capital to North Vancouver City,
not everyone has been pleased
with the boom in highrise con-
struction in the Lower Lonsdale
area.

Last June the Citizens Action
Group of Lower Lonsdale
(CAGLL), a group of residents
‘who fear Lower Lonsdale will
change from a mixed density en-
vironment to a_ neighborhood
defined by towers, lobbied city
council to impose a_ six-story
height limit in the area.

Council subsequently decided
last October to impose the six-
story height limit in certain Lower
Lonsdale areas.

That decision set zoning heights
at about two-thirds of the heights
currently outlined in the city’s Of-
ficial Community Plan (OCP),
which could encourage developers
to approach council for rezoning
if they want to build to the taller
OCP heights.

The only exception to the six-
storey height limit in Lower
Lonsdale is a patch of land be-
tween Chesterfield and Lonsdale,
and First and Second Streets that
is zoned at 100-feet, with a pro-
posed QCP height of 120 feet, or
12 stories.

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