6 - Friday, March 15, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page Shadow-chasers o Canadians ask too much of their leaders? Are we forcing them to ; become mere chasers of fleeting shadows? ; , Take the relatively modest salary raises which MEAs voted themselves jas# month, and which immediately produced self-. righteous shrieks of proiest from a vocal minority of the public. So Premier Bennett promptly bobbed, weaved and backtracked, thereby doing far more damage to his leader image than the few thousand extra bucks would ever have done to the B.C. treasury. _ Ditto opposition leader Bob Skelly’ who voted for the increase with the best of them, - then quickly ran for cover, declaring the NDP will now oppose any pay hike. Aren’t leaders supposed to be wise, fair and above all DECISIVE? Things are going the same way in Ottawa. Prime Minister Mulroney, yearning to be loved by everyone, dithers over universal baby bonuses and pensions. With next year’s spending estimates up by over $7 billion, his “promises ‘to cut the deficit have obviously “gone out of the window. Profligate Liberal- “reared bureaucrats are reportedty still in charge at the new Tory ministries. ; : iA a |Gov't union :, . The root cause of such non-teadership is ° the modern obsession with day-to-day public |, HO WILL BENEFIT from the B.C. ‘ Government Employee’s Union raid on wrong with existing legisla- tion when the Labour Rela- opinion. Don’t do what's right, unless it’s ent om al tions Board ordered in + popular right now. But after the bursting of f the hospitality industry — specifically January that ‘names, ad- -the boom that pampered us for three de-. _ White Spot Restaurants? dresses and telephone have now ‘asked ‘the’: --eades, the right paths. out of our present “mess are seldom going to be the popular ‘ones. If we insist on equating the “vo, we've only ourselves to blame for the leaders we “get. '. Leaders whose decisions are firm only un- ‘|. til the next poll--and as useless! a a s . ‘Playing it safe : orothy : Lynas. has - persuaded fellow. North Van‘ school trustees to reject a : -referenduin for extra funds by claim- "ing “‘it denies elected trustees the authority to _ determine the’ educational: needs.’’ It does’t measure how people value education, she add- . ed, but only “what they. think about tax in- creases.”’ Possible translation of this curious By JOHN REYNOLDS MLS West Van-Howe Sound Will the people of B.C. benefit? The tourists who come to our province? Will the restaurant workers benefit? Or will the beneficiaries be the BCGEU and the B.C. Federation of Labor? ‘ In recent weeks you have no doubt been reading news articles concernig the BCGEU raid on White Spot Restaurant employees, who are members of the Food And Service Workers of Canada (FASWOC). ls there something unfair with existing legislation when the BCGEU, as a public sector union, is pro- tected from raiding through The statement reads much like ‘‘by any means neces- sary’’ as the restaurant workers at White Spot operations become unwilling pawns in a fabricated battle launched by a public sector union, a controlling factor in the B.C. Fed, and a union whose membership and cash flow from union ‘fees is down by 25 per cent. Something. is.- clearly numbers of the FASWOC be handed over to the BCGEU. As Cindy Hilborne, national president of FASWOC, put it, ‘There is no precedent in Canada for such assistance to a raiding union. We con-~ sider the Board’s order to be: blatant political -interfer- The BCGEU has claimed the employees were not be- ing treated properly and LETTERS OF THE DAY Time to christen LRB-. that.“ their: it withdrawn,, saying | . been’ misinformed’. and’ mis-. “of unfair‘Jabour: SIs White * Spot: have been treated: . ” ‘their employer: union, “why” are’ they among the highest paid restaurant; workers ‘in. North ‘Ame niag $9.11. in. wagesand benefits?" * Whites Spot “Limited, repatriated: to B.C. owner-. ship ‘form: General; Foods in. SBC's oldest, largest’ iversified:. food the Public Service (Labour Relations) Act, yet the BCGEU : can’ raid private sector unions? Is there some hidden light rapid transit Dear Editor: We must come up with s name for Sight rapid "logic: we're not going to risk getting ‘‘no"’ for \ am answer! Se j result of strike actio | Expo 867 0 3. blocks away? eine The employees of - White: The old train system was called the Interurban, Display Advertising ~' 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986.1337 ; Subscriptions 985-2131 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 . Publisher Peter Speck Marketing Director Operations Manager Robert Graham Berni Hilliard * Advartising Director Circulation Director Dave Jenneson Bil McGown Editor-in-Chiet Noet Wagnt Display Advertising Manager "Mike Goodsell ~ Classified Manager Vat Stephenson Production Direcior Chris Johnson Photography Manager Terty Peters North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an mdependent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule lil, Part II!, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Aci, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents © 1985 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved, Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Marling rates available on request. No esponsibility accepted for unsolicited maternal including manuscripts and pictures wtuch should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. ' Member of the B.C. Press Council Sy 55,770 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) sm & SBA DIVISION KO THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE agenda behind the raid? Could the goal be absolute control over the labour movement in’ .B.C.? The BCGEU and the province’s pulp unions last November took effective control of the , B.C. Federation of Labour. The pulp unions are now engaged in raiding disen- franchised IWA locals while the BCGEU is moving first on the hospitality industry. The Public Sector Com- mittee, in its report to the B.C, Fed at their November convention, says: ‘‘Myths which have been entrenched over the years and remain the foundation for many an- ti-public sector union argu- ments continue to act as a divisive force within the labour movement... The first. step towards fending off the attack of gov- ernments and employers is to bring together the public and private sectors and to stop attempts to split the two segments. We, as a commit- tee, have said it before, we must build unity throughout the entire labour movement if we are to survive. Nothing less is acceptable and nothing less will do.” transit and soon, Trains will be on test runs from waterfront Vancouver to downtown New Wesiminster by mid- Summer. Full commercial service will commence Sanuary 1, 1986. Ali of the marketing signs and symbols must be in place ahead of time. Planning of the neces- sary space and structures should be underway now. And they are contingent on a name and a logo. What about ‘Metro’ and a big ‘‘M"’ on col- umns which can be seen Too long, too many syl- Sables, Metro has the same meaning, inter- , municipal, regional, a big: area facility. Also Metra was the name used to describe the first fast rail urban: system in London, England more than a cen- tury ago. Future riders should have a say on the subject, Our papers can help. by asking for names, “Metro’’ and the big “M" are fine with me. Hon. Jack Davis, MLA North Vaon- couver-Seymour Nobody left to pay the taxes! Dear Editor: Re: Joan Powell's letter of Feb. 24 in which she wants all law-breakers in West Vancouver deported to North Vancouver or Port Moody: If this were to happen my wife and 1 would be the only ones left (o pay taxes. Les Rimes, West Vancouver ' Spot are only meré pawns in this raid and. are being. hurt-- in the process. The raid also: hurts the employer. *But. others are being hurt as well. ; They are British Columbians. — future. permanent. employees of White Spot, as” well as construction workers. Last year White Spot spent $10 million on expan- sion, which brought..more jobs to our province. a During the past 18 mon- ths, capital expenditures of $6.1 million have been made _ or planned on new facilities . and renovations of seme ex- isting operations. Thi: would create some 540 permanent new jobs. ‘fhe members of construction jobs and spin- off benefits, and all these new permanent jobs are all on hold because of the cur- ‘rent and uncertain situation. As an M.L.A. interested in economic recovery, i am strongly of the opinion that cooperation, rather than economic warfare, will oro- vide our best avenue to suc- cess. In my opinion, the BCGEU, as a protected enti- ty, should not be free to prey on other unions, either morally or legally.