AG- Wednesday, August 11, 1982 - North Shore News editorial page Keep Glenayre North Vancouver District council is on the right track in agreeing .to consider the rezoning of the Swedish Park property near the Second Narrows for light industrial use in orderto accommodate the expansicn plans of Glenayre Electronics Ltd. The property has hitherto been earmarked for commercial zoning, but so far there have been no takers in the current recession climate. Meanwhile, Glenayre has repor- tedly been unable to find other property in the District that would be adequate for its expansion requirements, which have a July 1983 deadline and could ultimately create up to 240 new jobs. As a result, Glenayre has been looking elsewhere and is apparently being actively wooed by Burnaby. If the company were forced to relocate, it would be a serious blow to the District in more ways than one. Glenayre is one of North Van's outstanding industrial success stories, with the reputation of a world leader im certain specialized electronic technologies. The mere fact that the firm is actively expanding in today’s depressed economy speaks for itself. Moreover, the operation is admirably clean and non- polluting. Even Ald. Ernie Crist — not always a friend of industrial expansionists — describes it as “the ideal industry...the best type of development available.” ‘Not only are an eventual 400 North Shore jobs at stake in this rezoning fssue. Equally damaging would be a negative message to other industrial developers vital to the District's long term economic health. Glenayre should he given every en- couragement to stay. Cut the talk No words were wasted last Sunday when vacationing Prime Minister Tradeau passed through Salmon Arm in his private rail cars financed by the taxpayer. Two striking B.C. government workers greeted him with placards urging him to exercise restraint — to which the PM responded with a one-finger gesture. Why squander endless time TALKING about the state of the economy when you can say it all so quickly in sign language? FOE WORE OY TEU Y 9 REND EST VateC@erER sunday news “north shore news 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M 2H4 Disptay Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Circulation 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Robert Graham Editor-in-Chiet Noel Wright Advertising Director Tim Fran is General Manager Administration & Personnel Mrs Bernt HMilbard Circutation Director Bian A Eths Production Dtrector Rac kh Stonehouse North Shore News, founded in 1960 as an independent Community Newspaper and qualitied under Schedule Th Pant I Paragraph Wl ot the Excise Tan Act 19 published each Wednesday and Sunday by North Shore Free Preas Lid and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Regist: ation Number 3865 Entire contents « 1982 North Shore Free Presa Ltd. All rights reserved Subscriptions North and West Vancouver $20 per year Mailing rates available on roquaosnt No reaponnibidlly accepted for unsol Cited matecial ive hate Mawnweciptis and pt tures which abo wd be accompanied Dy a stamped adh osased anvetope VERIO CIRCULATION 53,995 Wednesday %3 464 Sunday SIN’. > THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE pethW COnmee + OTTAWA (SF) - Roughly 45 per cent of the collective membership of the Canadian Labor Congress belongs to public service unions — Canadians who work for federal, provincial or municipal governments. The rest are members of trade unions, working for private industry. This economic doldrum Canada has been suffering has seen many of the trade unions accept shorter work- ing hours, restricted pay raises and, in some . even pay cuts. Union leader- WERE GETING THOUSANDS Mr. Fryer’s ‘catch up’ HAVING ESCAPED from Nanaimo’s Departure Bay just hours ahead of Mr. John Fryer’s pickets — thereby being forced to cut short our planned Island vacation — my personal interest in the antics of the B-C. Government Employees Union leader is slightly above the average. But not much. At least we and our car made it back to the mainland in time. Compared to thousands of other B.C. citizens and their summer guests, the Wrights have so far suffered lightly at Mr. Frycr’s hands. It was a different story for the Vancouver Island tourist industry last week, with hundreds of thousands of dollars draining away from it at the peak of the season in the interminable line-ups of vacationing refugees at the ferry terminals. There was the irate genticman from Oregon, caught by a second ferry shutdown in only two visits here, who swore he would never but never... come to BC. again There were the Gabnola Island rcsidcnts who couldn't) get) to) work in Nanaimo And the homeward bound Naniamo residents strandcd = in Horseshoe Bay There were the 1 povenshed real estate folk, unable to complete a sale even af they were tucky cnough to have made one, because the Land Registry Office was closed And welfare recipicnts facing the gnm possibility of an cmpty food cupboard and = an eviction notice And. of course, the almost one in seven jobless British Columbians -— most of whom would be delighted to settle for a pay packet six per cent less than that of the average BCGEU employcc. ict alone six per cent more. GOOD GUYS Mr. Fryer is a very smart union leader. After his members hit the bricks last Thursday, he took only a couple of days to get the first half of the message that the majority of British Columbians were scnding him toud and clear: striking civil servants at this par ticular point in timc are bad guys. Hence Mr Pryer’s ex. traordinary moves iast weekend in a crash cam paign to persuadc his fellow citizens that the BCGEU arc guys after all. First, by ang his pickets off the ics. Then, by ordcring union followers back to & tomorrow (Thursday. August 12) — while kecping open the option of further strike action at some future date if they have voted during the past couple of days to reject the govern. ment’s six plus five-and-a half per cent In hastily organizing that vote Mr Frycr aims, of course. to have the best of both worlds Nt seems virtually certain idnight oil work for the ship has by and large been against trade union mem- bership accepting pay cuts, freezes or reduced hours. But the workers themselves, to federal government restraint moves, and. mili- focus Noel Wright that BCGEU members will confirm the union eaccutive’s rejection of the government contract offer. But by returning, never- theless, to their jobs for the time being, they can claim to be reasonable, responsiblc peopic, ready to continuc acgotiaging with the neal “bad guys” — the B.C. government — in an cflort to avoid further damage to the province's battered economy. A remarkable public relations achicvement, all things considcred, in vicw of its low cost to union members: the loss of only a single week's wages. compensated by strike pay as high as $300, and the right to hit the bricks again at any time Mr. Fryer campaign slogan is “Catch Up”, a reference to the fact that public service cmployces’ pay packets in B.C. have fallen short of the inflation rate for the past three years. In normal cconomic cir cumstances there might be a valid case for a morc gencrous§ setticment this time. But we're presently living in far from normal economic circumstances. For tens of thousands of British Columbians — the jobless and those fearing for their jobs — the watchword today is not “catch up”. The watchword is simple sur vival. Mentally, they're alrcady inbabiting a six per cent — or Cven a nero per cont — world anti the storm passes. And they don't sce why a single intcrest group. especially onc paid out of the public purse, should try to jump the gun by holding them to ransom. If Mr. Fryer hasn't yct grasped this sccond part af the public's message, he obviously has a mental “catch op” of his own. And that’s the acc Premicr Bennectt still holds in the poker game launched by the BCGEU leader.