The voice of B.C.'s organized fishing industry workers
LETTERS
The Fisherman welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should be brief.
Moly price sets fate of Alice Arm
Contrary to optimistic rumour, probably sparked by the removal of equipment from the Amax mine at Kitsault, the mine is merely dormant, not dead, and the environmental degradation of Alice Arm by mine tailings may resume with improved molybdenum prices even if Amax should sell the mine.
This information was conveyed by letter April 29 to MP Jim Fulton from fisheries minister Tom Siddon, who said the extraordinary dumping permit granted by the Liberals remains in place and could even be sold to a new owner.
The special Amax regulations made the mine a "legal" contravenor of the Fisheries Act despite the virtually unanimous protest of British Columbians. In view of the sordid history of the abuse of Alice Arm, the Conservative government should rescind the regulations.
If Siddon fails to initiate such a move, his dedication to protecting Canada's fishery will prove to be no better than that of his Liberal predecessor and the fate of Alice Arm's fisheries will be decided by the future price of molybdenum.
Arnie Thomlinson, VANCOUVER
Thanks for ESI articles
I want to congratulate your paper for two excellent articles in the last issue. It was very interesting to read the comments from the delegation that went to Ottawa. It is quite obvious that they all worked very hard and a great job was done by all.
It also was great to read the coverage of repetitive strain injuries. It is good to read articles dealing directly with shoreworkers. It shows that the union is out there fighting for its members.
More articles of this kind would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work.
Myrna Hand, STEVESTON
Hours of pain on roe lines
I would like to congratulate the paper on the articles on repetitive motion. The workers at Imperial Plant were really pleased to see articles that dealt directly with their problems.
This is a very serious problem for workers and there are many who are suffering in silent pain because they know WCB fights claims to do with repetitive strain injuries.
Workers are forced to quit work because they just give up, they can't stand the pain anymore.
The workers have been told it "comes with the job" and yet workers were never told this was part of the job.
Articles like these show the members that the union is not sitting there waiting for the crippling disease to go away but is out there fighting and looking for ways to prevent the disease.
Burma Lockett,
STEVESTON
• Packers line up at the pump at Canfisco's Home Plant: new technology such as Transvac pumps have meant 24 and 36-hour days for tendermen, who do not receive overtime. The tendermen's committee has targeted this as a key issue in 1988 bargaining.
Tendermen seek catch-up contract
Long hours without a break produce the lowest wages in industry
By JOHN RADOSEVIC
TENDERMEN with serious grievances will soon face fish companies who are coming off four good years economically, a combination which could be the formula for a real fight in 1988.
There is no good reason for the conditions and pay tendermen are presently working under and there seems to be a new determination to do something about it.
Tendermen now are calling on all sections of the union to examine the case of the packer crews and give full support.
Control of hours always has been a contentious issue, but it has found its way right to the top of tendermen's priorities since the introduction of fish pumps. The pumps have added to the efficiency of the processors and have greatly increased productivity.
Pumps also mean longer work days for tendermen, but without any compensation for the extra hours.
It is no longer uncommon for packer crews 24 hours or more without rest. Serious questions of safety and health also are being raised.
We haven't kept up with inflation and we haven't kept up with the tow boat industry. A deckhand in the tow boat industry gets the same pay I do as skipper.
Bill Kragbak, Canadian Fishing Co.
In fact, the union contends such long shifts are in contravention of the Canada Shipping Act, which prohibits crews without six hours of reet in a day to be in control of a vessel over 100 tons.
The union is demanding the regulation be extended by contract in 1988 to all packers regardless of size and that an extra crewman
These days nobody can live on the wages. I need an increase because you just can't live on those wages. The cost of living has gone up and the days have gone done. There is nothing you can do about the days going down, but you have to pick up something somewhere.
Harold Gladstone
be added to vessels equipped with pumps to facilitate the new rule.
Recognizing the nature of the industry, however, tendermen say that overtime, loading or unloading only, shall be permitted and compensated for by an additional half-day's pay. The overtime rate should apply automatically where crew members are required to over more than 18 hours.
Wages and monetary demands amount to a catch-up package that will bring tendermen into line with comparable work in other industries such as the 1987 tug boat conditions.
Even compared to other in the fishing industry, tendermen lag behind. Currently a captain on our largest packers, working without a break for 24 hours, earn less than the average shoreworker on a 12-hour shift.
Tendermen are demanding a 12 percent wage increase plus a reduction in the current contract's "days per month" formula which will bring their total demand to a 25 percent increase. Substantial improvements in pay for certificates are being sought.
Also a top priority is the demand for an adequate severance pay plan that recognizes long-term service. It's time to end the harassment that retiring tendermen have been subjected to in recent years. Tendermen want seven days pay for each year worked for long-term employees plus control over severance payments in much the same way that the benefit fund is administered.
Unrelated to severance is the equally-important case for the establishment of a pension plan. Tendermen want to participate in an industry plan and demand an $8.40 a day contribution unless an alternative formula involving other sections can be agreed to.
These and other demands form the framework for negotiations in 1988. Control over days longer than 18 hours may be new to the fishing industry but it's old hat to most other maritime workers and its an idea whose time has come, for reasons of fairness and safety, in our industry as well.
It would be naive, however, to think the companies will agree simply for reasons of fairness, any more than they will be easily persuaded to increase wages to fair levels.
It boils down to dollars and cents and tendermen may well need to rely on more than good arguments.
They will need to unite and rely on each other in order to win. The bottom line is that the changes are needed and the companies can easily afford them.
Because the boats work around the clock, people are getting tired and pushing longer hours. Something has to be done about that. I believe we need more people on the boats.
Jim Dubois, Ocean Fisheries
Control the gene play!
By JIM FULTON
I n northern B.C. we are not often con-I fronted with the reality that labora-I tories in Canada are creating whole new life forms.
I am deeply troubled by the fact that the new science of "transgenetics" is moving full steam ahead in the absence of any policy on this issue from the Mulroney government.
Sure some of the new life forms — such as the "Canadian-designed" wheat stocks which don't freeze because of the addition of the genes of fish — may seem like a breakthrough for farmers. We move, however, into more controversial questions very quickly.
In "transgenetic" experiments, pesticide-resistant bees are being developed, turnips
are injected with the genes of hamsters to allow them to grow in contaminated soil and pigs are injected with the genes of humans.
Scientists are creating life in the laboratories, literally splicing genes from one animal into a plant, or vice versa. In the wheat example, the genetic material in a flounder which enables it to withstand sub-freezing temperatures has been added to the DNA of wheat.
In similar private experiments in the B.C. salmon farming industry, technicians are mixing and matching the genes of our wild salmon stocks in the hopes of producing some superfish capable of spawning bigger profits.
We are faced with the prospect of cows
being crossed with elephants and animals being given wings.
It may seem too incredible a field to address our minds to, but we must. This research is going on right here in Canada! The most fundamental issue of Planet Earth is being tested — the genetic barrier between species.
Surely from existing diseases — from the common cold to multiple sclerosis to AIDS — we have learned of the terrible potency of even the smallest of organisms.
If the government is going to act, it must act now with some tough rules on interspecies gene transfer and protection against the release of genetically altered creatures among existing species until we understand where all this could lead.
Before the local circus advertises dogs the size of buffalo or chickens the size of giraffes, the public has the right to establish very precise limits on genetic tampering.
THE FISHERMAN / MAY 25,1988 • 5