Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 07, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press wednesday june 7, 1978 City news 2nd class mail registration number 0286 strikes and strike threats grip province few Cross Safeway picket lines in Manitoba Christophe claims by Scott Edmonds Only 20 or 30 Safeway workers in Manitoba have crossed picket lines to work during the strike Union president Bernard Christophe said tuesday. Christophe president of the re Tail store employees Union local 832, said Safeway has More than in Manitoba. Ear tier figures indicating Only apparently refer Only to the Winni Peg area no meetings have been scheduled Between the Union and Safeway. The strike has closed most of the company s stores. Christophe said tuesday he wants to sit Down with company negotiators and prove to the Public both sides Are mature enough to work towards a settlement. At least we can meet and he said adding he did t want his statements to be interpreted As a sign of weakness. He remained critical of Safeway s View that the Union should exercise restraint. They Are preaching restraint for everybody but he strike decision by Mega May be made within 10 Days some members of the Manitoba government employees association Mega May be making a decision within 10 Days on strike action association president Bill Jackson said tuesday. Jackson said some components within the Union already have authority to go to their members and seek a strike mandate but no move is Likely to be made until a few More bargaining sessions have taken place. He also said the educational component has reached the Point in negotiations where it is considering applying for arbitration. The Union president has complained repeatedly this year that talks Are proceeding at a slower than usual Pace. He said tuesday it has been difficult even getting the government to agree to wage increases allowed by the Federal anti inflation Board the Union is in the final phase of the decontrol period and limited to a six per cent other major stumbling blocks at the bargaining table include at tempts to secure tenure for term employees after a Given period of time and improving Layoff proce dures. The Union has already announced its intention to Challenge in the courts the Layoff of workers earlier in the year without Advance notice. Jackson said he is hopeful in roads will be made at the bargain ing table and negotiators have continually raised a pre election letter written by Premier Sterling Lyon promising government co opera Tion in achieving much the Union is now asking. The association has been without a collective agreement since the end of March. Jackson said an advertising Campaign will Start this week in Winni Peg s newspapers in an attempt to counter the constant criticism and Public servant kicking govern ments have engaged in recently. The theme of the Campaign will be civil servants at work for Manitoba and besides informing the general Public about the role civil servants play it May also boost Public servant morale he added. Construction Trade workers report no Progress in dispute offer countered pointing to a million profit last year up 61 per cent from the previous year. The Union seeks average wage raises of about 12 per cent in the first year of a two year agreement and eight per cent in the second. Safeway has offered six per cent each year. Also a strike Issue the Union president has said is a bid to win expanded benefits for part time workers. About 70 per cent of the Union s membership is employed part time some with Many years of service. The workers do not receive full vacation benefits or any sick leave the Union says. The Union is also asking for a 20-cent Premium to bring salaries of female Cashiers service clerks closer to those of traditionally male shelf stickers food the Chain stores offered about five cents to close the wage Gap Christophe said. Food clerks currently earn a maximum of 7-01 an hour while service clerks with the same experience earn thirty of Safeway s 39 Manitoba stores Are closed by the strike. A Portage la Prairie store is non Union and remains open along with six stores in Winnipeg and one in Brandon. Union employees in Nee Pawa Are not on strike since they Are legally under contract until july 14. Employees of Dominion and West fair foods lob Laws shop easy econ Mart Are not on strike although they too have rejected company contract offers. Union rejects striking construction unions and contractors have not moved closer to a settlement. George Akins a spokesman for unionized contractors said tues Day no new Progress had been made. The strike started at the begin Ning of May. Although 12 out of 19 trades have settled major building projects Are stalled by picket lines set up by striking tradesmen. Police have escorted Winnipeg Enterprise employees past a picket line at Winnipeg stadium to clean up the area in preparation for the season opening. Work stopped when the strike began on an Addi Tion to seating at the stadium. Electricians Sheet Metal work ers and affiliated shelters and Deckers plumbers and Steamfitters and carpenters remain on strike. Twelve trades have agreed to settlements calling for a to cent increase in the first year and a 60-cent increase in the second year of a two year contract. Two non striking unions Iron workers and millwrights have also not yet settled. A main Issue in dispute is con tractors attempt to eliminate the International brotherhood of electrical workers control Over Hir ing. A pension plan for carpenters and wages Are other issues. The contractors have sent out letters directly to two groups of strikers carpenters and Sheet Metal workers bypassing their Union urging them to accept the wage package and return to work. A spokesmen for the Sheet Metal workers said he Felt the letter was out of line and Legal action might be considered. Workers at Pioneer electric have turned Down a company contract proposal. John Duff president of the United steelworkers of America local 4297, said tuesday the Union would not immediately move either to return to negotiations or to seek a strike mandate. Duff said he could not make pub Lic details of the company s con tract offer. About 353 Pioneer electric work ers Are in the Union. Without a contract since May 4, the Union has been negotiating since april. Union urging 500 at Swift to reject offer about 500 employees of Swift Ca Nadian co. Ltd. In Winnipeg had their first look tuesday at a con tract proposal their National Union executive is urging All workers to reject. Voting on the contract will take place thursday across Canada and a strike vote has been scheduled for june 14. Contracts Between the Canadian food and Allied workers and the Large meat packing plants expired May 31. There Are about employees at Swift s five Canadian plants who will be voting on the contract and local Union business agent Bruno Zimmer said All results will be funnelled through the National of fice in Toronto. Negotiations Between the Union and the packers Are Carrie on on a National basis in Toronto if the Swift workers go on strike Canada packers has vowed to lock out its workers a threat Union officials Call a conspiracy to unduly interfere with Normal collective bargaining. Two other packers Burns and intercontinental have not yet made contract proposals and Union officials said they will Likely wait to see what workers get from Swift before settling. Photo by Paul Deleske Francine Jonsson of Winnipeg examines prints tuesday in the w. J. Oliver exhibition of photography in uni City fashion Square. Looking Over her shoulder is a life size portrait of Grey owl. The show which is presented by Parks Canada is a Chance to see the work of one of Canada s Foremost photographic craftsmen of an earlier Era. Oliver came in 1908 and worked for the albertan. The show ends saturday. Investigation of peat As fuel source urged Canada should be investigating further the viability of peat bogs As sources of fuel or. Bernard Coupal professor of chemistry at the University of Sherbrooke said tuesday. Or. Coupal told the chemical Institute of Canada annual meeting gathered at the Winnipeg convention Centre there Are More than Square Miles of peat bog in Canada 30 per cent of which is usable for Energy production. He said in an interview he was not recommending massive National conversion to peat fuelled Energy but further investigation of peat As a fuel source where it would be feasible. He said new Brunswick and Newfoundland Are logical areas for use of peat Energy since they have enormous or. Coupal said Finland operates a 100-me Awatt Plant and the soviet Union and ire land utilize peat Energy. He said that while the finnish Plant was 50 per cent More expensive to build than conventional Oil burning plants operating costs of the peat Plant Are 65 per cent lower than Oil. Peat can be turned into Energy by direct combustion or Gasi fiction and it takes about 15 tons of peat to produce one megawatt of Energy he said. Currently he said Canadian peat is exported to the United states for soil or. P. J. Dyne of the White Shell nuclear research establishment at Pinawa man., told delegates to the conference the Chal Lenges for chemists and chemical Engi neers is to develop on a Large scale cheap fluid fuels for electrical Energy. White Shell nuclear chief hits plutonium ban Canada throwing away major Energy source scientist by Ron Campbell a major Energy resource will be thrown away if the Canadian government persists in its plutonium ban Robert Lyon head of the environmental Section at the White Shell nuclear research establishment at Pinawa said tuesday. He said Only very Small lab scale Bench top re search into reprocessing spent uranium oxide pellets for plutonium fuel is being done now in Canada. His comments followed presentation of a paper on disposal of radioactive uranium oxide waste to the 61st annual convention of the chemical Institute of Canada. The radioactive waste one per cent by mass of the uranium oxide occurs after the uranium oxide pellets have Beer used tvs years in s nuclear reactor at High temperatures under controlled conditions. Two types of waste Are produced fission products strontium 90 and cerium 137, which have a Short half life of 30 years and transmutation products one of which is plutonium. Lyon said the plutonium ban. Which could be interpreted As following a similar . Ban Means atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Which owns the in Treshel establishment must research the disposal of the uranium oxide waste. For the past 20 years the waste the zirconium encased rods of spent uranium oxide pellets has been stored in huge water tanks. There s nothing wrong with continuing this method Lyon said. Bat political social and Corfi Tibbs in future May not be the same As now. This was another Why storage of a Stefaan oxide was being researched. It of cd been cow Todd feat fee Evrage method was deep m extremely As food is fee Casadera storage Sites would have Access shafts to storage vaults at a depth of one Kilometre. The subsurface storage Complex would cover an area one to two Kilometres Square. High technology Industry plus the resulting tax benefits would accrue to the Community where such a disposal site would be located Lyon said. He said Sites will be located in Ontario which Al ready has four nuclear Power stations generating Iwu m1uihciic3 of jul c. r economic benefits of a Multi million Dollar payroll and a megawatts of electricity at Pickering and another four synthetic fuels posing Cash problems making synthetic fuels at affordable prices and with tolerable environmental Side effects is a key problem for chemists and chemical engineers or. P. A Dyne director of the Federal of fice of Energy research in Ottawa said tuesday he was speaking to an Energy symposium at the 61st animal conference and exhibition of the chemical Institute of Canada in the Winnipeg convention Centre. The Institute with a membership of about is the professional organization of Canada s chemists Chemi Cal engineers and chemical technologists. Cheapness is the Central problem in of Cuce Sekii Feefe Dye said. Other problems include Tow to synthesize materials a Large scale Energy few ass process and doing it in a sanitary fashion. He illustrated the Cost of competing forms of Energy. A billion tar Sands Plant producing barrels of Oil daily would be producing a kilowatt hour of Energy a Day for a ther Opane window in a solar con version device produces an average of one kilowatt hour daily a Square metre yet already costs several times the a Square metre that would make it competitive with tar Sands Energy production. On the problem of Large scale syn thetic Foci production Dyne noted that Canada wow consumes two million barrels or tons of Oil daily. Prodo cog Flat amount of synthetic fuel As Fawn Sands or from Wood Wosh present Fegi Sticki proof cams and processing. Not Only would such Large scale production present problems of size and Cost of capital equipment but would also pose questions. Catalysts and the catalytic process Are a key area for reducing the physical size of chemical reactors and plants through speeding up chemical reactions in synthetic fuel production. As for environmental pollutants these May be present Only in the amount of a few parts a million in the materials handled Bat could cause and verse environmental effects As they build up Over months or years. Little hard knowledge of the Etc most Menta effects of Tese Trace elements exists so Tutje is Aht the chemistry of Trace elements and compounds in Large am kits of air and wafer stations two of them now operational generating 750 megawatts each at Bruce. Nuclear generation already supplies 25 per cent of Ontario s Power needs he said. Containers in which the radioactive waste is stored have not been specified but could Range from stainless steel almost indestructible steel flasks Are used in the . To a Ceramic composite. The underground repositories would be Back filled As the site was utilized and it would take 50 years to fill up a storage site. Site selection for nuclear waste storage won t begin for three years Lyon said adding that Canada now is at the concept evaluation stage. Before undertaking Large scale storage decl will engage i a 15-year research and development phase with the first repository which will not be filled. Potential disruptive events such As meteorite Impact earthquakes and intrusion by Man into a storage site were considered and Only water seepage was discovered to have any probability of bringing Dion Dides to the surface. This would occur where water seeps into the repository leaches out rank Euclides and rises to the surface. This Woom be inhibited by Tow water solubility of the waste itself by the waste Container by the massive Rock Barrier to the surface by Chekal Holdup of a door Oclides or Rock and by environmental hoop or i taken together with a Prefi Mmary estimate of water seepage of three tenths of a metre per year and the Esste. Gas sods of metres the to the a face Ted decl to tace Cowes few tical most of the Radwa fides decay before read wag face surface ;