WEDNESDAY
Jouery 2,1991.

‘SPORTS

WARMING?
“Page 3A

Nol. 1-No. 6

castegen British Columbla

Ed aly

75 Cents + G.S.T.

‘By BARBARA TANDORY
“Sun staff writer

Firesi

de dispute is still smoldering

The former owner said he and:

Holt have consulted lawyers and
would make a public

person involved in the union drive
at the restaurant.

said the

0 their course of action on January;

Jini:

until then to discuss

-A labor dispute at a hotel
belieced ved in

December has entered the new
year smouldering with new fire,

In a a fast-paced sequence of
events late last year, the Fireside
Dining. Room, under new
ownership since September, was
subject to union certification in

amidst i
controversy and became a union
shop in early December — and
closed its doors in mid-December.

The union, the United
Steelworkers of America, local 480

- in Trail, considers the matter

closed and resolved, but the ,

: restaurant’s former owners are
now screaming injustice.

Kelowna restauranteur

- Emmanuel Pitaloulif — the former

owner of the Fireside restaurant in

partnership with Susan Holt, also

of Kelowna —.vowed last week to”

do everything to get justice in the
case, including a costly lawsuit all
the way up to the Supreme Court
of Canada.
“Yes, I'd do everything,”

Pitaloulif said in a

interview from his home. in
Kelowna last «weekend. . “It

wouldn't be the first time'I 80. to,

the Supreme Court.”

hake what recourse they'd take.’

‘But the restaurateur spoke his
mind freely as to what his feelings
were’on losing the newly acquired
Castlegar op to

| employees who approached the

union for a certification back in
November expressed fear that this
would happen.

However, Schmidt noted, the
owners went against a mutual

him,' asa ‘result of the union

certification. (

_ “I believe it’s Russia there, not
Canada,” he said: “I give 25 people
jobs and- somebody else comes in

.and takes it away.”

Pitaloulif said the Fireside
venture was the “worst in my
whole life” as a restaurant owner
for 32 years,

“Whatever I found in Castegar
, I never found in my life,”

‘he
fumed.

“If they gave me the whole
town, I don't want it.”

Pitaloulif said he owned a
number of restaurants in westemm
Canada, including Calgary where
his last one, now sold, was Baby
Blues Restaurant.

But the union and some former
staff at the Fireside restaurant are
adamant that bad management, not

reached at a one-day
hearing held by the Industrial
Relations Council in Castlegar on

4,

“Part of the deal was that they
wouldn’t shut down because of the
union,” he said.

‘The hearing was held on the
request of the union which, as the
bargaining agent, filed an
application for certification on
behalf of Fireside restaurant
employees in November.

Soon afterward, the union filed
charges of unfair labor practices
and anti-union tactics against the
employer, claiming that three
employees were fired for union
organizing.

Although the firings were
disputed by the owners — who
claimed two were layoffs and one
person was fired for unrelated
reasons — the IRC awarded the

i a cash

the union, closed the

“It’s our contention that it was...
going down the tubes,” said Ron”
the

of $1, 400 and $500 each to the
two others.

said all three

* staff

3 iN

Creators Syndicate, Inc.
©1991 Leigh Rubin!

“What a rip-off! Where do they come off

calling this stuff cat food? Just look at the

ingredients ..

. there’s-not any cat in itl"

1] Not SO

paathearse tines

says two :
RDCK
Directors

By NANCY LINGLEY
‘Sun Editor

The Regional District of Central
Kootenay did not threaten to seek
an injunction if the Celgar project
was given approval after the first
phase of the review stated two
RDCK directors.

RDCK Area J Director Ken
Wylie and Director for Area I, Joho
Voykin denied that any such
statement had been issued by the
regional district.

“It’s simply untrue,” said Wylie.
“That's a mistaken belief by Mr.
Sweeney.”

[Ed. note: Wilf Sweeney, general
manager of the Celgar Pulp
Expansion, as quoted in the Dec. 27
issue of the Castlegar Sun.]

“We have never discussed such
action,” added Voykin. “Again they
are looking for someone to blame.
It is interesting that the RDCK is

+ always the culprit.”

Wylie noted that a motion
passed at the re; RDCK Board
meeting held on March 3, 1990,
stated “that the process proceed
through Stage I and Stage II,
including the public hearings.”

“At no time, to my recollection,
was there any discussion of seeking
an injunction,” added Wylie. “It

employees involved no longer
wanted their jobs back at the time
of the hearing. The union, thus,
decided not to seek reinstatement
for them.

Because they laid off
employees were replaced, the
layoffs: constituted firings,
Schmig

ted.
“ie wasn't shut down

because of union organizing,” he
insisted. “They (the new owners)
treated. everyone’ ‘shabbily,

See DISPUTE 2A

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Josh Salekin, 11, intends to make a real splash at the Aquatic Centre
Birthday Bash this Saturday. Afternoon family events are scheduled from
1-4 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. Hawaii takes over for the adult luau and dance.
Tickets are selling fast, but there's still a few left at the Rec Centre Offices.

'SUN STAFF PHOTO | Nancy Unghey

Council relents on parking

By BARBARA TANDORY

Sun staff writer

Castlegar City Council may
relax its tough stance on downtown
parking, following a protest from a
businessman unhappy with parking
with a newly

be said.

. “We cannot afford to lose this
business.”

Maida said other business in his
area share his concems.

Council referred the issue back
to city staff for further study and

i to be

into effect starting January 1 but
will be deferred until at least after
January 14,
The newly posted signs will stay
in place, however.
City administrator Gary
Williams said the signs were
ted for safety reasons,

prohibition on 1 6th Avenue between
22nd and 24th Street.

Quinto Maida, owner of Arrow
Building Supplies Ltd. appealed to
council Thursday to reconsider its
plan to prevent parking along 6th
Avenue after Dec. 20th.

Maida said the new No Parking
signs erected last week will cost
him and others customer business.

“If the City stops parking along
6th Avenue, this will clearly cause
a very serious detriment to the

back to council on January 14. :

“There’s still discussion going
on,” Castlegar Mayor. Audrey
Moore said after the meeting. “The
whole matter will be coming back
to council.”

Moore said the council will in
the meantime relent about
penalizing motorists for parking in
that area.

“In the interim we will not be
ticketing, ” she said. “We will be
(only) i issuing waming tickets.” ~

was never di dor
Wylie also stated that during the
debate on the resolution, he and
Director Voykin Suggested that, if
required, an extension of the
: Variance Order ought to be granted
to minimize the impact of delay.
“It is my personal view that it
us obvious the review process had
‘0 be undertaken as‘early as the fall
of 1989,” said Wylie. “The

, fines were to come

Froze your toes?

By NANCY 2INGLEY

The record for that day is -23.6.”

Sun Editor

How cold was it?
“We" ve been breaking daily
records at

is the of the
delay i in a very really sense. It's
misleading to believe that the
Tegional district was willing to take
- Court action to delay this process. I

“personally asked the Review Panel

to consider granting approval to go
:).abead with the site preparation. The
2A

this office since Dec. 19,” said
weather services specialist Jim
Richards from the South East
Interior Weather Office late last

* week. “Up until Dec. 28, there was

only one day missed that we didn't
break a

added that the last time
Castlegar suffered through a cold
snap to this extreme was in
December of 1983.

“We're breaking records set in
1983, for the most part right now,”
he said. “There’s high incidences of
frozen water lines in the area.

People just'aren’t used to it. It’s -

been a number of years since it’s
been this cold for this long a spell.
A lot of people, like myself, don’t

daily
record. On the 24th it was -14.7 C.

explaining that in the area in
question the right-of-way which
should be 66 ft. narrows down to 50

Williams said the staff would
take into consideration the
businessman’s objection and a
number of compromise proposals,
including Maida’s suggestion that
parking be allowed on one side of
the street and one hour parking
limit imposed.

See COUNCIL 2A