TheFARSIDE By Gary Larson IWA-Canada agrees to two-year contract NEWS STAFF The IWA-Canada Locals 417 and 1-405 have inked a new contract with Pope and Talbot in Castlegar. Canada Grade A Beef CHUCK STEAK Boneless ¢ 5.49 kg. 2* B.C. Grown No. 1 25 Ib. bag HOURS Mon.-Thurs 9:00 a.m.-€ Fri. 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m Sun. 10-5 p.m Canada Grade A Beef STEW MEAT Boneless ¢ 4.38 kg. PORK SAUSAGE Family pack ¢ 3.05 kg. ‘Castlegar Foods @ Wednesday, September 16, 1992 3a Chapman continues to fight lights @ Friendly debate pits two councillors against one another on streetlight issue Scott David Harrison EDITOR Jim Chapman wants Castlegar to see the light. The city councillor wants his counterparts to open their eyes on what he calls “spooky lights.” Chapman continued to campaign against a city plan that would see mercury-fueled streetlights converted to high-pressure sodium units. “I still don’t want to see those lights in this town. They’re terrible,” Chapman said prior to Tuesday’s council session. “Everywhere you go, all you hear is complaints about these lights. You hear it in Toronto, you hear it in Winnipeg and you hear it here.” Chapman complained that the high- pressure sodium units proposed by West Kootenay Power give off 10 per cent less light and cast shadows which can be dangerous during night driving. WEP, meanwhile, contends that the high-pressure sodium units provide as much light as their mercury-fueled counterparts, require less maintenance and are cost-effective. Castlegar and WKP are proposing to convert some 312 lights at a cost of $119,000. WKP says the annual savings from high-pressure sodium lights will equal $16,000. The entire project is on hold, though, thanks to opposition from Chapman. Council has agreed to give Chapman time to come up with a better lighting plan. He said Tuesday that he is still studying the lights on the market and will be prepared to present council with a report when the time comes. The streetlight conversion project will be reviewed under the 1993 budget. Chapman’s argument hasn’t convinced Coun. Lawrence Chernoff, however. Chernoff said the lights are the best the city can get. He said until Chapman convinces him otherwise, he’ll back the WEP plan. “You’ve had three months to come up with something and you still have nothing,” Chernoff said to Chapman during a brief debate outside council chambers. “You get me a better light and I'll look at it.” “I'll get you light,” retorted Chapman during the friendly debate. “I'll prove to you that there are better lights on the market than these terrible things.” HOME SWEET HOME __. KINNAIRD HALL Gi28i. avence ———_J Food bank running on empty NEWS STAFF Castlegar’s Salvation Army needs food — desperately. Now that the thrift store and WHITE BREAD Or Whole Wheat ¢ 570 g. ENGLISH MUFFINS Twin Pack 09 food bank are up and running, or- ganizers say the demand for food is greater than first expected. “We're really short of food,” com- munity services co-ordinator Dick Parr said. “The demand is heavy and the donations are short.” Parr says the Salvation Army is looking for non-perishable or frozen foods. “We'll take anything usable, let’s put it that way,” Parr said. “We'll take clothing or furniture. Some 250 IWA-Canada members voted 88 per cent in favor of a two-year deal that sees them get an increase of 85 cents an hour in the contract’s final year. But Sunday’s agreement doesn’t mean the negotiations are over. IWA workers are now seeking a 25-cent-per-hour wage hike to bridge the gap with settlements reached at B.C.’s pulp mills. “(The wage request) basically is province-wide. That's not a local issue,” Pope and Talbot’s resident manager Bob Coutts said. “We are no longer bargaining independently.” Local 1-405 president Wayne Nowlin confirmed Tuesday that his membership is not spearheading a campaign for the 25 cent wage increase. “We have an agreement that we just ratified on Sunday, why would we be asking for it to be changed,” Nowlin asked. We're looking at winter or fall Nowlin said Castlegar’s workers agreed “to an industry set- Foremost William Tell ; Kraft clothing. But food is our high pri- { re: ; ™ : . ee anid the local membership would leave negotiations for iC E AP PLE M AC ARO NI i I ? — a : AS for the Salvation Army’s improved wages in the hands of the Interior Forest Labor Re- CREAM JUICE & CHEESE Ae: News photo by Neil Rachynski| ‘Thrift Store, Parr says it has been lations Association. The once-troubled Kinnaird Hall is alive and well thanks to the renovation work of the United Brotherhood of as ead ve rong hag oct food “Th i i do with Pi d Tal- Carpenters’ and Joiners’. Union spokesperson Len Embree (centre) took the time Tuesday to introduce onations either the bot in Gentes ean eee odor wide.” has asked All flavours ¢ 2 litre 8:30 a.m.toSp.m. | | Mayor Audrey Moore, city councillors and members of the public to the new and improved Kinnaird Hall.Once bank or Thrift Store can be made CEREAL All brands ¢ All sizes tee r © co ‘be = = S > A CALL THE NEWS @General igquiries for an opening of wage negotiations.” FOR ALL YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS ¢ Home « Tenant * Commercial « Life * Travel * Rec Vehicle © ICBC Autoplan* « Private Auto *We Provide a Flexible Finance Plan (Subject to qualifications) WITH TWO OFFICES TO SERVE YOU: CASTLEGAR SAVINGS INSURANCE AGENCY 607-18th St. (5) P.O. Box 98 + sceesmmmin Castlegar Slocan Park 365-3368 226-7216 =. Castlegar and District Heritage Society ii ANNUAL FALL WINDUP Fi) & BOARDWALK SALE of the C. gar t ge Society will be held SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 10 a.m.-2 p.m. — CPR Station Museum Live by Joe Irving. To book a fleamarket table call Deb Mcintosh (or Barbary Tandory) at the CPR Station Office 365-6440 Limit 1 Limit 1 per $25 grocery purchase 1 litre 200 g. BUTTER Limit 1 per $25 grocery purchase ° 454 g. ROGERS SUGAR Limit 1 per $25 purchase ¢ 2 kg. Closed on weekends and statutory holidays. SUB RATES The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail subscription rate to continue to occupy the facility. rumored to be destroyed, the hall will remain a Castlegar fixture as the union has agreed to let user-groups Tuesday through Saturday be- tween 9 and 5 p.m. Cominco announces further cutbacks. @ Lawsuit and layoffs mar operations at Trail’s giant lead and zinc smelter Scott David Harrison EDITOR Cominco’s workforce is being trimmed again. The Trail operation announced Tuesday that layoff notices were handed out to 67 members of the United Steelworkers of America. “It is the company’s intention that any further layoffs to be made after year’s end will be done through: attrition,” Cominco’s Chief Public Relations Officer Richard Fish said. “All this is contingent on our negotiations with the unions involved.” Of the 67 layoffs, 57 went to members of the production and maintenance Local 480, while 10 went to the office and technical workers Local 9705. The job losses are just a handful of the 518 cutbacks Cominco: made this year through layoffs, attrition and early retirement programs. The cutbacks began on Dec. 31, 1991. The job reductions trim Cominco’s workforce to 2,150 according to Fish. The layoffs — effective Nov. 29 — come just five days after Local 480 filed a breech of trust suit against Cominco with the B.C. Supreme Court. The suit alleges that Cominco misused funds in the employee pension plan. Local 480 has accused Cominco of using surpluses from a_ 1926- negotiated pension fund to help reduce unfunded liabilities in its other pension plans throughout the 1980s. The 1926 plan was frozen in 1966 after other pension plans were negotiated. According to one report, the suit involves between $17 million to $30 million in pension funds, plus interest on the monies that would have accumulated since the transfers allegedly began in 1983. “Since the matter is before the courts, there is not a lot that I can say,” Fish said. “Once all the facts are known in the case, I’m sure it will be known that Cominco acted properly.” A union spokesperson failed to return a call from The News. No court date has been set for the Local 480 suit.