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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-05-05, Page 3er wage demands at the Domtar-Sifto Salt Mine were in a legal strike as of 12,01 a.m. Thursday April 28 to back their for an 80 cent an hour increase over a one-year The company had offered increases of 62 and 55 ction time voters will be going is again on June 9 onths after the last al` election. The as called on. April 29 ier Willaim Davis ked the voters for a to provide a stable nt to deal with the yment situation, and national unity. feels that his government elected has not had the tary support.to lead nce the way it would dings in the, house ervatives with 52 e NDP with 38• and als with 35. feels that the only the Conservatives is from the NDP e says that the have no clear r philosphies for the , the Conservative parties are looking ;tern Ontario for s . in the election. als hold 11 of the 20 est of Kitchener and two parties see this ground fpr ad - t, Opinion polls also at the Liberals will uble holding their meeting for Huron -Middlesex. on May 12 in Exeter and as of yet`, the NDP has made no definite arrangements for their meeting. Neither party has filled their slate of 125 candidates. The Conservatives are hoping for potential changes in the London area, the Liberals have gained the support of Wardsville reeve, Donald Nisbet and the NDP are hoping for Gordon Hill, a Varna farmer and president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. - The Conservatives and the NDP parties feel that they are a much more credible force in Western Ontario than they were in the 1975 election. Huron -Bruce riding is already getting prepared for the June 9 provincial election with two parties having set nomination meeting dates. The Progressive Con-' servative riding association will meet May 9 at 8 p.m. in Kincardine Town hall to select a candidate for' the election-,-., association president John Slade said. By press time, it was unknown who would be seeking the nomination, but region. Mr. Slade said there are at Huron -Middlesex least four persons interested iberal MPP Jack in carrying the party's colors. expected to seek re- . Bill Walden, of Wingham, n at thw May 12 who ran unsuccessfully for eeting in Hensall. the Conservatives in the 1975 anservatives have election may once again seek d a nomination the nomination but this has not yet been confirmed... ks declared al by botird on County Board of n will not be secondary schools' nglish material, but rioted the use of ble books to grade vision was made in n May 2 at. the regular afternoon d in the literary was an amend- eep the use of books ''questionable toa minimum use, sted by Trustee rayne. month of meetings ussions, the board heir decision on this sial topic by a vote in favor of main- uch hooks as "Of Men," "Grapes of "Catcher ins the "The Diviners," S ^meeting, which e 50 people in at- , heard various express their othe literary issue.' eal, mathematics Goderich District Institute told the t r society is about ` moral ethics there is no ofthagood reading material. He felt that bor- derline or questionable novels need not be used. , He also explained that substitute books for some students was not an ac- ceptable idea, "the student must forfeit the classroom situation and the teacher's guidance, which is an im- portant aspect in learning." Elsa Haydon, from the Goderich Town Council and Wilfred Shortreed a past chairman of the board,. both spoke in defence of the literary question. They commended and supported the teachers and the students. " Trustee Alec Corrigan moved to support the teachers and the department heads in their choice of books with Frayne making amendments on that. Trustee John Henderson, who opposed the motion, suggested that the books be taken off the course for one year and at a later date the board Gould meet with the teachers to see if the books had been missed. Vice-chairman Marian Zinn reminded (jiat board that they still will meet with the teachers -in June to discuss the books for the fall and will have the final say in the material choice. cents respectively over a two-year period but the offer was not accepted by the union. A mediation meeting has been scheduled in Toronto next Wednesday. (staff photo) 215 workers out Sifto Salt employees strike at Goderich mine Workers at the Domtar-Sifto Salt Mine remain on strike after they. voted to strike at midnight last Wednesday. The 215 mine workers, members of Local 16 of the Canadian Chemical Workers Union, were in a legal strike position at 12.01 a.m. Thursday, April 28 after negotiations had broken off with the company earlier Wednesday af- ternoon. A company spokesman said that a mediation meeting has been .scheduled in Toronto next Wednesday and will be convened by representatives of the Ministry of Labor. Although the union' s one year con- tract expired March 31, members of Local 16 were not in a legal strike position until 12.01 a.m, Thursday morning. In a vote Sunday April 24, the union voted 112 to 20 in favor of striking if the union demands Were notmet in negotiations with company Wednesday April 27, The union was seeking an 80 cent an hour increase over a one-year contract as well as other adjustments and limitations on the company's right to manage. The increase would raise the average, miners wage to $7,69 an hour, an increase of approximately 11 percent. Just hours before the strike the company made a final offer of a 62 cent an hour increase over the first year and a 55 cent an hour increase over the second year of the two year contract. The company offer also included im- provements in benefits, premiums and classification rates. Mine manager Bill Coughlan said that the offer was substantially above the anti-inflation board guidelines but the increase over the two-year agreement would re-establish the historical relationship of wages between the mine workers and the International Chemical Workers Union Local 682 at the evaporator plant in Goderich. Coughlan said that the union demands were incomprehensible in liglit of the anti-inflation hoard guidelines but the union wants the company to back up the increase in a joint submission to the AIB. Coughlan said that the company was agreeable to a joint submission on their offer, but could not consider it for the union demands, Coughlan said that the union request, when adjusted for benefits and premiums, is approximately double in relation to the figures allowable under the guidelines. The company is looking to restore parity for the mine workers with Local 682 over'a two-year contract but the union is seeking another one-year pact. The company is seeking a two-year contract to establish stability in the marketplace and could not promise set prices on further extended contracts if the labor costs were to change annually. The union claims that Domtar is seeking a two-year wage agreement that will hold the workers to lower wages while the price and wage guidelines are still in effect. The union demands also call for a change in the work schedule to give employees free time on the weekends during the months of July and August. The existing schedule provides for three sevee day work weeks a month with a five day and two day break between the weeks, The workers want time off on the weekends. Coughlan claimed that the mine must run all the time to realize a return and a five day work week would either mean shutting down for two days or paying exorbitantovertime wages. Both sides will have a week to review their demands until the mediation meeting in Toronto next Wednesday. 130 YEAR --17 i No immediate building plans .la THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1977 SiNGLE COPY 25c ouncil accepts Borg -Werner pact Goderich town council voted unanimously to accept an offer from Borg-Warner of Canada Limited to purchase 22 acres of industrial park land in Goderich at a meeting Monday night. Council voted in favor of the amended agreement with the company, - after councillor Elsa Haydon left the council .chambers in disgust. Following nearly two years of negotiations with the town, Borg-Warner has agreed to pay $44,000 for a 22 acre parcel of land between high-` ways 8 and 21. The motion was passed at the Monday night • meeting of council following a full day's meetings between town council, town engineer, Burns Ross, town, solicitor, Dan Murphy and represen- tatives from Borg-Warner and the Ministry of the Environment. The major stumbling block in earlier negotiations was the incapability of the town's sewage treatment facilities to handle the proposed plant discharge. Council wanted the company _ to maintain some responsibility for sewage plant expansion costs. The amended agreement calls for the company's sewage discharge to the storm and sanitary sewers to meet the local bylaw requirements and the pre- treatment of discharge to meet the requirements is the responsibility of the com- pany. Borg-Warner will have the option of discharging pre- treated waste water from the plant to the storm or sanitary sewer if they give notice in writing of such discharges two years in advance or they pay part of the cost of the capital expansion of the treatment plant. The payments are to be in proportion to the hydraulic load of their industrial waste as compared to the design hydraulic load of the sewage plant expansion. The motion to accept the amended agreement was introduced by councillor Doti • Wheeler and seconded by councillor John Doherty,. Councillor Haydon then suggested that the matter be left for ,review until the next council meeting to fully understand the amendments. "I would move that we leave the motion on the agreement for another week," she said. "It is only good business sense. I have nothing against the deal but it should be tabled for another week," Councillor Stan Profit seconded the motion but it was defeated in a vote. Mayor Deb Shewfelt said that the matter had been. exposed to council long enough and that it was time to vote on the agreement: "We have been meeting all day with our consultants about the agreement and it would be a slap in the face to our consultants if we did not pass a motion tonight," he said. Wheeler said that perhaps some people needed more time but that the offer had gone on for some time. He added that Borg-Warner satisfied his personal con- cerns and although he was originally worried about the costs of servicing the land he was sure that the town ,could handle it over a number of years. Deputy -Reeve > Eileen Palmer claimed that although she was not satisfied with the previous offer she was now comfortable with the streamlined version. She added that although the agreement was sound she had reservations about the ex- tension of Suncoast Drive but also saw no reason to table the offer to the next council meeting. Profit said he seconded Haydon's motion as a matter of semantics but he too was comfortable with the amended agreement. Haydon said that she could also he comfortable with the agreement if she could review the amended agreement in its -entirety. She said that Borg-Warner was not in any hurry to build and wondered why there was force in council to push the agreement through. Haydon left the council chambers and the motion was passed. No dates have been released an the company's plans for construction but Wheeler explained that the company hopes to employ between 80. 100 people. Prom Queen crowned Judy Cruickshank, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Doug Cruickshank, of Goderich was crowned queen at the GDCI formal Friday night by last year's queen Laurie Kernlghan. Judy was selected by the student body over four other contestants, Mary Burns, (left) and to Judy's right Marianne Frayne, I.ori Keller and Kathy Reynolds. Goderich was the theme of thls year's spring formal in conjunction -with the 150 birthday celebration. (staff photo) •