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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-08-02, Page 16PAGE 16 ,--GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1979 Bell strike causes delay in service in Goderich area BY JEFF SEDDON The affects of rotating strikes by Bell Telephone workers are causing very few problems in the Goderich area according to a Bell spokesman. - Peter Croome, manager off the Stratford area which includes .Goderich, said Tuesday Goderich area -telephone customers may have had to, wait a little longer for repairs or in- stallations but haddthe work done., Croorne said workers in the Goderich area caused only one work stoppage that lasted three days. He said the installers and repair- men walked off the job July 25 and Bell retalliated by locking them out July 26 and 27. He added that to his knowledge the backlog created by that stoppage has been cleared up. But that situation could change quickly. Croome said Bell management is trying oto counter the work stoppages by assigning work to management. He explained that the reassigning allows the company to handle priority work while jobs of lesser importance get shelved. - Croome said the company is making no promises to customers phoning for repairs or installations. He said the situationis being outlined for customers and Bell is telling people the firm will be in touch when it can do the work. He added in most situations where there is no urgency required the job will be delayed a month. He pointed out that essential services such as fire, police, ambulance and hospital are receiving top priority and usually suffer little if any delays. He said most of the problems Bell is having is not due to work stoppages but s.harp decreases in the productivity of workers as well as work to rule situations. He said those two combined are causing the bulk of the problems. Peter McFalls, union steward for Local 46 of the Communcia.tion Workers of Canada, said he had no.idea if Goderich area workers would go off the job again. He said the rotating strikes are called the night before they occur and or- dered by the union's Toronto office. McFalls said the rotating stikes are not designed to cause Bell customers incovenience but rather to create havoc for management. He said the company's retalliation by locking out workers is what- is causing most of the problems. The strike followed a complete breakdown of negotiations July 11. At that time a conci.liater's report recommended the workers be given a 30 month contract calling for a 101/2 percent in- crease in wages retroactive to last December 1 with eight percent increases December 1, 1979 and September 1, 1980. But the workers voted 72 percent against the contract. Objections to the length of the contract, the wage increase and overtime clauses were cited as reasons. The union members would like to see a 24 month contract and want a 17 percent pay hike. The increase is to give Ontario and Quebec Bell employees, wage parity with workers in the western provinces. - Overtime is also a contentious issue. The contract Bell offered permits the firm to schedule up to eight hours of overtime a week. without the employee's consent. The company offered to limit overtime to 24 hours in a.four week period but the employee's want the right to accept or reject any overtime work. Negotiations have not resumed in the past 51 'days and show no signs of reopening. Ontario Hydro does alternate energy studies Ontario Hydro has started work on a number of studies, including several alternative energy programs in- vestigating uses of wood and wind. Others include a nuclear test program, studies on pollution from fossil -fuelled generation and the impact of tran- smission corridors on rural property values. Hydro has engaged Sand -well Company to develop capital cost estimates for wood - handling facilities:. for four sizes of wood -fuelled generating stations. The work is part of the overall assessment of the generation of electricity using forest industry wood waste or plantation harvesting. The report is in the final stages of preparation. Hydro will act as project manager on behalf of the Ministry of Energy, co-ordinating the design, construction and operation of a wind turbine -diesel demon- stration project to be located near Sudbury next year. Several government agencies are involved in the development, which is being designed for ap- plication in small isolated communities, many of which are dependent on expensive diesel generators for their electricity supply. The Sudbury project will develop a wind turbine which would assist the diesel generator when wind conditions permit.' The estimated cost is $425,000 and the principal funding will come from the Ontario Ministry of Northern Affairs. On a similar but separate project, Hydro has engaged a firm of wind energy consultants, Worldwind, to provide design and consulting services , on a low technology wind energy demonstration project being conducted by the Ministry of Energy near Petersburg. Hydro is administrating the project for the Ministry and is providing a surplus transmission tower, as well as engineering guidance in the area of electric power and control systems. • The Board approved the extension of studies done last year by Shawinigan Energy Consultants to assess the remaining hydro -electric potential on the Mat- tagami River. Preliminary work done in the 1950s indicated that the remaining potential head on the river would best be concentrated at Grand Rapids, down- stream from Hydro's Kipling generating Gets what asked for... • from page 1 havoc 'with the budget and the Ministry has been approached for some financial relief. "So far, the Ministry has not said it will make any special allowances," said Taylor. At present, the per diem rate for patient care at AM&G is $115. Last year it was $130. Taylor claimed that while the current per diem rate reflects the fact that less staff is caring for more patients, already this year there have been 650 more patient days than budgeted for. McCaul stressed there was no intention on the part of the board .or the administration at AM&G to reduce patientcare to an un- satisfactory, unsafe level. Additiopq1al staff as required will be hired to provide proper care, but the chairman warned this practice "shoots Liquor doubies.. •. • from page 1 increase would have before ordering stiffer against minors heard in court at least parents of the minors Will be informed of the actions of their children. The judge pointed out that the least the courts could do is make parents aware of charges against minors. The increase ordered by Judge Cochrane does not bring the fines to the maximum called for under the Liquor Act. He said fines can be as -h-igh as $2,000 but pointed out that the in- crease is only designed to be a deterrent. He Hospitals •••• • from page 1° .general, smaller hospitals simply do not have the flexibility of the larger hospitals and for that reason, should not have to live with the same regulations as the larger hospitals. Taylor cited such things as geo.graphical locations, the mix of professional staff and the needs..of the_p.eople as reducing to some extent,, the flexibility of the smaller hospital to meet present Ministry requirements which are • drawn up with all hospitals in mind. "It will be interesting to see how the recommendations of our committee are received," commented Taylor.. He commended former board chairman Jo Berry for her ongoing campaign' to draw at- tention to the plight:of small hospitals in rural areas and their unique differences when compared to large city or urban hospitals. Reg. $21 MS S CIVIC HOLIDAY SPECIAL LARGE POTTED INDOOR PLANTS 1795 • AUGUST 2 "ID -AUGUST 6TH A DVS LANDSCAPING NURSERY GARDEN'CENTRE Plin 166 Bennett St. Goderich 524.2445 a budget". "We're actively concerned with this problem," said McCaul, "and we're going to need the savings the management consultants presently in the hospital expect to find to help us balance the budget." Consultants from •Woods,Gordon are at AM&G daily and according to Taylor and McCaul, initial indications are that some discussions of the consultants with the board's steering committee have already shown where some probable savings can be found. It is still too early to tell what these savings will amount to, or exactly how they will be realized. Staff reaction to the Woods,Gordon people has been positive and as promised, the management consultants have involved staff in the study at every possible juncture. said if the heavier fine does nothing to reduce the number of offenses he may, in six months or a year, increase the minimum tine again. He pointed out that the summer months are normally the peak period for liqour offenses adding he would want to see what affect the penalties. Another fine increase that pleased municipal police officers in the county is one for un- necessary noise. The penalty for squealing tires or making other noise that disturbs the peace is now $100 plus court costs. Officers in all five county towns constantly respond to complaints of drivers squealing tires at all hours of the day. The complaints nor- mally are greatest late at night when pranksters roam the streets squealing tires on their cars and waking up residents of the neigh- borhood. The police are hopeful that the stiff fine for the prank will discourage drivers from making unnecessary noise and cut down dramatically on the number of complaints turned into police stations. FHP SHEAVES — WITH SPLIT TAPER BUSHINGS — EASY TO MOUNT AND REMOVE station. The capacity available to Hydro is expected to be in the range of 160,000 kilowatts, about 30 per cent of the capacity of a single reactor at the Pickering nuclear station. The work will include recommending the preferred location of the dam, confirmation of the overall engineering feasibility of the project and the probable cost range for development of the site. Shawinigan's report is expected in December. Ontario • Hydro will participate in an in- ternational research program designed to test the reactions of various items of nuclear equip- ment to a postulated pipe break. This work is being undertaken to increase knowledge of the safety margins available in CANDU nuclear generating stations. There are no large- scale facilities in Canada in which to carry out such experiments, therefore Hydro is joining a program to be con- ducted at the Marviken facility in Sweden, where work Of this type has been done for ten years. Hydro's share of the program cost is estimated at $2 million and this approach is deemed the least ex- pensive way of providing the needed data. The program should ,get underway this summer. A - contract was awarded to a Queen's University group to study effects on human health of increased air pollution from fossil -fuelled generation producing power for export. The results of this study are required to support Hydro's application to the for an export licence to which expires on June 30, National Energy Board replace the current one 1981. The report is ex- pected in November. • • To assist Hydro in the current review of its property compensation policy, Woods, Gordon •--Company has been 'engaged to study the impact of transmission corridors on rural property values. The .need arises from the conclusion of a recent report from the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning, which concluded that properties affected by transmission lines had consistently lower re -sale values than those used for com- parison purposes. This conclusion was in conflict with previous, though limited, fundings on the subject and Hydro is seeking a more definitive study on which to base its property compensation policies. Drivers find ways to trim budget Ambulance divers working out of Alexandra Marine and General Hospital have found ways to trim $20,000 out of their budget without cutting back service or jobs. Savings will be accrued basically through careful budgeting of overtime hours and discontinuing for the present at least, shift on-call pay. When Alexandra Marine and General Hospital officials discovered in July that the $143,000 allotted by the government for ambulance service in Goderich would be short by about $20,000, am= bulance staff members themselves went to work to find the savings. Administrator Elmer Taylor said this week he is satisfied the cuts proposed by the staff will generate savings. He also expressed his confidence in the staff to make the proposals work. "There has really been excellent co-operation," the administrator said. 9000000009000.9000000000000009•00000000•0000 •e•••o••®•, • CIVICHOLIDAY VALUES. 94P :PEPSI COLA 750 ML. \3 FOR CATELL'I SPAGHETTI MACARONI ;HEINZ RELISH • STOKELY • 907 GRAM 12 FLtOZ. 69' 49° HONEY POD PEAS 10FL3OZ. FOR 8 9 SWIFT HOLIDAY LUNCHEON MEAT CRISCO OIL 750 M1. CANADA FANCY 48 FL. OZ. SUNSPUN TOMATO JUICE. • •• • PLUS DEPOSIT • . 12 OZ TIN 1.39 67°: ;FLEECY FABRIC SOFTENER • CLARKS STEWS 24FL.OZ. $ 1 . 4 9 24FL oz • BICK'S--SWEET MIXED OR YUM-YUM PICKLES 874 • DELMONTEFANCY PEACHES • • TIDE DETERGENT • PAMPERS • PAMP RS DIAPERS • • MARTINS PURE • 28 FL. OZ. 95° -4 L. CONTAINER • 52.49! BEANS WITH PORK 1oz • 41 3 FOR $ 1 s HAMBURGER & WIENER BUNS PKG. OF 8 49c: MAXWELL HOUSE GROUND COFFEE 1LB. BAG $2.99• •• WESTON 6 L. BOX 52.$ 9E• PKG. OF 12 1.69 APPLE JUICE 48 FL. OZ: 85 • LAURA SECORD • • • • MAXWELL HOUSE INSTANT COFFEE • • . LEAVER • M USH ROOMS STEMS & PCES, 10 FL. OZ. 79 • • SUNSPUN KETCHUP 20 FL. 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NO. 1 GRADE Produce of USA • :cARRoTsB:.S 2BAGS 42FOR�69EA. 99 CELERY 99 CANTALOUPES • •••••••••r•••••••••••••••••••••• •••.•••••••••••••••••• COMPLETE RANGE OF SIZES 30 VICTORIA ST NIOPTH GODERICH 524 6581 • J.M.••• RED & WHITE FOODMASTERISbavep�lcesineffecf • OPEN 91 VICTORIA ST. NORTH Monday, July 30 until cloning time • B'A.M. to 10 P.M, 10:00 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4 or while • quantities last. • OPEN CIVIC HOLI6AY 1OPEN SUNDAYS 10 A.M. • 6 P.M. 10 P.M. DAILY ••1�•••Ii►••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••• 0011