VAS

SPER RAY

e Second Milan

"WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GO TO THE BEACH. “
(Adaption of an infamous quote by Nute Rockney)

We've seen it all before; what I call the ‘Benedict Arnold
Syndrome’. Historically, the people have always been sold

out by their leaders; the situation with Operation Solid-

arity is no different.

I call it the Second Wave, because this is the second time
in less than a year that the people of B.C. have been be-
trayed by their representatives. The First Wave came with
the May 5th election, when the Socreds lied their way into
power and made a mockery of the democratic process. The
Second Wave of betrayal hit us when we became aware of the
deal struck by Operation Solidarity and the provincial
government.

the social implications of the budget, which will
erode the basic elements of Human Rights, Education
and Tenants Rights... to name a few. The Student Soc-
iety Executive attended the Nov.14th meeting of the
coalition as delegates from the Emily Carr student
body.

Before I proceed with my invictive, however, a very impor-
tant distinction must be made between the Solidarity Coa-
lition and Operation Solidarity - so that we may gain a
perspective on the events which have occured:

Qperation Solidarity is the label used to describe the
big guns in the labour movement (such as the B.C. Fed-
eration of Labour, the BCGEU, etc...). These are the
people who have been negotiating with the provincial
government to repeal labour legislation and have been
the spokespersons to the media for the Solidarity
movement. ce

Solidarity Coalition is the grassroots movement which
came about to oppose the entire legislative package -
the Socreds tabled on July 7, and have provided the

popular support for the public sector strike. The 1is-
sues concerning the coalition have focused mainly on

During the dispute, Obe Wan Kube and the other spokes-
persons of Operation Solidarity have stressed support
for the social issues of the coalition. When the final
agreement became known, however, we find that no such
provisions had been made- only a vague reference to a
"consultation process”, which had earlier been reject-

- ed by Kube. To add insult to injury, we also find that
-the Solidarity Coalition was never consulted in the pro-

cess of negotiations; effectively alienating the member-
ship from the agreement.

After attending the Nov.14th assembly of the Solidarity
Coalition (which included Kube and Mike Kramer as guests)