The Windsor Star from Windsor, Ontario, Canada • 1

mill Advertising Citdimf VSS SELLS LEASES TRUCKS MINI VANS 1 150 Provincial Rd. AT Cabana 972-6500 $75 Fer Week Introductory Offer (519)255-9932 (810)511999 65 Cents TUESDAY 1 JANUARY 10, 1995 Jj- 3 major issues resolved, but free agency may kill hockey season More on NHL In what they termed their final proposals, the owners had wanted each team to have the right to walk away from two salary arbitration decisions each year and the players had wanted one walkaway right. THE LEAGUE HAD wanted a rookie salary cap applied to the first three rounds of the entry draft with different levels for each round; the union conceded the cap but wanted it at a higher financial level and no so-called banding of rounds. The owners had wanted the sole right to reopen a six-year agreement; the players were adamant they also have that ability. Mondays bargaining session turned into a lengthy conversation between Bettman and Goodenow, who were speaking face-to-face for the first time since Dec.

6. They began meeting late Monday morning at a mid-town hotel and took about a 90-minute dinner break. When they resumed, sources said the owners made concessions on about a half dozen of the 12 or so issues Goodenow brought to the table. Management pulled back some concessions it has given with the aim of keeping the age of free agency at 32. The players want it at 30.

Sources said the sides were discussing a combination of age and length of service. THE SIDES BEGAN talking Monday morning in a Manhattan hotel suite and were still in negotiations as the from the noon deadline Bettman put on salvaging a 50-game season. Also still on the table but considered less contentious was the age at which a player can enter the draft. The owners want it to be 20, with 18- and 19-year-olds able to opt in if they so desire; the union wants it to remain at 18. As well, the issue of retroactive pay remained to be resolved.

The owners dont want to pay players because they feel theyve taken the worst of the financial hit from the 101-day-old lockout. NEW YORK (CP) Three major items in the NHL lockout were resolved Monday, according to sources, but as talks continued through die morning hours today, free agency threatened to scuttle any deal. The rookie salaiy cap, the ability to reopen the contract and salary arbitration appeared well in hand but when to grant unrestricted free agency was the big problem keeping NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive-director Bob Goodenow from reaching a deal. Cable The prosperity puzzle Experts, unemployed at odds over recover? Unemployment sees six-year low Windsors unemployment rate hit a six-year low in December. The current rate of 6.7 includes seasonal agricultural workers.

Without these workers the rate would be around 5.2. By Brian Cross Star Labor Reporter Windsor is getting darned close to having full employment, a labor market analyst from the Canada Employment Centre says. Irene Schen can count 8,000 new jobs in the Windsor area in 1994, a year in which the unemployment rate steadily sank, from almost 1 1 per cent to Decembers rate of 6.7 per cent a six-year low. Economists used to believe that once the rate hit three or four per cent, you had full employment, that people who were out of work were either moving from one job to another, were too discouraged to look for work, or were basically unemployable. Lately, its believed a more realistic figure is between five and six per cent, Schen said.

Any time we fall below six per cent, I think were looking at full employment. THE CURRENT 6.7 per cent rate includes agricultural workers, who naturally arent working at this time of year because of the winter weather. If agricultural workers are taken out of the mix, the December rate would be 5.2 per cent, she said. It doesnt get much better than that." There are more good economic indicators, which all point to a vastly improved job market compared to three years ago, when the unemployment rate topped 14 per cent and more than 28,000 people were PAMELA BEHNKEISoutham News Graphics Windsors average unemployment rate for the year is estimated at 9.6 per cent, compared to 1 1.7 for 1993, 12.9 for 1992, and 12.4 for insurance. over protests payoff Trillium offers an apology By David Morelli Star Staff Reporter Good news, angry cable subscribers: You won! Trillium Cable has finally surrendered to the torrent of cable criticism and will allow subscribers to keep the specialty channels they have now at the same cost, even if they dont order the seven new channels.

Trilliums decision Monday afternoon followed a week of uproar across Canada that caught the cable industry off guard. Trillium follows the lead of most other cable operators who have backed down from plans to bill sub-. scribers for the new channels or force them to give up popular stations such as TSN and CNN. We did make a mistake, said Pat Kiely, general manager of Trillium in Windsor. Theres an apology in this, yes.

We underestimated that people value what they already had. I think it was the principle of the thing, not the cost (an additional $3 plus tax per month). People were saying Dont push me around. I may actually like what you want me to watch but dont tell me what I have to watch. OUR CUSTOMERS have been clear (that) they want control over how they choose to buy cable service, Kiely said.

The price of the CablePlus package for Windsor and Essex County residents will remain $26.95 plus tax. CablePlus will continue to include TSN, CNN, CNN Headline News, (Arts and Entertainment), The Nashville Network and Telatino. MuchMusic has been moved to Basic Service and is available to all subscribers. Kiely said the decision to eliminate the take-it-or-leave-it option with CablePlus spells more good news for subscribers: Trillium will soon add channels to the CablePlus service at no extra cost because of new regulations from the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission. Under the regulations, cable companies must provide Canadian specialty channels on a one-to-one ratio with American specialty channels.

The CablePlus package now features four American channels and only two Canadian. Kiely said no decision has been made on how to address the ratio, explaining its terribly complicated. He wouldnt say if any of the new specialty channels introduced See CABLE, A2 claiming unemployment In December, there were just 8.000 collecting UI. StatsCan reported only 9,000 unemployed, compared to 10,000 the month before and 14,000 a year ago. MEANWHILE, THE size of the labor force has increased from 132.000 to 135,000, meaning people are moving here or re-entering the job market, because about Windsors job rush.

And the the number of employed people has gone from 118.000 to 126,000, an increase in jobs of 8,000 or seven per cent. 1991. And the welfare rate is also declining. But nevertheless, there are still 1.36 million jobless in Canada, which continues its limp out of a five-year recession. Locally, 450 people just lost their jobs due to the Dec.

23 closure of Windsor Plastics. Long-term layoffs continue at area General Motors plants. And there See EXPERTS, A4 Star photoMike Weaver MARGARET PEEVER reflects on her life jobless with few prospects Thousands line up for shot at GM job By Richard Brennan Queens Park Bureau PICKERING Paul Little of Peterborough didnt flinch Monday when he learned thousands of people were lined up ahead of him in the cold for a chance at a job at General Motors in nearby Oshawa. I havent worked for almost three years, except for odd jobs the 29-year-old unemployed electrician said. Ive got four children.

Id do anything for a job at GM. Little joined the more than 15,000 people, most of them unemployed or working in low-paying jobs, to fill out an application for a yet undetermined number of positions paying $22-an-hour, plus benefits. You do what you have to do, Little said. It was a scene not witnessed in Canada since the Great Depression. Staff Sgt.

Doug King, a 29-year veteran of the Durham Region police force, said he wouldnt have believed it if he hadnt seen if for himself. This is double what we expected, King said, noting it was a relatively well behaved crowd. The line, three and four people deep, went entirely around the shopping mall-size Metro East Trade Centre just east of Metro Toronto. They first started lining up on Saturday after GM ran advertisements in Toronto newspapers saying it was accepting applications for its Oshawa operation, which employs 3,200. Hopefully this line leads to employment, said 27-year-old Brian Scarlett, of Oshawa.

Im unemployed, Im on welfare, Im hurtin for this job." See THOUSANDS, A4 Frank GunnCanadian Press MORE THAN 15,000 waited in freezing weather in Pickering Monday to apply for a job at GM THE BOTTOM LSHEZ Grits on attack Dollar Please recycle dealings The following rates for normal transactions were quoted today by Windsor banks for the U.S. dollar: Banks are buying U.S. cash at 1.3897 and selling at 1.4257. Banks are buying Home Delivery 255-5774 U.S. cheques for 1.3903 and selling at 1.4262.

Classified 255-5514 YOUNGSTERS LEARN life-saving lesson with Windsor fircfightcrsA5 The Quebec Liberals began their own attack on Jacques Parizeaus sovereignty campaign Monday. High-profile Quebec businessman Michel Belanger will organize the federalist forces in the run-up to this years referendum campaign. Belanger said federalists are confident of victory in the referendum. The full stoty's on B8. Wednesday Low tonight, -9 High Wednesday, -1 Todays UV: 1.2 Low Details, A2 7.