THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER OT ist Issue May, 1964 IWA RADIO PROGRAMS FOR INFORMATION ON NEGOTIATIONS Radio CKNW: Vancouver/New Westminster: 3 x I-minute spots per week, rotating 6:45 - 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, Wed- nesday, Thursday. Radio CFUN: Vancouver: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:50 a.m. Radio CHWK: Chilliwack: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:50 a.m. Radio CFCP: Courtenay: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CFWB: Campbell River: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CJJC: Langley: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CHUB: Nanaimo: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:05 a.m. Radio CJAV: Port Alberni: 4 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:05 a.m. Friday, 12:25 p.m. Radio CFTK: Terrace/Kitimat: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30 a.m. Radio CKDA: Victoria: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:10 a.m. Wednesday and THE WORLD IS FULL OF BRIGHT IDEAS... WE WISH WE'D BEEN BRIGHT ENOUGH TO HAVE HAD MORE THAN ONE. TO MAKE THE BEST BOOTS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (AND STARTING RIGHT IN B.C.). BUT THEN, WE’VE MANAGED TO DO ALL RIGHT WITH OURS. IT WORKS EVERY TIME! UNION-MADE PIERRE PARIS & SONS 51 West Hastings Street Vancouver 3, B.C. Family Teamwork in Craftsmanship since 1907 "Why Mislead Customers? ... sea By ROD BEATON President Local 1-288 At the same time that the lumber operators are charging the IWA with economic irresponsibility in our demands in negotiations, they are now embarking upon a program which will destroy faith in the quality of our product in lumber markets at home and abroad. Some background is nec- essary to understand fully the implications of this new policy: The Pacific Lumber Inspec- tion Bureau has, since 1903, built up market confidence in the quality of B.C. Coast lum- ber. Industry management had agreed to lumber inspec- tion entirely independent of local mill influence. The temptation to vary grade at the expense of the customer has, through this independent inspection service, been over- come. The result—a growing, con- fident market. The Interior of B.C., North and South, had in response to a demand for similar consist- ency of lumber grading, set up Association Grading. The training under the Northern and Southern Interior Assoc- iations was good and it has been uniform. The graders in- involved are of high calibre. Why has this approach fail- ed to satisfy the market, par- ticularly in the U.S.A. ? The answers are obvious: © The graders are on the payroll of the producers. © They are subject to un- due pressure to vary the grade. The case of the Osachoff brothers, graders in the West Kootenays, clearly illustrates this latter point—Plant man- agement had ordered the Osa- choffs to up-grade some lum- ber shipments. These graders refused on the grounds that up-grading in this fashion would be unethical and fur- ther, would endanger their tickets. Management fired ‘them. The Local Union took the case to arbitration, the dismissals were upheld. Meanwhile, this type of act- ion has been having its effect. Buyers of Interior lumber have been receiving customer complaints. In desperation the Interior operators turned to the P. — e but with a new twist. ; . stamp, place it on their shipments, and hope the customer would not find out that the independent inspec- tors were out of the picture. Not only as Union mem- bers, but as responsible citi- zens of this province, we have a duty to fight the spread of this abuse, Publie confidence in a pro- duct is a precious and fragile thing. We must not let a greedy and short sighted pol- icy destroy it. CLA INVADES ALBERTA “Right to Work’ Laws Proposed The Ontario - based Chris- tian Labor Association of Canada once ruled guilty of discrimination against non- Christians, has been certified as the bargaining agency for a group of workers in Edson, Alta., by the Board of Indus- trial Relations. The new local, first of its kind in Alberta to be ‘certified, represents the employees of 4-Way Whole- sale Ltd. of Edson. Organizer Gerald Vande- zande of Rexdale, Ont., hailed this as a victory, and an- nounced plans for organizing in Alberta and British Colum- - bia. He claims to have or- ganized a general local in Cal- gary. The Association has been blamed by the Calgary La- bour Council for inspiring some anti-labour legislation recently before the Alberta Legislature. The organizer de- nied the charge, but stated, “The clauses in the amending legislation do not go far enough. They should ban the union shop altogether.” His Association has advocated the removal of all forms of “com- pulsory membership” in trade unions. The CLA of Canada was re- fused certification in Ontario ten years ago because of its alleged discrimination against workers who were not of the Christian faith. Canadian labour leaders have warned that the struc- ture of the CLA is highly dic- tatorial. Under the by-laws no one is permitted to hold office “who is not qualified to give leadership in harmony with the character of the CLA.” - Seventy-five per cent of the dues collected must be turned over to the general treasurer, and at the end of the fiscal year all funds in the local treasury over fifty dollars must be remitted to the head office. It appears that CLA mem- bers are not always eligible for office in their own locals and can have little to say about the spending of their own funds. Canadians Unskilled “It is startling to read that in the United States 32.9 per cent of the labor force is skilled whereas in Canada only 6.2 per cent of our workers are skilled. It is nothing to be proud of.” —J. Bascom St. John in the Globe and Mail, April 30, 1964.