thewestern canadian

lumber. worker

“Vol. XXXIX, No. 10

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

NOVEMBER, 1971

ie “Twa NVENTION DECISION :

LOCAL 1-71‘s long-time Bookkeeper-Receptionist Miss
Myrna Grovestine gets set to break the traditional bottle of
champagne on the bow of the Local’s new boat Green Gold V,
at the launching ceremony November 8, in Vancouver. See

> story and pictures page 5.

—Photo courtesy of The Vancouver Sun

"WAR DECLARED ON P.P.W.C.

FOR RAIDING IWA OPERATIONS

All-out war was declared against the Pulp & Paper Workers of Canada
by the delegates attending the 34th Annual IWA Regional Convention Oc-
tober 18-22, in Vancouver.

A majority of the approximately 170 delegates voted approval to a
resolution authorizing Regional officers to attempt to bring all pulp mills now
under the jurisdiction of the PPWC into the IWA.

The move was in retaliation
for the PPWC raids on IWA
operations at Mackenzie and
Houston in Local 1-424 and at
Chemainus in Local 1-80.

Unfortunately, as already
noted by PPWC officials, the
convention failed to provide
the officers with sufficient
ammunition in the way of
money to conduct more than a
token campaign.

The officers had requested a
per capita increase of thirty
cents to properly finance the
various programmes
demanded by the membership.
While few delegates denied the
Region was under-financed,
the request was refused on the

settlement, top officers of the
International Pulp union’ have
stymied efforts to resolve a
jurisdictional dispute at
Kitimat, B.C.

Led by President Joe Tonelli,
representatives of the In-
ternational Brotherhood of
Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers stalked angrily out of
a meeting called by the CLC
in Vancouver November 1
aimed at ending the dispute.

More than two years ago, in
defiance of the CLC Con-
stitution, the international pulp
union invaded IWA jurisdiction
4, sae? and was certified as

: bargaining agent for 150
sawmill workers at Kitimat.

Raiding charges were
pressed by the IWA and upheld
by the CLC impartial umpire.
When the pulp union refused to
comply with his ruling, the
IWA took the case to the CLC
Executive Council, which
applied sanctions against the
pulp union.

The meeting here was
arranged at a session in Ot-
tawa between officers of the
IWA and CLC in line with in-
structions from the recent
International Convention to
seek immediate action on
settlement of the Kitimat
issue.

Joe Morris, executive vice-
president of the CLC, was
chairman of the meeting,

Despite sincere attempts by
the IWA and Canadian Labour
’ Congress to reach an equitable

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Bulk Ennombre)
PERMIT No. 2075
VANCOUVER, B.C.

659 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, B.C.

THE LUMBER WORKER

pong
4

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cussion on the history of the

» which included lengthy, dis-

| INTERNATIONAL PULP OFFICERS
. SCUTTLE TALKS ON KITIMAT DISPUTE

dispute and the pulp union’s
refusal to abide by rulings of
the impartial umpire and
executive council.

At one point during the
discussion, Pulp Vice-
President Pat O’Neal walked
out of the meeting in a huff and
slammed the door as he left.

Later in the meeting, Tonelli
made a proposal for settlement
of the dispute. This was studied
by the IWA, which then

See “KITIMAT” Page 13

grounds that no proper budget -

had been prepared to show how
the money was to be spent.
However, some additional
money was provided through a
resolution advanced by Local
1-217 which proposed that the
five cents allocated to the
Publicity Fund from the
present per capita tax should
revert to the Regional Coun-
cil’s General Fund when the
Publicity Fund reached $50,000
and revert back if the Fund
reached a low of $35,000.
Besides dealing with a
number of constitutional,
policy and legislative
resolutions, the delegates
listened to a number of guest
speakers. These included IWA
International President Ron
Roley, CLC Secretary-Treas-
urer Bill Dodge, International
2nd Vice-President H. Landon
Ladd, Regional Council No. 3,

President Len Palmer, NDP-

MP Tom Barnett and B.C. La-
bour Minister’ James R.
Chabot.

Press reports that a “power
struggle’ dominated almost
the entire convention, were
untrue. All democratic
organizations allow complete
freedom of expression and the
IWA is no exception.

While there were divided
opinions on a number of sub-
jects during the week-long
convention, it was quite ap-
parent on policy matters af-
fecting the welfare of the
membership and the country

that the delegates were in
agreement.

This was reflected in the
concern expressed by the
convention on such matters as
Canada’s critical unem-
ployment problem, the plight
of. the old age pensioners, the
Amchitka Test, pollution, the
U.S. Tariff Surcharge, and the
lack of low-cost housing.

The delegates also expressed
concern over the export by
Canada of its raw wood
products by demanding that
this exporting cease and the
government initiate
development of secondary
woodworking manufacturing
operations in B.C. and the rest
of the country.

A Political Action Workshop
was held during the convention
and following a critical
analysis of labour’s lack of
action in the political field, a
decision was made to hold a
Region-wide Political Action
Conference for the purpose of
acquainting the membership
with the vital need of par-
ticipating more actively in
politics.

For the first time definate
action was taken on investi-
gating the problems of the
women in the woodworking
industry. A resolution was
approved instructing the Re-
gional Executive Board to set
up a conference to investigate,
report and make recom-
mendations on the status of

See “CONVENTION” Page 13

AS

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CONVENTION! DELEG

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