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ae thewestern Canadian

lished once momtniy as the offecial publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOQOWORKERS OF AMERICA

Western Canadian Regional Council No, 1
2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C,

Business Manager—Wyman Trineer

Editer—Patrick S, Kerr

Attiiated with AFL-Ci O-CLE
Phone 674-516). 4

Forwarded to every member of the [WA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions.
Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year.

EDITORIAL

“THEY CAN'T BE TRUSTED”

ENNETT’S Socreds were elected

~ ya in 1975 with the slogan “Get B.C.

b

he:

Moving Again,” and promptly began
to increase taxation, unemployment,
inflation and business losses.

Hundreds of millions of dollars
were, by the direct action of the
Government, forcefully and need-
lessly removed from the productive
economy to lie idle in ICBC coffers.
That inevitably reduced demand,
eliminated jobs, caused small-
business failures, and so on. That pro-
cess was added to the Socred meat-

axe blows such as the closure of Rail-

West and massive layoffs from B.C.
Ferries.

The total economic failure of the
Bennett Government is the most
obvious reason for our needing a new
government, but there is another
which is perhaps more profound:
They cannot be trusted.

The discovery of correspondence
between Labour Minister Allan Willi-
ams and the State of Missouri,
in which Williams betrays his fascina-
tion for right-to-work laws, is only the
latest in a series of events that demon-
strates the emptiness of Socred prom-
ises or commitments.

We had commitments from the -
. Labour Minister and Bennett himself

that if a peaceful settlement to the
West Kootenays dispute could be
found, no legislation would be
enacted. The Labour Movement
worked desperately to reach such a
solution, and found one, only to have
that commitment violated within

hours of .its being given by Bennett
himself.

Earlier, -we had been assured that,
even if no voluntary solution could be
found, no general change to the law
would ensue. That solemn commit-
ment was totally violated by Section
11, of the Legislation.

‘Finally, we were assured that we
didn’t have to worry about Section 11,
that it would not be proclaimed
“except in case of emergency.”

The Socreds dawdled on that prom-
ise; it took them almosta month to vio-
late it.

The lesson is clear not only from
their dismal economic record of fail-
ure, but from everything they’ve done;
if there is anybody who can trust
Socreds, it certainly isn’t ordinary
working people.

NT ABOLISHES ~
UNSELLOR POSTS

_ The Canadian Labour Con-
_ gress bitterly criticized the
government’s decision
to abolish all the existing
labour counsellor posts at-
_ tached to Canadian embassies.

ESE
ETINGS

fe BAR as a

CLC Presidents Demmis
McDermott revealed that in
spite of representations by
himself and other labour
leaders to Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau and Labour
Minister Martin O’Connell
urging them to reconsider their
decision, the government flatly
refused to do so.

“Apart from the _ short-
sightedness and parochialism
of such a move, the govern-
ment’s action is an insult not
only to the Canadian Labour
Congress and the more than
two million workers we repre-
sent but also to those countries
which maintain labour coun-
sellors in Canada,’ McDer-
mott said.

The decision to cut the three
posts was, according to
Thomas Eberlee, Deputy
Minister of Labour, ‘“‘neces-
sary to help his rtment cut
$1.2 million out of the budget

xf 4 the fiscal year ending
ee and another $2.4

31
from the budget for the

ellors have been former labour
movement leaders. Pat Con-
roy, former _ secretary-
treasurer of the Canadian Con-
gress of Labour, the first coun-
sellor to be appointed, was
posted in Washington in 1952.
The duties of the counsellors
include maintaining liaison
with labour organizations,
such as the AFL-CIO, and
departments of governments.

““As the world grows smaller
‘as multinational corporations
become more effective and
more dominating, the role of
international trade unionism
becomes even more import-
ant,’”’ McDermott said.

“Tt is a recognized fact that
the only effective weapon
against monopolies in the
world today are worldwide
organizations of trade unions
through their international
trade secretariats. .

“After having attempted to
talk sense to the government in

ivate correspondence, we
elt the public should be made
aware of this situation,’

__ THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

APRIL, 1979

Now due to the ‘‘A-rab”’ oil situation our company is.

doin’ a little experimentin’

... Here!

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GROWS IN BRAZIL

fe i
q

—s

An American business man
is staking a fortune in Brazil in
an attempt to dominate the
world’s pulp and _ paper
markets, If he is successful in
his plans the North American
pulp and paper industries
could be in trouble.

The man is Daniel Ludwig,
one of the world’s wealthiest
men and who has been also
described as the world’s most.
dangerous man.

Ludwig has already invested
one billion dollars on forest
holdings and mills. In 1967 he
paid three million dollars for a
2.3 million-hectare tract in the
Amazonian Basin of Brazil. His
firm has been planting eleven
million trees a year which by
now already cover an area of
one hundred thousand -hec-
tares. Two types of trees are
imported for planting, the
gmelina from Burma which
takes only six years to mature
and. Caribbean pine which
attains maturity in ten years.

Ludwig had his first pulp
mill built in Japan at a cost of
two hundred and seventy-two
million dollars. It was built in
two sections and towed to the
site in Brazil.

The Ludwig interests plan to
ship their first pulp this spring
from the Jari River region of
the Amazon Valley and expect
to invest another two billion
dollars in fifteen years, Their
programme includes the build-
ing of three additional mills:

Ludwig’s manager on the
project has complete contempt
for the Canadian way of log-
ging calling us ‘‘hunter-.
gatherers’’ who mine our for-

ests, while Ludwig’s “land
mangers”’ cultivate tree crops

with per-acre yields many -

times those of Canadian for-
ests. Z

_The manger estimates that
the cultivatable forest of the
Amazon basin, where it is.be-
lieved that two out of every five

trees in the world grow, has -

three times the area of
Canada’s potential pulp sup-
ply.

The Amazon pulp supply is
so enormous, he claimed, that
it could put both the North
American and Scandinavian

pulp and paper industries out
of business.

FRYER
LOOKS
TO RADIO

John Fryer,

secretary-
treasurer of the British Colum-

bia Government Employees
Union, said he would like to see
trade unions in the province
operate their own radio sta-
tion.

Fryer said the Chicago Fed-
eration of Labour has been

running such a station for 30.

years. It’s just like any other
station, he said, although it has
a slightly different pro-
ee content. ;

_/4 Spokesperson for the Cana-
dian Radio-television and Tele-
communications Commission
Said a trade union-operated
oo sap have to meet the

me regulations as
broadcasters.

private

— 7