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Incorporating Ve SZ. Lumberworker Official Publication of the International Weedworkere of pémertea Regional Council No. 1

VOL. XXIX, No. 16 <>"

Plywood Production
Automates & Expands

By JOE MADDEN
IWA International Board Member

Workers in B.C. plywood plants are involved in a
rapid expansion of plywood manufacturing — an ex-
pansion which requires the constant re-adaptation of
their skills to automatic, semi-automatic and mechan-
ized production methods. Accelerated technological
change is more pronounced in plywood manufacture
than in any other section of the forest products industry.

TY ee

MECHANICAL BARKER

Job security is linked with the re-grouping of work-
ers around the new automated and mechanized pro-
cesses and depends upon the relation between increased
productive capacity and consumer demand for new
uses of high quality plywood.

This gives our Union a vital interest in the trade
promotion mission to the European Common Market,
on which we are represented by IWA Regional Research
Director Joe Miyazawa.°

The present production methods are a far cry from
those employed when the first plywood plant was
opened on the banks of the Fraser River in 1913. Tech-
niques are being constantly streamlined with the aid
of electronics and automatic controls. Manual work is
being steadily replaced with machine supervision.

OLD STYLE LATHE CRANE

WHAT'S the early days.

INSIDE

of 1,388,000,000

VANCOUVER, B.C.

Output was small in
But by
1950, the production of a
few mills had reached an
annual total of 300,000

Plywood _. 3-6-7 square feet.
Message ..... 4 In 1961, 14 plants
Wea made a production record

square

feet, which gained the in-

1st Issue
September, 1962

5c PER COPY

Two Year Contract 3

SOUTHERN INTERIOR
VOTES TO ACCEPT —

IWA members in the three Southern Interior Local Unions,
1-417, 1-423, and 1-405 have voted to accept a settlement rec-
ommended by the Union’s Policy Committee, it was announced
last week by Regional President Jack Moore.

The employers have also voted to accept.

This settlement concludes the major negotiations of the IWA
for this year, relating to the three master agreements for the
province. Bargaining is in progress with operators who bargain

independently.

The proposed settlement provides for a two-year renewal of
the present master agreement, which expires August 1, with a
wage increase of 6 cents an hour, effective September 1, 1963.
The wage increase cilso appiies to females and boys employed in the
box and box veneer facteries. All graders and government - li-
censed scalers will receive an additional 10 cents and hour. The
base rate will be raised to 1.89 in 1963.

A joint - trusteed Health and Welfare Plan will be established —
on a fifty-fifty contributory basis with $5,000 life insurance, $5,000
death and dismembermeni insurance, and a weekly sickness and
accident indemnity of $35 «a week for 26 weeks. Provisien is made
for portability and lay-off coverage.

A joint training program, conducted by the union and man-
agement in cooperation with the Apprenticeship Branch of the
Department of Labour, will assist workers to keep pace with tech-
nological changes in the industry.

The revised contrac? will provide clarification of seniority
rules and union security provisions. Board and lodging rates will
be maintained at the present rate of $2.25 a day.

The settlement does not resolve a dispute relating to work-
ing conditions at Boundary Sawmills Lid. In these operations the
union has applied for a government supervised strike vote. The
Department of Labour has offered the services of a Conciliation
Officer.

Job Security Demands Study
Of Technological Changes

The IWA, in concert with other trade unions in the province,
must now grasp an unusual opportunity to grapple with prob-
lems of job security caused by sweeping technological changes in
industry, said IWA Regional President Jack Moore on this week’s

Green Gold broadcast.

In an analysis of the situation he stated:

“The conclusion of our Union’s major negotiations provides
the opportunity to consider the relations to the general trend of
settlements in the Province. We have consulted the other large
unions to compile accurate information on their contract gains,
both wages and fringe benefits, and the bargaining methods found
necessary. The experience in each case shows a marked similarity.

“The whole trade union movement in the Province has been in-
fluenced by the same factors. When comparisons are made between
the packages of wages and fringe benefits over the length of con-
tract periods, the gains made show considerable uniformity. In
some instances, the emphasis was placed solely on wages, and in
ours equal emphasis was placed on improvements of working
conditions.

“I suggest that we should make a frank analysis of the situa-
tion and the operating factors, to determine our place in the labour
world. This can be usefully done in the light of the discussions which
took place at the Conference held earlier in the year by the B.C.

See “MOORE”—Page 2

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