2nd Issue
April, 1961

WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

BY JOE MORRIS

Teamwork

I intend to use this column for frank discussion of our negotia-
tions. Our success depends as much upon the activities of the
members of Local Unions as upon the members of the Negotiating
Committee. Our demands are the membership demands, and can
be given force only by the continuing support of the membership.

Well-timed teamwork is clearly
is not genuinely collective.

=> It is only
natural that
some members
are waitin

impatiently for
cut - and - dried
conclusions on
the progress of
negotiations.
Under the cir-
_. cumstances, I
: ; am unable to
J. MORRIS make any defi-
nite announcement about any point
of agreement reached in discussions
to date. The fact is that a wide gulf
lies between the position of the
Union and that of the

necessary otherwise bargaining

for agreement.

This does not mean that we should
do nothing but wait for results in
bargaining. Every IWA delegate who
attended the Wages and Contract
Conference earlier this year realized
that negotiations this year would be
dificult. The nature of these diffi-
culties, imposed from outside the
Union are known. We must face them
now that we may be the better pre-
pared for the final show-down.

In addition to their bargaining
table tactics, the operators are using
all the weapons of propaganda to de-
feat the aims of the Union. Their
campaign against the [WA is three-

all major issues up to this point.

Discussions are in a fluid state, as
they should be at this stage. We are
instructed to bargain and to gain the
utmost from conciliation. Only the
Union’s membership can authorize
any ultimatum or any “take it or
leave it” tactic. On the Negotiating
Committee we must do some more

n
fold. They are attempting to:—

“test-drilling” to find a rock-like basis

..- make reasonable demands
for contract improvement appear un-
reasonable during conciliation.

.... create a public opinion hos-
tile to the establishment of better
wages and working conditions in the
lumber industry.

.... influence membership opin-
ion to surrender their stated demands.

“Reverse Inspired Trends!”

y

To meet and reverse the trends set
in motion by the employers we
must:—

.... Support our demands at the
bargaining table with convincing evi-
dence and argument. 3

. show the public that better
wages and working conditions in the
lumber industry are to the advantage
of all the people in the province.

. maintain a solid membership
front.

The employers inevitably resort to
the tactic of attempting to divide our
membership. Quite often they insti-
gate rumours that are intended to
undermine confidence in the Union's
administration. A legitimate difference
of opinion is too often ballooned by
unwitting agents into a morale-de-
stroying feud, paralyzing to effective

union action.

T ott 1

v ly, an ployers’ attempt
is made to pit one section of the in-
dustry against another as though our
negotiations were a contest for sec-
tional advantages. They would like
to have loggers, mill-workers,
shinglemill workers and plywood
workers at each other’s throats in-
stead of combining for their mutual
gain.

We have a remedy that never fails,
if it is applied before these problems
become epidemic. Thresh them out
in well-attended Local Union meet-
ings and Regional conferences, that
the majority will may be known to
prevail.

We may say with pride that our
negotiating programme was formu-
lated through the harmonious co-
operation of all sections in the in-
dustry. ,

“Big Brother

Knows Best”

The collective wisdom of the
Union’s membership is more to be
relied upon than that of any one
member or the ready-made opinions
so conveniently furnished by the em-
ployers. The Union is in a position
to declare what is true and what is
not true about the industry in matters
that affect negotiations. Why should
any member believe the employer’s
claim that “Big Brother knows best.”

As the évidence shows, it is true
that:—

The industry is in a good position
to improve wages and working con-
ditions. Production reached an all-
time high in 1960, and will continue
to rise, because of an increased de-
mand. Present inventories are low.
Net values and rates of investment
return in all leading companies have
expanded enormously. Marketing
prospects in the United Kingdom,
and the United States, as well as

other countries are bright. Surplus
earnings are high. These facts are
being substantiated in evidence.

It is therefore not true to say that
the industry is financially unable to
deal more justly with the employees,
or that further concessions will price
us out of the export market. We are
now selling, and will continue to sell
for some time, all that we can pro-
duce. For what other reason are they
stepping up production?

The employers try to convince
everybody that we plan to pick the
public’s pocket to get a wage in-
crease. Actually, every wage increase
has proven to be a stimulus to busi-
ness activity. Nearly all the econo-
mists of repute urge a better distri-
bution of wage income as a measure
of recovery. Every IWA member
should ask local retailers in his own
home town to tell him who keeps the
cash registers ringing. —

GUEST SPEAKERS and instructors at the 11th Annual Labour Institute on Race Relations, sponsored jointly by the Vancouver
and District Labour Council and the B.C. Federation of Labour, are left —E. A. Holmes, Conference Chairman; Knute But-
tedah!, Extension Department, U.B.C.; Wm. Giesbrecht, Executive Secretary, Vancouver Labour Committee for Human Rights;
Honourable L. R. Peterson, Minister of Labour; Sid Blum, Director, Jewish Labour Committee of Canada; C. P. Neale, Secretary-
Treasurer, Vancouver and District Labour Council.

Spending
For Peace
Saner

The world is spending $14 mil-
lion an hour to buy arms and pay
soldiers. The military bill for the
Americans and the Russians alone
totals $88,000 million every year.

An end to the arms race would
mean that as many as 75 million
men around the world could turn
from soldiering and arms manu-
facturing to peaceful tasks.

It is dazzling to think how this
money and these men could be
put to work to improve the lives
of everybody on this planet.

(The Financial Post)

From Page 1

“Bill 42°

from those enjoyed in the other
provinces.

Supreme Court will be asked for an
order requiring the employers to con-
tinue the check-off under the former
conditions until the court decision on
the jurisdictional powers of the Legis-
lature has been handed down.

Affiliation Recommended

In addition-to the legal battle which
now opens in the courts, the Federa-
tion announces 'that a full-scale cam-
paign will be waged to secure the re-
peal of the objectionable provisions
of the Act at the next session of the

The general expectation is that the

Legislature. Repeal of Bill 43, which
amended the Trade Unions Act in
1959, will also be sought..

As the amended Act offers no
barrier to affiliation with the New
Party all the affiliates of the B.C.
Federation of Labour are urged to
make application’ for New Party
affiliation. The hope is expressed that
such affiliation will now be obtained
so as to enable the maximum repre-
sentation from trade unions at the
founding convention in Ottawa, open-
ing July 31st.

The Federation’s recommendation
points out that support of such
affiliation is the best means of gain-
ing the repeal of; anti-labour legisla-
ion.

The opinion is held by the Federa-
tion that some Unions are in a posi-
tion to collect their dues directly and
should do so whenever possible.

“How Wrong They Are”

The employers have always dis-
claimed any share of responsibility
for the maintenance of consumer
spending power. They refuse to admit
that trade is a two-way street. How
wrong they are is shown by the par-
ticipation of business men in the
International Trade Fair in Van-
couver. Other countries are display-
ing their wares expecting us*to buy
more. British Columbians, on a per
capita basis, now buy annually about

$50 worth of U.K. goods as compared

to the Canadian average of $35. The
better able we are to buy goods we
must accept in exchange for our
lumber, the more lumber we will be
able to export.

Better wages means better spend-
ing power. Higher spending power
means more export trade,

You, and I, and every other mem-
ber of the Union must take our stand
on what is true as opposed to what
is not true.

“Real Cause Of

Unemployment”

“A serious attack on ovr present unemployment problem has been frustrated by
the red herrings which have been introduced into the current discussion of economic
policy, These include the argument that Canada is suffering from a new kind of
unemployment which is caused by automation, that unemployment is caused by
a lack of educetion, that we have unemployment because we have priced ourselyes
out of world markets, and so on. For the most part these arguments are either
wrong or misleading. Basically we have unemployment because our economy is sub-

ject to periodic recessions.

Our recessions are becoming more and more serious

because both Canada and the United States have adopted inappropriate monetary

and fiscal policies.”

(Canadian Business, Quarterly Forecast, April)

Logger Boots + Safety Boots

nN
een

Fkom ANY ANELE DAYTONS

SHOE MANUFACTURING

CO. (B.C) LTD.
2248-50 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, B.C.

4

Wve 17

UNION MADE