3 m 4 : : H : ; OCTOBER, 1972 By JACK WASHBURN Director of 1.W.A. Pensions The I.W.A. has entered the pension field in a big way. How big is not yet realized by everyone. The kind of plan negotiated in B.C. alone will cover more than 36,000 people. It will develop into one of the larg- est (maybe the largest) in- dustrial pension plans in Canada by the standards of number of people covered, size of the pension fund and, in time, quality of pension benefits provided. Some of our younger members may believe that, by the time they are old, government pensions alone will provide them with enough to live on. They are right. Enough to keep them alive. Sure, government pen- sions are rising and will rise more, but dollars are shrinking. Most experts be- lieve that, in terms of real purchasing power, govern- ment pensions after 1975 are not likely to increase very much in the foresee- able future. For comfort, dignity and the happiness a man and his wife should en- joy in their “‘golden years’”’ something else is needed. For almost everyone, what is needed is a good work-re- lated pension plan. The I.W.A. had to get in the pension business for two main reasons. First, be- cause very many of our members had no work-re- lated pension plan available to them at all, apart from government plans. Second, because the ex- isting company-run plans that were available were seen to be hopelessly inade- quate and getting worse as the cost of living rose. Benefits were low, there was no portability, there was no provision for pen- sion increases later for those already retired. Rises in the interest rates obtain- THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER __ - IWA PENSION PLAN FACTS able in recent years on the funds invested did not do much for anyone, except the companies that ran these plans. Indeed, most of the people in these pension plans, especially since 1966, were building their own small pensions largely with their own money in a very JACK WASHBURN Jack Washburn has had twenty years of experience in the em- ployee welfare field. During that time he set up, modified and ad- ministered a number of pension plans. He is now a full-time member of the IWA Regional staff. inefficient way. We had to do something and we did. Where are we right now? Well, as you know, the flow of funds has been negotiat- ed, beginning on the Coast this June. The Plan will commence to function when the initial 5c per hour work- ed becomes payable, first on the Coast and in the Northern and Southern Interior when the 5c be- comes payable there. Efforts have been made and are being made to have one single plan, one single set of Trustees, one single Fund and one central ad- ministration. This makes the most sense for every- one’s interest, including the real interests of the em- ployers. If any of the em- ployers’ associations take the shortsighted view that they may gain some ad- ‘vantage or other by seeking to have a separate plan, covering our members in their client companies only, they will be given the op- portunity to understand that there will be one Plan, sooner or later, and sooner rather than later. The exis- tence of several plans intro- duces problems concerning portability and brings greatly increased costs. One way or another we are going to have simple, un- iversal portability and we are going to keep the costs of operating the Plan as low as possible. Outside of the costs of running the Plan, every cent of the available funds will go to provide pen- sion benefits to our mem- bers. We have no important links with financial institu- tions or consulting firms. We are only interested in the quality of the Plan’s- content and the efficiency of its operation. What sort of plan’ will it be? It should be remember- ed that the Plan will be set up by a joint Board of Trus- tees and there will have to be negotiations with the other side. In many matters ‘their interests will be the same as ours. In some mat- ters they may think their in- terests differ from ours. On the behaviour of the other side will depend whether or not, at the next negotia- tions, we might seek to eliminate the joint Trustee arrangement. In the build- ing of this great pension plan we are looking to the other side for their share of sincerity and broad social vision. We’ll provide our share. Next issue, I’ll discuss what general elements a modern industrial pension plan, tailored to the needs of people in our industry, should contain. ¢t business during the Convention to pose for their picture. | = PP 2. MEMBERS OF THE IWA Ladies’ Auxiliaries take time out during their heavy schedule of 15 FROM PAGE FOURTEEN “CHANGES” (3) Wages, expenses, hotel and per diem of Local Union representatives to these meetings shall be the responsibility of the Local Unions sending these representatives. (4) All actions and decisions of any Regional Committee shall be subject to the approval of the Regional Executive Board.” BALLOTING RULES ARTICLE XIll Article presently reads as follows: **All Local Unions within the jurisdiction of Regional Council No. 1, conducting a ballot issued by the Regional Council shall’ conduct all such ballots in accordance with the provisions of the International Constitution, Article XV.” Following is the proposed change: “All Local Unions within the jurisdiction of Regional Council No. 1, conducting a ballot issued by the Regional Council shall conduct all such ballots in accordance with the provisions of the International Constitution, Article XV. Ballots issued by the Regional Council dealing with area negotiations shall be tabulated on the same date by the Local Unions involved in these negotiations.” LADIES’ AUXILIARIES REPORT TO CONVENTION Greetings to the officers, delegates and visitors to the 35th Annual Regional Con- vention from the Ladies’ Auxiliary Annual Meeting. This year we have 34 delegates, 3 alternates and 1 visitor-in attendance from 7 Locals representing a membership of 118 women piss 9 MRS. MADELINE NIEBER- GALL, President of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of Local 1-80 IWA Dun- can, and Chairman of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries’ Conference at the Regional Convention, is shown reporting the Auxiliaries’ year’s activities to the Convention dele- gates. throughout B.C. We are happy to report one new Lo- cal and Sub-local were formed this spring at Port Alberni and Ucluelet. We are certainly pleased to see this upgrade of interest in at least these two commun- ities. Auxiliaries today do not sit around knitting and drinking coffee, they have a much wider scope of inter- est in — 1. the labour move- ment, 2. improved educa- tion for our children, 3. the political field, 4. drugs and drug abuse, 5. the high cost of living and 6. social activi- ties. After studying reports of 11 Auxiliaries to-day we have found that though our membership is small, the ladies have worked hard to raise funds for crippled children and handicapped hospitals and camp, old age pensioners and needy fami- lies. One Auxiliary has completely furnished and provides funds for the up- keep of a hospital ward. However, we feel we “could do more if we the Auxiliary, and you the men’s membership could encourage more women and wives to join us. We are sure that at times there are small but time consuming: tasks which the Auxiliaries could do for their men’s Local if we had been asked :-and informed. The Ladies are most an- xious to help build a better life for our husbands and families through taking part and understanding many different situations. I would like to thank the Officers of Local 1-80 for their kind help and support in making it possible for us to host this year’s Ladies Convention. Thank you for your at- tention gentlemen, and we sincerely hope this conven- tion is successful in all its endeavours.