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More than one year after five
rain handlers died in an explosion
and fire at the Burrard Terminals
lM North Vancouver, the one-man
Toyal commission established to
Mvestigate the disaster has handed
down its report on safety and
health problems in and about grain
elevators.

The International
Longshoremen’s and

arehousemen’s Union,
representatives of the grain
Mandlers in the Vancouver
elevators, released partial con-
fents of the report this week with
the comment that the union is

_ “basically satisfied with the

thorough and competent analysis”
y the commissioner Dr. W. D.
n.

Finn’s report contains 35
Separate recommendations which
ILWU president Don Garcia said
are mostly ‘‘common sense
Proposals that will need en-
Orcement of current safety
Tegulations.”” The 35 recom-
Mendations are broken down into a
Number of categories, including
five dealing with noise problems,
four on the problems caused by
Pesticides and fumigants, four on
dust related problems, eight on
€quipment within the elevators,
We on fire fighting equipment, and
Seven recommendations which
lake the federal government to

Sk for not adequately enforcing
Current health and_ safety
Tegulations.
fq mother recommendation calls
Or the establishment of

Market vast
Says report

A delegation of nine B.C.
Oresters, who recently spent three
Weeks touring the Soviet Union as
Part of a Continuing Education
ogram under the auspices of the
Sociation of B.C. Professional
Oresters, report back that there is
4 vast market in the Soviet Union
or B.C. forestry equipment.

Highlight of the tour was a visit

Bratsk, in outer Siberia, site of a
Massive wood processing complex.

€ delegation watched Canadian-
ee logging equipment, in the
orm of 29 grapple-skidders and 12
feller -bunchers, being used by

Oviet loggers.

The delegation returned to B.C.
Convinced that there are good
Possibilities for increased trade
Which could provide many jobs for

-C.’s forest equipment industry.

BURRARD TERMINALS FIRE... Finn report re

ILWU seeks enforcement

emergency plans for elevators to
avoid disasters such as the
Burrard explosion.

ILWU Canadian area vice-
president Dave Lomas said that
most of the report’s recom-
mendations centre around Labor
Canada, the federal department of
labor, which has jurisdiction over
the grain handling industry.

The ILWU, in.its submission to
the Finn Commission, had argued
that jurisdiction should be tran-
sferred from the federal govern-
ment to. the. provincial Labor
Relations Board. Lomas said that
the union’s major disappointment
with Finn’s recommendations was
the fact that he “disregarded”’ the
union’s efforts in this direction.

“till though, we feel that Dr.
Finn went as far as he could given
the terms of reference he was
dealing with which restricted him
to the federal department of
labor.”

He added that the ILWU would
have liked to have seen “more
positive recommendations”’ in
terms of the wording of the report
which does not direct the depart-
ment of labor to take a particular
action but only suggests that an
action be taken.

Lomas said that a major part of
the Finn report deals with con-
ditions in the Burrard elevator
itself, both in 1973, and at the time
of the explosion in October, 1975.
The report states that an in-

» Alavoine, The Citizen :

commendations basis for future prevention.

‘of Finn report findings

spection of the elevator in 1973
proved to be “nconclusive’’. but
revealed a number of short-
comings at the time of the ex-
plosion.

Dr. Finn reported that there was"

not a general emergency plan in
effect at Burrard, there was no
general fire alarm systems, but
rather a number of localized fire
alarms, the communication
system in the elevator was poor,
and the workforce had received no
training as to how to react toa fire
within the elevator. All of these
factors combined resulted in most
of the workforce at Burrard being
unaware of the fire and the danger
which the fire presented to the
entire elevator.

Finn’s report also states that it
was never properly explained why
the sprinkler heads in the upper
levels of the elevator, where the
initial fire erupted as a result of
friction caused by a moving con-
veyor belt, were turned off.

Lomas said that the ILWU had
taken the position that “‘it is up to
us to enforce that report and we
are going to see that it is enforced,
one way or the other.”

- The union anticipates that a

series of discussions involving
employers, the government and
the union will be held, aimed at
enforcement of current regulations
and implementation of the
recommendations contained in Dr.

Finn’s report.

»,~ Forest policies

prompt layoffs

By ERNIE KNOTT

VICTORIA — A recent review of
the dues checkoff figures in the
Victoria area revealed that in the
woodworking industry in that area
only 1500 woodworkers currently
have jobs, well down from the 1974
total of 2100 and scarcely above the
1975low point of 1200. These figures
were accompanied by a province-
wide collapse in residential con-
struction, leaving the Victoria area
with an unemployment rate
nearing 12 percent, higher than the
rate for the rest of B.C., and
substantially higher than the
national average of 7.6 percent.

These figures are repeated to
varying degrees in other areas of
Vancouver Island and are
currently being aggravated by
massive, month-long layoffs by
MacMillan-Bloedel, Crown:
Zellerbach and the other forest
industry giants, resulting in an
estimated 12,000 unemployed
woodworkers.

Several aspects of this current
situation are worthy of note:

e The woodworking industry as
a whole is currently operating at
only about 70 percent of capacity —
although there are some ex-
ceptions.

e The giants, in a monopoly
position by virtue of secure log
supplies through tree farm
licences and forest management
licences, have grown complacent
and have not modernized to meet
competition.

e Smaller independent com-
panies such as Sooke Forest
Products, Plumper Bay Sawmills,
Domans, and Victoria Plywood are
much more modern in their
methods, and are able to compete,
even though they must scramble
for: ‘‘junk’’ logs on the open
market.

e The multinationals, having
grossed fortunes in Canada from
the people’s resources, show a total
disregard for the national interest
and the livelihood of the British
Columbia work force and are now
investing abroad in low wage, non-
union areas which offer big tax
concessions and cheap raw
materials. MacMillan-Bloedel has
invested huge sums all over the
world, most recently in Brazil, and
Noranda, the conglomerate which
owns B.C. Forest Products, an-
nounced its intention to invest $350
million in fascist Chile.

e@ MacMillan-Bloedel and others
stepped up their log supply
program this fall and met their
production targets in a record
three months. They then rewarded

“and in keeping with the seasonal spirit of brotherhood and goodwill,
gift turkeys will be given out with the layoff notices’

ERNIE KNOTT

their highly productive crews with
a Christmas bonus of a one-month
layoff.

e Incontrast, the publicly owned
sector of the forest industry —
CanCel, Ocean Falls and Plateau
Mills, are all working and com-
peting with no layoffs and this is
the only sector to show a profit ata
time when the rest of the provin-
ce’s economy is in trouble. Plateau
Mills, which is highly mechanized
and under a close utilization
program, received $10-$15 million
from the former NDP provincial
government and is a good example
of the direction to follow in the
industry.

In the face of this situation, some
woodworkers are now concluding
that the forest giants, many of
which are foreign-owned, are
operating with a total disregard for
thenational and public interest and
are exporting their B.C.-produced
capital abroad in pursuit of
superprofits and to further their
own interests exclusively.

_If this trend continues, and they
do not modernize to meet com-
petition and reinvest in the B.C.
economy, steps will have to be
taken to bring them into the same
position as the one sector of the
forest industry which is suc-
cessfully showing a profit and
providing jobs — that is, the public
sector.

That this is economically
feasible is demonstrated by the
fact that even if it were to cost $750
million to purchase the largest
company, MacMillan-Bloedel, the
annual profits of that company, the
bulk of which are channeled into
special reserve and depletion
funds, as well as tax deferment
accounts, when combined with the
tax savings of a crown corporation,
would yield more than the total
purchase figure in five years.

Of more immediate concern to
woodworkers at this time is the
fact that many see the month-long-
layoffs (and some speculate they
may be longer) as the opening
round for the 1977 contract
negotiations. The fact that the
most severe layoffs are directed
against the most militant sector of
the woodworking industry, the
Port Alberni loggers, has given
rise to speculation that the forest
companies are trying to weaken
the loggers’ strength immediately
prior to the opening of next year’s
contract talks.

The forest layoff, and its timing,
is an indication that already the
employers are preparing to utilize
all factors, including market
conditions, log inventories, and
favorable logging weather, in next.
year’s negotiations which will
probably see the companies
propose no wage increase and a
shift to a seven day production
schedule.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 10, 1976—Page 3