‘yysthe VESICM [WorA 38,000 copies printed in this issue THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Canadie lumber worker Published once monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-CiO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 674-526) Editor—Pat Kerr Business Manager—Free Fieber Advertising Representatives—Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the I1WA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year m EDITORIAL REVIEW PROGRAM NOW! JHE incentive programme set up — by the federal government to create employment in the economic- ally depressed areas of Canada, is having the reverse effect. Its lack of rigid controls has left the programme wide open to the most flagrant ab- uses which will eventually result in greater unemployment. The generous grants available to industry under the programme, are providing employers with a golden opportunity to reduce their future work force by automating or highly mechanizing plants already located in depressed areas. Other than showing proof of pro- duction, the only curb to applicants securing a grant is that they must re- tain their present work force for thirty months to be eligible for the last 20 percent of the total grant. With the size of the grants (up to $6,000,000 for an individual plant), the employers can easily afford to retain their surplus workers for the prescribed period, before booting them out. Crown Zellerbach will undoubt- edly do this in the near future to its sawmill employees at Falkland, Enderby and Armstrong. These plants are now obsolete following comple- tion of the company’s multi-million dollar plywood operation at Arm- strong, which the government pro- ‘vided 25 percent of the capital cost under its incentive programme. The giant Noranda Mining Com- pany has also seen the advantages of picking up the taxpayers’ money to expand its forest operations. Like Crown Zellerbach, it will also phase out its present plants when the new operations go into full production. The net results will be bigger profits for these companies, fewer workers employed and a greater de- pression for the depressed areas. And the irony is that it was these workers’ tax dollars that was used by the government to help phase their jobs out of existence. Critics of the incentive programme are also questioning the wisdom of the taxpayers’ money being used to provide grants to large American cor- porations at a time when Canada is being forced to the wall by U.S. eco- nomic policies. It’s a logical point considering Americans appear to view Canadians as their “hewers of wood and draw- ers of water.” It’s bad enough to be scorned this way but a thousand times worse to merit it through our government’s stupidity. The only solution to the havoc created by the programme, is for Par- liament to review it and legislate proper safeguards for the protection of the taxpayers’ money and the workers’ jobs. ‘EDITORIAL _ GIVE TO THE UNITED APPEAL | Right now, a small army of some 20,000 Lower Mainland volunteers are quietly setting out on the final phase of something they've been working on for months past — The United Appeal. You won't find these volunteers standing on street corners soliciting your donation in return for a paper flag. Instead, you'll meet them in plants and offices, or as residential canvassers at your door, and in return for your thoughtful donation you'll get very much more than a tag. You'll get a guarantee of service, the knowledge that your money is indeed well used, an open invitation to “see for yourself” the work done on your behalf in more than 70 member services. For the donor, the fact that an agency is a member of United Appeal means it must meet strict standards relating to quality and quantity of service, public accountability, and community need. For kids, the United Appeal means they get a chance to attend summer camp instead of slogging out a hot summer on dusty, grimy city streets. The United Appeal means that sick old people get regular nursing at home rather than being unnecessarily forced into already overcrowded hospitals. It means that, with dignity and love, retarded children and adults are enabled to reach their maximum development. It means life-saving blood, right NOW. It means someone to help in a crisis, right NOW. It means hope, right NOW. ~ It means YOU, right now. Why? Because without your donation aS an individual citizen, the United Appeal could not stand, could not provide the many kinds of help it now gives to scores of thousands of men, women and children. It is surely not an exaggeration to say ‘that, in a democracy, we should ap- preciate the honour of being invited to help, and the privilege of being able to do so. We help ourselves when we help The United Appeal. OCTOBE I can’t get nothin’ to fall... th’ siuff’s too thick. FOUR-DAY WEEK AIM FAILS TO MAKE HEADWAY Hopes for a four-day week in the federal civil service in the near future received a jolt in September when 35,000 white- collar workers failed to make a breakthrough down to 35 hours. The Public Service Alliance of Canada had hoped to get a - 35-hour week that would establish a precedent for other groups. But the arbitration tribunal kept the work week unchanged at 37% hours. On money, Alliance vice- president Bill Doherty said it “is a good award.’ The in- creases average 7 per cent retroactive to Oct. 1, 1970, 6 per cent at the end of this month and 5 per cent on Sept. 25, 1972, in the biggest group. Most are clerical workers. The 9,400 employees in the biggest classification earned $108 to $119 a week in the last contract between the Alliance and the government. Rates in that category will be $129.60 a week to $142 begin- < ning Sept. 25 next year. Mr. Justice Andre Montpetit, a veteran of many arbitrations in the federal service, wrote to the federal Treasury Board and to PSAC president Claude Edwards urging both parties to meet as soon as possible to discuss all the implications of a shorter work week. The Alliance has begun a campaign to get a four-day week for civil servants. The union points out that with holidays, 21 per cent of the work weeks of most civil servants already are four-day weeks. The shorter week keeps people more efficient, the union contends, and erodes absenteeism, especially on Mondays. | san rs ne RSIS SBS SURE ODER RTE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT PREDICTED FOR CANADA CLC President Donald MacDonald says the Nixon economic program may push. Canada’s unemployment rate to seven per cent. And he says that while the U.S. moves may ‘increase unemployment, the present Canadian situation is “largely attributable to policies adopted by the Canadian government.” In a Sept. 24 address in Toronto to the Canadian conference of the United Textile Workers, MacDonald also said “‘tens of thousands of hidden unemployed”’ were not reflected in the government’s official figures because they had withdrawn from or been forced out of the labor force. These included young people prolonging their education because they could not find work, unemployed people taking speciai retraining courses, housewives unable to find jobs, and older people who had retired earlier than they had anticipated. He added: ‘The economic policies of the Canadian government have failed, ut- terly and completely, and their failure has been at the expense of human suffering of a pro- portion that can in no way be measured.” (Ee ee ON THE BOTTOM - Chokerman Charlie says that fat in a woman is like sugar in coffee — it settles on the bot- tom.