thewestern canadian VOL. XLIV, No. 1 VANCOUVER, B.C. lumber worker eS FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1976 THOUSANDS PROTEST ICBC RATE INCREASES Eight thousand Lower Main- _ land residents packed the PNE Agrodome February ist, to protest the ICBC rate in- creases. Two thousand of the people attending had to be con- tent with hearing what was going on inside over loud speakers mounted outside the building. Fire Marshalls closed the doors after six thousand people had jammed the building. The rally was co-sponsored by the Concerned Citizens of B.C. Association and organized labour in Vancouver. Repre- sentatives from the B.C. Fed- eration of Labour, the Van- couver and District Labour Council, the New Westminster Labour Council and the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Parties were on hand to speak to the crowd. Although an invitation was sent to the Social Credit government to have a representative attend the rally no one appeared. Instead Premier Bill Bennett sent a telegram to the rally organizers offering to set up a meeting between ICBC Directors and the rally ., Vancouver, 8.C RETURN REQUESTED THE LUMGER WORKER 2859 Commerrial Dr organizers. The proposal was soundly rejected by the people at the rally: Dr. Scott Wallace, leader of the B.C. Tories told the enthu- siastic, but orderly crowd, that he thought it was ‘‘reprehen- sible’ -that the government refused to send a representa- tive and said that it was indica- tive of the lack of human See “ICBC” p.2 ‘MEETING ~ ‘GRANTS | | { | amine that the Re- gional Officers were underpaid in relationship to their respon- sibilities, delegates on the last day of the Convention voted to increase the President’s salary by $35.00 per week and those of the Vice-President’s by $25.00 per week. This increases President Munro’s salary to $468.60 from $433.60, and the salaries of the Vice-Presidents from $416.80 to $441.80. During the lively debate it was pointed out that the Regional Officers’ salaries were well behind the majority of union officers in B.C. In a number of cases the differen- tial is between $10,000 and $15,000 per year. LOCAL 1- 85 SUING M-B COMPANY Local 1-85 IWA, Port Alberni with the support of the Region- al Council, is suing MacMil- lan-Bloedel Limited on behalf of its fallers for violations of the Collective Agreement. The Local has filed two writs with the courts charging the Company with failing to pay proper travel time entitlement ‘and refusing to include in the fallers’ wage formula, in- creases negotiated in the 1972 contract settlement. The case will be heard in Vancouver and is expected to arouse considerable interest due to the amount of money that could be involved if the Local Union is successful in its’ action. . EDUCATION STRESSED The Regional Council has been ordered by the Conven- tion to establish a committee to investigate ways to. provide scholarships to the CLC Labour College for IWA members. The motion was approved after discussion by the delegates on the importance of all IWA members being well informed on union matters. ICBC NOTICE No matter what happens you can expect a healthy in- crease in your car insurance rates. We are asking all IWA members to make sure that you get your insurance direct from ICBC or through the Motor Vehicle Branch in your community. Insurance Agents stand to make a seventy to seventy-five percent increase in commissions from the new ICBC rates. It’s their pay-off for helping to elect Social Credit. The only way you can deny them their pay-off is to buy direct from ICBC or the Motor Vehicle office in your area. Don’t help pay for Social Credit’s victory. Delegates attending the re- scheduled 38th Annual IWA Regional Convention January 26-30, in Vancouver, unanim- ously supported a motion to endorse the Canadian Labour Congress’ fight against the federal government’s Wage Control Legislation Bill C-73. The motion also contained the demand that the federal government repeal Bill C-73 immediately and return to the people of this country the rights and liberties that have been taken away. Included were instructions for the Regional Officers to inform the IWA membership, and the public in general, of the dangers Bill C-73 represented to the democratic freedoms and civil liberties of the country. The Convention was reminis- cent of the 1974 Regional Con- vention for the hard work and unanimity displayed by the almost two hundred delegates in attendance. During the five days, the conference dealt with over two hundred resolutions and recommendations and heard from a number of guest speakers. ~ Speakers included.CLC Vice- President Julien Major, Van- couver Mayor Art Phillips, British Columbia Labour Min- ister Allan Williams, Robert Sass, Deputy Minister of- Labour for Saskatchewan, IWA International President Keith Johnson, Farm Worker Representative Dale Van Pelt, Bob Williams, former NDP Minister of Forestry and Resources, Alex’ MacDonald, former NDP — A.G., Cliff Scotton, NDP. Provincial Se- cretary, D. C. Gunvaldson, President of IWA Regional Council No. 3. Printed elsewhere in this issue are a number of the more important Reports, Constitu- tional changes, and a number. of resolutions which have been written in capsule form for easier reading. REGIONAL PRESIDENT JACK MUNRO. To his left are Bob Schlosser, Regional President. Secretary-Treasurer; Munro‘s secretary; Stan Parker, Irene Bing; Regional 2nd Vice- PULP UNIONS SCORED Delegates to: the Regional Convention made it crystal clear that they were fed up with the enauetoate of the two pulp unions in British Colum- bia by instructing the Regional officers to discontinue all further attempts at co-opera- ting with them. By an overwhelming vote they ordered the officers to take whatever steps were needed to achieve one union in the forest industry and to ensure that the one union was the IWA. Speaker after speaker con-- demned the negative attitude of the pulp unions during last year’s negotiations and argued that any thought of future co- operation with these unions was an exercise in futility. The pulp unions- repeated raiding of IWA jurisdictions was also strongly criticized. The delegates pointed that these raiding tactics played into the hands of the employers to the detriment of all union members.