“Strong criticism was
iced this week in the
egislature and by the

blic against the Socred
vernment’s new surface
Mining legislation on the
nds that it doesn’t go
ar enough in protecting
he province from the
*strip-and-get-out”’ mining
monopolies.

The new regulations known as
s 23 and 24, came under fire in
House from New Demo-
atic Party MLAs and
irovincial leader Robert
“Strachan. The NDP charged that
" the legislation isn’t as tough as
the public was led to believe, and
t the government is given
More power than it should have
Under the legislation.

Claiming that the legislation
Bives too much leeway to the
Companies and government, the
NDP accused Mines Minister
Richter of misleading the people
When he promised them laws
Which would be the ‘‘toughest in

_ Speaking at a public meeting in
ictoria last Sunday, PT
associate editor Maurice Rush
Said it’s necessary for the people
B.C. to fight on two fronts:
“We need to demand the strictest
ROvernment regulations and
orcement of regulations
Ontrolling all surface mining;
and to insist on a resources
Policy which will end the plunder
our mineral resources by
foreign monopolies and press for
processing of our resources
mc.”’
‘The people of B.C. want more
fective legislation than the
sent proposed law to stop the
rofit-hungry mining monopolies
devastating our province
See MINING, pg. 12

Photo from “Men and Machines,” published by International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s
Union, Photo by Otto Hagel.

VOL. 30, NO. 8

Shortage threatens
shutdown of mills

Faced with nearly 8,000 jobless woodworkers and the
prospect of more mills closing down because of the

shortage of logs,

the powerful

International

Woodworkers of America has demanded that the
government impose a six months ban on log exports.

The IWA has also rejected a
bid by the forest companies for
overtime work in logging camps
as a solution to the problem.
MacMillan-Bloedel recently
applied to the Labor Relations
Board for a permit to work their
employees six days a week in all
its logging camps for the next
three months. The permit for
overtime work has been granted
but the union has turned tumbs
down on the overtime plan.

IWA regional vice-president
Jack MacKenzie said after a
meeting of the regional officers
of the IWA and the IWA coast

negotiating committee last
Wednesday that “we are not
prepared to accept the

employers’ argument that the six-

day work week for loggers is the
only solution.”’

MacKenzie added: ‘‘The
problem is not new. It has been
developing for years and the bad
weather has only aggravated it.
Overtime is no solution. We have
got to stop exporting logs that are
needed here .

The Barker, organ of Local 1-
217, IWA, said in a front page
story in its current issue that ‘‘to
continue exporting logs during
the current log shortage is the
same as exporting jobs.’’ It said
that “‘log exports have gotten
completely out of hand and a
complete moratorium on exports
should be imposed by the govern
ment.”

In a meeting with Attorney
General Leslie Peterson and
Lands and Forests Minister Ray
Williston in Victoria, IWA
officials urged the government
to:

e Impose a complete six month
ban on log exports;

e Revise government forest
policies to ensure that small
sawmills and shingle mills have
an adequate and secure source of

"logs;

e Instruct the board of
industrial relations to stop
issuing overtime permits in
shingle, sawmill and plywood
operations for the next three
months.

Export of logs to Japan has
been an increasingly lucrative
business for the big forest com-
panies in B.C. In recent years,
Log exports have grown rap-
idly despite warnings by the late
Chief Justice Gordon Sloan in his
famous report on forestry in
which he urged strong
limitations on such exports.

Last June the Pacific Tribune
in a front page article pointed to

See Labor Council
story on page 12

the large export of logs and
proposed federal action to curb
the export of raw logs. In that
story we warned that by
permitting the large scale export
of logs we were exporting
thousands of jobs.

The big logging monopolies,
profiteering by the demands of
Japanese processing industries
for B.C. logs and drawing
fabulous prices with some
species going as high as $150 per
thousand feet, have gone hog
wild. In 1968 they exported 185.4
million board feet to Japan from
B.C.

Without regard to the winter
season or possible log shortages,
the monopolies, most of them
U.S.-owned, dangerously lowered
the log supply and now expect the
woodworkers to bail them out by
accepting overtime conditions of
work,

The current log crisis has
compelled the IWA to take a
closer look at the overall forestry
policy of the government. It’s
about time this policy was
opened for a full public review.