Published Bi-Weekly by the B.C. Coast District Council, LW.of A.

UNION BULLETIN

YoL. I._No. 8,

VANCOUVER, B.C.

AUGUST 9, 1939 oS

No. 214

PLYWOOD EMPLOYEES LAY
CHARGES OF INTIMIDATION

Plywoods Will

Gain By

!WA-Sponsored Embargo

‘WASHINGTON, D.C. — Word was re«

ceived last week that the Federal House| -

of Representatives is ready to act on the

Peeler Log Embargo Bill, sponsored by]:

the I.W.A. and passed in the U.S. Senate
recently, Thus will end the present ex-
port of a hundred million feet of choice
Douglas Fir logs which annually leave
the North Pacific for Japan, Germany,

Italy and other countries, which provide| |

these warmongers with materials for
warfare, and also undercuts American
Jabor standards,

It is estimated by the operators that if
these logs are turned into plywood at
home, an additional wage item of $25.00
per ton will accrue to U.S. labor, which
would mean an additional payroll of one
million dollars per year, Plywood mill
owners claim Japanese labor receives
three cents per hour, while the average
Wage paid to American Northwest ply-
wood workers is eighty-seven cents per
hour.

(ditor’s Note, — American plywood
plants are organized, hence the high
wages being paid to our friends across
the line. Our American brothers are to
be complimented on the successful eam-
paign they waged under the banner of
the I.W.A. to get this legislation, which
will not only protect this irreplaceable
and valuable natural resource, but
which will mean increased jobs and
better wages for U.S. millworkers, This
victory is only one of the gains of or-
ganization, but such accomplishments
provide another very good reason why
B.C. millworkers should band them-
selves together to work collectively for
their own mutual benefit, British Co-
Jumbia has no peeler logs left to export,
but we continue to ship thousands of
fect of saw-logs to fascist “sweat-shops”
annually to have them manufactured at
wages which undercut our standards,
thereby taking employment and a
decent wage away from Canadian work-
ers. Forest “denuding” is proceeding at
such a rate that another fifteen or six-
teen years is set for its completion by
prominent forest officials),

* REFUGEE GROUP
PLANS B.C. PLANT

VANCOUVER, B.C, — Induced by a
plentiful supply of pulpwood on the
‘British Columbia coast, and driven from
‘Hamburg, Germany, by Nazi persecution
of Jews, the firm of Moritz & Pincoff is
plans to establish a $3,000,000
- silk industry on a 32-acre property

in Vancouver, When completed it

0 snout, 1,000 persons,

‘Company Committee’ Blocks

Employees’ Reinstatement

The above picture shows the Japane:
ship “Yamayuri Maru” loading the high-
est grade Douglas Fir logs for shipment

to Japan, where fascist reaction forces
labor to work at slave wages in direct
competition with our rates of pay.

One billion feet of t of timber i is going pera
British Columbia to Great Britain in 1939,

‘This figure will probably be exceeded
by a hundred million or two. Certainly
the total of a billion feet is assured today,

This is more timber than has been sent
overseas from one country to another in
the world’s history, It is an epoch-making
figure, indeed!

May and June were big months for ship-
ments to the Old Land, but July topped
them, If all vessels booked got away on
schedule before the end of the month,
July shipments would touch 250 million
feet, This is another record.

A number of camps are closed or par-
tially shut down due to “fire hazard,” but
prospects are for an early opening with
the present market demand. All signs
point to a busy fall in the camps, The
market is brisk, prices remain firm (and
incidently so do wages), Organization Is
the only way to gain our share of the
general and marked business improve-
ment, and present market conditions
should be conducive to such 2 move on

the part of both camp and mill workers.

Billion Feet Of Lumber Going
To British Market During 1939

PLYWOODS INSTALLS
[.W.A. LOCAL HERE

PORTLAND, Ore.—The Plywood Dis-
trict Council took a long step forward in
its drive to complete organization in
Oregon, when the 213th charter of the
LW.A. was presented to employees of the
new Pacific Plywood Corp. plant here
last week. Production at the new plant
will not start until September as con-
struction is still proceeding. Amid a
storm of cheers a majority of men work-
ing in the operation were initiated into
the newly-organized local by W. J. Baker,
president of the Plywood District Council.

6,500,000 VOTERS

OTTAWA, Ont. — Officials estimate
6,500,000 have a vote in the federal elec-
tions, In the federal elections, 1935, the
voters’ list had 5,918,207 names. Seventy-
five per cent cast ballots,

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Sequel to the
week’s struggle of employes of the B.C.
Plywood Limited for the reinstatement
of fifty of their fellow-employees was
the laying of charges of “intimidation
and threat of loss of employment”
against company officials, Charges were
laid at City Police Court under the new
Federal Amendment to the Criminal
Code, Section 502-A, which was one of
the first measures ever to be given
Royal Assent by the King in Canada.
‘The Bill, which was signed by His Maj-
esty during his recent visit to the Do-
minion, only came into force August 1,
just three days before the alleged of-
fence took place.

The charge follows a series of manoeuv-
ers by the company management and
their “Charlie McCarthy” committee, to
prevent government. arbitration of_ the
dispute, which arose over the firing of 50
of their regular employees and the hiring
of young boys, in order to avoid paying
the regular minimum wage of 40 cents
per hour, Excuse for this action given
by the management was the demand of
employees for a general increase in wages
line with that given a few weeks

in
previous at Fraser Mills, The company
stated some “adjustments” would be

necessary, and retaliated with the mass
layoff of men, some of whom had been
in the company’s service for two and
three years,

Immediately employees contacted the
I.W.A. and a meeting was called, and a
Plywood Employees Committee formed.
This organization conducted a ballot on
the question and 161 employees out of an
approximate 264 affected, voted unani-
mously for reinstatement of the laidoff
men and a return to the old wage scale.
The Grievance Committee (company rec~
ognized and company dominated), was
asked to present the request to the man-
agement. No attempt was made up to
this time to change the committee as
employees had (in spite of previous
blunders made by the committee) believed
them to have the men’s welfare at heart,
No satisfactory settlement was offered by
the management, and when the majority
of employees voted to request the Depart-
ment of Labor to intercede to bring about
a peaceful settlement, the committee came
out in their real “colors” and blocked this
action, declaring, “We believe that the
findings of the company are quite satis-
factory to the greater number of men
employed and that it is a step ahead.”
In spite of the overwhelming vote of the
employees, the committee balked every
attempt to get their fellow-workmen back
to work although they offered to resign
if this was the wish of the men they
“mis-represented.”

So incensed were the employees that
a petition immediately went into cireula-
tion demanding their resignation and
calling. for the election of-a new bargain-
ing committee by the Plywood Employees
Committee, This petition received the sig-
natures of 213 employees out of approxi-
mately 264 affected, and paved the way
for the calling of open meeting of Ply-
wood employees in the Vancouver Labor
Temple to nominate a new committee.
Nominations were made and a balloting
committee of six instructed to proceed to

(Continued on Page Two)