ba e Bi-weekly Bulletin Published by The B.C. District Council, International Woodworkers of America, (CIO), Affiliated with Canadian Gamers ci Labor VOL. XI, No. 12 VANCOUVER, B.C., SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1942 . Broadway <> Printers Ltd, (272) BLAME (0., GOV'T FOR CAMP WALKOUT Responsibility for the continued closure of Bloedel’s 300-man camp at Menzies Bay rests squarely on the shoulders of the management and officials of the provincial Depart- ment of Labor, Nigel Morgan, IWA International Executivé Board Mem- _ ber, charged this week. The flare-up, which brought about the closure of the camp, was caused when Jack Place and Barry Goult of the pro- vincial Department of Labor ‘permitted five company officials to attend a meet- ing of employees at the Bloedel camp called by the government expressly for the purpose of electing a committee to represent the employees in conciliation, although prior to the meeting the govern- ment representatives had agreed no com- pany officials would be allowed in. In addition to this, Place and Goult gave Bloedel's personnel manager, J. D. Noble, permission to address the employees’ meeting for ten minutes, which is defin- itely not in conformity with the pro- visions of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Another ruling of the department of Jabor, which only allowed employees as of the date of May 18 to vote, although one of the government officials admitted aN to the meeting it would’ be impos- ible for the employees to get a majority on this basis, led up to the vote of 204 to 16 to take a 24-hour holiday in order] to meet and’get the situation straightened out. ¢ ‘When the men stayed in for their meet- ing next day the company superintendent told them if they didn’t go back to work immediately the camp would be shut down and only one meal served the next day. In answer to an appeal from the em- ployees to assist in settling the dispute, so that important war production of lum- ber should not be hampered, President aed Gertchett and Secretary Nigel ‘Morgan appealed to Minister of Labor _ Pearson to use his office to reach an ar- : gement for reopening of the camp. | Mr, Pearson reported there was nothing he could do and suggested the union of- us communicate directly with the ment of the company in Vancou- Sete ee In CBC MONDAY, JUNE 29 a for the OR FORUM and hear wee aenennncencnncecccas 's Policy” Aueeeeanananan! IWA District Vice-President, Hjalmar Bergren . . . assisted in organizing the Hillerest boys into a new sub- local of IWA Local 1-80. IWA Semi-Annual Conferen Called To Review War Program ce Realizing the important role that organized labor can play in the lum- ber industry as in other industry producing war materials, the officers of. the IWA B.C. District, Council have called a semi-annual District Conference to review the IWA “Production for Victory” program, and to discuss the various problems involved in working out a full labor partnership in Canada’s war effort. A conference call to all Locals and Sub-Locals, Camps and Mills and Ladies’ Auxiliaries, has been sent out, asking that delegates attend the conference to be held in the District Council Head- quarters, on Sunday, July 5, at 10 am. “The IWA, together with other trade unions in this Dominion, has an im- portant role to play,” the call declared. “Consideration must be given immedi- ately to the development of a program for total war to help in the opening of a second front to smash fascism in 1942.” “Just before the last Annual District Convention the government passed PC 8253 pegging wages and providing for a Grew at Hillcrest Log Set Up New IWA Sub-Local DUNCAN, B.C.—Three hundred odd employees of the Hillcrest Lum- ber Company packed the hall in Duncan on Wednesday, June 17, and established a new sub-local of IWA Local 1-80. Hillcrest, the fourth large lumber concern on the Island to be unionized in recent months, voted with only one opposing vote in favor of establishing the IWA as their sole col- lective bargaining agency. Sam Guthrie, CCF MLA, and Nigel Morgan, IWA Dis- trict Secretary, addressed the meeting, explaining the benefits of trade union or- ganization and reporting on recent gains of the IWA in B.C, Morgan outlined the program of the TWA and warned the workers against Possible attempts to establish a com- pany-dominated association as had been attempted recently at B.C. Plywoods, Canadian White Pine, Chemainus and Fraser Mills. Greeting were also extended by President Owen Brown of IWA Local 1-80, Chairman John Parkinson of the newly organized Chemainus Sub-Local, and Dodson Mah, ‘Chinese IWA leader in Chemainus sawmill, se After the men had been urged to join the IWA, District Vice-President Bergren, who was in the chair, declared a fifteen- minute recess, during which practically every millworker and logger in the hall joined the union, A mass initiation fol- lowed and Brother Bergren called for the election of an executive. The Hillcrest executive include: Chairman, Jack Mc- Donald; vice-chairman, Jim Carson; sec- retary-treasurer, Cecil Carr; conductor, Freddy Smith; guard, Bob Walton; and two trustees, Bob Gibson and Herb Cross. A joint Grievance Committee was elected to act for the mill and the logging camp, with Carl Eckland, Carl Widen and Jim Miller representing the loggers, and Leo Portlance, Walter Evan and Gus Gard representing the millworkers. The next meeting of the Hillcrest Sub- Locai, at which the boys hope to make the organization one hundred percent, will be held in the Duncan K.of P, Hall on Thursday, July 9, at 7:30 pm. cost-of-living bonus. To date very few logging or sawmill companies have met their obligations under this government regulation, A number of briefs have been prepared by the IWA.for presentation to the Regional War Labor Board, We have just been informed that the zoning and establishment of frozen wage scales for each sub-division of the lumbering industry are being considered by the Regional War Labor Board. Considerable dissatisfaction and unrest is. being ex- pressed in all sections of the industry which is seriously hampering our war effort.” “We therefore believe it is imperative that a conference should be called to dis- cuss this problem and draft a definite program. Each camp or mill with ten or more IWA members in good standing is en- titled to send two delegates, in addition to the regular Local delegates to the _ District Council and the Executive Com- mittee, It is expected that one of the Inter- national officers from across the line will address the meeting, also a repre- sentative from the Canadian Army has been invited to speak, in connection with Army Week, |Plywoods’ Union Committee Opens Negotiations With Co. By BERT MELSNESS President, IWA Local 1-217 After a long-drawn-out struggle in which the solidarity of the crew finally swung the balance in our favor, the union committee at MacMillan Industries Ltd., Plywood Division, has met with company officials twice. This in itself is a victory as this is one of the things which the company has always maintained it would not do under any circumstances. At the first meeting on June 16, E. B. Ballantine, chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, asked for an extension of time due to the absence of Walter Owen, his legal advisor, who was confined to his home by illness, Ballan- tine, known as a hard man with whom to drive a bargain, said that he felt in- capable of carrying on negotiations alone because IWA District President Harold Pritchett, who is a member of the union committee, had such vastly superior Knowledge of labor problems: and their solution. The extension was granted in the in- terest of amicable negotiations, with the understanding that the conference would reconvene at 10 am. Tuesday, June 23. The committee met as arranged and negotiations proceeded with Walter Owen present. A sub-cémmittee was instructed to compile an exact list of those who had not been recalled to work since the May 4th layoff. The company agreed to keep this list up-to-date, Those who have not been called back are being asked, by a letter from government Commissioner James Thompson, if they are desirous of returning if the opportunity is given. It is felt that this information is neces- sary before negotiations can be com- pleted. On Tuesday, June 30, the conference will again meet to discuss: (1) the return to work pf those employees who were discriminated against; (2) the negotiat- ing of the union agreement, and (3) a re- classification of wages. It is hoped that negotiations can be completed at that sitting. The committee feels that this is def- inite progress. It must he pointed out that this is the first time that repre- sentatives of MacMillan Interests in the plywood and lumber industry have met with a union committee. The de- gree of cooperation which has been at- tained is shown by the fact that a union representative was allowed to sit on the sub-committee which drew up a list from company files. The crew at Plywoods realize that they are the spearhead of organization in the mills and are presenting a united front which will win for us a good union con- tract.