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Bulletin Published by The B.C. District Council, International Woodworkers of America, Affiliated to Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

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VOL. XI. No. 9

VANCOUVER, B.C., MONDAY, MAY 3, 1943

Broadway <P> Printers Ltd,

(291)

who would be affected by a dis-
pute between the employer and
the employees are members in good
standing of Local No. 80, Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America,
and that the officers of the said
union, or such persons as the union
7 may elect for the purpose sha.

be the bargaining representatives
of all employees affected, pursuant
to Section 5 of the “Industrial

. Conelliation and and Arbitration
Ant”
I have been requested to point

out to you, that such representa

~ Death Toll
~ Reaches 18.

4
kf
‘Three more fa-

©
¥

tal logging ac-
cidents in B.C.

_ woods this week | Woodworken
brought the have been
death toll in | killed in B.C’s
the lumber in- lumber in-
dustry up to 18 dustry since
for the first 4 Jan. 1, 1943
months in 1943,

Hjelmar Sjokvist, 50-year-old
sawmill worker, was instantly

killed at his sawmill, 16 miles east
of Prince George, on Monday,
April 26. Sjokvist was struck on
the forehead by a plank thrown by
F a ‘the power saw.
Sn M. Palasky, a member of IWA
Local 1-357, was crushed to death
beneath a pile of lumber which
fell on him while he was working
at the Alaska Pine Sawmill in New
_ Westminster on April 29, 1943.
Eino Sutelo died this week from
injuries received when struck by

a sapling during logging opera-
tions on the Queen Charlotte Is-

; group was D Company in
100 men out of 144 bought
worth of bonds.

Employees of Lake Logging Co.; Labor
Department Finds Majority Members

The first certification as Bargaining Agency under the

_ amended Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act was grant-
ed in a letter this morning from Mr. Goult of the Department
of Labor. The letter, addressed to J. L. Johnston, Esq., Secre-
tary of the Rounds Sub-Local of 1-80, reads in parts as follows:
Following investigation by Mr. A. M. Whisker o four Vic-
toria office, it has been found that the majority of the employees

tion covers employment of men
who work in the woods at Rounds,
and at the dumping grounds at
Cowichan Lake, and the loading
platform at the lower end of Cow-
ichan Lake, but not the other two
camps of the Company on Lake
Cowichan.”

Local 1-80 is one of the best es-
tablished locals in District No. 1,
and prior to the changing ‘of the
Act, was conducting negotiations
on a district-wide basis. Several
more operations are expected to
apply for certification shortly, in-
cluding the employees at the big
VL. & M. mill at Ladysmith,

The I.C.A. Act, for which the
LW.A. together with all other
organized labor in B.C, fought so
strenuously, is now paying divi-
dends. Organize the unorganized;
make the L.C.A. Act work for vic-
tory.

-1.W.A. Local 1-80 Certified As

Bargaining Agent At Rounds

Union Now Official Bargaining Agency for

Government Imposed Fine May

Force Closure

Operations of Batco Development Company at Oyster River?

may have to be stopped, if the Forest Branch of the Depart-
ment of Lands insists on collection of a $10,000 fine imposed
January 27th for failure to burn slash.

“We haven’t paid it, and we don’t intend to pay a fine for
failure to destroy merchantable timber,” A. E. Simpson, Jr.,

president of Batco, stated.
A statement from Simpson fol-

lows:

“Much against our will we are
forced to make a public statement
because of the actions of the De-
partment of Lands, Forest Branch.
They have threatened to seize our
rafts of logs because we refused
to pay a $10,000 fine for not burn-
ing up timber during August and
September of 1942,

“Now we have to ask the people
of B.C. if they wish to sit back
and see their timber devastated
yearly by fires set by order. of the
Forest Branch.

“Whether we were forced to burn
and waste the war-needed produc-
tion capacity of 100 men, may not
interest anyone but ourselves, and
whether we burn one acre or 1000
acres, eight feet of merchantable
timber or eight million feet of

The above picture shows the size of the logs
burned at Campbell River as slash. These logs were salvaged from
an area which had been logged recently.

which are being

Nels Madsen Reinstated;

|Major Victory

In Conciliation Proceedings
this morning, Brother Nels Mad-
sen, who was discharged last
year from Pacific Mills, Camp
A-85 in the Queen Charlotte Is-
Jands, was reinstated on the job
through presentation of evidence
to the Commission, This is a
major victory for the LW.A. in

For Union

the Queen Charlotte Islands as
the Company clearly discrimi-
nated against Brother Madsen.
who has now been off work
since last December. Brother
Madsen will be returning to the
Queen Charlotte Islands where
he will carry on his former
work as a delegate of the Union.

merchantable timber, does not
alter the principle of destroying
timber.

“We have proved it practical to
log this so-called waste, and to
sell it on the open market as lum-
ber logs, and also to mill it in our
sawmills. We have not gone into
the feasibility of taking out the
lower-priced short lengths of
pulp.

“We would like to bring to the
attention of the public, worthy
statements in this“regard appedr-
ing recently in Vancouver editor-
als

“Here are the quotes:

“Our government officials pos-
sess a big-tree complex.

“The end of our original stand
of big trees is in sight, and we
must consider carefully what re-
sources are left.

“We must stop that waste (log-
ging waste) and without further
delay.

“They (the loggers) are in each
case leaving behind 7 to 10 mil-
lion feet of undersized timber, un-
dersized only in comparison with
the choice timber already mar-
keted. :

“‘As a policy (of salvaging waste
timber) it is the practical alterna~
tive to the annual disastrous for-
est fires’.”

“Do the public of B.C. approve
of the policy of the Forest Branch,
advocating starting of forest fires
to avoid forest fires?” the state~
ment resumes.

“Past results have shown that ‘a

forest fire, once started, can only
be stopped by a change in climatic
conditions, no matter what pre-
cautions are taken.
“We all kno wthat forest fires
that were set and got out of con-
trol last year must have been
detrimental to military defensive
operations, Should we repeat the
same mistake this year?

“At our operations, through the
penalties Imposed by the Forest
Branch, we have, lost several mil-
lions of feet of timber log produc-
tion each month because several
contractors have been forced to
discontinue their contracts with
our company,

f Batco Camp

Branch has adopted may force the
cessation of our logging opera-
tions, thereby depriving the war
effort of a much needed 40 mil-
lion feet of logs,” concludes the
statement.

eee

‘The following resolution has been
unanimously endorsed by the IWA
B.C. District Council.

“Whereas thousands of citizens
of Vancouver and other large cen-
tres of this province have suffered
privation as the result of an acute
fuel shortage, and whereas B.C’s
supply of accessible timber is
rapidly becoming depleted;

“Therefore be it resolved~ that
this meeting condemn the burn-
ing of eight million feet o fmar-
ketable logs which were destroyed
in a fire lit with 300 gallons of
oil on the order of the Privincial
Department of Forestry at Camp-
bell River last month;

“And be it further resolved that
this meeting urge upon the Pre-
mier of this Province, the minister
of lands, and the forestry branch,
the importance of reconsidering ex-
isting regulations with a view to
the maximum utilization of our
rapidly diminishing forest
sources,”

re-

See BATCO
(Continued on Page 7)

Ruskin Gets
Wage Boost

Word was received this week
from the Regional War Labor
Board stating that an increase
in wages as applied for by the
International Woodworkers of
America has been granted to the
employees of the Allan, McDoug-
all Butler Mill at Ruskin, B.C.
The increase ranges from five
to thirty cents per hour with
an average based on categories
of eighteen and a half cents per
hour. The tremendous gains made
show the value of organization
in the industry. The sawyer re-
ceived an increase from eighty-
five cents to one dollar and fif-
teen cents; the resawyer an in-
crease from sixty-five to ninety
cents. The majority of the in-
creases ranged from fifteen to
twenty cents an hour with sev-
eral ten and thirteen cents in-
creases, The increase is retroactive

“The policy which the Forest

to the ttime of application.