Wo - Bulletin Published by The B.C. District Council, International Woodworkers of America, Affiliated to Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) Or VO Y i 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.