° :
THE B.C. LUMBER WORKER

LETTERS

“Every

Camp Comment

Reader a Correspondent”

Leechtown Sub Local
Gains Better Conditions .

“The Mills of the Gods Grind Slowly,” yet nevertheless less
things are happening at Cameron’s Camp and Mill at Leech-
town. Flush toilets are in the last stages of installation. Those
almost unknown gadgets that the boys hitherto had only spoken
of with awe, and in muted whispers. Now an actuality, the
crew are perhaps wondering why they weren’t installed years

ago. -

It was reported at the last meet-
‘ing that the management had of-
fered to furnish lumber and a site
for a meeting and recration hall.
Also to bring a man to erect it.
It was suggested that it would per-
haps be many moons before the
building would be available to the
members so when asked by the
presiding officer if the members
were willing to spend part of their
leisure hours in building it them-
selves the answer was “aye” with
one exception. Three or four mem-
bers are Al carpenters.

The dissenting voice, one of the
married men (who has a sawdust
burner) said he couldn’t spare the
time as he “had wood to chop.”
We suspect his woodchopping ac-
tivities lie in another direction.

The crew, both woods and mill,
are eagerly following up the latest
developments regarding progress
of the union in the organization of
the few remaining camps on Van-
couver Island.

Lately a milicious report was
circulated that the union members
had been intimidating the two or
three men who so far have re-
mained aloof from the union. This
report, intended to create ill-feel-
ing between management and the
union, is needless to say, utterly
untrue and unfounded.

Allow me to extend the whole
camp's heartiest congratulations to
Brother Doc McMeeken, our ex-
craneman, upon his marriage, last

Friday. A feeling of vast relief the best of luck, Doc!

{ 1
i CHIROPRACTORS |
| i
H Palmer Graduates i
| M. E. McPHEE, D.C. J. N. SMITH, D.C. 1
I 20 Years’ Practice in B.C. |
H 552 Columbia Street (Opp. Post Office) I
I PIIONE 3092 NEW WESTMINSTER, B.c. !

Hotel West, Lid.

FRED R. MARCHESE, Mgr.

Moderate

Centrally Located

PAc. 8374 —
444 Carrall Street

jto get married we all wish you

Local 1-80 Certified
In 3 More Operations

Wilf Killeen, newly elected secretary of IWA Local 1-80,

who has just recently been released from hospital after a suc-

cessful operation, has now arrived in Duncan and will be
taking over his new duties shortly. Brother Killeen, formerly
employed as crane driver at the big Youbou mill, is well suited
to his key position, having an extensive knowledge of the

Sub-Locals
Elect Officers

At recent well-attended meetings
of the Youbou and Ladysmith
sub-locals of Local 1-80, new slates
of officers were elected to lead
thesee sub-locals in the coming
year.

Those elected to lead the You-
bou Sub-Local were: President I.
J. Gibson on the boom end; First
Vice-President R. Leadingham of
the hog fuel department; second
vice-president, P. Traft, sizer man;
third vice-president, W. Daly,
machinist; financial secretary, Rus-
sell Yates, planer man; recording
secretary, Bill Langmead, con-
struction department; conductor,
M. Campbell, millwright; and trus-
teees, G. Scrividi, filer, and R.
MacMillan, edgerman.

Jack Atkinson, mechanic of Co-
mox Log, was re-elected to lead
the Ladysmith sub-local, with Bill
‘Hallinan as first vice-president;
John Ulinder, second vice-presi-
dent, and Eric Sundberg, third
| vice-president. Jimmy Gilchrist
was re-elected financial secretary ;
of the sub-local; Raljph Turner, re-|
\ cording secretary; A. O'Mara, con-|
ductor; J. Gallagher, warden; J.
Tangvik, Axel Anderson and Dave
Mason, trustes.

that “Doc” finally made the grade
is felt by the entire crew.

Although you had to leave us

Rates and

PAc. 8375
Vancouver, B.C.

Quinsam Cp:
Has Grievance

Organization here is going ahead
by leaps and bounds. At present
we are waiting certification and
our Job Stewards are doing a won-
derful job.

We hold our meetings regularly
in the bunkhouse, which is too
small for the turnouts. So far
our Grievance Committee has not
been able to get permission to use
the Cookhouse or the Recreation
Hall.

Speaking of sanitary conditions:
this camp is one of the worst on
the Coast. The camp is built on
a swamp, the bunk houses are on
skeleton cars and the wind howls
through numerous cracks in the
walls. The lavatories are a good
five minute walk from the camp
and the company is so ashamed of
it they don’t even have it properly
lighted. I would hate to describe
what one might find under the
bunkhouses. There is a move on in
camp to raise money to buy gas
masks for all the crew in camp
in preparation of the coming hot
weather. What is wrong with our
health inspectors when they con-
demn buildings in Vancouver as
unsanitary when they are many
times cleaner than our camp?

It is noticed that the company
has finally built some rafts in the
wash house. Whether these are a
safety measure to keep the men
from drowning or not is one of
those things which we don’t know.

Our transportation to the woods
is quite similar to the old cattle
car days. Half the men can get
seats and the other half have to
stand so close they are unable to
even roll a smoke. There is a sys-
tem existing here that requires
that the fallers wait a half hour or
more for the rigging crew before
they can get transportation to
camp. So you can easily see what
a wonderful camp we have here.

industry. The newly elected secre-

tary player an important role in
unionization of the Industrial Tim-
ber Mills plants at Youbou.
Re-elected President Owen Brown
is still confined to Vancouver Gen-
eral Hospital from a back injury
and was unable, as was Brother

Killeen, to be present at the in- mittee met the management
stallation ceremonies held at the; were able to straighten out: a
Jocal’s monthly meeting in Dun-j the grievances that existed at the
can on March 19. Local 80 mem-j time. The men want the first
bership hopes to see him up and kit brought in and inspected

around again in the very near fu-
ture.

Certification of the camps and
mills operated by the Beban Lum-
ber Company at Nanaimo and Ga-
briola Island and the Hillcrest
Sawmill were announced this week
by Local 1-80. Negotiations will be
opened immediately for union
agrements to cover these three op-
erations,

ued

Con’

Local 1-85

Jim Saxby, elected to the posi-
tion of recording secretary, has
had considerable experience in
secretarial work. He is a present
secretary of the union social com-
mittee.

Vern Carlyle, elected to the
position of conductor, has also had
considerable experience in execu-
tive work. In his long association
with the trade union movement
he has held several executive
positions, and he is now chairman
of the shingle-mill sub-local.

Ingvald Holm, elected as ward-
en, is a member of the IWA of
long standing and an active job
steward in Bloedels mill.

Fre Cook, elected as the three-
year trustee, is chairman of the
APL Camp 1 sub-local and has
held that position since the resig-
nation of Brother Owens Copley.

The officers will be installed at
the next regular meeting on April
16 by District Secretary Bert
Melsness.

Courtenay

Complete Hom

>

Company
°

Furniture and

Farm Machinery and Supplies

Hardware

e Furnishings

COURTENAY, B.C. |

|

;men in camp and union me

Wellburn Timber Co., D
This is the first report to
in for some time. The last
meeting here showed that
union is really on top with ont
three men not members. By th
next meeting it is expected that
this camp will be one 1
percent.

Dumaresq Bros, Allison
—This camp is also well org:
ed with only three men not in
union. Two are reported to
hopeless cases. The camp

month. The crew also asks n
light in the wash house, _
Forward Bay—The camp here
well organized and conditions
‘fairly good. There are about

are held regularly with very
attendance, A new bunk
has been built and the rest of th
buildings are in good shape. Go
clean blankets are supplied wh
certainly makes for comfort. About
the only beef here is the foo
which could certainly stand
improvement, Transportation
provided in a covered truck
and from the job. s

Harrison Lake Area—The camps —
in this district were visited last
week by International Representa-
tive Jack Greenall. There was a
good response from the men and
the activity of the union members
is now being stepped up to a con-
siderable degree. Much work is —
still needed to be done here how-
ever and the men would welcome
the organizer back.

Malahat Log, Port Renfrew — —
Reports from this camp have it
that there is a real crying need
here for the union. Some good —
work is being done by the boys
themselves, but it needs an organ-
izer to come in and finish the
job. There are several union —
members in camp, but not nearly
enough, so how about a union rep- —
resentative coming up here. %
Chilliwack Area — The union
here is continuing to grow and
there are several camps here
ready for certification in the near —
future. i

te

ie

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