December 31, 1945

Woodworkers at Port Arthur, members of Local 2786, LSWU-
AFL, are conducting a campaign for proper planning to take care
of a mounting unemployment problem. A press release by Otto
Koskinen, secretary of the local, declares: “We are most definite-
ly in favor of vocational training for our veterans, now returning

$8000 Raised
By Local 80
For Windsor

Ford Strike Committee amount-

Sawmill News

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Contributions to the Windsor-

But we do not wish to see any
‘petition of what happened after
1e war of 1914-18,

We do not want to see return-
soldiers become the victims of
schemes which, no matter how
honestly conceived and well in-
tended, would only serve to pro-
vide cheap labor for private in-
dustry. We are determined to
prevent exploitation of our re-
turned veterans, men and women
alike, =

Any training scheme in the
woods industry must come under
a director of apprenticeship train
ing same as any other industry
and should be governed by a com-
mittee with equal representation
from labor, management and gov-
ernment.

To just hand the returning
yeteran an open permit and to
tell him: “Now go and find your-
self a job,” is an evasion of our
the men
who fought for Canada. Their
welfare and rehabilitation is a
public responsibility that must]
he discharged by the elected rep-
resentatives through our govern-
ment bodies, We cannot sidestep
this issue by leaving the veteran
to the mercy of private investors
to exploit. Nor can we afford to
vse public funds to subsidize
schemes over which our elected
representatives and the working
people themselves will exercise
no control whatever.

is
responsibility toward

The time has surely come for
governments to stop playing with
this vital issue now when em-
ployment is already growing by
leaps and bounds. If the Hon.}
Humphrey Mitchell does not now
about Port Arthur's unemploy-
ment problem, we must tell him,
so that he won’t remain in doubt
about the matter.”

Trade Union Membership
Doubled In War Years

The annual report of 1944 of
the British Columbia Depart-
ment of Labor shows that trade
union membership in our prov-
ince more than doubled during
the war year, while the number
of workers’ organizations also in-
veased very substantially. For

sample, in the year 1943, there
sere 473 trade union organiza-
tions in B.C. with a total member-
ship of 107,402; whereas in 1944,
there were 607 trade unions with
2 total membership of 110,045.
In the year 1939, there were
only 380 unions with a total

. membership of 44,867,

Meet the Boys At

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.C.

from the armed forces. These men deserve the best that the country
can offer in education, vocational training, and steady jobs.

Found At The

Eugene Convention’

One of the delegates to the
Eugene Convention lost the
top: of a good fountain pen.
This has been turned in to the
District Office at 504 Holden
Building, where the owner
may haye it on request.

Local 357 Gets

Wage Increases

All but six categories that
were already up to ceiling re-
ceived a 5 cents an hour increase
at the B.C. Manufacturing Com-
pany’s plant in New Westmin-
ster last week, as a result of a
Joint application to the Regional
War Labor i30ard made by the
Company and IWA Local 1-357.
About 155 employees are affect-
ed by the application.

Following the signing of the
agreement in November, negoti-
ations were begun with the com-
pany for their two operations in-
cluding the Westminster Shooks
Mill. No word ha yet been
received on the Shooks Mill ap-
plication.

Soviet Reconversion

Rapid And Unhampered

MOSCOW (AL Conclud-
ing a two-month visit here, dur-
ing which time he ited fac-
tories in Moscow, Leningrad and
the Urals, Ernie Thornton, gen-
eral secretary of the Australian
Amalgamated Ironworkers
Union, expressed great interest in
the rapidity of Soviet reconver-
sion‘and the absence of unemploy-
ment. In an interview here,
Thornton noted that housing
shortage in*the Urals is due to
wartime hardships, but pointed
to the tremendous housing now
in progress. He asserted that the
food ration of the Soviet worker
» no smaller than that of the
British worker. Thornton said
that Soviet trade unions are en-
ergetically defending the inter-
ests of their members, and that
nearly all conflicts are settled o1
the spot. ~

ALWA

WRITE FOR MAIL

“Your Western Shopping Centre”

ing to more than $8,000 have
been made by members of IWA
Local 1-80 on Vancouver Island
during the campaign. Listed by
operations, donations already
sent to Windsor are as follows:
Stoltze $186.20; Camp 3 $578.00;
North West Bay $345.00; Chem-
ainus $566.93; Ladysmith
$293.00; Nanaimo $57.00; Jordan
River $173.00;  Wellburns
$158.70; Lake Cowichan $126.54;
Port Renfrew $84.15; Ladies
Auxiliary $10.00; Hill Log
$208.00; Summit $8.00; Kapoors
$251.00; Camp 6 $142.00; Rounds
$475.50; Meades Creek $398:50;
Malahat Camp 2 $325.30; Honey-
; Miscellaneous

In addition the following ap-
proximate amounts have been
collected and are. still in sub-l6-
cal offices to be sent within a
few days: Camp 3 $100.00; Lady-
smith $100.00; Nanaimo. $200.00;
Rounds $1100.00; Meades Creek
$200.00; Honeymoon Bay
$650.00.

Tt is estimated that still an-
other thousand dollars is still in
the hands of job stewards to be
turned in which will bring the
total well’ over the $8,000 mark.

Special mention is made of
Camp 3, Youbou, where the cam-
paign had excellent results, In
addition to the Ford fund, this
camp donated $58.25 to the fund
for assistance to Brother Wm.
McDonald.

Sitka. Spruce Hearing
January 8

The Sitka Spruce case, where
a company union sponsored by
the employer is attempting to
gain certification, will be heard
in Ottawa on January 8. This
case has been fought for a con-
siderable time and: the company
application is- being hotly con-
tested by IWA local 1-217.
Considered ‘to be’ a matter of
serious concern to the trade union
movement across Canada, assist
ance in the case is being given
by the International Union of
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers |
which has had considerable d
ficulty with a similar - set-up
sponsored by the late Mr. Blay-
lock of Consolidated Mining and
Smelting Company of Trail.

A brief has been prepared and
will be presented by Canadian
Congress officials on behalf of
the IWA to the hearing.

YS “The Best for Less”

VANCOUVER, B.C.
ORDER CATALOGUE

Larsen Stand Vindicated
On U.S. Wage Policy

International Woodworkers of America (CIO) unions through-
out the fir belt of Washington and Oregon this week are voting on
the acceptance of a supplement increase of 2%¢ an hour which will
bring the minimum common labor rate to $1.05 an hour.

The increase is in addition to the 121%¢ an hour increase re-
cently negotiated and cevers all operations represented by the Lum-

bermen’s Industrial Relations Committee. It is retroactive to Nov.
1, 1945, and must be accepted by Dec, 31 to become effective.

The supplemented raise was negotiated by the IWA Interna-
tional Negotiating Committee Dec. 11, after the Norther Wash-
ington district, which had previously withheld approval of the
12%c inerease, opened discussions with operators requesting the
full 15¢ increase previcusly granted the AFL lumber workers.

At the same time that announcement was made of the new
wage offer, the IWA negotiating committee announced the calling
of a broad negotiating conference for Feb. 15, 1946.

Spokesmen for the CIO unions state that the conference will
undoubtedly raise new wage demands. The Northern Washington
district is on record to press for “not less than the balance of the
25e an hour” wage inerease previously requested by the IWA.

Contracts held by IWA locals can be reopened for both wages
and conditions April 1, 1946, at which time logging is resumed in
most areas closed by snow.

ISSUE IN ELECTION

Election of international officers of the IWA will no doubt be
influenced by the outcome of the recently concluded’ negotiations.
Karly Larsen, president of the Northern Washington district of
the IWA which pressgd for continued negotiations, is a candidate
for 1st vice-president of the International.

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