Official Publication of the International Woodworkers of America, B.C. District Council No. 1. Vol. XVI. No. 12, VANCOUVER, B. TUESDAY, MAY 28, 1946 =S* Price 5 cents (372) IWA Calls For Victoria Trek PUBLIC SUPPORT SOLID Watch Booms Closely In Courtenay Tie-up By DARSHAN SINGH Expect Thousands Of Loggers To Lobby Provincial Cabinet Thousands of woodworkers from sawmills and logging camps up and down the coast and throughout Vancouver Island, will converge on Victoria in the biggest mass Over two thousand loggers in the Courtenay area,| lobby in the history of the province. June 3 has been set for the commencement date, belonging to IWA Local 1-363, are on strike. All logging] and on that date the mass trek will begin. camps, sawmills and shingle mills from Qualicum Beach} roggers from the Queen Char- to Bloedel’s Camp No. 5, are shut tight. Pickets patrol] totte Islands, who have kept to virtually every job. Not a stick of lumber is moy- ing and a watchful eye is be- ing kept on the booms, The public is solidly behind the strikers, In the cities of Cumberland and Campbell Riv- er, every store, without excep- tion, is prominently displaying placards: “We Support the Loggers’ De- mands.” Campbell River Board of frade unanimously went on re- cord as supporting the IWA de- mands, Courtenay City Council has endorsed the wage and hour de- mands of the strikers and the Board of Trade has urged the government to reach a speedy settlement of the dispute. The Women’s Auxiliary of the Canadian Legion has pledged its full support to the strikers. "“wenty-nine business firms paid for an IWA advertisement in the local press. Morale of the loggers is high. They are convinced of the jus- tice of their demands and are resolved to win. A logger, who has worked 23 years in the woods, when asked how long he thought this strike would last, veplied: “Till we win it!” N. W. Tag Day Nets Union $1200 Outstanding public demonstra- tions, through organization, and a twelve-hundred dollar tag day have made the Royal City a “strike town.’ On Wednesday, May 22, the biggest labor parade New West- minster has ever experienced was climaxed by a mass. rally ef four thousand in Queen’s Park Arena. 3 Woodworkers and their fami- _ lies carried placards with the main union slogans, and on ar rival at Queen's Park heard District President Harold Prit- ehett summarize strike develop- ts. chs ally roarea approval when the President announced operators had been forced “mass public strike support ter negotiations. ./ their camps since the union ex- U. S. Lumberworkers Win All '46 Demands Signing of a new agreement between the Interna- tional Woodworkers of America and operators in the states of Washington and Oregon including a five-cent pay increase, establishment of the 40-hour week through- out the industry, and a two-week vacation with pay plan, was greeted by District Number 1, this week, as a tremendous victory for organized labor. Achievement of an amicable settlement onthe ‘new agreement without recourse to a strike, and complete re- jection of 33 operators’ proposals was seen as a tribute to the strength of the union, and will affect 50,000 wood- workers in the two northeast states. The 40-hour week had previously been enjoyed in some phases of the industry across the line, but signing of the agreement stabilizes the new short week through- out the industry, with no exceptions. 20 CENT INCREASE The five-cent pay increase brought to twenty cents the across-the-board increase for workers in the American industry, and was seen as a particu- larly precedent shattering victory. They gained a 15-cent boost in January. The highest increases in all other industry in the United States has ranged between 18 and 184 cents, and the 20-cent rate places woodworkers ahead of other industries in wage boosts recorded since the end of the war. The new ‘vacation with pay’ plan, included in the agreement, provides two weeks a year with pay for all woodworkers having five years’ seniority, with the second holiday week being taken at arly time during the year. Previous holiday plans had provided that holidays be taken only between May and September. ? AVOIDED STRIKE The signing of the agreement in the United States without a strike, and with acceptance of all of labor’s proposals was seen in sharp contrast to the situation in Canada, where operators have ganged up. to block la- bor’s attempt to raise the living standards of the people by achievement of a twenty-five cents across the board increase, the 40-hour week, and assurance of union security throughout the industry. Operators in Canada could be accused of subvert- ing the interests of eight hundred and fifty thousand British Columbia citi. ns to their greedy selfish inter- ests and desire’ for profit. Canadian operators welcomed the achievement of a new industry-wide agreement in the northwest states, and urged Canadian memfers of the IWA to carry for- ward the just battle of thirty-seven thousand wood- workers in this province to a successful conclusion. - ecutive issued instructions to do so on May 15, will leave sicele- ton picket crews to guard Davis rafts waiting to be moved from that area, and will head for Vancouver and other cities and towns. Sawmill workers up and down the length and breadth of Van- couver Island, will leave saw- mill operations and head for Island municipalities, which will be assembly points for the trekkers, Loggers and sawmill workers in Vancouver, New Westminster and Frazer Valley points will con- gregate in Vancouver, and plans are being made for a fishing fleet_to take Vancouver lobby- ists to the provincial capital. .. STALLING OPERATORS Decision to bring loggers in from distant points followed a week: of stalling on the part of logging operators in negotiations with the union, Arrangements had previously been made for loggers in distant points to re- main in camp, the aim being to facilitate easy transition from strike to production conditions... This gesture on the part of the International Woodworkers of America was aimed at avoid- ing unnecessary tie-up of camps due to time lost travelling from cities to camps. However, following repeated attempts at settlement, and with the possibility of men in camps losing contact with develop- ments in the city of Vancouver, the union has moved to return men to their home towns. Calling of men into munici- palities will mean that at least 5,000 more loggers will be added to the present number in Van- couver. DEMAND ACCOMMODATION If a housing problem is cre- ated, the union is prepared to demand that the city council move to provide accommodation for woodworkers, 24, Assembly at points on the Island and mainland will com- mence June 3,.and trucks will be utilized to bring woodwork- ers from Port Alberni and Courtenay down through all of the towns and cities on the Isl- and Highway to Victoria. The move will place members of parliament on the spot with regard to support ‘of the wood- workers’ strike, and will also strengthen the union’s bargain- ing position in present meetings with Chief Justice Sloan and operators. 9,000 New Members Signed Up By Union District headquarters report that thousands of workers are joining the ranks of the union. Nine thousand new mem- bers in the IWA have given the lie to the operators, Local 217 signed up 300 new members in the first two days of the strike. The local office was kept busy signing up 62 members during the first few hours of the strike. The total for 217 to date has already reached the 1,000 mark. The majority of these mon have come to the ranks of ihe union from small operations and from the furniture workers who walle ed out in unity with the workers of the IWA for their just de- mands, A telegram from Kamloops speaks for itself. “Six opera- tions 100 per cent signed up. Sey- eral hundred signed up in last 10 days” from Nelson. From Al- berny from Mission come simi- lar reports. While the operators are spend- ing unlimited amounts of money to prove that the IWA did not act in the name of the 37,000 workers out on strike, the work- ers are streaming into the ranks of the «sion. For the record and for the in- formation of the operators and all others interested, the IWA now speaks in the name of 27,000 union members. Complete towns and communi- tes are joining up. This is the answer of the workers to the lumber employers.