B.C.

LUMBER WORKER

Page Three

(This is the third in a series of
articles on co-operatives by the

Third Article nes
VIEW

_ ‘THE CO-OPERATIVE

‘By G. D. FERG Local 1-357 IWA

§ stated previously the types and functions of the co-operatives are quite wide in variation and em-
ra Fogg various techniques covering practically all the services that mankind requires from the cradle

grave.

Co-ops are classified usually as
to the services they render: pro-
ducer, marketing, financial and
consumer.

Producer co-ops are perhaps
the earliest form of co-operative
although the least successful.

are formed by workers
manufacturing or producing a
merchantable product. Previous
to Rochdale in 1844, Robert
Owen, 2 wealthy Englishman who
had great sympathy with the
working class set up communities
of this type. But they were f:
ures. We think this was so be-
cause no great sacrifice or strug-
gle was necessary in the forma-
tion of these enterprises as they
were all financed by Robert
Owen.

Nevertheless, from these ven-
‘tures came the idea of “make the
workers the owners”. That idea

keting machinery. They no longer
have to take the day-to-day prices
offered by the line grain com-
pany, but receive the highest
possible return for the whole
year’s trading. 4

‘We mentioned marketing at
cost previously. One example of
how one phase of this has been
effected is in the elevator
charges. Before the Pools were
in existence, line elevator com-
panies used to charge in some
instances as high as 9 cents per
bushel of wheat to put it through
their elevators.

Now the Wheat Pools charge
1% cents per bushel and the line
elevators have had to conform to
this price policy to keep in ex-
istence. So you see the Pools not
only are a boon to the farmer
members, but to all grain farm-
ers in the prairie region.

The Wheat Pools which had a
terrific struggle for their very
existence and had to seek finan-
cial assistance from their provin-
cial governments, now are mar-
keting close to 50 percent of the
entire grain crop of the prairies.
. This is one example of market-
ing co-ops. There are many more.
The poultry co-ops, egg pools,
livestock co-ops, and here on the
west coast, as well as on the east
coast, the fishermen’s co-ops.

‘You may ask, “what have these
farmers’ and fishermen’s co-ops
got to do with the lumber work-
ers and loggers?” Brothers,
every phase of the co-operative
movement, every type of co-op
has a bearing on the kind of
livelihood we enjoy or seek to
enjoy in the future, as we hope
to establish in future articles of
this series.

By KELOWNA JOE

Last November when the smoke
from the WIUC revolution
cleared away, there was a mat-
ter of Interior negotiations to
take care of. It’s a grim propo-
sition trying to get a square deal
from an employer when you have
no bargaining strength.

With the woodworkers, at that
time, wearing different colored
buttons and many operators clos-
ing down for the winter, it wasn’t
hard to see the predicament we
were in,

The Interior Lumbermen’s As-
sociation sadly pleaded inability
to pay even the 8 cents recom-
mended by the conciliation board.
‘After much discussion, it was
admitted that it was the small
operators they were concerned
about.

Very few of the small opera-
tors with from 5 to 8 men work-
nig for them are organized, and
therefore are not bound by nego-
tiations. The most of these gypo
operators are financed by the
larger Interior operators and
must of course sell their lumber

INTERIOR BEEFS

to those operators at a “price”.
Its’ none of our business who

borrows money from whom, but
is our business when attempts
are made to undermine the wood-
workers’. standard of living. And
that no doubt will be the case in
coming negotiations.

The cry again will be that the
small operator eannot pay an in-
crease. I wot recommend to
these small operators that they
get a union of their.own to get

a little more of thé gravy the
llarger operators have been get-

ting away with.

Most of these “financial” op-
erators have been selling their
lumber, mill rm delivered, at
from 29 to 35 dollars a thousand
to the larger operators, who in
turn plane and grade it.

Don’t let anybody kid you
about the large operators being
unable to pay an increase, and if
they are concerned about the lit-
tle fellows, they will give them
‘a better price for their lumber.
Be seeing you,
Kelowna Joe.

has stuck down through the years
though other ways and means of

applying this principle have been

found more effective.

Although producer co-ops of
this type are more susceptible to
failure, it does not necessarily
follow that all such set-ups are
damned, and we wish to point out
that there are several such co-ops
in existence at the present time
which are performing a magnifi-
cent service to their members.

, Marketing co-ops are some-
times also called producer co-ops.
Purely marketing and processing
at cost the product of its mem-
bers for the purpose of stabiliz-
ing markets and prices is the
function of these organizations.
We find many examples of this
type of co-op organization it
Canada. es pits

The largest of these being the
Wheat Pools of the prairie farm-
ers who in years past were at
the mercy of the grain barons of
the Winnipeg grain exchange.

These farmers in the early
years of the development of
prairie agriculture found that
during the harvest season, when
the grain was coming from the
threshing machines with no great
storage facilities on the farm,
they were forced to deliver their
grain to the grain company, ac-
cepting the low harvest price. A
few months later when the farm-
ers had sold all their grain, of
course, the prices had increased
considerably, !

Now most of the prairie farm-
ers market their grain through
the co-op pools, getting an initial
payment, and usually, an interim
paynient in the spring or early
summer. Then at the end of the
erop year when all grain has been
sold and expenses of the co-op
paid, the surplus is returned to
the farmers as a final payment.
Thus all farmers, regardless of
when they deliver their grain, re-
ceive the same price per bushel,
having regard to differentials due
to grade, ete,

Phese farmers no longer are
the pawns of‘ the barons of the
Winnipeg Grain Exchange. They
own and control their own mar-

LETTER TO
LOCAL 1-217

Secretary,
Local 1-217, IWA.
Dear Sir and Brother:

I am now working as a boom
man at Woodfibre, and wish to
join the union here, Enclosed you
will find a postal note for ity
cents.

Will you please send me a
withdrawal card and-let me know
how as aliing I am in my dues,
as I sh to ke up my mem-

ip_in the IWA.
y I, as a rank and file mem-

ish Columbia in the execution of the war effort.

united front during these times of economic crisis.

of increase continues, British Columbia will have

wark of free enterprise for a free people.

Government-controlled industry is a burden on thespeople.

the world.

back. Your Government feels this re:
for many months to come.

The future and welfare of all the people

doing, and

HON. HERBERT ANSCOMB
Minister of Finance.

Which Way, British Columbia?

The Coalition Government, formed in 1941, combined the resources and energies of the people of Brit-

Post-war problems of reconstruction and re-establishment made it advisable to continue this com-
bination in order to speed the re-establishment of our own veterans and the many more who were
taking their discharge in British Columbia, although natives of other parts of Canada.

The successful record of this Government during these trying periods, stands as ample testimony to the wisdom of the

The population of British Columbia has grown more rapidly than any other province in Canada, We
have absorbed nearly a quarter of a million additional people in the last ten years and if

1,500,000 people by 1959.

‘The people of our province have watched’ this fantastic growth and many of them realize that an even
bigger problem faces us if we are to successfully emerge economically sound in the years to come,

British Columbia is today at the crossroads of growth and development, We WANT more people. We must be able to
give them and following generations a real chance to live and work in the best province in Canada. One false step
could mean chaos for an economy that is straining at the leash, burdened as it is with an immense growth of population.

Let’s face the facts squarely; we must weigh carefully what road to follow if we are to march ahead
to the great heritage that is destined to be ours, and which we have hoped and worked for.

Industrial and agricultural growth must be encouraged and guided meticulously to ensure that we
keep pace with the rising demand for jobs for our people.

As British Columbians, we are proud of our high standard of Social Assistance. We will continue to
set the pace to assure better health values for all our people.

To continue the development of British Columbia, we must

Some people are determined that we shall take a backward step. They demand a Socialist state of
so-called “planned economy”. We have but to look at the “Saskatchewan experiment” to see a glar-
ing example of Government attempts to manage expropriated businesses. The Socialist administra-
tion of that province already has closed down most of the original industries it seized, simply because
Government are not geared to compete with privately-owned organizations. The theory that there are
huge profits to be made by Government-controlled companies has proven a complete fallacy. Social-
ist planners have “killed the goose that could have laid the golden egg” and even now admit their
error by beckoning private capital to invest and manage provincial resources.

The Coalition Government. of British Columbia believes that the tax burden for Social Services should fall proportion-
ately on both industry and the people. Only a partnership of these two elements can insure a fully rounded-out and ex-
panding social aid programme. Efficiently managed, free enterprise industries contribute substantially to social sery-
ices through taxes, thus reducing the sHare that must be contributed by the peopl

This, Then, is YOUR Chics!

You can follow the fallacy of Government ownership nad management by ill-trained bureaucrats or
you can encourage private enterprise to invest, prdduce and compete successfully in the markets of

The latter programme has, and will, produce jobs for the men and women who are already here, and for the boys and
girls of new generations as they leave our schools by the thousands each year.

Yes, we are at the crossroads of our existence. British Columbia must go ahead . . . it cannot go
sponsibility deeply and believes it is above and beyond party lines

in British Columbia must come first. In a few weeks you will be asked to de-
cide not the future of any political party or parties, but the future of British Columbia. The choice is yours.

In succeeding advertisements, we are gonig to tell you what your Coalition Government has done, is
ill do in the future to ensure the greatness of this
read with pride, a saga of planning and achievement unmatch

‘ovinee in years to

HON. BYRON
Premier of British

This Advertisement published by the B.C. Coalition Organization.

guarantee that our province will be a bul-

lq. Bureaucratic mismanagement of

in North America today.

present rate

come. You will

JOHNSON
Columbia.