Page Four

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

The Truth About Dalskog

ERNIE DALSKOG is not the hero he pretends to be, just

because he is in jail. His made-to-WIUC-order martyr-,

dom doesn’t get him a halo. :

Of his own free will he chose Oakalla to avoid answering
the questions of the lumber workers about their own funds.
He preferred to follow the instructions of his LPP-Com-
munist bosses.

He's got the key to his cell in his own hands.

He can get out any time he wishes, by telling the truth,
by playing the part of an honest man, unafraid to explain
his actions openly. is

The IWA didn’t try to send Dalskog to jail, nor does the
IWA wish to keep Dalskog in jail.

The IWA doesn’t make the law. Dalskog is in jail be-
cause he deliberately set his will against the law. He
placed his will above the will of the majority of the lumber
workers, and above the orderly processes of democracy.

He was asked only to place IWA money in the care of
the court, until the court could decide to whom the money
rightly belongs.

If he has clean hands, why should he fear the daylight
of impartial enquiry? He has the same rights in court as
the IWA, and the same opportunity to prove his case.

If he is right, any self-confessed bank-bandit is right,
Wp says to himself, “$180,000 is well worth a few years in
jail’.

ce eee 2

\
DALSKOG can’t expect mercy if he figuratively points a

gun at anybody’s head—by saying, “I’ve got the
money.. ‘The hell with you. You’ll do as I say, or I'll hang
onto it.”

We can’t shed any tears over the WIUC presentation of
Dalskog. as a martyr in the cause of labor. It simply isn’t

ue.

IWA officials have not conspired to send him to jail. He
and his pals décided to hide IWA money. By unanimous
resolution in international and district conventions, lumber
workers ordered their elected officials to get an account-
ing of funds raised by them as IWA members for the pur-
poses of the IWA. Their instructions were acted on.

Dalskog did not get unanimous instructions from the
October 3 meeting of the IWA District Council to do what
he has done. At least 18 of the delegates present repudi-
ated the motion of disaffiliation. They have since been up-
held by their locals.

The majority of the lumber workers have remained with
the IWA as can be proved by the IWA. Dalskog and Prit-
chett never submitted the issues to the IWA membership.
They have consistently refused to offer proof of their right
to spedk for any of the woodworkers.

-The decision made by the delegates to the IWA District
Council on October 3, was not authorized by the member-
ship they claimed to represent. The records show that
they did not instruct Dalskog and his accomplices to defy
a court order for an impartial accounting of funds in hand.

RE oe

ALL sections of the IWA contributed to the strike funds,

both through per capita and voluntary contributions.
Locals which asked deferment, because of shut-downs,
Jater paid in full to the District.

Carl Winn, International Treasurer, did say in court that
the strike fund was the property of the organized wood
workers, but he did not add the words, “regardless of af-

, filiation”. He did say in evidence, when asked who would
be entitled to any distribution of them, “I would say the
people who rightfully owned these assets, the rank and file
members who composed the membership of those local
unions affiliated to that district Council”. The WIUC
denied the rank and file members any voice in these deci-
sions about their own funds.

The majority of the lumber workers, represented by the
IWA, want an accounting of IWA funds., The IWA wants
the funds to be used for the benefit of all the wood work-
ers, in the way that they may desire.

They want square-dealing. They can only be assured of
a square deal if a disinterested and impartial agency holds
the funds while all claims are heard and decided upon. The
Supreme Court of B.C. is bound to be impartial in this
dispute, and is therefore the best temporary trustee ‘for
IWA funds. It’s utter nonsense to say that the court can
be influenced by the IWA to be unjust to WIUC claims.

* *

‘E IWA is not delaying settlement of the dispute over
the strike funds and adding to the legal costs. Dalskog
is the cause of the delay. He admits that he has concealed
the money. He now refuses to accept any of the rules of
the community or the organized workers for the handling
of money. The organized workers have never said that
they prefer communist rules of justice to Canadian rules
of justice. ie : f
If Dalskog is sincere about wanting this money to be
used right away for the benefit of the wood workers, his
course is clear. Return the money to the IWA trust fund
where it belongs. Every eligible wood worker can join the
TWA. All wood workers will then enjoy their right to
benefit by the fund in the way that they themselves de-
cide. '
If Dalskog and the WIUC are sincere about the pro-

*

posal to have the dispute over ownership of the fund re-|

fereed, what objection can there be to placing the fund
meanwhile in the safekeeping of the Court, which stands
ready to accept a settlement which meets with the ap-
pre. al of all the wood workers themselves.

The Editor:

have our beefs as well as good

to sit down and write a few lines
in regards to our troubles up
here.

If ever at any time I would
weleome a union shop it would
be this year, to help some of
those “free riders” make up their
minds what to do, and this view
is shared by a lot of the folks
up here. As they maintain, what’s
the use belonging to the union
when Joe Doe gets the same
benefit as we do regardless of
whether he is a union member or
not.

It is indeed pitiful to listen to

of the lads put up, just to get out
of paying the $2 dues, For ex-
ample, last fall I did ask one
lad, how about coming into the
ranks of the IWA? His excuse
was: “Why should I join the
union, I’m getting 10 cents above
the union scale.”

Of course that same person
didn’t realize that although he
was receiving more than the set
wage scale, it took the work and
actions of organized labor to
bring it up to that level. Also
that man had no experience in
either woods or mill operations.
But nevertheless he expected to
receive the same benefits as the
rest of us, He was.a good enough
Joe but in the end landed up
packing slabs due to his inex-
perience as a logger.

We have also the big problem |
of imported labor here which is|

old “Kelowna Joe”. So I decided)

some of the arguments that some |

What
on Your Space Boys!
DP’s GET INTERIOR JOBS WHILE IWA IDLE

| Sask. while our own lads up here |

We in the. Northern Interior | were walking the streets begging |have to hawk it

for work. |

Therefore, I sincerely hope that |
|we can include a clause in our
future contract which will cover |
\this problem, as it is indeed a|
hard pill to take, to see the boys|
walking the ‘streets ‘of | Prince]
|George, while inexperienced men
|take their jobs.

T grant anyone ‘may put up an
argument that it is a free coun-
try and one is entitled to work
where he pleases, but that is not
the point. For I think it only fair
that our unemployed in. B.C.
should be given first preference
above other men who may desire
to work in the lumber industry.

Also one other problem with
jwhich we are faced here, is the
|influx of D.P.s who claim they
|have an agreement with the
|Government not to join any
union or labor movement. In
|my estimation, if these people
Jare good enough to work in the
jlumber industry, they should be
\good enough to belong to the
union or organized labor in gen-
jeral .After all, we have fought
dearly for what we have attained
up to the present time. We know
only too well the aim of it all,
so therefore we must strive now
and in the future to protect the
welfare of the working people
in B.C.

I wonder what has happened to
those nice shiny “Chauffeur But-
tons” which some of the lads here
so proudly displayed last fall.
Even “Old Pete”, who adorned
his bonnet with one of those until

Tew

or did he run short of funds and
in one of the
Prince George second-hand
shops? I am afraid even a second
hand shop wouldn’t accept such
a badge of dishonor.

J. C. Mueller,
International Organizer.

Conditions Bad
‘Down Under’

The Editor:

I wonder if there would be any
chance of you publishing this let-
ter in The B.C, Lumber Worker?
I am a Canadian logger and rig-
ger. I came out to Australia as
I saw they were advertising for
a rigger out here, but when I
got here I found that there is no
such thing as high lead out here
and I would like to let any other
logger who has the intention of
coming out here to know the con-
ditions of the camps here.

First, you sleep on a mattress
of straw; you find your own
blankets. There is no such a
thing as a bull-cook or bedmaker
—most camps you have to board
yourself. The highest pay is
$82.00 a week; the fallers don’t
make more than ten pounds a
week. Right now I am working
in an Electric Power Plant by
name of State Electricity, Com-

mission of Victoria at Yallown.

Readers e

T still have a mattress of straw

a sore spot to many of us. Just|recently, has. given up wearing
recently, one of our boss loggers it. I wonder if he has at last seen
here hired about 13 odd men|the light and decided that it was
straight from Prince Albert, |useless to display it much longer,

—
EDITORIAL - CONTINUED

jwa members are not the fools that Dalskog imagines
them to be. They’re calling for a new deck, with the
cards dealt above the table, according to the rules of fair

his sleeve, he can keep them there, in Oakalla, and argue
it out with Mr. Justice Manson.

corner split of the IWA funds, is an emphatic “NO”,

There is only one kind of settlement that will satisfy|
the wood workers of B.C., a settlement that is above!
jboard, and based on proven facts. That’s the kind of set-

tlement the IWA has offered Dalskog under the impartial
| jurisdiction of the court.

Dalskog chose to go to
to destroy the interests
rather than protect them.

' Dalskog may be sure of a square deal from thi
workers if he plays square with them. Pood

jail, to keep IWA funds tied up,
of the organized wood workers

play. If Dalskog insists on keeping all the good cards up i

The answer, Mr. Dalskog, to your offer of a hole-in-the-|}!

and the food is horrible. There
is no such a thing as a

helping; all you get for break-
fast is two eggs, a slice of bacon
all fat, and a slice of dry toast.
wae pay I get here is $25.00 a

as to last you for a
sts T5e.

Former Canadian Logger.

week and co;

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