Page Four B.C, LUMBER WORKER IWA Vindicated IWA has been vindicated. The WIUC leaders stand self-convicted of a gross be- trayal of trust. The WIUC plot to grab District funds and assets has blown up in very red LPP faces, - | Any ‘pretence of right to administer the funds and assets of the lumber, workers crumbled when exposed to Supreme Court enquiry. The lumber workers were denied use of their own trust: funds. through WIUC treachery and by means of financial . transactions for which no authority had been given by the rank and file membership. The WIUC leaders could not show that at any time they acted or could hope to act for the majority of those to whom the money belonged. They had been discredited by their own actions and re- nounced by the IWA membership even before the inevit- able judgment of the court. f Rk ‘THE situation is now clear. The WIUC leaders have for- _ feited all right to the confidence of workers who believe in trade union democracy. In the camps and the mills they are being told to quit any further effort to stab the IWA in the back during its fight for better wages and working conditions. The IWA has won the decision for rule by the majority. The IWA has won the right to champion the interests of the lumber workers. Let’s clear the ring and get on with the main event. ‘The: Showdown ‘THE wages and working conditions of forty thousand _ workers are now being determined across the bargain- we table, where the IWA is at close grips with the lumber osses. The outcome cannot be predicted at this tage. The is- 3 sues have been clarified, and the showdown may come quickly. us Lumber workers are asking for a higher standard of living, placing as much emphasis on welfare and security, as on rates of pay. Their incomes still lag behind the increase in the cost of living which has occurred since wartime price controls were removed. At the same time, they ask acceptance of the principle that a sinking fund for human beings is a proper cost of management. Bargaining will be tough. Employers generally are more stiff backed now than at any time since the war, be- cause of market uncertainties. Lumber prices are tumbling, argues management, and therefore incréased labor costs would adversely affect market possibilities. Labor should pull in its horns until better times open the way to further gains, it is said. "THE facts assembled by the economic experts of the IWA : contradict the claims of management. Living costs are increasing, and may rise another five per cent during the next year. The operators command record profits out of which to pay extra labor costs. Preliminary reports for the first quarter of 1949 show that profits are still increasing. Pro- duction has not yet overtaken consumer needs. The best insurance against a business depression is stable purchasing power. The only practical way to stabil- ize purchasing power is through the pay envelopes of the organized industrial worker. ° ° Organization Pays Off ‘THE District Council of the IWA is measuring up to its responsibilities toward the lumber workers of ‘B. GC. Today it is at the bargaining table. All the valid arguments in support of the contract de- mands are being presented with patience, determination and skill. The arguments are being backed up with the facts about the needs and desires of the lumber workers. Not one bét has been overlooked. In the final analysis, bargaining is a test of strength. IWA spokesmen will insist on the full list of demands. The operators will concede no more than they have to, under bargaining pressure. ~ The success of IWA bargaining means moré cash to every lumber worker. The strength of the IWA depends upon the strength of its organization. * * * ‘HE question before each individual lumber worker is whether he is meeting his responsibility toward the union now fighting his battle. : 1. He doesn’t meet this responsibility by sitting on his hands, and beefing about the way the union is doing the job. ‘ ¥ : The best argument for a good contract’ is every camp Burro’s Eye-View ‘The Editor: During the depression years I had the good fortune to get a few months work with United States Forestry Services. In the forests of Idaho, for the purpose of transporting equip- ment and supplies to the more re- mote and rugged terrain, we were provided with burros, the progenitors of the mule. These animals, after their days’ work was done, were generally turned loose to forage on what pasture that was available. It was always quite a chore to round up the stock in the morning, as_ these burros had no love for pack-sad- dle or trail. We always used to take along a pan of oats or other tidbits, in fact sometimes an empty can would suffice. The burros fell for the gag every time —with one exception of which I will tell you later on. I often wonder if the great ma- jority of our Canadian people are any more astute than the lowly burro. We have been baited down through the years by the expon- ents of the “SO-CALLED FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM”, mostly with an empty pan, but one that seemingly had lots of promise because it rattled so loudly and long. Only a few short days ago in a great “provincial roundup”, some hundreds of thousands of our people fell for the same old oat pan. They will have the next four years at least to find out if they really get any oats, or as I surmise, only the empty hulls. Judging from the past activities of those who so loudly rattled the pan, the financial interests (who are the real power behind the Coalition facade) having pretty well sorted the kernels from the hulls in ths past years, anything they may have overlooked such as “water power or timber and mineral resources”, they will cer- tainly garner in full measure in the ensuing four or five years. I am not entirely despondent over the gullibility of my fellow citizens. More than two hundred thousand of us did not rise to the bait, and as a stated in a previous paragraph, I also found one bur- ro \who eventually got wise to himself about the oat pan. If a lowly burro can learn from ex- perience, I still have hope that my fellow citizens, slowly I grant, but eventually will also get wise to the election promises and ex- hortations of the exponents of privilege and special interests as exemplified by the Coalition gov- ernment in B. C. F, Cournepeur, 1617 Tenth Avenue, and mill organized one hundred per cent IWA. New Westminster, B.C. — THAT LEAVES ME WITH $$S—? » HECK! NOT MUCH 70 KEEP A Wa FAMILY on L. Don’t, Neglect Interior The Editor: Well the battle has started be- tween the bosses and the IWA, and seeing that Kelowna Joe had no beefs in the last copy of the Lumber Worker, I thought I’d put one in this issue. I read in the paper that nego- tiations have opened between the bosses and the coast workers. It looks as though “Stu” Alsbury and his helpers have forgotten ail about the Interior. I looked down the list and no- where could I see Local 1-417. Don’t forget, Mr. Alsbury, we be- long to the LWA too! If Prince George Local can get coast wages, why can’t Local 1- 417? The boys in the Interior are tired of hanging on the tail end of it. Also we’d like to get a forty- hour week now, and not for Christmas” like it usually ends up. I guess I said enough for the first time. I'll say more next time. Just can’t stand seeing the Interior neglected. Card No, 381, Morgan Up, The Pole The Editor: I see by the papers that Mor- gan has been breaking into our craft and according to the Van- couyer Sun has been “up a tree” in Port Alberni during the recent Provincial Election. “Candidate Up in Air”, head- lined The San on June 7. “Something new in electioneer- ing caught the eye Monday of residents of this city. “Labor Progressive Party can- didates Nigel Morgan hhad a high rigger equipped with climbing irons, placing his election plac. ards on poles and trees high above the reach of persons he claimed were destroying them.” Some of these fellows have been rigging up elections for quite some time now, so if isn’t exactly new news, Anyway, we Hi Riggers should not be let down too hard! So long, see you in the caok- house. Bie, LET THE C HIPS FALL SOME of these CMA politicians and their labor stooges these days have apparently hypnotized themselves into the belief that British Columbia is a workers’ Paradise. According to them the luxury, thanks to the pamper their every wish. Way-back when, to organize the lumb: about the kind of bosses. Here it is. “A HUNTER and his do man and dog didn’t ate with hunger, th g got lost in the woods. For days, have a bite to man chopped off a piece of the dog’s eat. At last, desper- tail, reasoning that he’d never miss the bit. He consoled himself with the thought th: killing the fine, expensive, lo them back to civilizati, friends and fener: the “My master j, magnanimous, Christ-like ch: his last bit of food with me?’ ‘ @ search part made this touchin: at this would be better than vable animal, ”