EDITORIAL

N JAN. 7, 1950, IW.A members in the
B.C. District Convention —unani-
mously declared: “ON JUNE 15, NO
CONTRACT—NO WORK".
At the same time, with the same un-
y, they declared that the only ac-
le contract would be one to include

Since that time, in every Local Union,
‘in scores of camps and mills, this de-
cision to call for a show-down on these
two issues has met with hearty approval.

On March 4-5, two weeks hence, rank
and file delegates will assemble at the
IWA Wages and Contract Conference,
to prepare these demands for presenta-
tion to the lumber operators’ representa-
tives.

They will decide the wage increase de-

inded. They will outline bargaining

strategy. They will plan how to counter

opposition from the other side of the

bargaining table. They will prepare for

an open fight, if it becomes necessary.
oh Tae

ON’ JUNE 15, the date on which the

Present master contract expires,
they face the deadline, fixed by mandate
-of the District Convention.

For the IWA, it is a strike deadline.
The membership has fixed the minimum
terms of the contract. The membership
will repudiate any contract with less. If
bargaining fails to produce the contract
desired, the wheels of the industry stop,
and the picket lines take over. The IVA
“hits the bricks”.

These are plain facts that should be
clearly understood throughout the indus-
try, by workers and operators alike.
There can be no turning back now, by
the IWA men entrusted with negotia-

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Page Five

tions. They have their instructions, and

they’re not sealed.
oe. ®

"THIS STRATEGY has been forced on

the Union by the tactics of the op-
erators in recent years. The Union has
been provoked into “getting tough”.

In 1949, the IWA presented a well-
reasoned case for a number of demands.
Carefully prepared evidence in support
of those demands was brushed arbitrar-
ily aside.

‘The operators had only one answer for

. every demand, described as a. “cost
item”. It was “NO”.

‘They haggled interminably over every
minor proposed change in the contract.
They made certain that nothing could
be finalized till late in the year, when
the tang of winter was in the air.

The operators issued an ultimatum
calling for a slash in wages. They
flooded the press with alarming predi
tions of a collapsing market, since
proven to be sheer imagination, or worse.

There was no real bargaining in the
strict sense of the word. The Union
faced an ugly and obstinate determina-
tion on the part. of men who thought
they could make the workers knuckle
down because of the effects of Commun-
ist disruption within the Union.

The operators were using loaded dice,
when they called the plays before the
Conciliation Board.

They gave only lip-service to the for-
malities of bargaining, and thereby made
bargaining a farce.

Be italy is

‘Tas EXPERIENCE leaves the IWA

only one alternative this year. They
must, as they have, state their irreduci-
ble demands and call for a quick deci-

cion. If it is the wrong decision, they
must clear the decks for a test of
strength on the picket line.

The operators know all the IWA ar-
guments for the Union shop. The IWA
know all the operators’ arguments
against the Union Shop.

The IWA wants the Union shop be-
cause it protects their bargaining posi-
tion, and because it provides the only
democratic way for a certified Union to
make decisions on behalf of all the em-
ployees.

The operators don’t want the Union
shop because they want to hold the
Union by the throat, and eventually kick
it out of the industry.

The operators know as well as the
Union that the annual earnings of the
woodworkers, in logging and mill opera-
tions, are too low, under present living
costs.

Woodworkers can read financial state-
ments as well as businessmen. It should
not take the operators very long to de-
cide whether it would pay them better

to part with a slice of their profits with .

good grace, or lose the same amount or
more through work stoppage.

Why waste time over issues that are
so plain to both parties? It’s a simple
case of, “Does you or doesn’t you?”

There's plenty of time to reach a deci-
sion prior to June 15th. Any stalling is
equivalent to saying “NO” again.

Ce aaar

‘TO MAKE GOOD on this program,
there are two main jobs to be done
by every IWA member, or the Union
will be caught in the bight.
The first and immediate job is to fight
for removal of the restrictions of the I-
CA Act.

THE CHIPS ARE DOWN — CONTRACT OR STRIKE

It’s an employers’ Act, administered
by an employer-biased Board. It is little
better than a trap for a Union that must
fight to protect its members’ interests.

It makes a complicated conciliation
procedure compulsory, and at the same
time provides for time-wasting exten-
sions:

On the theory that unions must be
“cooled off” over long weary months of
bargaining and “concilating” (sic) it fin-
ally provides that a strike may be de-
clared illegal. It opens the door to in-
junctions and civil action in the courts,
designed to smash a striking union,

It’s the kind of Act that the law-abid-
ing citizens who form trade unions may
be called upon to defy.

The IWA must prepare now to secure
a clear and legal right to be on strike on
June 16th, if they have previously obeyed
all just conditions.

__ The other job is one of militant organ-
ization, of all the woodworkers in the-
industry. The time to get ready for a
strike is now. Every man who believes -
in action and wants action on his de-
mands should get every fellow-worker
he knows lined up with him.

Complete readiness for strike action is
the best. possible bargaining pressure,
and in this instance, perhaps, the only
way to avoid a strike.

One hundred percent readiness for
strike action is the only argument that
commands the respect of the operators.

It is the only course that will get an
early decision.

If the worst comes to the worst, it is
the only way to win a strike.

This is not just a polite argument. It’s
a fight.

Your Space,

The Editor:

With the events of the past tu-
multuous year behind us, our Dis-
trict Convention concluded, and
major policies for the ensuing
year formulated, it behooves us
to cast our eyes and collective
minds to the future,

Far too many of us in the past
have taken the attitude, that hav-
ing paid our Union dues, our ob-
mn to our Union was com-

course

ters”.
The

This assumption would be cor-
rect were our Union a dictator-
ship having totalitarian power
over rank and file, either uncon-
cerned or incapable of assessing
their collective needs and formu-
lating policies to attain them,

However, this attitude is based
on false premises. Our Union is
so constituted that all members
in good standing can voice their
opinion, for or against any propo-
sals up for discussion. Accept-

labor.
The

the discretion of the membership,
providing, “and this is impor-
tant” you are there at the meet-
ing.

You

No Television

Possibly with the advent and
wholesale use of television, we
will be able to take part in Union
deliberation from the comfortable
confines of our own fireside; but
for the present, if we would voice
our opinion, there is no alterna-
tive to attendance at Local and
sub-Local meetings.

So, Tom and Di
always leave it up to Harry, be-
eause if Harry also followed our
apathetic example, we. would
soon be without a Union.

Payment of dues is merely our

words,

would

is of paramount impor-

if we would derive the ulti- | lective

say.

Your voiced opinion and vote
on matters under discussion on
the floor of our Union meetings,
will carry far more weight than
the bandying of hear-say and un-
substantiated rumors, such as is
commonly heard around the
plants.

Withdrawal No Remedy
To the Brothers, who, in the

drew their membership, this
thought I would leave with them.
Did your withdrawal cure the
ills “real or fancied” of the IW-
A? If,
fairs were not as they should be,
“withdrawal did not remedy mat-

gain, and have gained by your ill-
advised tactics have been the op-
erators, who have naught to lose
and all to gain by internecine
warfare in the ranks of organized

your contribution for the better-
ment of conditions in the lumber
industry is in the ranks of the
Union that has the bargaining
rights,
thermore, neither in the past nor
the future, have we had, or can
have an organization capable of
i c incorporating ideas and principles
ance or rejection of same, is at} suitable to every individual.

things, a Union where the major-
ity rules, the minority democra-
tically conforms with the deci-
sion of the majority; or “Anar-
chy”, which in the final analysis,
is everyone for himself and the
devil take the hindmost. In other

and conditions typical of those
prevalent prior to the advent of
the IWA.

Were the errant Brothers to
think this thing through, “which
ick, please don’t | by the way, many have”, they

come back in the fold, where, like
the lost sheep they would be
thrice %
Worse Than Hitch-Hikers
fee. Active and intelligent] As for the hitch-hiker, who

tion in the affairs of our|though in decreasing numbers,

we still are carrying on our col-

422 E. Columbia Ph. 4464
.  SAPPERTON, N.W.

of the past year, with-

in your opinion, Union af-

only people who stood to

only place you can make

and that is the IWA. Fur-

can have one or two

TWEN AND NOW"

‘a return to pre-Union days

thumb.

See their way clear to

‘welcomed.

shoulders, I have this to
The term
prehended.

H. E. GILROY
Men's Wear

really flatters them. The typical
highway hitch-hiker will at least
ask for his ride by using his

Our. industrial hitch-hikers are
a segment of a peculiar group in
society, who operate’on the prin-
ciple, “why should I pay, for
that which I can get for noth-
ing?” Just the same as the guy
who sneaks a bus or tram ride
without paying his fare, or sur-
reptitiously helps himself to a
paper from a newsstand when the
attendant is not looking. In the
. case of the latter, there are suit-
“hitch-hiker” | able penalties assessed when ap-

F. Courneyeur,
IWA—4744,
Local 1-357, A.P.,
Sub-Local.

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