Page Four

B.C, LUMBER WORKER

ICA Act A Club

EVENTS of the past two weeks reveal more clearly that

organized labor has good reason for its expressed dis-
trust of the ICA Act and administration by the Labor Re-
lations Board.

The Hon. John Cates, Minister of Labor, assured the
IWA District Convention in January that he could be de-
pended upon to give the’ trade unions a square deal.

A square deal was all that the unions asked, when they
presented their proposals to the Provincial Cabinet early
in the 1950 session of the Legislature.

. In the dying hours of the session, the Minister an-
nounced that he would not introduce any amendments to
the ICA Act this year, and would take further time for
consideration.

No round table conference to include representatives
of labor and management had been held, as promised by
his predecessor. The Standing Committee on Labor in the
Legislature was again denied the right to hear labor’s de-
mands, and its functions were again suspended, as they
have been during every session since its formation.

Coalition members who are well aware of the revolt of
labor against restrictive provisions of the ICA Act joined
in the revolt. They supported an Opposition resolution,
which would permit trade unions to be heard by the Com-
mittee of the Legislature appointed for the purpose. ~

Labor might well ask now where the Minister of Labor
stands on his promise to give labor a square deal. Will his
good intentions as professed before the trade unions pre-
vail, or must he bow to the will of colleagues who openly
espouse the views of big business management.

Does the Minister of Labor agree that the Labor Rela-
tions Board should usurp the authority of responsible gov-
ernment and exercise an unquestioned and virtual dictator-
ship over the bargaining procedures of trade unions?

Does the Minister of Labor agree that the Labor Re-
lations Board should be an instrument to compel trade
unions to submit to the will of the employers on major
issues, under pain of penalties?

Is it the intention of the Minister of Labor and his col-
leagues that organized labor should be shorn of the right
to strike, by means of legalized evasions of established
principles of genuine collective bargaining?

ee wee oie

ORGANIZED labor will expect answers to these ques-
tions in deeds, and not in vague promises about inten-
tions for the future.

The IWA, in particular, must have the answers
to these questions now and not later. The IWA must
know now whether the law is to be used as a club to
smash the bargaining strength of the Union.

Assessment. Vital

MEMBERSHIP vote in support of the proposed addi-

tional assessment for 1950 of $1.00 per member will
immeasurably strengthen the IWA Local Unions and their
District Organization during a critical year.

The ballots in the referendum, authorized by the IWA
District Convention, last January, will reach the members
of the IWA in the next few weeks. The dividends to be
realized by an investment of $1.00 by each member in ex-
panding services of the Union will at once be apparent.

Fifty cents out of each dollar so raised will be at the
disposal of the Local Union. As may be determined by the
membership in each Local Union, the additional funds may
be set aside as a reserve against emergency or utilized to
expand organization and educational work.

It is highly important that at this time, each Local
Union, and especially the smaller units, should not be re-
quired to sacrifice essential services for the members, or
because of lack of funds, prove unequal to any emergent
situation facing the members.

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IFTY CENTS out of each dollar will be allocated to the

District organization for activities which the Local
Unions direct and share.

As reported at the District Convention, the B.C. Dis-
trict Council, IWA, has been required to increase the serv-
ices to the Local Unions on a decreased income. .

When the International Union per capita was increased
by 15 cents, this increase was deducted from the District
per capita share to avoid additional burdens for the mem-
bership.

Only 18 cents out of the dues dollar is at present allo-
cated to the District Council for its widespread and numer-
ous activities.

Clearly, this is insufficient, when it is remembered that
the District Council must in large measure carry the bur-
den of preparations for negotiations, and maintain func-
tions which make for success in negotiations. Educational
work, and assistance to weak sections of the Union can-
not and must not be neglected while negotiations are pro-
ceeding. The Union is as strong as its weakest link.

‘The proposed assessment was regarded by the District
Convention as a special measure to place the Union at one
stroke in a sufficiently strong financial position to realize

its full potential strength,

EEF

OPEN SHO

international Vie

By Portland Pete

22 Objections

NEGOTIATIONS are still the top talking point down here,
what with complete stalemate on the the hands of the Regional ,

Committee for the men in the

NEGOTIATIONS listed no
fewer than 22 objections to the
Weyerhaeuser Company’s pro-
posed pension plan which they
claimed would equal 10 cents an
hour.

THE COMMITTEE quite right-
ly, too, urged that the health and
welfare plan, which includes life
insurance, sick benefit payments,
prepaid hospital, surgical and
medical coverage is the only thing
of any use to Weyerhaeuser em-
ployees

ripe eed

THE “LABOR RELATIONS”
experts talking for the bosses in
the Northwest negotiations paint
the gloomiest picture ahead for
the year to come, They ignore
their own magazine, like Busi-
ness Week, which reports the-lum-
the lumber market rising, with
home building in 1950 likely to
break all records.

*

CARL WINN reports [WA
successes in two projects in Cali-
fornia. The District down there
has succeeded in reaching an
agreement with the Forestry
Service on wages and conditions
of employment for fire-fighters,
and the safety committe has had
a major part in drafting a new
State Safety Code for the lumber-
ing industry.

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REACTIONARIES lobbying in
Washington, D.C., want to bring
the labor unions under the fed-
eral anti-trust laws. A. J. Gold-
berg, CIO counsel, charges that
the purpose of the Bill’s backers
is to break up the organizations
through which labor can “at last
come near equality with the bar-
gaining power of giant corpora-

tions”.
CL hen ae

EIGHT MONTHS on the picket
line hasn’t daunted IWA men at
Bemidji, Minn., where at long
last the NLRB have ordered a
hearing of the 12 charges, rang-
ing from outright bribery to re-
fusal to bargain, laid by the
Union against the management.

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WEYERHAEUSER’s argu-
ments on the Union shop issue

are fortuitous. The company ad-

five northwestern states.

mits that as members of the Pulp
Association they have a Union
shop contract and paid holidays
for the pulp workers, but they
can’t have it for the IWA! «

aoe
NET PROFITS in the last
three years of the Weyerhaeuser

Company, has been more than
$68,000.000 Inability to pay?

Your Space,
Boys!

The Editor:

Being a member of this Union
for quite some time, I am quite
surprised that there has been
very little publicity in regards to
instructing the membership in all
Locals and Sub-Locals to refrain
from going into any unnecessary
debt at this time until negotia-
tions are completed.

In instructing the membership
to carry out this policy, we shall
be prepared with a more deter-
mined fighting membership in the
coming negotiations,

It will also show the operators —
that we are preparing for the in-
evitable if negotiations are not —
completed by June 15,

G, Paterson,
Local 1-217, WA,

JOB SAFETY...

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Pitman Oplical House

| F. Hollenberg

OPTOMETRIST AND OPTICIAN
605 WEST HASTINGS ST.

J. J. Abramson

VANCOUVER, B.C.

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yy the Li