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B.C. LUMBER WORKER

February 15, 1951

1-118

TEN POINT
PLAN FOR’51

The annual meeting of Local
1-118, IWA, held January 28th,
made many decisions affecting
the Local Union for the coming
year. Recommendations adopt-
ed from the Officers’ Report
were as follows:

1, That the present paid staff
of an organizer and steno-
grapher be maintained in
in 1951.

2. That plant meetings be held
once monthly on the job to
discuss Union affairs to give
clarification to the member-
ship.

8, That each operation maintain
a working Safety Committee
and minutes of their meet-
ings be forwarded to the
Local office.

4, That strong Job Steward and
Plant Committees are elect-
ed in each operation.

5. When grievances arise on
the job, they must first be
taken up by the Plant Com-
mittee and attempts made to
settle them before being re-
ferred into the Local office.

6. Minutes of all Plant Commit-
tee - Management meetings
should be sent to the Local
office.

7. The Incoming Officers insti-
tute a plan to set up a Press
Committee in the Local.

8. That all last year’s commit-
tees be given a hearty vote
of thanks for the jobs they

did.

Safety Council

9, That a Local Safety Council
be set up as soon as possible.

That the Safety Council
recommended to the Local
the appointment of Local
Safety Director and one
delegate to the District
Safety Council.

“The Officers’ Report also point-
ed out an increase in membership
during 1950, January of this
year the Local had 1,585 dues
paying members. During the year
1,273 members signed check-offs,
of which 682 were new members.

Laurel Helped

Bro. Tom MacKenzie, Inter-
national Board Member for Dis-
trict Council No. 1, attended the
meeting and gave a very interest-
ing address pointing out the
scope of the International Union
and the problems of organizatjon
faced by the International in
Eastern Canada and the Southern
States of the U.S. During recess
coffee and doughnuts were served.
Mrs. Ed Haw and Mrs. Bob Flem-
ing ably assisted in this regard,
for which they were extended a
hearty vote of thanks by the
members present. The Local
donated $75.00 to brothers
who are on strike in Laurel, Miss.
This International Company em-
ployees 2,500 workers in this
operation, all of whom are mem-
bers of the IWA and who have,
since January 1, been on the
picket line.

Nominations

Loeal Officers for the year 1951
were nominated at the annual
meeting. The referendum ballot
going out to the membership will
carry the following names;

President, R. Fleming, J. Mac-
Kenzie.

Ast Vice-President, A. Plume,
J. Smirl.

2nd Vice-President, J. Maloney,
C. Taylor,

8rd Vice-President, S, A. Muir,
W. Peters.

Financial Secretary, R. Whittle.

Recording Secretary, D. Chap-
man, S. Cook.

10.

Conductor, N. Salisbury, R.
Green.

Warden, 0. Aubel, J. S. Gill-
ings.

Three - year Trustees, J, W.
Crouch, E, Sudhues.

Delegates Elected

Quarterly District Council
delegates elected were as follows:
Chapman, MacKenzie, Haw and
Crockett. Balloting committee for
the are as follows: Nicholls,
Chisholm, Anderson, Mitchell and
Gamache. Roy Whittle was
elected to represent the Local on
the Distriet Executive Board and
the District Policy Committee.

7%

Portland, January 13-14.

KX fatarel, NOT

International Research Director, Virgil Burtz read the IWA
Annual District Convention a lesson in labor economics, which
left no single member of the assembly unconvinced about the

stern necessity for a wage increase. :
‘The Research Director’s conclusions are quoted in part below.

Canada has a wealth of raw
material and, as some ores run
scarce in the United States,
American industrialists will in-
vest here. Canadian mineral was
double what it was in 1939. Can-
ada leads the world in pulp and
paper. Yet, the work force is
more than $1 billion in 1950—
only 18% larger than 1939.

B.C. Forest Products, in their
annual statement, shows profits
inereased from $1,208,880 in 1949
to $2,994,733 in 1950 — an in-
crease of 147%.

MORE MACHINES
|. This company, in explaining
increased profits said: “The im-
provement was partly a result of
starting a second shift at the
Victoria mill on May 1, increas-
ing production at the Cowichan
mill; increased utilization of
waste products at the Hammond
and Victoria mills; and greater
effliciency as a result of heavy
capital expenditures in the last

few years.” f
This company, through in-
creased mechanization, is in-

creasing output per man hour.
Following this program means
higher wages for the employees
and more dividends for the stock-
holders. In the last few years,
the United States lumber indus-
try has cut at least two man
hours in the production of one
thousand board feet of logs and
lumber. 4

It is now recognized that it re-
quired but 14 hours to produce
one thousand feet of logs and
lumber in the West Coast fir belt.
Logging has been reduced to five
man hours.

DENIALS”

While Canadian lumber oper-
ators deny that productivity is
that high, thus qualifying a
lower wage, they will soon, if
they have not already, reach that
figure or a close approximation
of that figure.

The B.C. Forest Products,
while making $1,785,583 more in
profits in 1950, still only paid out
in dividends the same amount
they paid in 1949—$600,000. That
left them with a surplus of $2%
million in 1950. This money, no
doubt, will be used to expand and
further increase efficiency.

We, as a part of the great
North American labor move-
ment, must moye just as
rapidly or get left behind. We
must make industry, especially
lumber, aware of its responsi-
bilities’ to the workers, the
communities and the nation.

LOOKING AHEAD

The year 1950 was one of
great prosperity for business and,
while I am not belittling -the
gains made by our Union, we
cannot deny that we are rapidly
falling behind. Living costs have
gone up rapidly and will continue
to rise in spite of price freezes
if they come soon enough to save
us ac all.

On top of that, we will see
higher taxes for the defense pro-
pram. The present national sales
tax will be increased by about
two percent from eight to 10
cent. On the consumer level,

we have the provincial sales tax.

The provinces are also seeking
from Ottawa constitutional
amendments that will allow them
to levy indirect taxes on manu-
facture and sale of goods. All
this will be passed on to the con-
sumer.

The unions in Canada did a
good job in 1950. Hourly rates
for eight leading industries in-
creased from 99c to $1.05 with
the IWA leading the way with
12%6c and a 40-hour week in the
West,

The average wage. of West
Coast lumber is now about $1.35
per hour but, with the vast
amount of lumber going into the
American market last year, it
could have been substantially
higher. H. R. McMillan increased
net profit by $1,641,000 or nearly
80 percent. The company in-
creased its total assets by nearly
$8 million. On top of the good
year of 1950, wood pulp prices,
which have been $117 a ton, are
expected to rise $10 to $15 a ton.

Britain is buying plywood from
B.C. again. The first order was
reported at the end of the year
when the British Timber Control
Board let a contract for three
million square feet.

During 1950, 95 percent of the
plywood was used in domestic
trade. Exports to the U.S. have
been resumed again after they
fell when credit controls were
imposed. The B.C. Pulp and
Paper common stock has more
than doubled in price this year
and $200 a share is now being
offered for stock that sold for
$82.50 in January, 1950.

U.K. ORDERS

The housing boom that made a
banner year for lumber in 1950
cannot be expected to continue in
face of the world situation. But
in November construction con-
tracts soared to $161.2 million;
over $44 million or 37 percent
higher than November, 1949, and
only 8.4 percent below the sum-
mer peak.

Eleven months of 1950 saw
$404.7 million more in contract
awards than for the same period
in 1949 for a total of $1,423,2
million—a 40 percent increase
over 1949, z

Some 85,000 houses will be
built in Canada in 1951. This is
10,000 less than would be built if
we hadn’t turned our attention to
the defense program.

Some areas will see the boom
carry right through. Some 36

permits for apartments were
issued in Vancouver last year,
including the $1 million apart-
ment block being built at 15th
and Granville Streets.
ber orders are coming in from
the United Kingdom; and a
gradual improvement is coming
in from the U.S. for shingles.

Every delegate here can attest
to the good market as most of you
have seen your mills run nearly
continuously right through the
holiday season.

Everyone of us can look
around and see what the IWA
has accomplished—more mem-
bers, better contracts, higher
wages, that long-sought 40-
hour week. To me that is a

milestone back of us.

North-West Contract Demands

JAIGHER wages, three more paid holidays, and a more liberal vacation plan were the basic con-
tract demands decided upon at the North West Pacific States wage and contract conference in
Exact wage demand will be worked out by the Northwest Regional
Negotiating Committee on which are represented all nine districts affected,

1-357 Credit

Union To Meet

The angual meeting of the
1-857, IWA, Credit Union will be
held February 17 at 2 p.m. in
the IWA Hall.

More than 200 delegates at-
tended, representing 50,000 LWA
members in five North West
States—Montana, Idaho, Califor-
nia, Washington, and Oregon.
Among the visitors were Presi-
dent J. S, Alsbury and Vice-
President Joe Morris from the
B.C. District Council No. 1.

Keynote address was delivered
by International President J. E.
Fadling, in which he declared:
“Wages are of primary import-
ance so we won’t get caught at a
sub-standard level of living con-
ditions at a time when prices are
at such a high peak.”

He pointed out that wage gains
had increased only half as fast
as lumber price boosts during the
period of 1942 through 1950.

Labor costs, he stated, now
amount to only 32.6% of the
price of lumber as compared to
45.37% in 1942.

Weyerhaeuser Timber Com-
pany has a net profit of $20 mil-
lion during the first nine months
of 1950 as compared to $17 mil-
lion for the same period in 1949,
despite closed operations for two
months,

J. E. FADLING, International
President of the International
Woodworkers of America, . will
serve on the national Labor Com-
mittee of the American Heart
Association’s 1951 Heart Fund
Drive, it was announced by Sec-
retary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin,
chairman of the committee.

The Heart Fund drive will take
place during the month of Febru-
ary, and will be conducted by the
American Heart Association
throughout the country, to sup-

't a program of scientific re-
ch, public education, and
community service. _

In_accepting the invitation,
President Fadling expressed
the conviction that it is vital to
support the 1951 Heart Fund
drive—not only because heart
disease is America’s foremost
health problem, but also be-
cause at this time, our country
is faced with the depletion of
manpower reserves, due to the

WORKER, 68
PLEADS FOR
OVER-40s @

A grey-haired employed
worker, 68 years of age, Dave
Stevenson, Local 1-357, IWA,
made an eloquent plea from
the floor of the annual conven-
tion of the B.C. Federation of
Labor for better treatment of
workers over the age of forty.

He described the discrimination
shown by employers against
workers of advanced years, who
were still quite capable of useful
work. They were, he stated, de-
nied employment and at the same
time refused a decent income by
way of pension.

Tribal Days

He said; “There was a time in
the savage days when those who
were no longer able to take pai
in the tribe's productive worl
were thrust into the desert to die
of starvation. How much better
are we off today, in this civilized
age? If a man is considered too
old to work he starves or semi-
starves. We are as bad as Hitler
who put the useless in the gas
chamber. We are as bad as the
sayage tribes of old.”

He voiced a plea for the su,
port of the trade unions in ca
paigning for the elimination o
discriminatory practices and the
betterment of old age pensions.
The trade unions had done more
for the workers in the past than
any. other agency, and could not
shirk this responsibility for the _
future.

Debate Started

The speaker’s remarks. touched
off a torrent of speeches from
prominent trade union leaders
which left no doubt but that the
B.C. trade union movement
means business about the removal
of the means test, increased old
age pensions at 60 and old age
security.

Basis of the argument was
that under present-day condi-
tions workers have no opportu;
nity to make adequate provisioW@)
for their old age.

Engineering students are
baffled by the fact that often the
girls with the most streamlined

national emergency.”

shapes offer the most resistance.

IWA Time Book Pleases

General appreciation has bi

een expressed throughout B.C.

District No. 1 for the action taken by the IWA International
Executive Board in publishing the annual Time Book at the
expense of the International Office.

«Zhis enabled the IWA Time Book this year to be issued
without advertisements, with the result that it appears in more

compact and attractive form.

This pocket-sized volume not only provides for records of

time worked and earnings, but
value to IWA members.

presents much information of

Appreciation of this co-operation has been expressed by
the District Officers in the foreword appearing in the 1951 issue.
IWA Local Unions and members are warned that no person
has been authorized by the IWA to solicit advertisements for
the IWA Time Books. Any person soliciting advertisements for

an IWA Time B
ae ime Book should be re;

ported promptly to the District

The only authorized IWA Time Book for 1951 is published

without any advertising,

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