B.C. LUMBER WORKER Rank and File Action /THE approaching IWA Wages and Contract Conference March 22-28, promises to be one of the most critical in the history of the Union. The decisions of the Conference will determine whether the IWA will open a new phase in labor-management rela- tions in British Columbia. The bargaining of the IWA for all sections of the major primary industry in the province will as usual set the wage pattern for other industries. Man does not live by wage rates alone. Of equal im- portance is the fact that the IWA master contract in a Jarge measure maintains provincial standards required for decent working conditions. The master contract must not only assure adequate income to lumber workers, but also adequate security in employment, adequate leisure, safety and health, as well eoredeuuaie protection against undue exploitation, on the job. > It is therefore evident that this year the Union must strive to win terms that will embody in the master con- tract permanent and adequate provision for such matters as holidays, vacations, health and welfare, hours of work, and security of continued employment. All these features were considered at the IWA District Convention, and will again be appraised at the Wages and Contract Conference. The main problem will be to develop a realistic program that will secure the maximum results. The formulation of demands is the easier part of the problem, although a balance must be struck between the ultimate objectives, and those considered attainable this year. : The more exacting phase of the problem is the stra- tegy by which the economic strength of the Union is mobilized effectively. A price must be paid for every gain. The greater the gains desired, the higher the price that must be paid. The operators are no more benevolent than they have been in the past. Although their profit position is excep- tionally good they will concede no more than they are forced to grant to maintain industrial peace. The all-important requirement placed upon the Union is that it should emerge from the Wages and Contract Conferénce not only with a contract policy and program of action that will command confidence and loyalty, but with a united militant spirit. The Conference can accomplish only one part of the job. It is the development of the over-all strategy. The execution of that strategy is the business and responsi- bility of every member of the Union. If each member accepts his share of this responsibility, an almost perfect score canbe made. Brilliant generalship is always desirable, but in every battle it is the rank and file who carry the brunt of the fight. Union Shop ANY renewal of the demand for Union Shop conditions in the lumber industry will revive the thread-bare objection on the part of the employers that the Union Shop is contrary to democratic principles. A strange feature of present-day bargaining is that those employers who are the least democratic in their relations with their employees, talk the loudest about democracy when the union shop issue is under discussion. The fact is that the Union Shop provides the most democratic basis for employer-employee relations. The employers’ opposition rests on their fear of democracy in industry. The deliberate attempt is always made to confuse the Union Shop with the Closed Shop. The point must always be made that under Union Shop conditions the, Union does not attempt to.interfere with any perogative of the em- ployer in choosing new employees. f The essential point in observance of democratic prin- ciples is that the certified union must bargain for all those employees included in the bargaining unit. The bargaining agency must undertake decisions which affect the wages and working conditions of each employee represented, whether a member of the Union or not. A truly democratic procedure requires that each em- ployee concerned should exercise the right to share in all such decisions. This can be done only through membership in the union, where decisions are reached by rule of the majority. As in any democratic community, each member of the industrial unit should be required to obey the rule of the majority, and to accept payment of taxes or dues required to maintain that privilege. Democracy means acceptance of the responsibilities which accompany the benefits of democracy. When all the facts are examined it will be seen beyond any doubt, that the Union Shop opens the door to genuine democracy in industry. reee) CB TRADE UNIONS = wey ne EMPLOYERS FURORE OVER CBRE MONTHLY Mosher: Disowns Editorial The following statement was |as ‘President Mosher’s own pub- issued March 4th by Donald Mac- | lication’ are wholly unwarranted. | Neither is their any justification for the statement that ‘warfare has emerged openly within the Congress’. No warfare of any kind exists within the Congress. Donald, secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Congress of Labor: “A story issued by the Cana- dian Press yesterday associates President Mosher with an editor- jal which appeared in the Febru- ary issue of the ‘Canadian Rail- way Employees’ Monthly’, the of- ficial journal of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employ- ees and Other Transport Work- ers, of which he is also President. The editorial purports to explain why Pat Conroy, resigned as sec- retary-treasurer of the Congress at its Vancouver Convention in September last. “Actually, in submitting his resignation, Mr. Conroy said only that he felt that the Convention no longer had confidence in him, in view of the fact that it had not endorsed his stand in sup- porting a member of the Execu- tive Committee for re-election. No Warfare “The Canadian Press story states that the editorial in the ‘Canadian Railway Employees’ Monthly’ was unquestionably aimed at C. H. Millard, Canadian Director of the United Steelwork- ers of America. Whether or not that is the case, the fact is that President Mosher has no connec- tion whatever with the prepara- tion of the editorials which ap- pear in the ‘Canadian Railway Employees’ Monthly’. The at- tempt therefore to link President Mosher with the so-called ‘un- veiled attack’ on Mr. Millard, and the reference to the ‘Monthly ARE YOU BALD? Would you like real hair? 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