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7

To Bro. Woodworker

This open letter is addressed to you. It is about what|

you want and how you can get it. Your Union would like
to know if you want what you need badly enough to do
something about it. :

You said that you wanted higher wages. Your dele-
gates also said so at the District Convention and the
Wages and Contract Conference. Your Union has taken
you at your word, and is demanding a wage hike which
will set the base rate at $1.7814.

You need this increase because prices have gone up,
and will stay up. Your work is worth as much as the work
of a lumber worker across the line whose wages are higher
and whose costs of living are lower.

You need this increase to keep the total of your earn-
ings up to a decent level for the whole year in spite of any
long shut-downs. 3

You want as good a deal on public holidays as other
workers are getting. Those who are paid by the month
get paid for legal holidays. Many on hourly rates get the
same consideration.

Your Union believes that you and your family should
be free in every way to go along with your neighbors in
the enjoyment:of legal holidays. For this reason, pay for

’ all statutory holidays is now demanded by the IWA.

If you’re not working in an operation with a sick
benefit and insurance plan, you know that you need one.
You've never been able to lay much away for a rainy.day.
Tf you have to quit work because of sickness or an acci-
dent that is not compensable, you’d be in a tough spot.
You’ve always had to worry about what would happen
to your family if you were killed or totally disabled.

Your Union has come up with the answer for this
problem in the demand for a health and welfare plan.
Since your work is risky and often hard on your health,
the employers should see that your family gets a break,
if the worst happens.

Maybe, you’re one of the loggers that has to put in 12
hours travelling and working to get eight hours’ pay.
You've been grumbling about this ever since the job has

+ been moving farther and farther away from the assembly
point at which you report in the morning.

Your Union is trying to correct this by demanding
travel time. This means that you will be on. the job
travelling and working the required eight hours instead
of twelve.

You gave the IWA the right to bargain for you, be-
cause you know that you cannot bargain successfully
alone. You therefore want the Union to be secure in the
use of bargaining rights on your behalf. :

You also know that every man on the job should have
his say in any decision made about wages and working
conditions. Everyone gets this right only through mem-
bership in the Union. This means that you want the Union
shop, with every worker in your operation active in the
Union—and no “hitch-hikers”.

These five points are in your Union’s contract demands,
and are now being negotiated with the employers. A
seven-man negotiating committee is on the job to do the
bargaining, but seven men can’t do what must be done.
It’s going to take every one of the 30,000 lumber workers
who are in the IWA.

At this time your job is a simple one. Get to know
what these demands mean, and make them mean some-
thing to every man on the job. Keep posted on every move
made by the Union by contacting your Local Union offi-
cers and attending the meetings.

Get the job organized 100% IWA around the contract
demands. Put such enthusiasm into this work that it will
make everyone else just as enthusiastic.

If you and the other 29,999 lumber workers are of one
mind in your determination to get what you need and
want, you’re going to get important results. You want
results, so turn on the steam!

To Mr. Operator

Before you meet the IWA at the bargaining table, it
might be well for you to consider carefully the suggestions
in this open letter about better relations with your
employees. :

You may depend upon it that the IWA representatives
will bargain in good faith. They will expect you to do
likewise. The contract demands of the IWA and the
reasons for those demands have been stated openly and
frankly. They have been shaped by an urgent necessity.
It would be well for all concerned if you give them the
consideration they deserve, instead of a provocative and
arbitrary “No”. Spe

The contract terminates on June 15. The Negotiating
Committee of the IWA has a mandate from the governing
body of the Union, the District Convention, to finalize
negotiations before June 15. You should note the fact
that if no contract is signed by that date, all work will
cease. Needless delays in reaching some finality in the
negotiations will be held against you. 3

You may not like the contract demands and it’s your
privilege to say so, but it would be stupid to say that you

Continued on next page

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

The Editor:

During the past year or two,
thousands of people have arrived
in Canada. Many are professional
and tradesmen enticed here by
the false information published
in their countries. They are told
of the big wages, high standards
of living and abundance of avail-
able jobs. Nothing is said of the
high cost of living, taxes and
scarcity of employment now pre-
vailing throughout the country.

The majority appear to be dis-
placed persons, Victims of the
last war seeking a place and a
chance to re-establish themselves,
They are promised immediate
employment, yet,-upon arrival,
they must wait months, broke
and destitute, until they are
placed in some industry. By this
time they are glad to take almost
anything and will hang on to it
at all costs,

Immigration Unplanned

There can be no doubt about
there being a purpose behind
this mad policy of our Govern-
ment or only those capable of
being absorbed into industries
would be admitted. Through this
method a labor surplus is created
which is bound to be bad for or-
ganized unions, The boss who is
behind this policy hopes to bene-
fit by creating disunity and dis-
sention in our ranks as large
numbers of these newcomers are
employed in the camps and mills.

Fellow-Citizens

These people are at a disad-
vantage by not understanding
English and our way of doing
things. Taking a hostile attitude
towards them, which has hap-
pened in many cases, is only
playing the boss’s game. We
must recognize the fact that they
are here and strive to make them

,union-conscious Canadian citi-

zens,

~ Only by doing that can we beat
off the threat that hangs over us,

“He says he’s related to you.”
“He’s nuts.”

“Yeah, He says that’s why he
must be related to you.”

Mad Policy On Immigration

Discriminating against these peo-
ple won’t make them like us, our

them against us. Let us not fall
into this trap. c

Union, or way of life. The boss | Sub-Local 1-71, P. Rotham,
always welcomes friction among | Pioneer Lumber R. Ward,
the workers and will try to use! Port McNeil, ‘H. Greene.

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