May 30, 1952 B.C. LUMBER WORKER .GEDY se the setting in which William Eureka Sawmills Ltd., Nanaimo, employed only one week on the the carriage with ‘his peavy, and led down on him from the upper cable be used at all times, eliminat- vy for this purpose. ing rolled on deck. “ accident approximate position as i gs of the approximate position in which THANKS “JOHN T.” JOE MORRIS (Right) President, Local 1-80 IWA, presents electric shaver to John T. Atkinson os token of appreciation from membership for faithful service as Safety Director in the Local Union, and extends good wishes for his success as District Safety Director. JOB ACTION CURBS RISKS © Crew members at Camp “A”, Franklin River operation of MacMillan & Bloedel Ltd., this week established their right to halt unsafe working procedures after a two-day work stoppage. Protest which had been ignored was vindi- cated after a conference between the officers of Local 1-85, IWA, management, and the WCB inspector. “Highball” production orders of a hooktender, who would not allow the crew time to get out of the bight and into the clear be- fore sending in the turn caused the crew to lodge a_ protest against the unnecessary risks to which they were exposed. Investigation by the company safety director brought no imme- diate results. On the following work day, the men were told that they were obliged to follow or- ders as given or seek employment elsewhere. Refused to Work Fifty-five men left the opera- tion under this threat and re- ferred their grievance to the Lo- {|cal Union officials. A conference was immediately arranged with management, at which the ci cumstances were fully aired, in the presence of an inspector of the Workmen’s Compensation Board. Result was that the crew re- turned to work on the third day, DEATH with the explicit understanding that their action had been in no way illegal. The offending hook- tender was dismissed. Congratulations In a statement on the Green Gold vadio program, District 1st Vice-president Joe Morris said: “This serious disruption of work occurred only because the super- visory officials on the job failed to recognize the fundamental right of the crew to maintain the law, and thereby protect their own lives. “T congyatulate the men. in Camp “A” on their stand for safe working conditions in which they were finally and completely vindi- cated. I submit that the. opera- tors would be well advised to write provisions into the contract which would make it clear to all concerned that no one in the in- dustry can be compelled to work with needless risk to his life.” TRAPS Portion of the minutes at the They had just finished chang- your I sentati |NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL President Lauds IWA Pro Dear Mr. Mitchell: gram Congratulations on the excellent safety program conducted by the B.C. District Council No. 1, IWA, and its affiliated local unions. Your membe: their part in establi tion reported by the Bri and officers deserv. ing the drastic ai ish Columbia Lumber Manufacturers’ Asso- _| ciation—nearly 40 percent since 1949. pecial commendation for ‘ident frequency rate reduc- No similar frequency rate reduction has ever been achieyed without the highest degree of cooperation between labor and management. We have followed the progres To the best of our knowledge The of your organization’s excellent afety program through the columns of ‘The B.C. Lumber Worker. B.C. Lumber Worker devotes more space to safety than any other labor union newspaper published employs a full-time safety director. || on the Continent. Also, we know of no other district council that These two activities are proof that IWA members in“British Columbia consider safety of prime importance. During Safety Week this year to prove that sawmill accident rat u will again have an opporunity can still further be reduced. In order that we may better keep in touch with the progress of Sincerely yours, NED H. DEARBORN, President. ADAIR TO MEET IWA Guest speaker at the quar- terly meeting of the IWA District Safety Council, in For the restaurants that keep’ cutting pie smaller and smaller this wedge law. country needs a minimum- strict’s safety program, I have asked Dan Adair, Staff Repre- ‘ for the Wood Products Section, to call upon you when he is in Vancouver during the last week in May. meeting between the Local Union officials and management which record tested is reproduced below: Machine No. 158 is diamond leading. Diamond leading is not uncommon in this camp. Hook tender on Machine No.* 147 not giving men a chance to get out of bight of line. The 2nd louder was setting tongs, chaser was away moving whistle wire: rigging slinger stopped rigging because second louder was in a dangerous posi- tion and engineer could not see Louder us he was working in a blind spot. Hooktender bawled Rigging Slinger out for stop- ping turn and ordered W bistle Punk 10 go ahead. The Hooker remarked, "keep the turns mou ing and if 2nd Louder was in the way let the turn go over him." After this the Hooker came to the machine and told Engineer to pull turns right through and not to stop for any- _ one. © Chokerman, climbing over main line and Hooker signals to come buck slow, one of the men told the Hooker to be careful and referred to safety and bis remark was no one is going to get hurt. The Choker- man said, "No, there won't be as long as we have a safety committee,” and the Hooker re- plied, "then go to the safety committee.” This unsafe practice was still carried on after the crew had protested the unsafe practice. the unsafe practices pro- | ing over and hanging tail blocks, man was putting Molly Hogan in block and signal was given lo go ahead on straw Tine. , Lust Wednesday there was an unbucked tree approximately G0) feet long, the rigging slinger and hooker went to set choker, the booker moved to the inside of the line and rigging’ slinger started down’ tree to get in the clear when about 20 feet down the hooker signaled to whistle bunk to go ubead. Rigging slinger started to run as fast as he ‘could, the only reason this man was not seriously burt was because the engineer was busy at the back of the machine and wus slow in answering the sig- nal. The whistle punk “did not have enough wire to reach the back end und could not hear signal. He usked the hooker to gel another extension, and hook- er told rigging slinger to stand in bite of line and relay sig- nals at the time there was about 40 feet siwash in the main line. The loaders ure worried be- cause of the fact they beard that the hooktender gave orders to pull turns in over them. The engineer on No. 147 complain- ed at the last sufety meeting in camp about trouble with the brakes because he could not even bold the lines with them Jet alone turns down hill. The mechanic came to have a look at them but still nothing bas been done. the Georgia Hotel, May 30, is expected to be -Mr. Adair, Staff Representative of the Woods Products S AIBOe MILES PER HOUR 51-60 THE ODDS.ON DEATH---IF ACCIDENT OCCURS . One in I