.

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Se The UNION’S BUSINESS

INTERIOR CHALLENGE

Nov the whole story catt be told about the Interior settlement.
In the telling we needn’t pull any punches in dealing with the
part played by the employers. Their pretended benevolent interest
in the welfare of their employees disguised a ruthless and cold-
blooded cloak and dagger operation to destroy their oganization.

A conexete il-
lustration of this |
attitude was their ;
attempt to cut off }”
the Unemploy-
ment benefits for
locked - out em-
ployees. This
demonstrated the
weapon they re-
lied on chiefly
was starvation. No stone was
left unturned to present the
workers with only one alterna-
tive to complete submission—that
alternative was hunger.

Lessons Learned

We have all learned lessons as
a result of this experience. As
practical trade unionists we must
wisely profit by the experience.

The major lesson taught the
District Council was that the
conduct of negotiations, however
expert, is not enough to win the
fight in the Interior. The one
genuine, and most weighty bar-
gaining card, when the cards are
faced up, is the strength of orga-
nization among the workers on
the job.

The administration of IWA af-
fairs throughout the Interior, in
Season and out of season, must
accomplish a more closely knit
organization, capable of function-
jag in, for, and through the In-

" membership.

Frank Analysis

If our organization methods in
the Interior are not efficient or
are inadequate, we should face
the question, and by taking a
frank inventory arrive at the
correct solution.

IWA members throughout the
Tnterior must also take an inven-
tory of their assets and liabili-
ties. Last year’s experience
demonstrated that they are re-
quired to shoulder a greater share
of responsibility.

The District Council can do
much to assist the development
of organization throughout the
Interior. I believe that it is the
will of the Coast membership that
the utmost should be done in this
respect.

-Not “Ready-made”

The fact remains that the Dis-
trict Council cannot provide the
Interior membership with a
ready-made organization, capable
of doing the job. Effective orga-
nization must have grass-roots
growth, otherwise it is so arti-
ficial that it withers under fire.

'There’s no sense in “crying

~ over spilt milk”, or “threshing

old straw”.

We must face one
simple fact—we didn’t have the
strength of organization in the
Interior to do a job on determined

_|and unscrupulous employers. The

one important question is—where
do we go from here?

Opportunity Knocks

The obvious answer is that we
must build a stronger organiza-
tion in the Interior, The facts
are that we have the opportunity
to build such an organization,
and that it is needed and wanted
by the lumber workers.

The District Council can pro-
yide temporary assistance and
leadership, but that is all. We
will have a real organization only
when the Interior members de-

termined to build their own,
and act for themselves within the
framework of our Union. .

Police Agreement

The opportunity to do this is
found in the performance of
duties regarding the existing
agreement. If the [WA members
on the job tackle the policing and
enforcing of the present contract,’
they will find an immediate re-
‘sponse in the form of better or-
Banization spirit.

Every member must be made
to realize the importance of the
agreement and its benefits. It
can be made to work in a way
that will vastly improve condi-
tions throughout the Interior.

Certain it is, that if the-em-
ployers find that the workers are
indifferent now to the contract in
existence, they will exploit that
indifference to the hilt when ne-
gotiations start.

The problem of the Interior
will never be solved until the
IWA members in the Interior de-
cide to do for themselves all
those things about the contract
which they alone can do.

UP. AGAIN

WASHINGTON — Gonsumer
prices rose between October 15
and November 15, and were back
at the all-time high reached last
August, the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics reported December 19. The
consumer price index rose 0.1
percent to 191.1, despite the con-
tinued decline in wholesale prices.
The rise made false prophets of
business and industry leaders

who insisted prices are dropping,
and there is no longer need for

\ price controls.

copy January 12th,

Publication date of the next issue of the B,C. LUMBER WORKER
fg Jonuary 16th. Deadline for ad copy ie January 11th ond for news

2

Went cane
Tat Viee-President

a Vice-President ...
gra. Vice-President
Secretary-Treasurer

gubseription Rates.

rized as Second
Autho 0.000 COPIEB

BC Lonpentt

Representing the Organized Loggers and Mill Workers of B:C.
PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY BY
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO-CCL)
B.C, DISTRICT COUNCIL No, 1.

DISTRICT OFFICERS:

tional Board Member ....
ve ka Address all communications to
RGE H, MITCHELL, Secretary-Treasurer
: GPor Kingsway - Phone FAlrmont 8807-8
Vancouver, B.C.

Representative._.....G. A. Bpencer
nie Oey Class Mail, Post Office Dept, Ott¢wa
PRINTED IN THIS 188UB

>

nme J. Stewart Alsbury
Joe Morris
M. Hodgson
neers Fred Fieber
George H. Mitchell
“- William N, Gray

$1.50 per annum

Illustrated is the Cruiser’s
Stag of pure virgin wool
in mackinaw or kersey,
Mackinaw plaids are
either red and black;
green and black, or blue
and black.

or favorite dealer,

Notice the four large pockets in front, and the large
pack pocket in back, which opens at both sides... a
feature of both mackinaw and kersey garments.

These are two of the many designs of “Pioneer
Brand” clothing obtainable from your commissary

Made in Vancouver, B.C., by Jones Tent & Awning
Ltd., they are designed through careful study of the
needs and desires of B.C. workmen.

LOOK
FOR THE
NAME

FOR WORK CLOTHING
OF
UNSTINTED MATERIALS
DESIGN and
WORKMANSHIP

3
B

ORDER
SPLITS
CARTEL

OTTAWA (GPA) — Canadian
Industries Ltd, the Canadian
branch of the international che-
mical cartel, will be split up be-
tween its two parent companies
under orders from a U.S. federal
district court.

EI. du Pont de Nemours and
Imperial Chemical Industries
have announced that they will
divide the assets and operations
of CIL into two separate com-
panies.

CIL, which has been jointly
controlled by Dupont and ICI
since 1910, was instructed by the
parent companies “not to engage
in any export trade even when it
is in a favorable position to do so
through tariff preference or other
causes”, according to a report of
the Canadian Combines Investi-
gations Commissioner published
in 1945.

Eliminates Competition

Earlier this year the U.S. De-
partment of Justice charged that
the joint interest of Dupont and
ICL eliminated competition and
restricted the foreign trade of
the U.S. in Canada and the com-
panies were ordered to either
divide or sell their interest in
Canadian Industries.

The two companies are now re-
ported to be working out plans
for the division of CIL which
must be presented to the U.S.
court by the end of March 1953.
If the court approves the plans,
they must be implemented within
one year.

Canadian Industries Limited,
operates 23 plants in six Cana-
dian provinces and at the end of
1951 had total assets of $141,-
188,949. After deduction of taxes
the-company made a profit of
$11,526,625 on its operations dur-
ing 1951,

15% VOTE

WASHINGTON — During
1951, workers voting in favor of
unions as collective bargaining
agents numbered 75 percent of
those voting. In the third quar-
ter of 1952 the figure rose to
79.38 percent, the National Labor
Relations Board reported Decem-
ber 23,

_—

FALSE OATH

CAMDEN, NJ. — The NLRB
has revoked the certification of
Local 80-A, CIO Packinghouse
Workers, because the local’s busi-
ness manager, Anthony Valentino
had been convicted of having
sworn falsely in a non-Commun-
ist oath in 1949 in behalf of a
predecessor union.

|

Bill Resigns

‘Bill Franklin; popular
Business Agent of Local 1-
367, IWA, has resigned his
position in that Local to go
into business with his two
brothérs and a friend run-
ning the’ “Regal Building

Supply”, in Haney. |

—

my

BANKING BY MAIL

The safe way to save
your money is to put it
in a bank. You can do
this best through any
of the branches of the
Canadian Bank of
Commerce in British
Columbia. Get some
Banking by Mail forms
before you leave town,
or write for a supply to
your nearest branch of
the Commerce.

BANKING BY MAIL is convenient, easy to do.

See for yourself—today.

THE cao BANK

OF COMMERCE

80 Branches in British Columbia