B.C. LUMBER WORKER The Demands EE it had been possible to televise proceedings of the IWA Wages and Contract Conference for lumber workers ‘ able to afford television sets, there would be one certain result, Every worker in the audience would have been roused to give full support to a Union ready and willing “to battle on his behalf, to the limit of its resources. One impressive feature of the gathering, which no witness could overlook, was the democratic nature of the proceedings. The delegates to a man were determined to formulate demands which unmistakably expressed the will of the membership. The reason was that the delegates came directly from among the rank and file members of the Union, and were not subject to any attempt at official domination, ‘The most important requirement for the individual lumber worker at this time is to examine the bargaining program of the Union and translate it into terms of his living. He will then find ample reasons for backing the program on the job to the limit of his ability. WAGE INCREASE If the average lumber worker computes his present take-home pay for the year, then contrasts the results with his living requirements, he will quickly discover that the proposed increase is the bare minimum neces- sary to approximate a balancing of the family budget. If he then gives some thought to the accumulated profits of the lumber corporations, he will see the reasons why income derived from lumber production should be more equitably distributed. He can tell the local business men that, if the increase is obtained, he will be the better able to purchase the necessities for decent living and pay his bills, thereby giving greater stimulus to the community business activi- ties than all the millions of hoarded profits. STATUTORY HOLIDAYS The Union demands six additional paid statutory holidays. It took a strike to impress upon the operators that lumber workers are human beings, and citizens in the community who have the right to enjoy legal holidays in the same manner as monthly-rated employees and other citizens, The principle has now been established in the con- tract, in the full observance of three paid statutory holi- days. The same principle has equal force with regard to the remaining six statutory holidays. The cost involved is negligible. The stimulus to morale and health inevit- ably resulting in increased efficiency of production, more than offsets the cost involved. FARE ALLOWANCE The Union demands fare allowance for those workers who-are required to travel back and forth periodically from the urban centres to their places of employment. Men have been moved back and forth over long dis- tances, by plane, rail and steamship to remote operations to meet production requirements as determined by the operators. When their fares are charged against their wages, the take-home pay in many instances is reduced to a beggarly pittance, The workers themselves are not responsible for these conditions. They are forced to comply with the wishes of their employers. It is therefore the responsibility of their employers to protect their employees against the drain on income caused by these charges imposed on the workers’ earnings, UNION SHOP The Union demands full union shop conditions. Each year, for many years, this demand has been presented during negotiations. Each year the employers centre bitter opposition on any semblance of security in the enjoyment of bargaining rights. This demand costs the employer no money. The sole reason for his opposition is his antagonism to the Union, and basically to the idea that employees should have any collective bargaining rights at all, The employers fall flat on their faces every time they present their time-worn arguments about the union shop being undemocratic, and unworkable. The reason is that the union shop has spread across the American continent, until experience has proven beyond peradventure that it is the most efficient and most democratic form of collec- tive bargaining procedures, : The employers profess ideals of democracy for em- ployer-employee relations which bear no resemblance to those commonly practiced in the enlightened sections of the globe. For the individual lumber worker the enjoyment of vights under the union shop frees him from the necessity. of constantly battling with his employer for the right to bargain collectively, and enables him to turn his atten- tion to more positive welfare matters, YOUR PART The part required of the individual lumber worker is that first he should know the demands and the reasons for their presentation. He can then intelligently assist jn rallying to support the negotiations every other lum- per worker of his acquaintance. ey OPEN E DOO Haak, ‘s TH Your Space, Boys! 338888883335 BOOSTING B.C. HEMLOCK The Editor: During the last IWA Conven- tion we were asked to forward to the Editor any material that would be of interest to our mem- bers, Here I believe, is such an item. Various Sub-Locals have in the past claimed privileges existing in their plants of which other Sub-Locals do not enjoy. We feel the same way now after having the good fortune of being given time off work to listen to some very fine violin music and this is how it happened. Ideal Instrument A Myr. Fawick, an industrialist of Cleveland has for years been trying to perfect a violin equal to the famed Stradivarious, but without the enormous cost, some- thing within the range of a musi- cian. Usually a musician has to work all his life before he earns enough for a down payment on an instrument that would help him display his talent. This is what Mr. Fenwick has been try- ing to achieve and has done. Some time ago, he received some hemlock from our plant and with this he has perfected a violin that will be a boon to all those people who have prayed for | # such an instrument. Mr. Smalley, €.B.C. leading violinist, demonstrated this in- strument alongside of his own $6,000 instrument and the differ- ence could not be noticed. It should be noted in passing that it takes a craftsman to make a good violin as is the same with any good article, and it’s reason- able to’ assume that a craftsman goes to a fellow craftsman for his materials — that is why he came to the Westminster Shook Mills to obtain his hemlock. B.C. Hemlock Now, a Stradivarius costs some hundred thousand dollars, These now being made will cost $1,250. As there is roughly two square feet of wood in a violin, how much a thousand is this hemlock lumber, hand-picked by experts, machined by experts, going to cost? Anyway, when you buy that ANS sressatsssatssetttsstestttest child of yours or the wife that Baby Grand be sure that the sound board is made of B,C. Westminster Shook Hemlock! Fraternally, Jimmy Abrams, Chairman, Shook Sub-Local. “NO CAN DO” The Editor: It is very fortunate for the lumber operators that they have the millions of dollars of annual profits (made from the workers’ sweat and blood) to pay for the silly and childish errors made by their loving relations, some of whom are not long in this coun- [ try of ours. In the lumber industry there are many of these European mil- lionaires who were chased around by their dictators and now they have come here and think we Canadians are going to be domi- nated by these little Hitlers, They order men around over the heads of foremen, superin- tendents and bosses. The irony of this is the fact that these bosses or “yes men” were once just workers, too. To squander money in this way- is very poor economy. 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