2nd Issue, September B.C. LUMBER WORKER FROM PAGE 1 “REPORT “ RECOMMENDATIONS I. UNION SECURITY This Union asked for full union shop and the Employers requested a weakening of the present provision on union Qeecunity. The Employers’ representative made a great deal of the fact that the people he was speaking for refused to use force in compelling their Employees to join the Union. My proposal does not force anyone to join, but does require them to pay for the services they get as members of the bargaining unit. There are numerous operations in the same area that are outside of the association which have either full union shop or compulsory check-off. One large operation, a member of the association, also has compul- Sory check-off in effect. Il. WAGES: I recommend an increase of ten (10) cents per hour across-the-board effective September 1, 1953, on all pres- ent wages. I do this because a large number of contracts in industry in British Columbia have made settlements in; the neighborhood of this figure. The IWA at the Coast, where the basic rate was one-half (14) cent below the Interior in 1951, is now nineteen (19) cents above. The mount I recommend I feel, is an equitable and fair differ- ntial, I am sure that the industry in the Interior is able -to pay the amount recommended without any hardship whatsoever. Ill. STATUTORY HOLIDAYS: I recommend that three (3) of these be allowed. Ij would suggest that these be Victoria Day, July 1st, and Labor Day. Paid Statutory Holidays have become an accepted fact to some degree in practically all industries. Lumber employers pay their office and confidential em- ployees for all Statutory Holidays now. The Coast mem- bership enjoy three (8) paid Statutory Holidays in their present contract and while the Union asked for all Statu- tory Holidays to be paid for, I feel that-three (3) would be equitable and just at this time. Z IV. HOURS OF WORK: I recommend a five- (5) day week, eight- (8) hour day. With cries of over-production (which I am not convinced are true) by the Employers combined with unemployment, the forty- (40) hour week will help to correct both. The Employers’ representative contended that due to the shortness of the season, they must work a longer week and advanced the fruit industry as an example. The Union contended that there was no comparison between the fruit industry and lumbering, and I agree with this contention. I disagree with the Employers’ contention on the shortness of the season in the main. Numerous operations operate on a twelve- (12) month basis. Those who do not operate on that basis could either employ more men on their present shift or operate with a second shift. The Union contends, and I agree, that production will not suffer to any marked extent and the employees will have more time to deyote themselves to thir homes and families and community projects. As is the case with union secur- ity, a large number of operators outside of the association in this area have the forty- (40) hour week in effect, and one member of the association also has a forty- (40) hour week in its operation. I see_no reason for continued discrimination. Vv. CATEGORY REVISIONS: I recommend that a joint committee of Union and Management be set up to revise categories and establish new ones as the need arises. The Union submitted a list of categories to. the Board for establishment and revision. It is impossible for a Conciliation Board to deal intelli- gently with these in the limited time at their disposal. The discussion of this problem clutters up the proceedings on other parts. of the contract. A Union-Management committee could deal with this problem much more equit- ably and satisfactorily than as is being attempted at present. VI. NIGHT SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL I recommend that this differential be increased to six (6) cents. I make this recommendation because it affects a very few operations ; because it is the established rate in the Coast agreement; and because a considerable number of Employees in operations in the Interior now enjoy that rate. In respect to Lumby Timber at Lumby, B. C., the Board unanimously agreed that no recommendations that they made would apply if they were to reduce the present con- tract in any way. _ J am recommending that my recommendations as above should apply where they are more favorable to the Union than the present contract. All of which is respectfully submitted without preju- dice to the Union’s original demands. WM. N. GRAY, Employees’ Nominee, 5 Member of the Board. Mitchell Scores Gomery Scathing reply was made by District Sec. - Treasurer George Mitchell over the Green Gold radio program to the charges made by Chairman Percy Gomery with regard to the behavior of the Union, contained in his majority report of the Conciliation. Board in the Southern Interior. Reporting that the District Policy Committee had recom- mended rejection of the report, the IWA official said: “The majority report, contains remarks derogatory to the IWA for which the Chairman must ac- cept responsibility. In our opin- ion he has grossly abused his position to attempt a public repri- mand of our Union for alleged acts, upon which he had unreli- able reports, and which were quite beyond the scope of his jurisdiction. Our protest in the matter has been communicated to the Chair- man of the Labor Relations Board. We are demanding that the Chairman of the Conciliation Board be called before the Labor Relations Board and required, either to substantiate his charges against the IWA or retract them. Improper Prejudice He disclosed a bias, and open prejudice against the Union which is highly improper for an official charged with responsi- bility for conciliation. In his report, he indulged in mote provocation than concilia- tion. He attempted to scold the Union for speaking in plain lan- guage regarding the treatment received at the hands of the em- ployers in past years. He defends the employers who have consistently evaded all bar- gaining in good faith and attacks the Union for citing the facts on this score dnd asking redress through the procedures of con- ciliation. Says IWA Untrustworthy The Chairman presumed to suggest that the Union is not trustworthy enough to enjoy any degree of union security under our contractual relations in the Interior. He forgets that he is speaking of the same Union that has faith- fully observed the provisions of the master agreement at the Coast with a union security clause such as he denies to us in the Interior. He actually defends the em- ployers’ point of view refusing adequate wages, because he dis- approves of the Union’s conduct in the Interior last year, when lock-outs occurred resulting from the workers’ demand for accep- tance of last year’s Conciliation Board report. Does he expect men to live on their knees? He states that the Union has lost prestige because of its fight for the workers, and indicates that he visited several operations where he could find no support for the Union’s position. Incompetent Chairmen This statement alone makes his competence open to question, when he condemns the Union on the basis of evidence not heard in the public hearings, and gained through casual conversations dur- ing a management-conducted tour of a few plants. The IWA has been advised this week that this same gentleman has been selected as Chairman for two other.Conciliation Boards re- quired in the Interior for opera- tions bargaining independently. We have therefore asked for a hearing before the Labor Rela- tions Board at which we will de- mand his replacement. The rea- Sons are obvious. He has reveal- ed a prejudiced attitude toward the Union in a position which requires impartiality. As Chairman of the two addi- tional Boards, he will be required to hear much the same evidence from the Union in which he has publicly expressed distrust. However estimable a gentle- man he may be in many respects, we aré compelled to state that by his unwarranted and ill-con- sidered censure of this Union, he has disqualified himself as Chair- man for any further Conciliation Boards, in which our interests are concerned. The Labor Rela- tions Board has been informed of our complete lack.of confidence in his judgment with regard to the further conciliation required. Anti-labor Bias This development has proved most unfortunate, at a time when the utmostegoodwill and fair play is required to affect a settlement.- Our members in the Southern Interior can reach no other con- clusion than that this Concilia- tion Board Chairman ‘is not only upholding the anti-labor attitude of the employers and at the same time is determined to impose the employers’ terms on the workers. This sentiment is found” in the concluding paragraphs of his report in which ke says, and I quote, ‘We trust ... also that the employees will be alive to the chance of retaining their employment on most advan- tageous settlement they are presently likely to be offered.’ Quotation ends. This borders closely on an echo of the in- timidation to which the em- ployees have already been sub- jected by the employers. It will provoke the suspicion that they are being blackmailed into acceptance of the terms dic- tated by the employers under penalty of losing employment. We have not forgotten that, last year, in this same area, em- ployers called their ~employees together and told them that un- less they signed on the old terms, they would be on the street. Of one thing we may be certain, that the Union will never’ tolerate treatment of this sort without fighting back, with legitimate weapons at our disposal. FROM PAGE 1 Wy Sey) Interior workers. The employers have taken a fighting attitude. If we must, we will fight, and choose our own time and our own meth- ods, acting within the law. © $1.52 Cut We know now what we are fighting for. Unless we fight, Interior lumber workers will pay $1.52 a day in a wage cut to pro- vide the bosses with the most profitable year they, have ever known. The employers intend that the Interior Woodworkers shall continue to work for $1.52 a day less than Coast lumber workers, so that they can grab huge profits in the lumber mar- ket, over and above those now being made by Coast operators. No Boots The official statistics now prove that this year their production and shipments are.reaching an all-time high. They can easily afford to give effect to the Board’s proposals. The simple fact is that they won’t do so, un- less the lumber workers put up the kind of fight that will con- vince them they can’t get away any longer with bluff. I am con- fident that the strike vote will call their bluff, and pave the way to a proper settlement, because they can’t safely put the boots to lumber workers.” My nose is red My eyes are blue , Since your husband Caught me kissing you. PILE UP YOUR MONEY FASTER | Bank by Mak Your savings grow best when you add to them every payday . . . and keep them from temptation. 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