4 .

B.C. LUMBER WORKER ~

Second Issue,

EDITORIAL

Naked Facts

‘THE Interior strike situation presents the IWA with

the gravest crisis in its history since 1948. The lumber
operators have made it so. They have deliberately pro-
voked a situation in which they hope to crush the Union
and oust it completely from that area. ’ 2
* The Union acted in good faith throughout the bar-
gaining and conciliation proceedings, striving to secure
by peaceable means the required remedies for intolerable
conditions and sub-standard wages.

The intent of the employers, previously disguised, was
laid bare at the conferences immediately prior to the
strike deadline. Their whole purpose throughout has
been to bludgeon the workers into acceptance of the wage
scale found just across the Alberta border, which pro-
vides a base rate of only 80 cents an hour.

To accomplish this purpose they must first destroy
the Union’s foothold in the Interior. For three years they
have used methods of naked and brutal dictatorship to

- scare the workers into submission to their low-wage plan.

The Interior employers are reaching for the-economic
prize of triple-plated profits. They control one-third of
the lumber production in the province. The profits ordi-
narily secured by Coast producers who must meet the
same market conditions are not enough in the books. of
the Interior lumber barons.

The Interior producers .have the lowest stumpage and
royalty costs. The dominant employers have profited by
the contracting system. For years they have forced down
their employees’ wage scales below those established
elsewhere in the industry. Now they intend to force upon
the Interior workers a still. more degrading discrepancy
in living standards as compared to the standards accepted
by the province that still greater profits may be ac-
cumulated. :

These ulterior motives provide the only reason for
their adamant attitude of rejection toward all contract
improvements, whether involving cost or not. This atti-
tude on the part of the employers has always made a
farce of all bargaining and conciliation. It is an. anti-
labor attitude which has now defeated the efforts of local
business men to accomplish mediation.

Stripped down to the naked facts, the issue in the
strike is now the right of the workers to organize and
bargain collectively. The employers obstinately refuse to
allow their employees any voice in determining their
working conditions. Their attitude is one of outright
dictatorship.

Under such circumstances the Union need offer no
apology in these circumstances, for taking strike action,
as the only remaining alternative to a complete surrender
of all rights. :

The Union cannot shrink from this fight, even if it
desired to do so, however long and costly it may be. The

. matters at stake are of vital concern to every lumber
worker in the province. .

The Union is fighting for the right of free men fo
claim decent standards of living and working by demo-
cratic means in a democracy. ca

' Vote “Yes”

"THE appeal made by the IWA District Executive Board

for membership approval of the proposed special
assessment of $1.00 a month will bring home to every
lumber worker the nature of the threat to which the
Union is now exposed by the conditions which forced
strike action in the Interior. :

It is a strike which demands the full mobilization of
IWA resources, because it is a strike that must be won
in protection of the Union’s most vital interests.

The organized employers have attacked the weakest
spots in the [WA organization in a savage effort to smash
the growing strength of the IWA, and thereby gain the
opportunity to beat down wages.

The Interior woodworkers have met this powerful
offensive manfully. The sacrifices demanded of them
today are being made not only on their own behalf but
in defence of standards for which Coast workers must
fight tomorrow, if the Interior battle’is lost.

The Union cannot allow wages in the Interior to be

depressed, as desired by the employers, without facing
the inevitability of wage-cutting at the Coast as well as
in the Interior.
- The situation was stated frankly by the District
President in his message to the Union on the subject.
He said: “Because there is the prospect of a long and
bitter fight, we must make certain that we have sufficient
funds to meet any emergency over a period of time.”

“We must add to our present reserves, so that our
Interior brothers can face a prolonged battle with confi-
Bee earnestly suggest to each IWA member, when
called upon by his Local Union, to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on
this recommendation that he consider all that is involved
in this Interior fight.

f . (SEE NEXT COLUMN)

COMING UP

ECONOMIC
GUIDANCE
OFFERED

The Editor:

After reading a report, on La-
bor Relations, Social and Eco-
nomie Trends, compiled by our
International Department of Re-
search headed by Bro. Ed Kenney
and staff, it came to my attention
that due to the recent layoff of
employees in different sections of
our industry and the shorter
work week brought into affect by
the employers in many of our
plants and logging camps, the
time has now approachéd, when
we as members in the IWA have
to take a sound position, in re-
gards to our well being, while we
are earning our livelihood from
the wood industry in B.C.

Below will follow quotations
taken from that report, which I
am sure will help to act as a
guide in our everyday domestic
affairs.

“The peak of business activity
has been reached and there will
be a gradual decline all along the
economic front during the next
12-month period. Business by all
normal standards will still be
good but the “honeymoon” is
over. The bottom is not going to
fall out and there is no depres-
sion immediate. Money will buy
more goods in the next 12 months
but not so many people will have
it to spend. This is deflation.

“The purchasing power of our
working population must be
maintainéd if we are to prevent a
‘slide-back’ to an unstable econ-
omy. As defense spending de-

creases and the ‘tight money’
policy of the present administra-
tion increases, all the resources

of labor, business and govern-|

ment will be needed to meet a
threatening challenge to our pres-
ent high standard of living.”

Suggestions:

. Do not buy articles that
force you into long-term credit
position, In other words, live for
the next 12 months as near to a
pay-as-you-go policy as is pos-
sible. Do not go into debt beyond
your present status if you can
help it.

2. If you are paying on the
instalment plan for “luxury”
items make every effort’to pay off
such indebtedness as soon as pos-
sible by an occasional extra pay-
ment.

3. If possible for you to save a
little money each month try your
best to do so and put it aside for
the period ahead when it will
come in mighty handy. ~

4. When the government tight-
ens its money policy, as it is
presently doing, then it is time
for us working people to follow a
similar policy with our earnings.

5. Spend but spend wisely and
only for necessities. You will be
in trouble if we encounter a seri-
ous slump in business, after the
next 12 months, and you find
yourself burdened down with too
many monthly instalments to pay.

The aforementioned five sug-
gestions are submitted for your
serious consideration, Our work-
ing people are in debt “up to
their ears” in the great majority
of cases.

Now is the latest hour for you
to make serious efforts to reduce
your present debts and to incur
no more long-term (one year or

“Would he be willing to perform the work in which
he is now engaged for $1.52 a day less as now required
of his brother in the Interior? Is he willing to allow
another lumber worker to do so, and undercut his present

wage standards?”

There is only one answer to these two questions for
any self-respecting lumber worker. It is to support the
strike fully by voting “Yes” for the assessment, and
thereby indicate that he is in this fight to a finish,

i

shoulder to shoulder with his Interior brothers.

Readers
Think!

more) debts until business con-
ditions become more stable and
normal,

In closing, I hope the above in-
formation will be of service to
all us in the IWA.

I remain,
Gordon (Pat) Paterson,
Local 1-217.

LOCAL 1-367
TENDERS
APPRECIATION

The Editor:

May I take this opportunity,
on behalf of the members and
Executive Officers of Local 1-367,
IWA, to thank the District Offi-
cers for the splendid co-operation
we received from the District in
the Union Institute, held recently
at the Bellevue Hotel, Mission

It is felt by Executive officers
of this Local Union that such
educational programs are a vital
necesisty of the strengthening of
the organization generally,

We are looking forward to the
time when we can again hold a
Union Institute within Local 1-

67.
Fraternally yours,
W. Lowery, President.

Canadian food producers pro-
duced only 1,485,561 pounds. of
spiced pork and spiced ham in the
second quarter of this year as
compared with 26,246,585 pounds
in the same quarter of 1952.

Alex B: Macdona

Barrister & Solicitor
Notary Public

751’ Granville Street
VANCOUVER, B.C.

Telephone TAtlow 6641

SOLICITOR TO THE |. W.A

ANS

On DIAMONDS, JEWELRY, SILVERWARE, FURS AND

ALL VALUABLES

Immediate Cash!

No Red Tape!

Unredeemed Diamonds for Sale

B. C. COLLATERAL LOAN BROKERS LTD.

77 EAST HASTINGS, Cor, COLUMBIA