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Vol, XXII, No. 1

Ist ISSUE, JANUARY -

VANCOUVER, B.C.

Ss

Sc PER COPY

IWA Offers Same ~
Terms In South

Settlement of the strike issues in the Southern Interior
on the basis of the terms already agreed upon in the Nor-
thern Interior has been proposed by the IWA District

Policy Committee to the
areas.
In the meantime, Judge A. E.

Lord has announced his intention
to open his enquiry into the mat-

* ters under dispute at Kelowna on

January 20.

Protest made by the Cranbrook
Local Union that the commis-
sioner had disclosed an anti-union
prejudice went unheeded by the

provincial government.

All strike committees through-
out the southern section of the
Interior report a high morale,

employers in strike-bound

with the picket lines remaining
unbroken, despite employer sub-
terfuges and the inclement
weather.

‘The settlement in the northern
Interior has inspired renewed con-
fidence among the strikers that
equally as good terms must’ in-
evitably be awarded in the south.

This week a truckload of win-
ter clothing was despatched from
the IWA District Office for dis-
tribution to the strikers’ families.

Loggers

Union S.

Demand

S. Probe

Acting on instructions from the recent’ Local Union
Convention, the officers of Local 1-71, IWA have re-
quested the Federal Minister of Transport to order an
investigation into transportation facilities provided by)
the Union Steamships for loggers in the coast camps.

The Minister was informed +hat
the steamshiv company enjoys a
virtual monopoly in transporta-
tion to and from many important
logging areas, and has abused this
monopoly to the grave disadvan-
tage of the loggers.

The specific complaints were
stated as follows by Fred Fieber,
Financial Secretary.

Limited Accommodation

“First of all, the company has
not sufficient boats, and second-
ly, some of these boats have no
suitable accommodations for the
trips they are making.

Last December 16th, the Com-
pany sent the “Lady Cynthia” to
a point 200 miles up the Coast
to bring in 125 men. They left
this port at 8 o’clock in the after-
noon with these men aboard and
arrived in Vancouver the follow-
ing morning at 7 o'clock. This
ship has no sleeping accommoda-
tions, and you can readily under-
stand the attitude of the loggers
having to sit up all night in being
brought to Vancouver.

Sit Up and Pay

It is common practice for the
Union Steamships Company to
charge First Class for loggers,
and if no berth is available, they
merely stamp “Sit-Up” on his

WHAT'S
INSIDE

IWA Pix .... 5-8

Sofety ........ 6-7

ticket, and he must do just that,
even though the company has
charged him for a berth

Berth accommodations on some
of these boats, when available,
are very poor with small rooms
having two bunks and a settee
that is too short for proper sleep-
ing accommodations. They put
men on these settees and, of

See “PROBE” Page 3

MEMBERS
THANKED

The Editor:

We wish to pass along the]:

heartfelt thanks of this Local
Union to all those Brothers and
Sisters who so generously con-
tributed to the used clothing
drive that was responsible for the
delivery of nearly one ton of
used clothing to us this week.

Their generosity is only match-
ed by the quality of the clothes
sent and it has made it possible
for a large number of our peo-
ple to have a little more comfort
when it is really needed.

The spirit with which it was
given and the large and wide
response to the appeal is most
heartening to us in Local 1-424.
We wish you to convey our
thanks to as many as possible of
those who donated the clothes,
and also to those who took so
much trouble to sort and pack
the large assortment, which is
being quickly distributed to all
parts of this Local Union.

Fraternally yours,

C. H. Webb,
Financial Secretary,
Local 1-424.

MITCHELL
BLASTS
APL. REP.

Severe censure of strike-
breaking tactics at Creston
Sawmills Ltd., Creston, was
levelled by District Secre-
tary-Treasurer George Mit-
chell at a representative of
the AFL Carpenters and
Joiners in a recent radio
broadcast.

With reference to a statement
which appeared in the Creston
Review, the IWA official said:

“T must report a deplorable in-
cident at Creston, affecting strik-
ers at the Creston Sawmills. A
rival AFL union made an attempt
to cross our picket line in order
to snatch certification away from
the IWA by a sneak raid.

The following report appears in
a recent. issue of the Creston
Review:

Ben P. Bens, vice-president of
the Carpenters’ Union, issued a
personal opinion relative to the
strike situation locally. The
statement of opinion Is as fol-
lows:

"On December 11, 1953, charter
number 3014, Lumber and Saw-
mill Workers of the United Bro-
therhood of Carpenters and Join-
ers of America was granted in
Creston. A majority of the worke
ers at the Creston Sawmills Ltd.
signifled their willingness to ap-
ply for said charter at a recently
held meeting and the attitude
was they wished to go to work,

“This charter was granted
from International office of the
UBC&J of America, Indidna,
which Is affillated with the AFL

See “BLASTS” Page 3

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UNION SECURES IMPORTANT
GAINS IN NEW CONTRACT

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IWA strike in the Northern Interior of B.C. ended
on January 6, after 102 days of hard-fought struggle,
with achievement of revised contract terms which
signified a victory for the Union and substantial gains

for the strikers.

A 92% majority rejection by
the strikers of the settlement
terms proposed by Judge A. E.
Lord, as Commissioner of En-
quiry, resulted in a series of con-
ferences in Prince George be-

"| tween the bargaining representa-

tives of the employers, and the
IWA negotiators headed by Dis-
trict President Joe Morris.

Further concessions were made
by the employers which offered
hope of settlement. These were
immediately submitted to the
District Policy Committee, whose
members recommended accept-
ance.

‘When the recommendation was
approved by vote of the IWA
members on strike, and ratified
by the employers, an agreement
was immediately signed, and
work in the ‘struck operations
promptly resumed.

Tlie strike ended when an
agreement was reached on the
following points:

The Terms

(1) A more satisfactory
form of union security than
had previously been considered
by the employers.

(2) A wage increase of 5%
cents an hour across the board,
effective immediately, raising
the base rate in the area to
$1.35% an hour.

(8) Revision of the seniority
provisions’ in the contract to
conform to the terms of the
Coast- master contract.

(4) Revision of the vacations
with pay clause to reduce the
qualifying period for those
with five years’ service to 1000
working days with three per-
cent of yearly earnings or one
week and three additional days’
vacation with pay or pay in
lieu thereof.

(5) Inclusion in the contract
of the standard grievance pro-
cedure.

(6) Inclusion in the contract
of the standard arbitration
procedure.

(7 Earlier opening date for
negotiations each year.

One of the chief stumbling
blocks to settlement was the
question of union security. The
Union’s negotiators had been
confronted with the most deter-
mined opposition on the part of
the employers to any workable
relations in this respect. The
formula finally secured by the
Union, after prolonged confer-
ences and the announcement that
the strike would be continued
unless concessions were made,
was as follows:

Union Security Clause

(a) The Company will -co-
operate with the Union in ob-
taining and retaining as mem-
bers the employees as defined
in this Agreement and to this
end will present to new em-
ployees and to all Supervisors
and Foremen the policy herein
expressed. In Implementing this
section it is agreed that opera-
tors will distribute to all new
employees’ the check-off form

. attached as supplement No. 2
and forming part of this Agree-
ment,

1b) Any employee whe Is now
@ member in good standing, or
who becomes or is reinstated as
a member of the Union shall as
@ condition of continued employ-
“ment maintain his membership
in the Union, It Is further agreed
that if a workman being a mem-
ber of the Union becomes an
employee of one of the opera-
tlons covered by this Agreement
he shall as a condition of em-
ployment maintain his member-
ship in good standing during his
term of employment, by paying
all Dues and Assessments of the
Union, either by cash or by the
signing of the Union» check-off
authorization form.

In the event of the Unlon in-
tending to suspend a member
for non-malntenance of member-
ship, the Company shall be noti-
fled by the Union In writing af

See “STRIKE” Page 3

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, B.C.
vention, January 9-10,

, Get Home, UPWA; President Dan Radford,
IWAL Ded VicePresident Bon Baskin, USA, (Back row from left) Warren Lowrey,

JTU; Don Dunphy, USA; CCL Director of Organization, Joe MecKenzie;

IWA. (Members absent: Gerry Emary, RWDSU, and Wm. Symington,

1954. (Front row from left) 3rd Vice-President, Hugh Allison, CBRE;

oe

FEDERATION OF LABOR, elected and installed at the 10th Annual Con-
Secretary-

UMWA; Ist Vice-President, J. Stewart Cscen 2

IWA; George Di

W. Pierce, BCW; Lawrence Vandale,
UPWA.)