B.C. LUMBER WORKER

2nd Issue, January

os Sy .
SETTLEMENT of the strike in the Southern In-

terior climaxes an important chapter in IWA
history. A costly struggle has been won. It has
been won with results that give the Union a firm
foothold throughout every section of the proy-
ince’s basic industry.

Any estimate of the progress accomplished
must take into the reckoning all the factors which
were operative at the outset. When this is done,
the winning of a strike in the Interior stands out
as an amazing triumph.

Problems of union organization and adminis-
tration in the Interior Jumber industry have been
almost insurmountable, because of its de-central-
ization into small operations, separated by long
travel distances. The lumber workers have had
little opportunity to build compact units as centres
for the promotion of the usual trade union activi-
ties.

The employers, for the most part, are rugged
indiyidualists, whose economic thinking is rooted
in the last century. They have grown accustomed
to dealing with and exploiting transient labor. A
union is anathema to them,

Since 1948, the IWA has regarded conditions
in the Interior as a major threat to the bargain-
ing strength of the Union in the B. C. lumber in-
dustry, as a whole. Men and money have been
employed freely to build the foundations of an
organization, despite geographical difficulties.

This policy has paid dividends. The lumber
workers of the Interior became aware that their
working conditions fell far below those established
elsewhere through unionization. They were rous-
ed to a determination to use the IWA as an instru-
ment for the betterment of their conditions.

The most significant feature of the recent
strike is that inexperienced workers on the picket
line maintained a solidarity which not only
stopped the employers’ vicious attack on their
organization, but forced the operators to yield
concessions, which they never intended even to
consider.

In this sense it was a double victory. Nega-
tively, the worst was prevented. Positively, sub-
stantial improvements were gained.

Coast lumber workers, who generously sup-
ported the strike, also share in the triumph. Their
Union has been made stronger for all purposes.
They have been provided with a defence against
an attack from the rear, originating in a low-wage
slave-labor area.

The settlements in the Northern and Southern
sections of the Interior were not all that could be
desired, but they were realistic under the circum-
stances. Continued economic pressure did not
offer any hope of a better deal, this year.

The settlements, nevertheless, laid a sound
foundation for future bargaining. The Union has
gained a recognized status. The employers will
now do business with the Union, in matters affect-
ing the workers, instead of continually attempting
to destroy the Union.

The settlements have opened the door to the
complete unionization of the Interior lumber in-
dustry. Labor affairs have been given a new direc-
tion in the industry. If. the leadership developed
during the strike is now deyoted to the develop-
ment of this opportunity, the success of the Inter-

ior IWA is assured.

The IWA has much at stake in the Interior.
=e business is opening up new and important

ustrial peeoomecet projects, with a resulting
expansion of lumbering.

This pending expansion will now be shared by
the IWA,

WY pe

The Editor,

I wish to extend to all the
Local Unions the heartfelt thanks
of Local 1-405, IWA, Cranbrook,
for their generous donations of
clothing. I can assure all mem-
bers and others who made dona-

tions that the clothing has been
of invaluable assistance to the

numerous families who have re-

ceived them during this cold win-
ter weather.

We are most grateful too, for
the very generous financial sup-

“WE ARE GRATEFUL’

port given us by the District
Officers and all Local Unions,
which made it possible for us to
carry on with the strike, until
victory was achieved.

Art Damstrom,

President, Local 1-405, IWA.

So goes an old song,

The Bank of Canada has now given us some figures on
who got most of the “gravy” in Canada after the war.
They have published detailed statistics on the profits,
dividends, equity, etc. of 697 big companies.

The figures tell an amazing story. They show that

these companies have increased their profits from $326,-
000,000 in 1946 to $613,000,000 in 1952, an increase of 88
percent. Total profits pocketed by the shareholders (after
all company taxes, etc.) in the six years amounted to

$3,777,600,000.

But that isn’t the whole story.
The shareholders left some of the
profits to be reinvested in the
company and thus the equity of
these 697 companies increased
from a total of $3,274,000,000 in
1946 to $5,276,900,000 in 1952, an
inerease of over 60 percent:

This increase of $2,002,900,000
in the equity must be added to the
total profits to give an indication
of what the owners of Canada’s
big companies got—a grand total
of $5,780,500,000 in six years!
And remember, this remuneration
involved no work. The sharehold-
ers had to lift not a shovel, nor
drill one hole, nor turn one screw
in return for this swag!

A closer examination of the
Bank of Canada figures tells an
even more interesting part of the
story. It shows that the bigger
the companies, the greater the
increase in their profits and the
greater the rate of increase in
their equity.

For example, the 70 companies,
whosé assets were each greater

than $25 million, increased their
net profits between 1946 and 1952
by 110%, whereas the 165 com-
panies whose assets were each
under a million dollars, increased
their net profits by only 12%.
The equity of the 70 big com-
panies increased by 80% but of
the 165 small companies, by only
20%. The rich get the gravy and
apparently the richer get even
more gravy!
Why Not For Home
Building?

The government is introducing
mortgage insurance and allowing
the banks to enter the mortgage
field. One of the chief results
will be interest rates for homes
at 5%% or 6%. Yet the Govern-
ment Public Accounts disclose
loans to the CNR at 234%, to the
United Kingdom at 2%, to the
Canadian Commercial Corpora-
tion at 1%%, to Central Mort-
gage and Housing at 2%,

Government Decision
When I phoned an official in

“The Rich Get The Gravy”

By LORNE INGLE

"It’s the rich what gets the gravy,
It’s the poor what takes the blame...”

the Department of Finance about
these loans he said, “Oh, but
those loans were all made several
years ago when interest rates
generally were very much lower.”
Well, what makes interest rates
higher or lower? Almost any
economist, right, left or centre,
will answer that it is completely
arbitrary; a government decision.

When the government needed
a lot of money to finance the war
it adopted a policy of cheap
money. But in the last few years
it has slowly but deliberately in-
creased the interest rates through
the Bank of Canada as an alter-
native to price controls to keep
the cost of living down.

How effective this latter has
been is questionable but one sure
thing is that interest rates have
gone up out of all reason. If

money can be made available to ~

Central Mortgage and Housing
or the Canadian Commercial Cor-
poration at an interest rate of
2%, is there any reason why it
cannot be made available for
home building at 2%?

Alex B. Macdonald

| . Barrister & Solicitor

751 Granville Street
- VANCOUVER, B.C.

Telephone TAtlow 6641

Notary Public
SOLICITOR TO)THE LWA,

ANS

On DIAMONDS, JEWELRY, SILVERWARE, FURS AND

ALL VALUABLES

Immediate Cash?

No Red Tape!

Unredeemed Diamonds for Sale

77 EAST HASTINGS, Cer. COLUMBIA

B. C. COLLATERAL LOAN BROKERS LTD.

PAcific 3557

Peaneeueae een ale (ee