Vol. XXII, No. 8

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2nd ISSUE, APRIL - VANCOUVER, B.C.

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UNION’S NEGOTIATORS
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“IWA DISTRICT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE, at present
est Industrial Relations Ltd. on the terms of the Coast master contract, 1954-55.

engaged in negotiations with

For-
(Seated, left to

right) 1st Vice-President, William Gray; President, Joe Morris; 3rd Vice-President, Fred Fieber;
Committee Secretary. (Standing, from left) J. MacKenzie, President, Local 1-118; Joe Miyazawa,
Associate Research Director; Walter Allen, President, Local 1-85; Stuart M. Hodgson, 2nd Vice-
President; Warren Lowrey, President, Local 1-367.

STRIKE LEVY
_OKAYED

Approval of a strike fund
assessment of $1.00 per
month per member, and the
adoption of all amendments
to the District by-laws was
given by the recent mem-
bership referendum, it was
announced this week by
District Secretary-Treasur-
er George Mitchell.

This announcement followed
the report of the District Tabu-
lating Committee members, Lloyd
Whalen, Walter Allen, and
George Mitchell to the District
Executive Board this week.

In each instance, the vote had
been authorized by the Annual
District Convention. The strike
fund assessment was considered
necessary to restore the strike
fund to a safe level after the
Interior strikes.

The by-law amendments were
proposed to remove difficulties
encountered in the satisfactory
interpretation of District proce-

See “STRIKE” Page 3

WHAT'S
INSIDE

“They Subtract

But Don’

t Add”

Sixteen counter-proposals made by Forest Indus-
trial Relations Ltd. on behalf of the Coast lumber
operators when negotiations opened on April 15 with
the IWA District Negotiating Committee urged among
other matters, a re-negotiation of the board rates in
logging camps, a reduction in piece rates for shingle
mill workers, and a penalty clause in the event of any

illegal work stoppage.

The bargaining’ talks opened
with the presentation of the
Union’s eight contract demands
by the committee’s spokesman,
District President Joe Morris.
In the’ensuing week, discussion
centred around these demands,
but no official announcement was
possible as to agreement on any
single point.

The sessions continued into
the week commencing April 26,
with the Union’s representatives
expressing the determination to
achieve a settlement, if possible,
before leaving the bargaining
table.

Proposed amendments to the
existing contract, which the em-
ployers’ representatives laid on
the table for consideration of the
Union, are as follows, in sum-
mary: 3
1, That the rates for board

and lodging in the camps be
re-negotiated.

The obvious reason for this
proposal is to demand an in-
crease in board rates a proposal
which has met with determined
opposition by the Union as re-
presenting a reduction in the
take-home pay of the loggers.

2, That there be a reduction
in the rate of pay for piece
work in the shingle industry.

This proposal counters the one
advanced by the Union, which
urges a stabilization of these

Ses

HCJOR

piece work rates, to protect the
earnings of shingle mill workers,
as now urgently required.

3. That a clause be added to
the Master Agreement provid-
ing that employees, who fail
to carry out their ordinary
duties by reason of an illegal
work stoppage or a concerted
refusal to comply with normal
procedure during the life of
the agreement, may forfeit all
seniority rights, without prej-
udice to any other recourse
which the employer may have
under the agreement.

The above proposal is evi-
dently intended to penalize those
who may participate in “job
action”. It is also intended to
deal with refusals to work over-
time under certain conditions.
The Union has always taken the
position that such penalty
clauses are unnecessary if griev-
ances are dealt with promptly
and justly under the agreement.

4, That “security employees”

be added to the exceptions
under the section in the con-
tract which defines those to be
considered as within the bar-
gaining unit.

This is apparently intended to
place such employees in the
same category as ‘confidential

See “SUBTRACT” Page 3

7.00 p.m.
Thursday

5c PER COPY|

LISTEN TO

CONCILIATION

Bargaining between the

ciliation Officer.

In a public statement issued
by District President Joe Morris,
when the employers forced ter-
mination of the discussions, he
said:

IWA bargaining with Forest
Industrial Relations Ltd., with
regard to the terms of 1954-55
Coast Master Agreement be-
came deadlocked yesterday,
and was terminated.

This sudden development
followed a surprise maneuver
on the part of the employers’
representatives, as on the pre-
ceding Tuesday, the IWA Ne-
gotiating Committee had, in
good faith, expressed readiness
to conclude an agreement at
the bargaining table on all the
issues involved. We were given
reason to believe that the em-
ployers would join with us in a
genuine effort to exhaust every
possibility of settlement while
the bargaining. conferences
were in progress.

When the employers’ repre-
sentatives returned after the
one-day recess, they stipulated
“that the Union would be re-
quired to withdraw all pro-
posals for an additional degree
of union security as a prior
condition to any agreement on
any or all of the remaining pro-
posals for contract revision.

This insistent demand for
the elimination of one of the
Union’s major proposals from
the discussions as the price to
be paid for any hope of settle-
ment, precluded the possibility
of agreement being reached at
this stage.

The IWA Negotiating Com-

. Full union security.

on piece-work rates.

industry.

IWA Policy Committee
acting for the Union in the
Pacific Northwest States,
set May 8rd as a strike
deadline, when the results
of a recent strike vote were
tabulated and reported at
its recent session in Port-
land.

Highlights of recent develop-
ments in the area are:

1, The membership cast the
largest strike-vote ever tabulated
by this Union. Every region in
the Northwest voted in favor of
the ‘strike being called.

2, The economics of the indus-
try and factors relating to it
already indicated that all sec-

tions of the industry are ahead

SCKNW sstny

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LKS COLLAPSE

OWNERS’ ATTITUDE FORCES

ON UNION

IWA and Forest Industrial

Relations Ltd. reached a stalemate on Thursday, April
29, when the employers’ representatives said that there
could.be no settlement during the talks, unless the Union
abandoned all demands for additional union security.
Application has been made for the appointment of a Con-

mittee would not be coerced
into making this “deal”, which
would make a farce of the bar-
gaining procedure. We would
not accept the employers’
proposition to “sell out” the
interests of the membership on
this vital point.

We were, therefore, left no
alternative but to refer the
dispute, so created, to the Con-
ciliation Branch of the Depart-
ment of Labor. It is antici-
pated that a Conciliation Offi-
cer will now be appointed to
deal with the dispute.

The employers’ attitude to-
ward any form of genuine
union security amounts to a
fixation, which ignores the
trend in modern labor-manage-
ment relations. It is based on
their opposition to the com-
plete unionization of their em-"
ployees.

All their pretexts for refus-
ing to consider this non-cost
item in our contract demands
relate to situations provoked
by this attitude toward union-
ization, and which creates an
atmosphere in which the em-
ployees feel they must battle
constantly for their rights.

Those employers who genu-
inely desire more harmonious
Jabor - management relations,
should adopt an attitude of co-
operation with their employees
as organized within the Union,
and encourage rather than un-
dermine the orderly and demo-
cratic bargaining arrange-
ments which can be developed
only when the Union is made
secure in its bargaining status.

1954-55 CONTRACT DEMANDS
. Six additional paid statutory holidays.

. Day rates and negotiating rights for workers now
Retention of seniority during lay-off.

. Sunday pay at time and one-half for watchmen,
boatmen, and plant guards.

. Job analysis program for entire industry.
. Medical services plan, employer-paid, for the ‘whole

8. Free transportation from hiring point to job.

Union Sets
Strike Date

of 1952’s big year in production,
sales and orders. ~

8. Hourly productivity of the
workers has increased about 10
percent in the last two years but
the workers have not derived any
benefits from it.

4. The strike deadline is set
for Monday, May 3, 1954. It will
commence at the beginning of
the day shift, whatever hour
that may be in a particular
operation.

The Union’s demands in these
negotiations are: (1) 12%4-cent
per hour wage increase across-
the-board; (2) correction of job
rate inequities based on job
analysis of the industry; (3)
three weeks’ vacation after five
years.

6.30 p.m.
Thursday

son. See e-