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Orcas Pubtiatia t he Inclornational Woodworkers of Ar

BL. Diserict Connell Nob

KIER

Vol. XXII, No. 11

<> *® jst ISSUE, JUNE 1954 - VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

S

UNIONS SUPPORT
, FIVE-DAY WEEK

Opposition expressed last week by the Vancouver
Labor Council to the proposal of a six-day shopping week
in Vancouyer, was given general endorsation by the
majority of trade unionists this week, as the date of the
plebiscite in question drew near. Workers were asked to

. vote “No” on the proposal.

District President Joe Morris
expressed his opinions in the
following terms:

“The consensus of opinion
among the organized lumber
workers in Vancouver favors the
five-day shopping week as a
vitally necessary protection for
the welfare of the retail clerks.

The IWA urges its members
in Vancouver to vote in support
of the five-day week, and thereby
help to ward off the present
threat to thousands of our fel-

* low workers,

For the reason that our Union
has waged a long and successful
struggle to establish the 40-hour
week in the lumber industry,
with unbroken days of rest, we
realize fully the importance of
the issue from the standpoint of
the workers in retail stores.

Any threat to the hours of
work, now found acceptable to
the community, as well as the
workers, is a threat to the condi-
tions already won by the lumber
workers through organized
struggle.

As a section of the consuming
public, we see no advantage in a
needless change to a six-day
shopping week, that would com-
pensate for lowered living stand-
ards to be imposed upon the
retail store employees.

Workers should exercise their
right to vote “No” on the plebis-
cite, for as they form the major-
ity of the buying public, they
should employ their strength on
the side of the workers’ rights.”

Vancouver Labor Council Pre-
sident, Lloyd Whalen, gave the
following reasons why workers
should vote “NO” on the six day
shopping week proposal:

Eight Reasons to Vote “No”

1. Possible higher retail
prices to consumer.

2. Loss of full time employ-
ment in favour of part time
replacements, with loss of take
home pay due to the lengthen-
ing of business hours.

The retail stores in the U.S.A.
having established the six-day
week have found that many of
their full time employees have
had to go on a part time basis
with staggered hours,

3. The Provincial Govern-
ment will not enforee the 5-day

- Work week,

WHAT'S
INSIDE

Page
Settlement .... 3

Editorials... 4
IWA Pix ...... 5-8

Lyle Wicks, Minister of Labor,
issued a statement that it was
not the responsibility of the Pro-
vineial Government to enforce
the 5-day week in the retail
stores. The civic authorities have
not guaranteed the enforcement
of the 5-day work week.

4. 1100 small merchants will
be forced to work the 6-day
work week if this plebiscite
Passes as they are not covered.

\Cut

Fallers
Suffer

Fallers and buckers em-
ployed by the Columbia
Cellulose Co. Ltd. have en-
countered difficulties in the
adjustment of their contract
rates which are attracting
attention throughout the
IWA because of the intro-
duction of the cubic meas-
urement scale.

The story told by President
Frank Howard, Local 1-71, IWA,
indicates that the contract rates

by law.

5, The Trade Union move-
ment has fought and struggled
for years to establish the 40-

hour 5-day work week.

Industrial workers cherish the
40-hour, 5 day work week, more
than any other condition. They
recognize that to establish a 6-
day work week, for Retail Clerks,
will be a precedent, whereby our
40-hour 5-day work week will he

in jeopard:

6. Why should a plebiscite
be conducted to determine the
work week of retail employ-

ees?

It should be the business of
the retail employees to establish
their own conditions through col-
lective bargaining, the same as

other workers enjoy.

If a plebiscite was suggested
to take away the 5-day work
week enjoyed by Industrial
Workers in this Province, a cha-
otie condition would arise, The
Trade Union movement is unal-
terably opposed to such a situa-
tion.

7. The five-day week is not
responsible for Organizations be-
ing unable to hold Conventions
in the City of Vancouver, as has
been intimated, but the reason is
the lack of Convention facilities.

8. Whereas the bulk of the
Shopping Public is composed
of working people who are not
receiving such high wages, that
it requires 6 days to spend it,
I, as President of the Vancou-
ver Labor Council, would sitt-
cerely urge all Union members,
and all sensible, fair minded
people to go to the Polls on
June 23rd and VOTE NO, on |}
the six-day working week.

Cancelled

Owing to the damage caus-
ed the Second Narrows
Bridge, resulting in its clos-
ure for a number of weeks,
the Annual Pienie of Local
1-217, IWA, originally sche-
duled for June 20, will be
cancelled,

The Local Union an-
nounces that the picnic ar-
rangements will be proceed-
ed with on Saturday, July
24, at Swedish Park.

en Gold

On CCL-PAC

were reduced from $1.25 per M.
f.b.m, to $1.10 per M. £.b.m., as
the camps opened after the Xmas
holidays, or at least the fallers
were informed that the new
rates would at least be equal to
$1.10 per M. f.b.m.

It was then announced that in
future the scale would be based
on the official cubic measurement.
In a rough and ready attempt to
convert f.b.m. to cubic measure,
and establish a basic unit of cal-
culation for the rates, the pro-
posal was made that the com-
pany would pay 50 cents per
“cunit” (100 cubic feet) using as
a conversion formula 175 cubic
feet per M. f.b.m.

Confusion became worse con-
founded, until at a meeting with
management the fallers got some
definite information-regarding
the basis of the mathematical
calculations employed by the
company.

The fallers proved themselves
to be as adept as representatives
of management in the higher
mathematics involved, and work-
ed out the answer that their new
contract rates are now the
equivalent of 8745 cents per M.
fb.m.

This means trouble

See “CUT” Page 3

in any

LINCOLN BISHOP, newly ap-
pointed representative of the
National PAC Committee of the
Canadian Congress of Labour.

(JOR

7.00 p.m.
Thursday

LISTEN TO

A
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Policy Committee Clears

Away Misunderstandings
She See

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Important assurances on a number of points were
given by District President Joe Morris, as he reported to
the Union the reasons of the District Policy Committee
for recommending acceptance of the “package” terms of
settlement, upon which members of the IWA have been
voting in recent weeks. He said:

“I wish to speak very frankly
to my fellow-members in the
IWA. We are about to make an
important decision regarding the
contract terms under which we
must work for the next year. I
am as anxious as you are that
we should make this decision
wisely, because it is vital to the
welfare of all those who depend
for their livelihood on employ-
ment in the Coast lumber indus-
try.

We'll hear a great deal of
argument, pro and con, for the
very natural reason that we all
feel keenly about bread and but-
ter considerations. Personally,
at this time, I have no desire to
win an argument merely for the
sake of winning. We all know
that the best results are not
always established by argument.
Winning an argument on an is-
sue of this nature would give us
no satisfaction, if we - argued
ourselves into a mistake,

The True Purpose

The purpose we must keep. in
mind no matter what anyone
says, is that of building the best
possible conditions at our work
and in our homes, for the hap-
piness and security of our fam-
ilies and ourselves. I believe,
with all sincerity, that any man
who plays fast and loose with
this issue for reasons of per-
sonal popularity is wholly un-
worthy of any mark of confidence
from his fellow-workers.

You may well ask me why I
talk this way, The reason is
that I was one of the seven men
who formed a Committee, dele-
gated by our Union to negotiate
a better contract with the lumber
operators. Since April 15th, we
have been in almost continuous
bargaining sessions with the em-
ployers’ representatives.

During the latter portion of
this period, we were working
with a Conciliation Officer, who
assumed authority to insist that
every possibility of settlement
should be considered before he
was prepared to recommend the
appointment of a Conciliation
Board.

Top Consideration

I ask you to believe that all
through these weeks of strenu-
ous bargaining, one question was
uppermost in our minds—what is
the best possible contract we can
secure for our Union?

The conditions set by the Con-
ciliation Officer made it possible
for us to roll up our sleeves and
go to work on the operators,
with no holds barred, in a mara-
thon battle of wits. We couldn’t
do any talking outside the con-
ferences, until there was some
definite result to report to the
Union, either that an agreement
of some sort was possible or that
no agreement at all could be
worked out. =

Freedom Maintained

Furthermore, it was necessary
to protect the Union’s interests,
so that if the Union later desired
to go before a Conciliation Board,
we would be able to re-state our

case with complete freedom of
action in regard to our original
demands.

In this down-to-earth bargain-
ing, we were able to persuade the
operators’ representatives to
consider many matters which
they had previously brushed
aside. As we expected, they were
tough men to bargain with. We
kept insisting that it would be
good for all concerned if they
made a sensible effort to meet
the proposals of our Union. To
get anywhere close to an agree-
ment there had to be a good deal
of give and take, for in an indus-
trial dispute, if both parties take
an “all or nothing” attitude, bar-
gaining gets exactly nowhere.

Unusual Features

We were faced with a very
unusual feature in the bargain-
ing this year. The Union’s mem-
bership had instructed us not to
make any demand for a general
wage increase, so wage rates
were not discussed. We went to
the bargaining table with eight
demands from the membership,
all of which dealt ‘with working
conditions.

Much of our bargaining from
the Union’s side of the table was
on the merit of the principles,
which we desired to be written
into the contract. We are sure
that these principles are just,
and the operators are just as
sure that these same principles
are unsound, for their own rea-
sons. Mainly, the issue was the
employers’ views as opposed to
the workers’ right to better con-
tract conditions,

This has a bearing on the
situation now. These principles
which we were required to dis-
cuss this year, are easily under-
stood by trade unionists but are
not so easily understood by the
men usually appointed as Chair-
men of Conciliation Boards, and
the general public.

We therefore felt that we
should grasp the opportunity of-
fered to make some progress in
gaining recognition of principles
which have always been slighted
in the conciliation proceedings of
previous years. This is particu-
larly true of such matters as
union security, and seniority re-
tention, issues which had been
given high priority this year by
the membership. _

Settlement Emerged

Well, finally through sheer
persistence on our part, the op-
erators moved in our direction
to some extent, and made it pos-
sible to discuss a settlement that
deserved consideration by the
members of our Union. As they
dropped most of their 16 pro-
posals, we were told that the
terms which are now before you
were the outside limit of the
changes in the contract, which
they were prepared to concede,
and so they left the ‘package’ on
our doorstep, saying in effect
‘you can take it or leave it, boys.’

Now, I’m not going to apolo-

See “VOTE” Page 3

CKNW

Saturday

7.05 p.m. 4

(J AY 6.30 p.m.

Thursday

s
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