B.C. LUMBER WORKER

To Alberta —

‘THE appeal made recently by the District Officers

urging continued support from the Local Unions
for the expansion of organization in Alberta
should meet with a ready response. The facts, as
set forth, outline an obligation that is seldom re-
jected by loyal trade unionists.

Considered on the basis of a trade union obli-
gation, the need has an undeniable appeal. Eight
thousand lumber workers in ‘Alberta stand in dire
need of the protection to be afforded them by
organization within the IWA.

They have never succeeded in organizing be-
fore, because attempts at organization have pre-
viously been fostered as a secondary consideration
of unions concerned with other industries. Orga-
nization among the Alberta lumber workers is now
succeeding because it is being directed by lumber
workers: with experience.

Wages paid in the Alberta lumber industry are
pitifully low. The average base rate in some areas
is as low as sixty-five cents an hour. In recent
negotiations, the employers have bitterly opposed
any increase over one dollar an hour.

It is a common experience to find highly skilled
workers in Alberta receiving no more than ninety
cents an hour for work which in B.C. commands
approximately two dollars an hour.

More than sentiment is involved, when we con-
sider the plight of the Alberta lumber: workers.
The low wage standards prevailing within a few
miles of IWA-certified operations in B.C. are a
graye menace. There is a constant migration of
workers to the B.C. operations of men who are
rapidly exploited by unscrupulous employers to
under-ciit the IWA standards.

Proof of the pressing need for organization is
found in the response already secured from the
Alberta lumber workers. In a short space of time,
they ‘have formed two new Local Unions as rally-
ing points. More than three hundred members
haye been signed up in these newly-formed Local
Unions, and operations in their vicinity are being
rapidly certified, and placed under IWA agree-
ments.

A factor in the situation which cannot be
ignored on this side of the provincial boundary is
that B.C. employers are now rapidly expanding
their interests in Alberta.

One plywood firm, already operating several
plants in B.C., is now commencing to erect a new
million dollar plant in Edmonton. Another firm
has purchased almost two hundred million feet of
white spruce at Fort McMurray, and plans opera-
tions which will take lumber workers into the sub-
Arctic.

These expanding operations, some of which are
made possible by the profits taken out of B.C.
industry, will produce for the domestic market in
direct competition with-B.C. production.

If this Alberta production is based on labor at
65 cents an hour, the B.C. product will soon be
forced out of the market and B.C. workers will
pay the piper.

Support of the organizational campaign is
therefore a matter of self-preservation, as well as
a matter of a trade union obligation.

Progress already made in Alberta, fully justi-
fies the step recently taken’ to place that province
within the jurisdiction of District 1. No part of
the Union’s organization is better equipped to do
the Alberta job, as events have shown.

When the job is completed, one more important
step will have been taken toward bridging the
distance between the Western and Eastern sec-'
tions of the Union in Canada.

All these considerations add up to one conclu-
sion. The opportunity before the Local Unions to
support the Alberta drive is an opportunity to
make a sound investment in protection of B.C.
wage standards. : fi

It is also a sound investment in the future of
the Union which’ will be realized when all Cana-
dian woodworking operations are as thoroughly
TWA-organized, as are those on the Pacific coast.

West German Co-Ops.
Show Expansion Now

BONN (CNS) — When the
Adenauer government of West
Germany passed a law restrict-
ing co-operative patronage divi-
dends to 3%, co-op leaders were
able to pass on further savings
to members by simply lowering
the prices on merchandise. This
ability to bounce back in the face
of adversity has typified the
German co-operative movement
during its sixty years of exis-
tence.

The German consumer co-op-
erative movement was estab-
lished in 1895 on the pattern of
the Rochdale society in Great
Britain. As the co-op idea took
root in the country, membership
advanced steadily until in 1980
co-ops in the area of today’s Fed-
eral Republic had a total mem-
bership of 2,300,000,

Hitler Interfered
With the advent of the Nazi

regime, the Hitler government
ordered the affiliation of the co-
ops with a state organization and
dismissed the executive board of
the Co-operative Federation. The
comparative failure of the “Reich
Federation of Consumer Co-oper-
atives”, founded at-Hamburg in
1935, is illustrated by its small
membership, The Nazi-dominated
body never exceeded a member-
ship figure of 300,000 enrolled in
1,800 co-ops.

When free institutions were
once more permitted in Germany
at the end of World War II, the
growth of co-ops was phenomen-
al. By 1954 a total enrollment of
2,000,000 co-operators- — repre-
senting 7,000,000 consumers —
was registered in 8,200 co-op or-
ganizations. A wholesale pur-
chasing co-operative, Grossein-
kaufs - Gessellschaft (GEG),
quickly built up its operations

until it recorded a turnover of
nearly $257 million last year,
This was a 21% increase over the
1958 trading totals.

Today, the GEG maintains
over 30 plants manufacturing
items for sale in the consumer
co-op stores. In addition, it has
entered into an agreement with ~
four state governments and is
joint owner of a 17-vessel fish-
ing fleet and a fish-processing
plant.

Dividends Limited

Following protests from busi-
nessmen that the co-ops were
eating into their trade, the goy-
ernment last year passed a law
limiting these dividends to 3%.
In order to give the maximum
benefits to its members, the co-
operative movement has now an-
nounced that trading profits will
be shared both through lower
prices and the 8% dividends.

1-357
Earns

Thanks

The following letter was re-
cently received by the officers
of Local 1-357 IWA, and is re-
produced here at the request of
both parties.

We wish to express our sincere
thanks and appreciation to the
membership of Local 1-857 for
their unqualified support during
the dispute at the mill.

We have no doubt that the en-
tire resources of the district
would have been forthcoming,
had that been necessary,

The settlement arrived at
Points out very clearly the ne-
cessity of a strong and well or-
ganized union that can be de-
pended upon when anyone sees
fit to disregard the contract, and
refuses to meet and discuss the
problems. Through unity such as
ours, we can protect and preserve
the rights and dignity of the
working man.

Sincerély and fraternally,

Joe Caron,

Secretary,

McKay & Flanagan Sub-Local.

(ay

SIGN UP THAT.

NON-MEMBER!

ENS

INSTRUCTION IN INDUSTRIAL FIRST AID

available through Correspondence Courses’ leading to Industrial
First Ald Certificates approved by the Workmen's Compensation
Board of B.C. Also Correspondence Course in

Basic Accident Prevention,

THE INDUSTRIAL FIRST AID ATTENDANTS ASSN. OF B.C.

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Vancouver 3, B.C.

The Crulsers’ Coat (P, 658) has
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Four roomy out-
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