B.C. LUMBER WORKER

4
Labour Day, 1955
By JOE MORRIS a
President, District Council No. 1

LABOUR Day, 1955, marks the opening of a new
era for the workers on this continent. It has
special significance for those who harvest the
wealth of the forests. From this day onward, the
strength of organized labor can be exerted to its
utmost extent and with its maximum vigor.

The decisions reached at the recent IWA In-
ternational Convention correspond with this fore-
cast, for warm approval was given plans leading
to organic unity both as between the national
bodies and in the lumber industry.

Through long years of struggle, those workers
who have pinned their faith on the awakening of
the working class to its real power, have longed
for this day. The mergers in the United States
and Canada now give definite promise of labor’s
attainment of its declared objectives.

Recognition in all quarters, that the. trade
unions have a common purpose in building orga-
nization has resulted in the realization that this
common purpose can be served with success only
by the pooling of organizational resources, and
experience in one common effort.

The AFL-CIO and TLC-CCL mergers will suc-
ceed. They will succeed because they fulfill the
aims of trade union organization. They will suc-
ceed, because they will immediately demonstrate
to the workers, that organized labor has the
power as well as the right to demand social justice.

It was once said, “If the trumpet give an un-
certain sound, who shall prepare himself for
battle?” On Labor Day, 1955, we know that there
will no longer be any uncertain note in labor’s
trumpet call to greater achievements.

Modern Trends

LET any thoughtful member of the IWA examine

the record of the recent IWA International
Convention, and he must quickly decide that un-
less he keeps pace with rapidly moving develop-
ments, he will be in worse plight than Rip Van
Winkle.

The man who lets his thinking get stuck in any
rut made in the last ten years, will wake up a
few years hence and find that the trade union
movement has passed him by and over another
horizon.

Contracts for the guaranteed annual wage or
lay-off payments have now been secured by other
unions. The pioneering done by the UAW and the
USWA in this field has altered the thinking on
both sides of the bargaining tables in mass pro-
duction industries. Soon the IWA will be com-
pelled to give this question careful consideration.

The advent of automation in industry, likely
to find accelerated application, from now on pre-
sents other problems. The convention officers
foresaw that the Union must be prepared for ad-

. justment to radical changes in the employment
rights of its members. :

The Union must keep abreast of these chang-
ing conditions in the- industrial world, or go
under. '

That Union whose members are determined to
prepare themselves to grapple with these prob-
lems well in advance, and intelligently, will sur-
mount all obstacles. But, they must get down to
business without delay.

Changes Vital

SOME IWA members may have felt dismayed

when they first glimpsed the ballot which asked
for decisions on sixteen proposed constitutional
amendments.

One explanation can be made which should
reassure them that the Union is not going ab-
surdly legalistic. These proposed amendments
represent the voiced desire of the membership

to bring the constitution into a more realistic con-
formity with changing trends on the labor front.

The Constitution exists to serve the member-
ship needs. If at any point it is found to be un-
wieldy, and likely to retard efficiency, prompt
attention should be given to necessary changes.
It must be kept shining and bright, to maintain
the Union’s ability to function with readiness in
the interests of the members.

A further assurance should be given that the
Convention carefully safeguarded the member-
ship right to control the Union’s affairs. The
changes do not wipe out the democratic tradition
of the IWA, but make the principles of democ-
racy more workable.

Botkin Forcasts
Powerful Merger

Strong hint that discussions at the International level
contemplate a merger between the IWA and the Pulp and
Sulphite Workers and the Papermakers, as well as other
unions concrned with woodworking processes, was given
by International Secretary, William Botkin, during a recent
radio address in Vancouver. cosiibilities’ beigrs GREREaTS

The speaker envisioned the | Possibilities | before trade

tremendous power which would
rest in the hands of the members
forming the large organization
which would dominate the labor
scene in British Columbia.

He said in part:

“I think it is important to
note, as it gives evidence of the
genuine desire of the IWA to ac-
complish complete organic unity,
that. the International Executive
Board has expressed approval of
the establishment of a new union
to embrace the workers in all
logging, sawmill, plywood,
shingle, pulp and paper, furniture
and like operations processing
wood, or its by-products.

As a matter of fact we have
engaged in preliminary discus-
sions with the officers of other
international unions concerned,
especially the Lumber and Saw-
mill Workers, now a division of
the Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners. You should know
that discussions with the Pulp
and Sulphite Workers and Paper-
makers are now definitely con-
templated. But, I must stress the
fact that all these discussions
are preliminary, and are taking
place in co-operation with the
top-ranking officers of the AFL
and the CIO. No final decision
will be made, and no plan will be
placed into effect, until our mem-
bers are given the unrestricted
right to sanction any merger
agreement,

We are proceeding with these
discussions in the confident be-
lief that the members of the IWA
desire to follow the lead given in
the recent statements of Walter
Reuther, CIO President, and
George Meany, AFL President,

wherein they point to the great

union movement, through unity
of action and purpose.
Brighter Future
When we think of the situa-
tion in British Columbia, we
should consider the potential
increase in trade union
strength, and the greater like-

lihood that we may achieve the

trade union objectives, if, for
instance, the IWA and the Pulp
and Sulphite Workers, and
Papermakers, as well as all
woodworkers, unite in one com-
bined effort.

The obstacles that may pre-
sent themselves in the way of
such unity are insignificant
when compared with the guar-
antee, which we can thus se-
cure for ourselves, of * far
reaching benefits for the work-
ers of this province.

Kroll
Reveals
Formula

“On one hand we have a Big _

Mink Administration in Wash-
ington, giving away everything
that’s not nailed down and
some of the things that are,

“And on the other hand we
have a Big Business Republican
party in the states trying to nail
labor to the cross so that they
can’t do anything about it.

“I wonder if that’s the formula
President Eisenhower had in
mind when he told his fellow
Republicans in Washington a few
weeks ago that if they followed

the right policies they could get’

elected forever.”

—Excerpt from a speech by Jack
Kroll, Director, CIO Politleal
Action Committee, to Convention
of International Woodworkers
of Amerien (CIO) at Milwaukee,

is.

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