B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Next Move

SHE IWA dispute with the coast lumber op-
erators will now be aired publicly before a
Conciliation Board. Apparently no basis

for settlement has been discovered in discussions
conducted by the Conciliation Officer. It will
now be the duty of IWA negotiators to present
all evidence and argument in support of the con-

tract demands, in order to win a satisfactory
award.

This situation can be interpreted in only one
way by IWA members. The employers are de-
termined to continue their opposition to every
single one of the contract demands made by the
Union. They will make known this unyielding
Opposition to the Board, in order to place the
IWA at the greatest possible disadvantage.

Experienced members are well aware that
the appointment of a Board sets in motion pro-
cedures which will require important decisions
by the Union’s membership. Whatever the
Board may decide, its verdict must be accepted
or rejected by vote of the IWA membership,
with the usual consequences. A serious conflict is

in sight for which the organization must pre-
pare.

Everything possible has been done to create
an unfavorable atmosphere for the Union’s ne-
gotiations. The whole trade union movement has
been under attack by every vicious, selfish, re-
actionary force in the country. One cannot read
the financial pages or listen to talks over radio
and TV without hearing that the trade unions’

unreasonable demands are responsible for re-
cession.

Those who are loudest in their condemnation
of the Unions are those who have practiced the
worst profit-grabbing policies in national his-
tory. They will not accept labour’s challenge to
probe the relationship between prices, profits
and wages. They know, and we know, that the
price inflation is now an artificial matter in our

country rigged wilfully, deliberately, and arbi-
trarily by a few corporations.

They know, and we know, that in the present
situation it is not commodities that are in short
supply. It is the consumers’ buying power that
is in short supply. Industry is operating at less
than 70 per cent of its productive capacity. Ca-
pacity far exceeds the ability of industry to find
customers for its products. The way to correct
that situation is to put more money in the cus-

tomers’ pockets by the better distribution of in-
dustry’s earnings.

The extra handicaps placed on the Union
this year in its negotiations require that its mem-
bers should make a proportionately greater ef-
fort in support. As the Negotiating. Committee
goes into action before the Conciliation Board,
members of the Local Unions should: act in their
own communities and on the. job.

Now is the time to ready the Local Union
organization for any emergency. Every inter-
ested member should maintain close contact with
his Local Union to learn of all such plans. Local
Union and job activities should be geared to full
support of the Union’s fight before the Board.

Every member should be on the alert to
counter the employers’ propaganda when it is
heard on the job or in the community.

The IWA argument is clear,

The IWA contract demands are reasonable.

The industry is able to provide for these im-
proved contract conditions.

There is no reason why lumber workers
should be forced to accept less than has been
granted to other workers.

If lumber workers and their families are
given more to spend, business activities will
improve.

“IN ONE EAR"

BY MAMIE MOLONEY

The Whipping Boy
‘There'll always be a scapegoat.

When things go wrong it’s so easy to put the boots to a
whipping boy, to use one’s emotions instead of one’s reason.

Right now we have a business recession, unemployment, in-
flation. The economic situation is the grimmest it’s been since
the Second World War, and we’ve got such a convenient whip-
ping boy to take the blame for our troubles—labour.

It’s all labor’s fault that we've priced ourselves out of the ex-
port market. It’s all labor's fault that we're having a recession.
It’s all labor’s fault that prices continue to rise.

How easy it is to find a scapegoat. Far easier than doing a
little thinking and dividing the blame with industry, government
and the public, who are surely as responsible as labor, if not
more so, for the economic pickle we're in,

Dividing the Blame

Let’s take a look at industry, which finds it so convenient to
blame everything on labor’s demands-for higher wages.

More than two years ago, economists, whose job is to think
ahead, to take the long-range view on business prospects, warned
industry that it was over-expanding; that future market prospects
just didn’t look good enough to absorb the products of all the new
pulp mills, lumber, steel, etc. But business, bemused by making
a fast buck while the going was good, paid no heed and continued
to expand with the current result of over-production in a dwindl-
ing market. c

Let’s take a look at government. Both the United States and
Canada are free-enterprise governments and any steps they take
to curtail expansion of business, to plan ahead, to cut profits, are
looked upon as unwarranted interference by business, if not
downright socialism.

Too Late and Too Little

Our Canadian government did make a few feeble attempts,
“Tight money” was one of them. But it was too late and too little.
Besides, some of the biggest corporations, steel for instance, are
not affected by tight money. They have so much money of their
own they are not dependent on banks for loans. They can fin-
ance their own expansion. And raise their own prices to. pay for it.

No -free-enterprise government is willing, in peace time, to
do what it did in wartime with such good results—that is, “freeze”
prices and wages and curtail profits. That is socialism to be re-
sorted to only in wartime when conditions are “extraordinary.”
Just why severe unemployment and creeping inflation are not
“extraordinary” as well, I'll leave you to figure out yourself.

We, the public, must take our share of the blame by going
along on the spree. Drunk with purchasing power, we bought and
bought, helping to push up prices in our own way.

Plan — Or “Muddle Through”

Labor, seeing profit statements going up, up, and up year
after year, naturally wanted its share of the pie, too. Not to want

to share in the general prosperity would have been rather odd,
don’t you think?

In a recession, labor has a responsibility, along with business,
government and the public. But to place all the blame on labor
is ridiculous. As long as the cost of living continues to rise—and
last month it jumped again to an all-time high—labor is certainly
entitled to hold its own.

What the situation calls for is co-operation, Labor, business
and government should get together at “the summit” and work
out a fair compromise that doesn’t leave just one of them holding
the bag.

Of course that would be “planning.” And planning has such
a nasty, socialist ring. The alternative? Well, we can “muddle
through” like we “muddled through” 10 long years in the 30s—
God help us,

Courtesy Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA (CPA) — The
Canadian Brotherhood of Rail-
way Employees and Other
Transport Workers (CLC) has
announced that three scholars ~
ships to the Fourth Alberta Ad-
vanced Labor Education Semin-
ar, beginning January 19th, have
been granted to Brotherhood
members,

The awards, which were made
under the Harry Allan Chappell
Memorial Scholarship Plan estab-
lished by the transport union last
year, went to W. B. Scott, Nor-
wood, Manitoba; James S. Jame-
son, Edmonton and Howard A,
Babcock, Regina.

Scholarship Plan

The scholarship plan, unique
among Canadian unions, was ¢s-
tablished in recognition of the
outstanding leadership given to
union education by the late Harry
Chappell of Winnipeg, National
President of the Brotherhood from
1952 until his death in 1955. Under
provision of the plan, $5,000 has
been made available this year to
provide scholarships for Brother-
hood members in the field of labor
and adult education,

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