2nd Issue, June B.C. LUMBER WORKER 3

From Page 1 b:
The Ce d Radio Pro

versity of British Columbia, and| deadline has been as yet deter- | completely at the mercy of price| enable the Union to bargain with |well as Shingle Sawyers and

the Employers’ member on the
Board, Mr. George Robson, have
signed a majority report,

“In their majority report they
recommended that no wage in-
crease be granted. They have
ignored nearly all of the Union’s
demands, and have paid greater
attention to some of the Em-
ployers’ demands, which they
know to be highly objectionable
to the membership,

NOTHING

“Bob Smeal, the Union’s
member on the Board has signed
a minority report, in which he
challenges the very obvious bias
of the majority report, and de-
scribes it as an Employers’ re-
port from start to finish. He said
and I agree with him, ‘The terms
of the majority report are harsh
and provocative. In effect, the
‘majority report tells 28,000 lum-
ber workers, ‘We will give you
nothing this year in the way of
an improved contract.’

“The District Policy Committee
has given the whole situation the
most careful consideration, The
conclusion was hed unani-
mously that the majority report
has not dealt fairly with the in-
terests of the lumber workers, and
that it proposes nothing of any
significant value to them. ;

“As a matter of fact, the ma-
jority on the Board, in effect state
that the-Employers are completely
right, and that the workers in the
industry are completely wrong in
daring to ask for any contract im-
provements this year, Little dis-
tinction is made between cost
items and non-cost items,

Sorry Failure

“Without exception, the mem-
bers of the District Policy Com-
mittee which is completely rep-
resentative of the Local Unions
concerned, agreed that this is
another sorry chapter in the record
of Conciliation Board failures in
the lumber industry,

“The meinbers of the Commit-
tee held the opinion, that never
have they known a Conciliation
Board to have been so completely
dominated (favourable to) by the
Employers’ opinion, This Board is
the biggest failure of all because
it has done nothing but bolster the
Employers’ attack on the Union.

“When T speak this way of an-
other miserable failure to concili-
ate a dispute of major significance
to the economic life of the prov-
ince, I do not express the belief
at a fully impartial Board, rep-
ntative of the Employers and
Employees may> be expected to
grant on all occasions, everything
that is demanded.

“Conciliation must always be a
reasonable effort to achieve a reas-
onable and mutually acceptable
compromise. In this instance, no
such effort was made. The ma-
jority of the members on the
Board dealt with the dispute as
though they were judges on the
bench, who felt that the law for
their guidance had been written
by the Employers.

“As we now read the report,
in the light of all the submis-
sions placed before the Board,
we can reach no other conclu-
sion than that this report is de-
signed (will) to provoke strife,
rather than to conciliate and
achieve an amicable settlement.

Reject, Authorize Strike

“Because this report contains
nothing for the workers in the
industry, the District Policy
Committee recommends to the
members of the Union that they
reject the majority report. They
also unanimously recommend
that the membership authorize
strike action to be taken when
deemed advisable by the Dis-
trict Policy Committee.

“At this point I must state, in
order to avoid misunderstand-
ing, that although we ask for

authorization, no strike

mined. When necessary, this
will be discussed in consultation
with all Local Unions. On the
other hand, I must make it clear
to all IWA members that unless
we prepare to fight, the Em-
ployers will stick to their origi-
nal intention to give us nothing.
I will say more, that if the Em-
ployers do stick to that intention,
I believe that our Union
fight this through to the fi
to get a square deal.

“We challenge position
taken by the majority of the
Board, that all considerations of
well-being among the workers
must be shelved until the Employ-
ers regain their anticipated restor-
ation to high profit levels.

“We are placing the issues on
this basis, squarely before the
members of the Union. They, will
be given full opportunity to ex-
press their wishes by secret ballot,
conducted on the job and at con-
venient centres.

An Employers’ Report

“The reasons given by the ma-
jority ‘of the Board for recom-
mending that the Union should
gn a contract making the present
wage rates effective for the con-
tract year which ends June 14th,
1959, are largely quotations from
the Employers’ submissions to the
Board, with some few changes in
phrasing. t

“Rising costs of living, and in-
creased productivity in the indus-
try are not denied, but it is coldly
stated that all these factors which
form the usual basis of wage rate
determination must be set aside
until the Employers decide that
they have the means to pay any
wage increase.

“Contrary to the evidence (sub-
mitted by the Union), which every
man in the industry is familiar
with, they reiterate the Employers’
claim that the industry is in a very
precarious position. They say that
this is a time for great caution yet
shipments are increasing to all
markets.

“They do not deny that prices
are firm, that special advantages
enabling the B.C, producer to cap-
ture a large share of all markets
are evident, but still in their opin-
ion all these factors are, as they
say, sheer guesswork.

“Tf they are guesswork, the
pressure we now experience for
more and more production to meet
the market demand must be sheer
fantasy. This sort of gobblede-
gook is nauseating for those
with practical experience in the
camps and mills.

“Fantastic’’

“To illustrate the fantastic
lengths to which the majority
report has gone to build a case
against the Union — for that is
all that this report does—I must
refer to the attempt to tie wage
rates to the rise and fall of net
prices as reported by a selected
list of mills. Tt is called the ‘net
a ion vah
is the first time we have
heard of this concept throughout
the previous years of negotiation,
when often prices were rising,
This statement of net prices has
been accepted by the majority of
the Board, as it was reported,
without any examination of the
factors which have entered into
such price fixing such as lowered
of logs, increasing productiy-
y of which there is evidence on
all sides, and the increasing and
profitable utilization of material.
In support. of this remarkable
theory, the majority of the Board
have chosen to ignore all the usual
factors which have entered into
wage determination in ‘the past
such as costs of living, productiv-
ity, and the prevailing wage pat-
tern in industry generally,

“T suspect that they woud
like to have wages tied to net
prices at the mill, in a manner
that would place our members

manipulations by the Employ-
ers. I also suggest that the calcula-
tions of the majority overlooked
participation by the larger mills in
the profits of the export marketing
agencies.

“In regard to the refusal to
recommend a wage increase, the
facts still remain with our mem-
bers, that living costs have risen
to the point where wage in-
creases have been wiped out;
productivity is up to the point
where a reduced working force
is producing 20% more, The
same employers have given our
companion union, in the other
major section of the forest prod-
ucts industry, the Pulp and Sul-
phite workers, a base rate for
July 1st next of $1.89 as com-
pared to the present base rate
for lumber workers of $1.72.
The street sweepers in Vancou-
ver City now receive $1.84 an
hour.

“For these reasons and many
others the members of this
Union have been placed in the
position where they must either
fight for their rights or be
shoved down to the level of the
poorest paid workers in the
province.

Other Threats
“On other points the report
upholds the employers on pro-
posals deliberately designed to
(which will) injure the interests
of the workers. Not content with
the existing provisions, which

respect to the contract rates for
fallers and buckers, the majority
report proposes that something
different should be worked out
by a joint committee of investi-
gation,

“This is nothing more or less
than the entering of the
wedge (this will cause the enter-
ing of the wedge) to slash the
earnings of fallers and buckers.
Reference is made to cases of
exceptionally high daily earnings
under the incentive system in-
stituted for their purposes by the
employers. No reference is made
to the seasonal nature of this em-
ployment, the increased output
per man hour, and the many who
must work for much less than
the average claimed, on a ‘feast
or famine’ basis.

No Revision

“The proposal is also made in
this report that the provision for
annual revision of category rates
be such as to prevent any re-
vision on an industry-wide basis.
No reference is made to the
Union’s demand for revision of
tradesmen’s rates, and this section
if accepted, would place the case
for tradesmen throughout the in-
dustry completely outside any
area of settlement.
his report would make the
provision for payment of call time
subject to a ruling of the Board
of Industrial Relations. This is
aimed at the call time now ob-

tained by Fallers and Buckers as

Packers, all of whom work on
piece work rates.
Board Rates

“The majority of the Board in-
dicates that they believe in an in-
crease of board and lodging rates.
Their only reason for not re-
commending a $1.50 a day in-
crease in this regard is that
they couldn’t get away with it,
when they had not recommend-
ed a wage increase.

“They think that there may be
what they call a more propitious
time for a settlement which would
cut the so-called losses of the Em-
ployers in providing board and
lodging to get workers into the
woods.

“Gypo’”’ Contractors

“The irritating problem caused
by the practice of some Employers
of farming out production work
to gypo contractors, the majority
of the Board believe can be solved
by joint application for a ruling
from the Labour Relations Board.
They overlooked the evidence,
that this has already been done
by the Union without any clear-
cut or satisfactory decision. The
report on this point is an ob-
vious evasion on the part of the
majority.

Seniority Impaired

“Another proposal of the ‘ma-
jority, designed to (which would)
weaken the present contract, is
that which would remove all re-

See “CENSORED” Page 11

the word is spreading!

U.B.C. Bohemian...a very popular beer! 3

Sor free home delivery phone MU 4-1121, YU 8-2686, WA 2-7530

The Carling Breweries (B.C.) Limited (formerly Vancouver Breweries Ltd.)

‘This advertisement is not published or displayed by the Liquor Control Board or by the Government of British Columbia