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Ist Issue, July

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

From Page 1

“Conciliation”

all results of this vote gave the
Union a mandate authorizing
Strike action, with a majority be-
tween 65% to 70%.

large number of operations
which had reported an overwhelm-
ing majority for strike action on
the Union’s own strike ballot were
closed down just prior to the su-
pervised vote, otherwise the lat-
ter vote would have been larger.
A most significant feature of
these results is that all but three
of the large operations voted de-
cisively for strike action,

“It should be explained here
that our Union bargains with the
emplo: represented by Forest
Industrial Relations Ltd., on an
industry-wide basis for employees
in the logging, sawmill, plywood,
and shingle sections throughout
the coast area,

“We bargain for and sign one
master agreement, which governs
the terms of the agreements
signed with all individual opera-
tions. It is for this reason that our
Union has always arrived at de-
cisions respecting this agreement
on the basis of the over-all ma-
jerity vote of the members in the
area,

No Hasty Action

“This Union has no desire to
take hasty action to call for a
strike on the part of those who
voted in favour. There will be
no such action, until all sections
of the Union’s membership have
been consulted. We have time
to make our decisions with due
deliberation, whether or not we
exercise the strike mandate, and
if so, when and where. On the
other hand we do not intend to
let matters be delayed indefin-
itely.

“This Union has never thought
of strike action except as a last
resort, when all other means have
failed to obtain a just and hon-
ourable settlement of a major dis-
pute with our employers. Our
concern’ continues to centre on
the terms of the coast master
agreement.

“This determines conditions for
28,000 workers, some of whom are
employed by the employers bar-
gaining through Forest Industrial
Relations Ltd., while others are
employed by a large number of
employers bargaining indepen-
dently. Our Union must consider

the well-being of the entire work-
ing force in industry, as well
as those directly concerned with
these negotiations.

“We consider it to be most un-
fortunate for good employer-em-
ployee relations, that some em-
ployers adopted a threatening
attitude with their employees im-
mediately prior to the supervised
strike vote, and we take serious
objection to the deliberate mis-
representation on the part of their
spokesmen,

“Contemptible Trickery”

“They concealed from their
employees the fact that the
recomenéations of the Concilia-
tion Board weaken many pro-
visions of the master agreement.

The language used glossed over

the fact that the award of the

Board proposes to give their

employees a very much worse

contract. The Board’s report,
if implemented, will take away
from their employees a number
of important contract provisions
negotiated in past years, and
found beneficial to the employ-
ees. The workers in the indus-
try were led to believe that if
they voted against a strike they
would suffer no change in con-
tract conditions. Assurances
given them of this sort
amounted to contemptible trick-

ery.
“Cut to Shreds”

“Everyone familiar with the
present master agreement, will
realize how the Conciliation
Board’s recommendations will cut
many important contract provi-
sions to shreds,

“If, for instance, the Board’s
proposal regarding seniority is
implemented, the present seniority
provisions can be made a com-
plete farce. If the Union agrees
to the proposition made by the
Board that the present contract
provisions for fallers and buckers
need revision, we are consenting
to deprive this group of workers
of protection under the agree-
ment for their contract rates.

“Suppose we agree to the
recommendation regarding board
rates for the loggers, we imme-
diately agree that these rates are
to be raised on the occasion of
the first wage adjustment in the
future.

“Further, the recommendations

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MONTE LAKE clash between management of the Pondosa Pine Lumbe!

r Co. Ltd. and the crew caused the

employees to establish an information picket line immediately. Later, they were compelled to withdraw when
confronted by an injunction. The issues will now be dealt with in court. (From left) T. Yamada; R. Yamada;
Ed Timmath, Plant Chairman; Bill Gallagher, Job Steward, and Bob Ross, Business Agent, Local 1-417, WA.

of the Board propose a distinct
violation of collective bargaining
principles, when it suggests that
certain contract conditions should
be removed from the field of ne-
gotiation and be made subject to
rulings of the Department of
Labour.

Dangerous Precedent

“The Board introduced a dan-
gerous precedent for all workers,
in its recommendation that the
time-tested formulas for wage de-
termination should be set aside.
It suggests that in future, the
over-riding consideration in  fix-
ing wage rates should be the abil-
ity to pay wage increases, as de-
termined solely on figures pre-
sented by the employers, without
regard to any impartial fact-find-
ing, and without regard to those
factors which bear directly on the
lives ‘of their employees,

“We face depresed living stan-
dards, if no consideration is to be
given the rise in living costs, in-
creased productivity in the lum-
ber industry, and the comparable
wage standards now established in
adjacent industries. I again point
to the fact that, from the outset,
the IWA presented a wage de-
mand considerably less than the
increases already granted to the
majority of the unionized workers
in British Columbia.

Non-Cost Items Ignored

“The main argument advanced
by the employers with respect to
the alleged precarious prospects
for their future, does not apply to
the non-cost items of contract re-
vision proposed by the Union,
which have been ignored.

“The employers will in no way
jeopardize their financial position,
or marketing prospects, if they
make a genuine effort to reach an
amicable settlement on matters
which will not cost them any addi-
tional financial burden, but which

are matters of constant irritation
on the job.

“T refer to such matters as the
difficulties now experienced in the
job application of the provisions
dealing with the hours of work,
seniority, and entitlement to holi-
days. As the negotiations began
on March 17th, we are at a com-
plete loss to understand why
these non-cost items could not
have been dealt with as evidence
of the employers’ good intentions,
apart from their unwillingness to
make any concessions of mone-
tary value.

Will Still Confer

“T would here re-state the pos-
tion of the IWA, which we have
consistently followed throughout.
As Chairman of the Union’s Ne-
gotiating Committee, I may give
the firm assurance that we are
still prepared to confer with the
employers in an effort to resolve
this dispute in a manner that will
best serve the welfare of our mem-
bers and the community at large.

“Tf necessary, our Union is pre-
pared to review its original de-
mands and consider any reason-
able compromise, if this will bring
about a just and amicable settle-
ment. We are still prepared to
explore any avenue that will lead
to a settlement acceptable to the
members of our Union.

Government Aid Sought

“Acting on behalf of our mem-
bership, the District Policy Com-
mittee has instructed me to re-
quest the further services of the
Provincial Government to open
the way for discussions between
the parties, so that further at-
tempts may be made to resolve
the existing dispute.

“However, if our efforts in
this direction fail, or are fru-

strated, we have no other al-
ternative but to report such fail-
ure to the members of our Un-
ion, and prepare for whatever

i

aS G
co
fi

LOGGERS’ AND LUMBERMEN’S CHOICE
For Over 35 Years

Watson's Leather

JOHN WATSON LTD.

>

Gloves

Union Made by

VANCOUVER, B.C.

Interior In
Conciliation

IWA negotiations for the
Northern and Southern In-
terior contracts will now re-
quire conciliation, it was an-
nounced this week. When
preliminary bargaining talks
deadlocked, application was
made by the IWA Negotiat-
ing Committee to the Depart-
ment of Labour for the ser-
vices of Conciliation Officers.
Mr. J. C. Sherlock has been
appointed for the Northern
Interior.

The Union is asking a fif-
teen per cent across the board
wage increase.

action may be necessary to
secure a, just and honourable
solution for their problems.

“Whatever may develop out of
this crisis, we can assure the mem-
bers of the IWA, as well as their
friends and neighbours, that any
action taken by our organization
in the immediate future will be de-
cided upon with due regard to the
welfare of the whole community,
as well as that of the members of
our own organization.”

1-423 Officers
Installed

Newly-elected officers of Local
1-423, Kelowna, were installed by
District Secretary - Treasurer
George Mitchell at the recent
membership meeting. They were:

President, Jack Welder; ist
Vice-President, Frank Stitch; 2nd
Vice-President, George Major;
3rd_ Vice-President, Bill Schu-
maker; Financial Secretary, Bill
Muir; Recording Secretary, Noel
Gooding; Warden, Fred Colton;
Trustee, Jack Knorr.

Committees elected at S & K
Plywood were reported as fol-
lows:

Plant Committee — Bill Schu-
maker, Chairman; Jim Egerton,
Elmer Heitt, Jack Duckworth,
Walter Johnson,

Job Stewards—Bill Schumaker,
Jim Egerton, Elmer Heitt, Jack
Duckworth, Walter Johnson, John
Weninger, John Flechl, Alfredo
Calissi, Tod Sanders, Marj Ram-
bo, Martha Andres, Bob Bain,
Wayne Turcott, Frank Stishenko,
Howard Rankin,

Safety Committe — Bill Schu-
maker, Jim Egerton, Elmer Heitt,

Jack Duckworth, Marp Rambo,