B.C. LUMBER WORKER

i

Ist Issue,

From Page 1

“Message”

outside interests. We must never allow this to happen
again,

Here are the facts about the 1958 settlement. When
the members of the District Policy Committee submitted
the Sloan formula for acceptance or rejection by the mem-
bership, it was stated that the Committee was not satis-
fied with its terms. They were well aware of a general
desire for a wage increase, but had met with “stone
wall” opposition from the operators. They had reached
the point where only the membership could make the
remaining choice — accept or strike.

Throughout negotiations, every major decision was
referred to the District Policy Committee.to interpret
membership opinion, for this committee is fully repre-
sentative of our Local Union membership. Every major
decision was made unanimously.

Membership opinion was made known to the Com-
mittee at the District Delegated Conference called for
the purpose of assessing the Union’s position. This con-
ference approved the actions of the Negotiating and
Policy Committees unanimously. Those who now attack
the terms of settlement were not heard to express oppos-
ing views at that time.

When the Hon. G. McG. Sloan made his recom-
mendations, the whole Union knew that further negoti-
ations would be futile. The Union could either accept or
strike. There were no other alternatives. Those who
attack the settlement are, in effect, saying that the Union
should have gone on strike.

They have disqualified themselves, if by this attack
they hope to get the confidence of the Union’s member-
ship. They are taking a militant position, only when it
is quite safe to be militant. They played safe when the
Union faced the actual crisis and voted to defer the fight
on wages for eight months.

Members of the Policy Committee in a Union as
large as the IWA do not plan strike action recklessly, or
without carefully calculating the chances of success.
That this year the odds were heavily against strike action
was indicated by the two strike votes taken.

Although in the Union’s vote the members voted
with a majority of 82 per cent for strike action, within
a few days the government-supervised strike vote re-
duced this majority to 65 per cent. This meant that 35
per cent of the employees were unwilling to support
strike action. Of those who did vote for strike action,
many freely stated that they did so only to give the
Union a bargaining card.

Out of every seven operations reporting in the
government-supervised vote, three voted against strike
action. This left the Union vulnerable to damaging
court action, should these operations become involved
in any work stoppage.

Solidarity in the ranks is an indispensable factor
for successful strike action. Membership opinion ex-
pressed in this way must be taken into account when
strike decisions are under consideration by the Union.

There were reasons for the membership opinion
which was opposed to strike action. Serious unemploy-
ment prevailed over large sections of the Union. Major
strikes in other industries had failed because of a well-
organized employers’ campaign of attack.

It was made very clear to the Union, that if the
IWA attempted to close down the whole lumber indus-
try this year, the Government would intervene, as it had
done in other strikes.

All these risks and others that were apparent, were
discussed and evaluated at meetings attended by mem-
bers of the District Policy Committee. The members
knew, before they made the decision, that the more pow-

4
TRADE
UNIONS

“Just A Few

Slight Changes! You Know”

ing to smash the IWA with a long and bitter strike.

After careful and even anxious consideration the
members gave a decisive verdict that the Union should
retain its fighting strength for a more appropriate time.

Practically all the advice to the effect that the Union
should go on strike came from outside the Union, and
from interests that would like to destroy the Union. We
heard strike talk from the agents of the employers. Some
employers were anxious to have the Union commit eco-
nomic suicide.

We also had a lot of advice from the LPP-Commun-
ist Party. We know that they are still desirous of dictat-
ing IWA policy for their own purposes.

The Policy followed in arriving at the 1958 settle-
ment was in every respect a membership policy. It ex-
pressed the will of the majority, whatever may be said
for or against it. It must be remembered that the officers
of the Union at all levels carried out the policy determ-
ined by the membership.

Here is advice which I believe to be sound. Insist
that all would-be leaders stick to the truth about de-
cisions made by the Union’s membership, and their own
part in such decisions at the time.

We must place confidence in the ability of the mem-
bers of our Union to make their own decisions in the
tight way, without interference from outside interests,
whether they knowingly or unknowingly support the
policies of either the LPP-Communist Party or those of
the employers.

We must preserve the essential democracy of our
organization — the right of the membership to deter-
mine the policy of the Union.

We must settle down to build complete unity and
solidarity in the ranks of our Union, and clear the decks
for the wage fight which will begin next March.

JOE MORRIS,

President, District Council No. 1,
International Woodworkers of America,

Talks With People’s

Republic Urged

Chiang Kai-Shek regime in For-
mosa.

“While we fully realize the need
to halt totalitarian aggression and
subversion in Asia, the choice of
Quemoy and Matsu as a testing
ground for communist intentions
may indeed prove to be a tragic
error,

“The stakes are too high to
allow a mere symbol, which the
off-shore islands are, to become
the cause of a world nuclear war,”
the Congress stressed,

The statement was released on
behalf of the Congress by execu-
tive vice-president Stanley H.
Knowles and secretary-treasurer
Donald MacDonald,

Histadrut
Affiliation
Accepted

TEL AVIV (CPA) — The
Board of Directors of the In-
ternational Federation of Pet-
roleum Workers at its last
meeting voted unanimously to
accept the Industrial Workers
division of Histadrut into affili-
ation.

Histadrut is the General Fed-
eration of Labor in Israel. The
IFPW. is the thirteenth interna-
tional trade secretariat with
which Histadrut unions are af-
filiated.

Py .

MGavin's

good bread
made by

UNION

erful employers were ready “to take the Union on” hop- OTTAWA (CPA)—The Canadian Labor Congress in a

statement here has urged the federal government to “take
immediately the initiative in prevailing upon the United
States to enter into fruitful discussions with the People’s
Republic of China, which should lead to the immediate eas-
ing of tension and ultimately to an overall settlement of the

Publication date of the next issue of the B.C. LUMBER WORKER
is October 15th. Deadline for ad copy is October 9th and for news
copy October 10th.

PUBLISHED TWICH MONTHLY ON THD FIRST
AND THIRD THURSDAYS BY. <=>
International Woodworkers of America (CIO-CCL)
District Council No. 1

DISTRICT OFFICERS:

=

jent .. = Joe Morris
Tet View-Ppesident ~. Joe Madden
2nd Vice-Presiden Stuart M. Hodgson
8rd Vice-President Fred Fieber

stATY-TORSULED occ miennenmrm George H, Mitchell
fetornatlonal Board Member ‘Walter F. Allen
Address all communications to
GEORGE H. MITCHELL, Secretary-Treasurer
45 Kingsway - Dickens 6261-2
Vancouver, B.C.

scription Rates.___.$2.00 per annum
Aavertising Representative. G. A. Spencer

t., Ottawa

‘Second Class Mail, Post Office
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THIS

outstanding issues in the Far

The statement called for diplo-
matic recognition of the Peiping
government because “there can-
not be any hope even for the be-
ginning of a settlement in the Pa-
cific? unless recognition is ex-
tended “to the government which
iz in effective control of China.”

Grave Threat

Terming the current crisis “an
immediate and grave threat to
world peace”, the Congress state-
ment warned that “No matter
how limited and distant this con-
flict may seem at the outset, it
could involve the security and
peace of Canada.”

Unilateral use of armed force
as a solution to international
problems has always been “con-

East.”

labor movement, the CLC said,
The statement condemned the
blockade initiated by communist
China against offshore Quemoy
and Matsu, and the “publicly-
announced intention to resort to
armed force in order to occupy
these outposts as well as Formosa.

_ “No legal or moral claim can
justify a course in the Formosa
straits which may lead to dire
consequences for the entire
world,” the statement continued.

Deplores Policy
“At the same time, the CLC
deeply deplores the inflexible pol-
icy of the United States adminis-
tration in its apparent determina-
tion to protect every inch of ter-

sistently opposed” by the free

ritory under the control of the!,

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