thewestern canadian

Ww. \ 34,000 copies
-WW.OFAA.) printed in this issue

lumber worker

Published as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA
Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Aftilisted with AFL-C10-CLC
Sth Floor, 1265 West Pender Street, Vancouv 4B2 Phone 683-1117
Editor — Cley Perry Busine =G. A. Stoney
Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Ci ordance with convention decisions.
Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year.

EDITORIAL

One afternoon in the fall of 1957, | was one of about 2,000 men laid off, with a
couple of hours’ notice by Kitimat Contractors. It was a dreary, forlorn day; made so
by the eternal rain, by the mud that stretched across the narrow valley, but chiefly
by the desolate human circumstances.

Men in their hundreds had left families, moved across oceans and continents,
struggled with a new language and new jobs, only to find that men whom they
would never see had decided “the project had to be delayed.”

So we stood in the rain, some for hours and some for days, waiting for the pay
office to make their dismal calculations, thinking about the Kitimat wage-earner
version of the human condition. Sam Johnson observed that the prospect of
imminent death “concentrates the mind wondertully.” | can add that, as regards
labour economies, so does standing in the Kitimat rain waiting for a final pay
cheque.

We were all treated precisely alike: the laziest and hardest-working, the smartest
and dumbest, the most loyal follower of authority and the most revolutionary, the
organized and the unorganized, the spendthrift and the miser. In short, all of the
factors over which we had the slightest control were irrelevant. Our lives were
directed by distant capitalists, and by “the international demand for aluminum”.

The guy just behind me in the surveyor’s line was a very paragon of work ethic
virtue. He saved his nickels, studied spherical trigonometry by correspondence,
shunned unions like the plague, always worked a few minutes after quitting time.
And for reward, he stood behind me in the line, waiting for a cheque that would not

cover his plane ticket from Terrace back to Vancouver.

So it must be for thousands of woodworkers today. Decades of seniority, of
learning skills, of faithful union membership; all irrelevant against an onslaught of
monetarism-induced forest industry slump, or against the movement of plants to
Alabama or Brazil.

So it is for tens of thousands of B.C. Teachers. Years of study, years of
developing professional skills, all cheapened by a wave of red-neck savaging of the
education system; by lawyers and gardeners who, magically transformed
overnight into experts on education, pronounce casually and destructively on the
field’s toughest questions.

So it is-for immigrants from Asia and Africa, beckoned here by Government,
assured by Human Rights laws and practices; cheated by the same tidal wave.

Numerous Trade Unionists, friends and
businessmen joined Bill Wilson’s family ata
funeral on October 7th. Bill died on October
Ist after a lengthy illness.

Bill was 66 years old and had taken early
retirement in November 1978 for health
reasons. He had been an active member and
Officer of Local 1-71 since 1946.

Bill Wilson was a logging truck driver at
Inglewood up to 1955 when he joined the
Local Union staff as a Business Agent. He
served as Local Union President from 1957
to 1965 and then served as Secretary-
Treasurer until he retired.

He was highly regarded throughout the
labour movement and also served for sey-
eral years as an International Trustee.

1984

HARRISON HOT SPRINGS WINTER SCHOOL
IWA LEADERSHIP TRAINING

January 16th-January 20th, 1984
January 22nd-January 27th, 1984

Monday

9:00 a.m. 12:00 noon

= Communications & Parliamentary Procedure
1:30 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Instructor: Frank Wall

Tuesday
9:00 a.m. — 12:00 noon Health and Safety
Instructor: Verna Ledger
Organizing and Raiding Problems

Instructor: John Smithies

1:30 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday
9:00 a.m. — 12:00 noon

Grievance Handling
1:30 pm. — 5:00 p.m.

Instructor: Susan Beattie

Thursday
9:00 a.m. — 12:00 noon
1:30 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Friday
9:00 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

IWA Benefits Package
Instructor: Joan De’Ath

Job Evaluation and Rate Determination
Instructor: Tony Vanderheide

Ca |

On September 3, 1983 Walter Pooghkay,
Local 1-217’s Vice-President died after
fighting a valiant battle against cancer for
the past year and a half.

Walter joined the IWA twenty-eight years
ago when he started to work in the B.C.
Plywood Industry.

He had served the Union in various
capacities and was well respected by the
IWA membership and throughout the
Industry.

Funeral services for Brother Pooghkay
were held on September 8, at the Unitarian
Church at 49th and Oak Street in
Vancouver.

President Doug Evans officiated at the
service which was followed by a gathering
for friends and family at Woodworkers’
House.

Regional Officers and Staff extend deep-
est sympathy to Walter’s family.

4/Lumber Worker/Fall, 1983

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