—

wAN

34,000 copies
printed in this issue

[WoeA:

Published as the offi
Western Canadian Reg

theweste

amersiasetsia

lumber worker

! publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA
Council No. 1

Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC.

Sth Floor, 1285 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4B2 Phone 683-1117

Editor — Clay Perry

Busine:

Manager — G. A. Stoney

Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions.
Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year.

PRESIDENT’S
CORNER

J. J. Munro,
Regional President

IT IS A HARD THING TO SAY, BUT
IWA members should grit their teeth
and refuse to cross those crazy pulp-
workers’ crazy picket lines. No union
and no labour movement can live with
a policy of members respecting only
those lines that they are in agreement
with.

But you can’t say that without saying
at the same time that Dear God those
are crazy, crazy picket lines. A union
that has suffered terribly from long,
traumatic layoffs bites the bullet and
signs an agreement that is the best it
can do, given the shape of the industry
and the inability of their membership
to endure a long strike.

Two other much smaller unions, with
a combined membership of less than
one-third of the first one, unions that
have suffered much less from layoffs,
decide that they will ignore the wishes
of the vast majority of the industry’s
workers, and beat the first unions set-
tlement by picketing out that first
union’s membership. .

God knows how this lunacy will end.
But one thing is.sure. Those who con-
ceived and executed this lunacy will
bear the responsibility for the damage
done to this movement’s most valuable
weapon — the picket line.

SIGN
EDUCATION
PETITION

We, the undersigned, want to express our
concern and dismay at the state to which
higher education in this province is being
reduced,

The B.C. government is refusing to. pass
on the 20% increase (some $84 million) in

additional federal grants for post-secondary
education made available under the Estab-
lished Programs Financing arrangements,
diverting these to other purposes instead. It
has drastically cut back the amount of
money available for student aid, and
ensured that spiralling fees will keep stu-
dent enrolment rates in B.C. among the
lowest for Canada. It has placed the concept
of academic tenure in jeopardy, and threa-
tened the autonomy of B.C. universities and
colleges. One institution has already been
slated to close — David Thompson’s Univer-
sity Centre in Nelson.

We therefore urge the federal government
to consider imposing the same sanctions
against provincial governments that divert
funds from higher education as the new
Canada Health Act proposes to do with
governments that allow extra-billing. The
maintenance of a quality university and
college system in this country, accessible to
the largest possible number of students, is at
stake.

Name

Occupation

Please write your MLA and MP to
express your concerns about financial
cutbacks in Higher Education.

Frederick Chairman,
Burbidge Canadian Pacific
William President,
Stinson Canadian Pacific
BRAC C.P. Rail
Member Clerk

IAM C.P.

Member Machinist

as a

FAMILY
LIVING
STANDARDS

DROP

For the second year in a row family
incomes failed to keep pace with inflation.

In 1982 (latest available) average family
income in Canada rose 6% per cent to
$32,435 but, after taking the consumer price
increase of 10.8 per cent into account, real
family income dropped 4 per cent — the
fourth drop in the past six years. Without
exception, family living standards were
lowered in every province as real incomes
dropped from coast to coast.

Families headed by women were much
worse off last year, on two counts, than
male-headed families. First, their average
income at $17,923 was close to doubled by
male-headed families who had incomes
averaging $34,230. Second, families headed
by women experienced a real income drop of
11 per cent compared with a 3 per cent
decrease for those families headed by men.

CANADIAN POVERTY

In 1982, the number of families and
unattached persons living in poverty in
Canada rose drastically.

According to Statistics Canada’s low-
income lines, 912,000 families and more
than one million unattached individuals
live in poverty.

The incidence of poverty jumped in just
one year from 14.7 per cent of the population
to 16.8 per cent — swelling the ranks of the
poor to over 4 million.

Sources: Information in this bulletin is
based on data from Statistics Canada.

THE PAY-OFF

1982 Contributions to Policital Parties |

Canadian Pacific Ltd.
Noranda

Royal Bank

SUDDENLY AMERICA WAS

HIS MARINES To DIE IN FAR-OFF

STANDING TALL 0)... wo cosr
Te RuNTon cso 0

1981 1982 Increase %

$456,307 $531,417 $75,110 16.5
235,771 319,621 83,850 35.6
13,728 15,375 1,647 12.0
22,360 25,043 2,683 12.0
Liberals Conservatives

$50,000 $50,000

$21,415 . $21,500

$30,300 $30,000

BILLIONS IN. 2
“, THE MAKING

a

4/Lumber Worker/Spring, 1984