NEIL MENARD’S
STATEMENT

:
# Pm.

All regional officers have to share the
responsibility of running the regional office,
and that’s no small thing.

In addition, we each have special respon-
sibilities, and mine have included working
with the B.C. Interior and Prairie Locals,
representing the region in their negotia-
tions, and assisting in other matters as
required.

IWA members who remember the sixties
will recall that at one time the interior fell
far behind the coast in wages and condi-
tions. That was bad not only for the interior
but for the whole union.

We have basically solved that problem,
but members should understand that it
wasn’t easy, and that having the interior
and Prairie Locals represented at the region
is vital.

We have lived through some of the hardest
times that IWA members have ever had to
deal with, but there is more and maybe
worse to come.

That is why all IWA Local Union Presi-
dents and all other regional officers have so
strongly urged members to support Jack
Munro and me in these elections. You
cannot deal effectively with the problems
that IWA members face over the years to
come without a lot of experience.

Bro. Munro and I, and the other regional
officers have worked hard as a strong and
united team for this union. I ask you to
support us in this election so that we can
continue to do so.

Fraternally,
Neil Menard

JOE LYCHAK’S
STATEMENT

Fellow Workers:

It is my trust in and commitment to
working people that encouraged me to run
for the position of 2nd Vice President of
Regional Council #1.

My experience as a trade unionist started
at age seventeen in the International Union
of Mine Mill‘and Smelter Workers where I
assisted our local secretary as a typist.

Upon leaving the mining industry in 1967.
I took up logging at M&B’s Franklin River
Division, moving from one camp to another
until landing in Local 1-80 where my roots
took hold for the past 13 years. It was here
that I became active in the IWA and began
studying labor history. A combination of
historical background and practical expe-
rience in union affairs has given me the
confidence required for the job ahead. As
well as studying labor history I have studied
forest policy in B.C. and have sounded and
written warnings about problems inherent
in our industry. It was rewarding for me to
hear what Mr. Skelly said at our convention
about diversifying forest products. Reward-
ing because when I sounded the same
warnings a number of years ago I thought
no one listened. My credibility is estab-
lished. I do have something to offer.

Wilie Fleming and I will be attempting to
either visit your operation or send election
materials to you. The following is a simpli-
fied version of a ten point program worked
out by IWA members of the Committee for
Progressive Leadership.

1. Shorter work week with NO reduction
in pay as part of a full employment policy of
the IWA.

2. Build unity and solidarity with other
unions to defend trade union rights and
conditions. Work to achieve one union in
Wood through mergers and co-operation
with other unions.

3. Organize the un-organized, support our
unemployed brothers and sisters. Support
constitutional changes which would allow
our unemployed associate member status.

4, Develop fightback NOW to end con-

tracting out. One seniority list only for each ~

camp or plant taking in both company and
contract employees.

5. Support the right to strike during the
term of collective agreement if companies
break contract, disregard safety programs,
or institute mass layoffs or plant and
company closures.

6. Support Operation Solidarity and the
Solidarity Coalition to develop fightback
against employer offensive.

7. Demand cancellation of Tree Farm
Licenses if company continues to export raw
logs or shut camps down. The IWA must
have a say in technological change tied toa
policy of full employment.

8. Develop a program-for increasing
manufacture of resources in B.C., including
furniture industry, pre-fab, etc. More
research and development in order to utilize
wood waste.

9. Protect our renewable resource and
create jobs by increased re-forestation and
silviculture as provided in Tree Farm
Licenses.

10. Develop education and communica-
tion programs to keep members fully aware
of problems and solutions in wood.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
CONTACT — Lynn Kistner, secretary-
treasurer, Box 1673, Ladysmith, B.C.,
VOR 2E0, phone #245-4769,

— Joe Lychak

FOR SALE

The Regional Council has for sale a
Gestetner, model 466, and a Gestefax, model
455, and desk. The total 1974 cost of these
itemis was $4,646.25.

Also for sale is a quantity of Gestetner
paper, etc., of approximately $400 value.

Interested persons should contact
Regional Secretary Gerry Stoney, phone
683-1117, or write c/o #500, 1285 W. Pender
St., Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4B2.

SKELLY ON
FORESTRY

“The Social Credit government has mis-
managed our forests and is now abandon-
ing forest mianagement to the private sec-
tor,” Bob Skelly, leader of the New 3
Democratic Party told delegates to the IWA
regional convention in Vancouver recently.

“Unfortunately, the private companies
are also a failure at managing our forests,
and the workers are the ones who have the
most to lose.”

Skelly pointed out that it now costs about
$4 per cubic metre to replace a tree by
reforestation, but the government is only

collecting $1.76 per cubic metre on stumpage .

fees from forest companies.

He called for better utilization of the
forestry by development of a greater range
of products; and finding new markets.

Skelly was extremely critical of the
government’s present policy of allowing
increased log exports. “The forest compan-
ies are high-grading our timber, and the
government is turning a blind eye. Mean-
while, as our higher quality logs are
exported, we are losing valuable jobs.”

Processing those logs through a sawmill
would produce two and a half times as many
jobs as the log export industry. If every log
presently exported were run through a
plywood mill, it would guarantee four times
as many jobsas the log export business now
produces.”

Skelly criticized the Economic Council of
Canada report which supports removing

restrictions on log exports. B.C. exported 1.3

million cubic metres of raw logs in 1982 and
estimates are that exports will reach three
million cubic metres this year.

The sad performance of the government
in the area of reforestation was also dis-
cussed. Skelly told convention delegates
that we now have almost three million
hectares of logged land that has not been
reforested at all or is not satisfactorily
restocked. .

“Tf these trends are not reversed by the
Crown which owns most of this land, then
we face horrendous job lossés for British
Columbians over the next generation.”

He quoted figures which show that the
province has cut back 32 percent on funding
for tree planting, 45 percent for crop

improvement research, and 60 percent for _

pest control programs. Plans for intensive
silviculture have been cut drastically and
development of seed orchards in the Interior
have been postponed.

“Itis a repudiation of our responsibility to
husband our chief public resource.”

Skelly’s speech to the IWA regional
convention was preceded by his address to
the IWA Health and Safety Conference.

Lumber Worker/October, 1984/3

iN,

Soave #448