¢ The National union trustees, during one of their quarterly annual meetings are I. to r. Local 1-207 financial secretary
Bob DeLeeuw, Local 1-80 financial secretary Dan Clements and Local 500 financial secretary Irvin Baetz.

National union trustees are elected as
watchdogs over organization finances

Behind the scenes they are the
three amigos who check up to see
that the union’s finances are in order.
Four times a year the National
Trustees meet to ensure that the
books are kept in decent shape and
that the union’s money is spent right.

Those 6-year trustees are Bob
DeLeeuw of Local 1-207, Dan
Clements of Local 1-80 and Irvin Baetz
of Local 500. All are experienced mon-
ey men who are financial secretaries
in their own local unions.

Since the 1930's the IWA has elected
trustees by constitutional authority to
look over the union’s books. It is all
part of the organization’s system of

checks and balances to ensure that the
members’ money is spent properley.

“Our job is just to make sure that
the members’ money is spent in accor-
dance with national policy as directed
by the National Executive Board,” say
Brother DeLeeuw. “There’s never a
dull moment as we’re always looking
for something.”

The Trustees examine all receipts
for all transactions that take place.
They look at everything - all lease pay-
ments, expense vouchers, all cheques
written, and all deposits and with-
drawals.

Brother Clements says the Trustees
don’t make decisions on how the

e Receiving Joe Morris Labour Community Service Aware is Frank Wall (cen-
tre). The presenters are former NDP leader Dave Barrett and the United Way’s

Marguerite Ford.

Brother Frank Wall honoured

One of the I.W.A.’s most respected
retirees has been honoured by the
United Way of British Columbia. In
December of last year, Frank Wall,
former Director of Education at the
union’s national office was presented
with the Joe Morris Labour Communi-
ty Service Award.

The award, which recognizes out-
standing service to the community,
was presented by Marguerite Ford,
President of the Board of Directors of
the United Way and well known re-
tired NDP leader Dave Barrett.

Brother Wall, who retired from the
union in 1991, is the third ].W.A. mem-
ber to be honoured with the Joe Mor-
ris award. The first was Terry Smith,
the I.W.A.’s National Financial Secre-
tary and the second was Ken Isomura,
former Financial Secretary of I.W.A.
Local 1-3567.

Brother Wall has served on the
United Way’s Board of Directors and

has been active on the boards of the
Education Research Institute of B.C.
and the board of Camp Jubilee.

In 1971 when he moved to Winnipeg
from Edmonton to work as a repre-
sentative of the Canadian Labour Con-
gress, Brother Wall sat of the board of
the United Way in that city as well as
on the board of the directors of the
Manitoba Heart Foundation.

Frank’s earlier involvement in the
United Way included being a member
of the United Way board in Edmon-
ton, prior to moving to Winnipeg
where he was also president of the
Edmonton Labour Council. Brother
Wall emigrated to Edmonton from his
homeland of Ireland in 1958 with his
wife Margaret and seven children.

He remains active today and each
year goes to the CLC Winter School in
Harrison to instruct courses on public
speaking, parliamentary procedure
and other topics.

money is spent - that is the responsi-
bility of the National Financial Secre-
tary, other National Officers and the
National Executive Board.

“Our role is not to make policy al-
though we do have a free voice to
make suggestions if we see that some-
thing is out of line,” says Brother
Clements. “There are so many routine
expenditures that need to be made
that there is really no question. Some-
time there may be an expenditure that
may be questioned but that usually oc-
curs for an expenditure that is not
routine and needs to be clarified.”

The Trustees keep their eyes peeled
for expeditures that should be ap-
proved by the National Executive
Board, which also meet five times a
year.

“If there’s something that should go
to the National Executive Board, we
look in the record book for it,” says
Brother Baetz. “If it hasn’t we'll bring
it to the attention of the national offi-
cers and then they'll take it to the Na-
tional Executive Board for discussion
or approval.”

In the last fiscal year the national
offices of the union, situated in Van-
couver, B.C. and Weston Ontario,
dealt with income of over $4 million
and expenditures of over $3,783,000.
In that same year the union had as!
sets, in various funds (i.e. political ed-
ucation, forest and environment,
special organizing, etc.), of over $1
million.

At the 1994 annual convention the
Trustees reported the union's strike
fund had equity of over $10 million
and revenue of over $2.8 million in
that year.

One of the Trustees’ recommenda-
tions that was accepted in recent
years has been the amalgamation of fi-
nancial statements between eastern
and western Canada.

Irvin Baetz, from Local 500 with its
headquarters in Hanover, Ontario says
“I'm quite pleased the way things are
running. When we've got these (large)
kind of figures, it is easy for someone,
to make a mistake or oversight, so ou
role is all the more important.”

Brother Baetz has been a union
member for over 30 years, who still
works in the shipping department of
Hanover Kitchens in Hanover. He was
first appointed to the position of
Trustee in 1993 when Edith Skiber of
Local 1-405 retired. Baetz has been
the financial secretary in his local
since 1973.

Brother DeLeeuw, who has served
as a trustee for the IWA in Canada for
the last 10 years, was previously an in-
ternational trustee for the Internation-
al Woodworkers of America. He has
been in the union since 1967 and has
been financial secretary of the Local
1-207 since 1972. He is a former truck
driver at Nelson Homes in Lloydmin-
ster, Alberta,

Brother Clements, a former cut-off
saw operator who worked at the
MacMillan Bloedel Chemainus mill be-
fore it was rebuilt, has been a national
trustee for over 6 years. He has been a
union member since 1969 and came
on staff in Local 1-80 in 1985.

turn your old

BCRICS

into gold

Those old BCRIC shares you have stashed in
the bottom drawer with your old socks or cluttering up your
safety deposit box may be worth only 17 cents to you
but to our charities, they're worth a lot more!

By taking or mailing your BCRIC shares to any neighbourhood Credit Union
you'll be making a valuable contribution to

the Children’s

Hospital, the Variety Club,

the CKNW Orphan's Fund, the United Way
and the VanCity Community Foundation.

share

We'll take your old BCRIC shares and convert
them to much needed money for these

Ye

You can mail shares directly to BC Credi
1441 Creekside Drive, Vancouver V6) 457

your BCRICS
with ;

USE

IMPORTANT NOTICE lease ote that Wo CHARIABLE DONATION RECLIFS wl be ssued due tothe smal vale ofthe shats ad the
relative cost of issuing receipts. The credit unions and other organizations who have kindly volunteered to receive share certificates on
behalf ef the sponsoring charities are in no way responsible for any shares delivered to them fr collection bythe sponsoring groups.

@ 6 Eo

16/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1995