e District President Joe Morris (centre), speaking to meeting of the Victoria Labour Institute, was flanked by Ed Haws (left) and Jock Mackenzie, both

officers of Local 1-118 in late 1950's.

History of the I.W.A.

Continued from page twenty-seven

position until 1962, when he became Executive
Vice-President, then President of the Canadian
‘Labour Congress. The matter of political action
was soon resolved in favor of supporting the
C.C.F. In the 1952 and 53 B.C. elections, four
I.W.A. activists (Rae Eddie, who defeated the
previous premier in 1952, from New Westmin-
ster; Frank Howard, of Local 71, who began a
long and distinguished career as a member of
the B.C. and federal parliaments when elected
for Skeena riding in 1953; John Squire of Local
85, elected in Alberni riding; and Tony Gar-
grave of Local 217, elected for McKenzie riding.
Grant MacNeil, who served on I.W.A. staff for
about thirty years, was elected for Vancouver
Burrard. Over the years to come, I.W.A. sup-
port, and that of labour generally, for the
C.C.F., later the N.D.P., grew as the Canadian
Communism suffered under a leadership that
made support of the Soviet Union, at no matter
what cost, a guiding principle.

The 1949 negotiations, conducted against the
backdrop of a poorly organized and deeply
divided union, resulted in no general increase.
Those of 1950 and 1951 were much more suc-
cessful, yielding base rate increases, which,
including a new cost-of-living clause, amounted
to about 12% per year - impressive, when the

relatively low inflation of those years is consid-
ered. But 1952 proved much more difficult.

The Wages and Contract Conference estab-
lished an ambitious program; a wage increase
of 35 cents, which combined with the cost-of-liv-
ing bonus, would be an increase of over 30% at
the base rate, a health and welfare program,
the union shop, and so

Members of the Duncan local had picketed a
ship, the MS Vedby, at the Nanaimo dock,
causing longshoremen to refuse to load her.
The shipping company obtained an ex-parte
injunction, among the first issued against
unions, from Justice J.V. Clyne, later to 1c
MacMillan Bloedel’s C.E.O., prohibiting further
icketing. uncan

on. The Convention
had adopted a “no con-
tract, no work” policy,
which, when combined
with the employers’
proposal for a wage
cut, produced an explo-
sive mixture.

The Labour Rela-
tions Board denied the
I.W.A.’s application
for a government
supervised strike vote,

Organizing was facilitated
in 1953 after a law made
collective bargaining
compulsory after a union

won a certification vote.

ocal 1-80’s business
agent Tony Poje defied
the injunction. Not-
withstanding the gen-
eral agreement, pro-
pozed by Justice

loan, to drop all court
cases, and the ship-
ping company’s at-
tempt to cancel the
action, Ferris initiated
contempt proceedings
and sentenced Poje to

on the ground that nei-
ther side had gen-
uinely bargained. So the union conducted its
own ballot, and, on June 12th, announced that
“over 85%” had voted to strike, which 32,000 of
them did at midnight, June 15th. The strike
ended on July 29th, under terms established by
Justice Gordon Sloan. There was to be a five
and a half cent hourly increase, three statutory
holidays, and all Court actions dropped. But
Justice Ferris of the Supreme Court had a dif-
ferent view.”

ca ase

‘ ~ “ i »
¢ Activists from Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union gather at Lakehead for a meeting in 1953.

three months in jail,

with an additional fine

of $3000. While he was serving the sentence,

the Local 80 membership elected him Presi-
lent.

Amore difficult strike took place in the Inte-
rior of British Columbia in 1953. Organizing
there had begun in a serious way only toward
the end of the war, after P.C. orien 1003 made
collective bargaining compulsory after a union
had won a certification vote in an operation. The
task was frustrated by the constant under-
ground warfare between B.C. District Officers
and internationally-appointed organizers like
Mike Sekora, but especially after the successful
1946 strike, locals began to grow in Cranbrook,
Prince George, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince-
ton.

Organizing in the prairie province’s forest
industry was initially undertaken largely by
the Canadian Congress of Labour. The ordi-
nary practice of the Central Labour Body turn-
ing over “Direct Charter” certifications to the
union that had the jurisdiction - in this case,
the I.W.A. - was not followed because of the
ongoing quarrels between the C.C.L. and the
1.W.A. A future article in this series, based on
the recollections of people like Oscar Menard
(father of current National First Vice-President
Neil Menard), will deal with those develop-
ments.

At a special meeting of the District Council
held in Nanaimo on May 20th, 1945, it was
decided that District officers should both bol-
ster the B.C. Interior organizing drive, and ,

resumably, do what was possible to ensure
loyalty to the District rather than to the Inter-
national. Secretary-Treasurer Jack Greenall
went to Princeton, Ernie Dalskog to Prince
George, and so on. Generally, they found that

Continued on page twenty-nine

2@/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1997