History of the I.W.A. Continued from page twenty-six cial labour department authorities, and encoun- tered at least as much employer interference, as their brothers on the West Coast had. But unlike B.C., Northern Ontario bushwork- ers retained their camp-level organization and leadership. Complete files and records, collec- tive agreements and modest bank accounts were available for the continued operation of the union. Just as important, capable, dedi- cated organizers Lothar Bode, Andre Wellsby and Tulio Mior were appointed soon after the trusteeship. Mior, who had spent many years as a bushworker, was to become president of the Thunder Bay local in 1957, and hold that post until succeeded by Fred Miron in 1982. Despite the turmoil at the top level of the Lumber and Saw, the union was able to func- tion smoothly throughout the fifties, negotia- tion contracts that were generally satisfactory to the bushworkers, and increasing member- apnea less than 2,000 in 1951 to over 16,000 in 1957. UBC Special Collections ¢ Local 1-80 business agent Tony Poje was jailed for contempt of court and was elected local president while in the brig. Circumstances faced by the I.W.A. in British Columbia were very different. The departing communist leadership took with them member- ship and negotiating records, funds, and, in some cases, even furniture. The International arranged temporary funding (much of it from the U.A.W., which was involved in a similar struggle between communist and non-commu-- nist factions), and hurriedly appointed a tempo- rary slate of officers; Stewart Alsbury (New Westminster) as President, Lloyd Whalen (Vancouver) as 1st Vice-President, John Squire (Alberni) as 2nd, Gordon McEntee (Courtenay) as 3rd, Mike Sekora (Vancouver) as Secretary- Treasurer and W.S. Lynch, Neil Shaw and Joe Morris as Trustees. Also employed were a num- ber of business agents, including Tom McKen- zie, Fred Feiber, Frank Howard, Tom Bradley. and Andy Smith. This inexperienced set of officers and staff, without records, faced a difficult situation, while fending off the rival “Woodworkers Indus- trial Union of Canada,” they had to conduct negotiations, arrange for a convention early in 1949, and deal with two very difficult issues; union political action, especially their relation- ship to the C.C.F., which had been endorsed by the Canadian Congress of Labour, and a strike at Iron River on the east coast of Vancouver Island. In November of 1948 two fallers from a MacMillan camp at Iron River were fired, Als- bury as appointed District President attempted to deal with the matter by negotiations, but W.U.L.C. forces, very strong in the camp, orga- nized a “wild-cat,” immediately declared illegal by the Labour Relations Board. The one hun- dred man crew was completely shut down. __ From the perspective of the W.I.U.C., the sit- uation Beaantan' an opportunity to take control of an operation where they were very strong, and perhaps use that as a lever to retain at least most of the old logging jurisdiction, and into the bargain, showing themselves to be mil- itant and their opponents to be “in bed with the bosses.” The new I.W.A. officers believed that, no matter how they might otherwise look at the “negotiate or wildcat?” question, they had to wrest control of the situation form their rivals. It would be intolerable for them to represent only sawmills that depended for their log supply on W.1.U.C.-con- trolled logging camps, and in any event, they had to show that they were in control. So Als- bury, Whalen and Bradley attempted to lead the twenty-five log- gers willing to work across the W.I.U.C. picket line. A brawl ensured, in which Als- bury suffered broken ribs. “” The “White Bloc” countered by assem- bling a very large force of counter-picketers, many, reputedly, from Washington and Ore- gon States, to get will- ing loggers to work. (The W.I.U.C. also || brought “reinforce- ments” in from some distance). Five Iron River pickets were charged with the “assault” on Alsbury. The W.I.U.C. main- tained the ever-dimin- ishing picket line until April of 1949, but the issue was to be settled, not at picket lines, but in membership votes in favour of maintaining the I.W.A., and by court and Labour Relations Board rulings. The W.U.L.C. received only | nine certifications. Rec- ognizing the failure of ° Northern their attempt to estab- engine. Photo taken near Marathon in 1952. lish a rival, indepen- dent union, in their second convention in April of 1949, they called for “re-uniting” of wood- workers’ ranks. But the new I.W.A. officers faced a more last- ing and vexing internal problem. Many of the most active early White Bloc activists, espe- cially from the New Westminster local, were opposed to any political affiliation,(some, per- haps, because of an incli- port of the C.C.F. and urged that “we support any candidate, financially and morally, regard- less of political party, who will support labor,” revealed the schizophrenic attitude of the union, and fundamental attitudes of many of its prominent leaders. Lloyd Whalen, then President of the big Vancouver Local 217, led the pro-C.C.F. side, though declaring himself not a member of the nation to the Liberals, which they knew would not fly with union activists), and certainly one of the most effective messages that they car- ried to camps and mills was against “politics in the union.” But, especially in the later stages of the devel- party. Joe Morris was In the 1950s, woodworkers’ Preiinsn’ on the ne unions made major gains on wages and working conditions in British Columbia and Ontario. should, as good trade unionists, realize the necessity of keeping political action out of our union. We, as work- ers, know our place in society. We are work- ers. We realize it.”®. opment of opposition to the communist leadership, C.C.F. activists became more prominent, and their expectation, bolstered by the Canadian Congress of Labour endorsation, was that the union would vigor- ously support the C.C.F.. The matter was debated at length in the I.W.A.’s January 1949 convention. A curious resolution that both endorsed the C.C.L.’s sup- Morris was soon to change his mind on this issue, at least as regards support of the C.C.F. It is an irony of which he was probably never aware that he himself was not content with “a worker’s place in society.” Joe Morris replaced Alsbury in 1953, ina closely-fought election, and remained in that Continued on page twenty-eight ; ey ° Typical bunkhouse in the 1940s shows central heater and clothes drying near beds. The Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union demanded changes to camp conditions. LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 1997/27