i Se 7 | Re ¢ In 1959 then International Woodworkers of America Local 217 President Syd Thompson spoke on Labour Day . 2171 merger a milestone in 1.W.A. history by Dan Keeton his year marked the merger of two great locals in I.W.A. — Local 217, the manufacturing local based in Vancouver, and Local 1-71, the historic “Loggers’ Local” of coastal B.C. Executives of both locals, past and present, are praising the move. The two locals have a long history of working bogetnets they say, and the officers of both have long main- Xained cordial relations. And for several years they shared the same office building in Vancouver. With its merger officially sealed following a special mid-February convention, the new I.W.A. Local 2171 becomes the largest local in Canada, at least on a membershi, basis, and will represent wood an allied workers from the Alaska bor- der to the 49th parallel. While it has Be precented loggers, the former Local 217 historically had most of its members based in the sawmills and lumber yards that once dotted False Creek, Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River. At its height in the early Seventies the local boasted at least 7,000 mem- bers. Times have changed. Mill mod- ernization, or some cases the lack of it, market conditions and urban sprawl have severely reduced the number of mill jobs in the Lower Mainland. Where once the whine of mill saws could be heard, now its the sound of children playing. Con- dos and other industries occupy the land where the mills once produced products for B.C. and the world. Today, the Vancouver part of Local 2171 has 2,200 members, Like other LW.A. locals, it must seek new mem- bers from other jurisdictions. Merger with the Loggers’ Local and the pooling of resources from the merger only made sense. The former Local 1-71 also once had as many as 7,000 on its roster, but that has declined to around 4,500. Land-use decisions and tech- nological change in the mills and the woods have taken their toll. From the late Fifties through the Seventies, Local 217 functioned as the voice of opposition both within I.W.A. and the broader labour move- ment. Under the presidency of the late Syd Thompson; the local was “the home of opposition to concilia- tory unionism,” says I.W.A. histo- rian, Clay Perry. “Syd _was the type of guy who wanted a change in direction,” relates Erich Ewert, for years Local 217s financial secretary and a long- time activist and officer of the local. Thompson’s election in 1957 in which he beat out long-time incum- bent Lloyd Whelan signified a major policy change for the local, says Ewert. The situation was especially edgy in that the local shared office space with the Western Regional Council of the union. Local 217 officers were usually at loggerheads with the council executive and ran against them in elections. “Unsatisfactory Long-time I.W.A. activist steps down The founding convention of Local 2171 gave the I.W.A. a special oppor- tunity to thank one of its long-time union activists who has served as pene chair in both Locals 217 and George Thomas, an active mem- ber for 27 years, was at the conven- tion as a Beievate. He attended the historic event despite battling an illness which has limited his activ- ay and led to his ptepping. down as plant chair and local union execu- tive board member. He started working at L&P Lum- ber in Vancouver in 1956 at the age of 19 and at the age of 22 became the union’s sub-local chairman in a plant of over 240 workers which was certified to Local 217. In 1989, as a member of 1-71, Brother Thomas helped lead an organizing campaign at Bayside Sawmills in Gibsons, B.C. He had served as chair at the plant since Local 2171 President Darrel Wong resented a plaque to Thomas “for many years of dedicated service to the members, officers, staff and executive boards of Locais 217 and 1-71 of I.W.A. CANADA.” ¢ Brother George Thomas After accepting the plaque Brother Thomas got up to speak and gave every union representative in the convention hall some advice straight from the heart. The following words are from his speech. “I think I spent all of my adult life trying to help penis who needed to be helped. I thin I got more satis- faction out of that than any money can ever give me. My crews have PENT never let me down. They’ve always done damn near anything I’ve asked of them because they knew that I’d never let them down. It’s a two-way street. If you’ve got their trust, it’s something you should never violate. It’s a principle that has made trade unions work. All I can say is that if you screw up and make a mistake and stand up and admit it, they'll (the crew) will back you up 100%. If you figure you can do something for your fellow workers possibly better equipped than the rest of them, and you do it right and be honest, then they'll never let you down.” Brother Thomas receive a stand- ing ovation from the convention. Wong thanked him on behalf of the joint membership and praised Thomas for his “true dedication to working people and true dedication to the L.W.A.” Local 2171 First Vice President Gary Kobayashi said that Brother Thomas “represents and epitomizes what trade unionism is all about.” Aobeveehs said that George was one “who made a difference” and helped workers get a better deal from their employers. 2 . settlements were the issue,” recalls former Local 1-217 second vice-pres- ident, Jim Parker, now the Record- ing Secretary of the newly merged local. “We were sick and tired of nickel- an-hour increases,” agrees Ewert. That restiveness was expressed by other locals in I.W.A. as well, he notes. Members were aching for a change from the council’s “ultra conservative” direction, and the in- fighting continued until the election of Regional President Jack Munro. Back issues of The Barker, Local 217’s newspaper, attest to the lead- ership’s militancy and broad world views. The December, 1963 issue featured a banner headline, “Regional Authority Challenged.” The accompanying article called for the defeat of regional president Jack Moore and regional council secre- tary treasurer Fred Fieber. In the January, 1968 Barker the local called for “the defeat of the (B.C. Federa- tion of Labour) political machine” within the Vancouver and District Labour Council. “The Vancouver Labour Council is recognized as the most advanced and progressive labour council in the country,” stated the editorial. “Its critical and outspoken attitude has been a thorn in the side of reac- tionaries, the Canadian Labour Congress officialdom and the hier- archy of the B.C. Federation of Labour.” The same issue ran a reprint of an article criticizing AFL- CIO president George Meany. Jim Parker notes that “politics were big in the local. We spoke out on issues like disarmament and expressed our opposition to the Viet- nam War.” In October, 1960, The Barker carried an open letter from the local to then prime minister John Diefenbaker supporting the No Nuclear Weapons for Canada Appeal. Thompson paid a price for the local’s outspokenness. An article in the now-extinct daily, The Col- umbian, tarred the Local 217 presi- Continued on page twelve 2171 convention Continued from page ten “This resolution is the key to pre- serve our jobs, Brothers and Sis- ters,” said Harry Bains. “If we had an appurtenance clause in the For- est Act today, we wouldn’t be fight- ing for Eburne jobs today.” “The way it is spelled out now (in the Forest Act) the company has a free hand in deciding what they want to do with the timber that is given to them, timber that is owned by us, owned by the people of the province. But the companies are playing games with it to raise their value for their shareholders rather than preserving jobs.” When Canfor’s TFL #37 was formed in 1960, there were five man- ufacturing operations tied to it. “Systematically they (Canfor) closed every one of them and Eburne is the last one left now,” he said. Jeff Pazik, chair at Eburne sawmills told delegates that prior to 1985, licenses were tied into specific operations. In 1985 the Socred gov- ernment of the day changed it to leave it at the discretion of the for- est minister. “A forest minister should not be put in the position where it is at his discretion. If the Social Credit gov- ernment was back in power or if the Liberals were in power I know that we would not be talking about Eburne sawmills - Eburne sawmills would be history.” The local also passed a resolution calling for an end to overcutting and undercutting on crown land and require that forest companies log all profiles of timber on their claims and properly inventory timber types. SET LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1998/11