Governments, employers, returning
soldiers and unions pressured
women to return to conventional
occupations such as homemakers,
teachers and nurses. At ALPLY,
women who insisted on keeping on
their jobs were often required to
justify their continued presence.

It was not until 1958 when
delegates to the IWA’s national
convention voted to abolish separate
wage scales for women in the
plywood industry. Eight years later,
the IWA went on strike, partly to
secure equal pay for equal work in
the Coast master agreement. Many
companies stopped hiring women
when the lower pay scale was
eliminated. A labour shortage in the
late 1960s and early 1970s resulted
in more women being hired in the
lumber industry.

TODAY

The IWA has grown to 55,000
g members across Canada. While its
2 base of support still remains in the
2 lumber industry, the composition of
8 the union has dramatically changed
'; from what was envisioned when the
ig I.W.A. was founded. No longer is it
I< a union of male loggers and

¢ Ladies' Auxiliary members gather in Lake Cowichan in Vancouver Island for a quarterly meeting in 1944.
Issues like cost of living, accesible health care, the length of the work week and equal pay for equal work topped
the agenda.

Herstory — Looking back at

women’s roles in the

by Carole Pearson

he role of women
throughout the history of
the IWA cannot be
overlooked nor
underestimated. From
the union’s founding 64
years ago, women have not only
supported the union but also
provided direction in formulating
policies and improving benefits to
all workers and their families.
Whether as homemakers or union
sisters, women have had a
tremendous impact addressing
workplace issues which has kept
the I.W.A. contemporary and
relevant instead of becoming an
anachronism, out of step with social
change.

YESTERDAY

For part of the 20th century, the
term ‘female millworker’ was an

oxymoron. The lumber industry was
not just dominated by men, but was
the exclusive bailiwick of men. When
the I.W.A. was founded in 1937, a
woman’s place was, if not in the
home, then in the classroom, hospital
or other traditional workplaces.
This does not mean women were
without influence. Far from it.

The Ladies’ Auxiliary played a
key role in bringing forth many
changes to benefit workers and their
families. The auxiliary wasn’t merely
a social club but a source of social
activism. As wives of men who
worked in the mills and logging
camps, they helped bridge the gap
between workplace and family issues
and broadened the union’s agenda.

The Lake Cowichan Ladies’
Auxiliary was among the most active
of these groups. It was founded in
1935, pre-dating the IWA by two
years. Auxiliary members worked
with local organizers to sponsor
dances and benefits to raise money

* During the Second World War, women filled the ranks of the forest

industry, only

to be laid off when men returned from overseas. Pictured

is a bundling line at Alberni Plywoods.

|.W.A.

and even provide a front for covert
union meetings when necessary.
They joined protests against the
high number of workplace fatalities.
The women also visited homes and
hospitals to comfort and assist
injured workers and campaigned for
improvements to the road from the
community to the nearest medical
facilities.

According to Andrew Neufeld and
Andrew Parnaby, authors of The
IWA in Canada, “[Bly the mid-1940s,
the women’s auxiliary had emerged
as an important player within the
trade union movement, fighting for
causes crucial to the wider struggle
of the working class and,
increasingly, to their own lives as
women. When 18,000 I.W.A.
members walked off the job in May
1946, the Ladies’ Auxiliary worked
with strike committees in many
communities to organize food drives,
tag days and entertainment for the
workers and their families. One
woman declared, “The women
usually have the difficult job of
making the pay cheque fit the
budget. We must be willing to help
our men win these increases. When
they win, we all win.”

When striking I.W.A. members
and supporters arrived in Victoria
to conduct a march to the Legislature
buildings, women from the Lake
Cowichan auxiliary led the
procession, proudly carrying the
union banners.

With the onset of World War II,
more women were employed in non-
traditional jobs, replacing men who
were recruited into military service.
For example, by 1943, Alberni
Plywoods (ALPLY) in Port Alberni,
B.C. had hired 280 young women —
80 percent of the total workforce —
to produce ammunition boxes and
other materials related to the war
effort. This, Neufeld and Parnaby
write, serves to explode the
remarkably durable myth that the

? lumber industry was (and should
3 therefore remain) a man’s world.

The post-war era ended the short-
lived challenge to traditional roles.

millworkers but now includes female
lumber graders, splicer operators
and forklift strapper operators.

Today, the union also represents
credit union employees, home care
workers, duty-free store clerks and
many others. With members in
industries as different as chocolate
manufacturing and steel fabrication,
the I.W.A. has become one of the
most diversified trade unions in the
country.

Women members are still in the
minority with about 10 percent of
the membership but that is
increasing. In the past, women
delegates at national conventions
were used to seeing few other women.

Cheryl Williams (Local 1-3567)
remembers, “We’d go to conferences
and there would be only about 10
women out of 200 delegates. But the
women used to all meet and we’d go
out together for lunch.” From
informal meetings to formal
conferences, women were interested
in meeting with their union sisters
to share experiences and discuss
work-related issues.

There have been two national
women’s conferences but it was just
last year when the Women’s
Committee was enshrined in the
I.W.A.’s national constitution.
Committee Chair Brenda Wagg
(Local 2171) says, “As the union
organizes workers from more and
more nontraditional sectors and
more women enter the union, it
became important the committee
should be in the constitution and
properly funded.” g

Noting there was some resistance
to the idea from union brothers,
Sister Wagg says, “You look at some
of the issues women are concerned.
about. They are concerned about
health and safety. That’s not just a
woman’s issue. They are concerned
about pensions. That’s not just a
women’s issue.”

According to National Women’s
Committee member, Bonnie
Armstrong (Local 1-424), “We’re
also working for the men.” With
more single fathers in the workplace,
Armstrong says, “My guys will come
up to me and ask about child care.
A guy won’t go to another guy and
ask, ‘What do you do for child care?
What do you pay?’ When they ask
me, I tell them, You know what —
we've talked about that.”

TOMORROW

The future of the I.W.A. is
dependent on successfully
organizing more young workers,
more working women and more

Continued on page twenty-four

: LUMBERWORKER/SERTEMBER, 2001/23