Sound log market, which could
{hen put independent manu-
facturers who don’t have their
own timber in a much better
position to offer secure em-
ployment.

The IWA also urge that the
Bill include much stronger and
more specific measures to en-
sure that B.C. Timber is manu-
factured to the highest possible
value product. Every IWA
member- knows that as mat-
ters now stand, plywood plants
often have difficulty getting
good logs, while good peelers
are sent to pulp mills.

The IWA has heard rumours
that the Government intends to
deal with this problem by
changing the Coast stumpage
system to an “end-product”
value system, as it has been in
the interior for years.

The theory here is that the.

stumpage paid for the log will
be based on the highest pos-
sible use — the company will
be charged peeler stumpage
for peeler logs, and so will not

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

‘be able to afford to make pulp

out of it.

This charge would no doubt
improve matters, but the IWA
doesn’t believe it will ade-
quately deal with the basic
problem, Coast TFL licencees
enjoy, in combination, a mono-
poly position. They can afford
to suffer current losses in in-
come to protect that position
by drying up supplies for com-
petitors, and they often do.

The IWA believes that the
Bill should clearly provide that
under-utilization of Timber is
an offense, and will result in a
reduction, or cancellation, of
timber-cutting rights. The Bill
presently embraces the “‘if you
don’t use timber, you lose it”
principle. That principle
should be ‘‘If you don’t use the
Timber so that it produces the
most valuable product pos-
sible, you lose it.”’

That principle is especially
important to enforce against
outfits like MacMillan Bloedel,
who if allowed to can adopt a

FROM PAGE ONE
“CONVENTION”

unions, rose to express com-
plete opposition to right to
work legislation in any form.
Debate was closed by Syd
Thompson, President Local 1-
217 IWA who received a
lengthy standing ovation when
he concluded a fiery speech
with the statement “‘if we have
to we will literally turn this
province upside down before
we accept “right to work’’
legislation.”

Plenary sessions also dealt
with resolutions in the fields of
Education, Energy, Human
Resources, Judicial Affairs
and Transport and Communi-
cations. Some of the resolu-
tions adopted:
© condemned the Socred

policy aimed at having

people pay for family
counselling and other social
services

© denounced the proposed
compulsory heroin treat-
ment program

e demanded government
ownership of B.C. Tele-
phone as quickly as
possible.

© opposed any further indus-
trialization of the Cowichan-
Kiksilah Estuary

© called on B.C. Hydro to
suspend studies associated
with the Kootenay Diver-
sion Project

v

© opposed any alteration of
Canada’s present boundary
in the Dixon Entrance

The 1978 Provincial Conven-
tion of the NDP had a number
of similarities to the 1971 con-
véntion. In 1971 the convention
adopted the panel format for
the first time. Policy Advisory
Committees made extensive
preparations for the conven-
tion and the policy adopted
there became the platform on
which the NDP was elected in
1972. The united mood which
was essential to the 1972 vic-
tory is building again, a sound,
carefully considered platform
is being developed.

Most labour leaders recog-
nize the necessity of working.
together as a movement to
support the NDP if we are to
stop Socred destruction of the
foundation laid by the NDP
from 1972 to 1975.

The erosion of the Labour
Code, the Workers’ Compensa-
tion Board and the spectre of
“right to work’? should be
enough to drive this point
home. If the leadership of the
Federation cannot see the need
to pull together to fight Social
Credit and all that it stands for
it may be necessary to elect
new leadership.

.gulated by

|
|
ies

CLIVE LYTLE
GETS S.F.U. POST

Former B.C. Federation of
Labour Assistant Secretary-
Treasurer Clive Lytle has been
appointed Assistant Pro-
grammer in Labour Studies at
Simon Fraser University.
Lytle will be working with Ann
Harley who has, over the past
two years, developed a number
of union educational programs
in close co-operation with the
C.L.C. and a number of af-

filiated unions.

Lytle’s appointment, made
possible by a Labour Canada
grant, will facilitate expansion
of the S.F.U. program. Initial-
ly, he is determining, through a
series of discussions with trade
union leaders and education of-
ficers, areas of need with re-
spect to trade union education
which the University can help
to meet.

ee]

oa a r

policy of producing its high-
value (and therefore labour-in-
tensive) products outside of
B.C:

The Bill does not provide for
Public Hearings when TFL’s
are renewed. The IWA has re-
servations about the present
public hearing system which
will be spelled out in a later
article. The IWA believes that
that system can easily be
changed, and that a new kind
of public hearing should pre-
cede TFL renewal decisions.

There is another matter
which the IWA has to make
clear. In supporting changes to
Coast TFL’s like those which
we suggest, some appear to be
arguing for a return to a sort of
“cottage-industry” forestry in
British Columbia, with a large
number of very small firms re-
the ‘‘market-
place,” instead of by Govern-
ment.

-However attractive this may
seem at first glance, the IWA
believes that it is unrealistic.

For B.C. to get anything like
decent utilization of its timber,
there has to be pulp mills. To
have pulp mills, we have to
have larger blocks of timber
designated for their supply,
and those mills have to be
operated by outfits large
enough to invest hundreds of
millions of dollars.

There is not enough timber in
B.C., nor enough market for
forest products, to support a
large enough number of these

outfits to create ‘‘a free, non-
monopolistic’’ market-regu-
lated industry.

Second, and whether we like
it or not, the physical nature of
the modern day Forest in-
dustry places a limit on how
small an independent outfit
can be. A single logging side on
the Coast requires about one
million dollars of equipment,
and a lot of other “up-front”
costs; labour, fuel, financing,:
cles

To meet all these ‘‘up-front”’
costs; to be able to afford good
forestry practices, good safety
procedures, to meet prevailing
wage and fringe benefit costs,
to be able to provide stable em-
ployment through fluctuating
markets, all require firms of
considerable size.

There is political appeal in
championing the cause of the
“small independent” business,
despite the fact that in the
forest industry, the businesses
that are really small are by no
means independent.

When it has been pointed out
that a great many even
medium-sized forest industry
firms ‘‘go belly-up’”’ the re-
sponse has been simply to as-
sert everyone’s God-given
right to go broke.

But publicly-owned timber is
allocated to forest industry
firms so that they can provide
stable employment, reliable
returns to the Crown, a general
economic base for the com-
munication, and all in com-

pliance with good forestry and “iy

environmental practice, When
these outfits fail, they fail not

only to make money, but to — |

meet all of those vital public
objectives. All of those failures
cannot simply be written off as
someone’s exercising of his
“right to go broke.”’

However, there are outfits in
both logging and manufactur-
ing that have proven them-
selves capable of all these
things. If the excess timber in
the TFL’s is freed up, more
will appear. The IWA believes
it to be of fundamental import-
ance to the industry and the
province that that be done.

In addition to the objections
to the timber-allocation provi-
sions, a great many arguments
have been made by various en-
vironmental groups respecting
proper protection of non-
timber values, reforestation,
the sustained yield principle,
etc. These will be discussed in
the next issue of the Lumber
Worker.

What is clear now is that
enough serious objections have
been made by enough serious
organizations to satisfy the
Government that more time
for study and debate has to be
provided.

Together with a number of
responsible organizations, the
IWA has urged the Minister to
delay passage of the Bill until
the next Legislative session.
The need to do so must now be
clear to all.

See

_ MINISTRY OF FORESTS

British Columbia’s forests
are not limitless. Most of the
easily reachable timber has
been harvested, while large
amounts of the best forest land
have been lost to dams, parks,
and urban development. How
is industry going to find all the
trees it needs to meet world
demand? Experience has
proven that with research and
acarefully planned program of
reforestation, thinning, fer-
tilizing, and harvesting, it is
actually possible to grow more
wood on less land than is
needed by a virgin forest. The
continued existence of many
communities in B.C. will
depend on making the most of
our forest land — and that is
why the Ministry of Forests is
going to television with a 30-
minute film. The TV special is
already scheduled to be shown
on the CTV network at 7:00
p.m. on June 28th (CHEK TV
Vancouver Island) and June
29th (CHAN TV Mainland and
Interior). Later the film will

be aired on the CBC network.

The idea is to talk directly
and honestly about the need for
intensive management by
finding out what people feel
about the future, explaining
the situation, and
acknowledging some of the
mistakes that have been made
in the past. The film clearly
explains what intensive
management is and how it
works. Many different people
were interviewed who work in
the industry, from Forest

COMMISSIONS TV SPECIAL

Service rangers to loggers,
millworkers, professional
foresters, managers in major
companies and owners of small
independent outfits. The film
also goes to communities
where the forest industry is the
lifeblood — and asks people on
the street what their concerns
are.

The film is being directed by
Phil Borsos whose short film,
Spartree, about one of the last
highriggers in the business,
won most of the top prizes at
the Canadian Film Festival
last year. Most of the shooting
is near Cowichan Lake, where

i
: {ge

PHIL BORSOS, center, who is directing the film,
kept the crew shooting despite heavy rain around
Lake Cowichan. Normally, three months is the
minimum time needed to shoot a film of this

length and complexity, but with only six weeks,
every hour of daylight was needed. .

some companies have large
stands of intensively managed
forest, at the UBC forest, and
at Riske Creek in the Cariboo.
Since Borsos is known for his
live-action style, cameramen
and soundmen were
sometimes scrambling after
chokermen trying to get shots
without breaking an arm. __

Promoted to _ schools,
libraries, media, as well as
industry and
organizations, the film should
concern all British Columbians
and the Ministry is making

every effort to see we get the

message.

labour |

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