2 ~ THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER ec ing P 3 : é see a ? OCTOBER, 1972 as ob Vea ee Vanes tae Chae sé Py 38,000 copies printed in this issue Vy rer f Bi } os \ ieiee i. 6 4 ft A \ Published once monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No.1 Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 atKerr B6usiness Manager—Fred Fieber Advertising Representatives—Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the 1WA in Western Canada inaccordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. EDITORIAL DANGEROUS gN their sincere desire to support the shingle workers on _ strike in Local 1-217, delegates to the recent IWA Regional Convention set a highly dangerous precedent in voting ad- ditional money for them out of the Strike Fund. This is not to suggest that the shingle workers don’t need or warrant more financial assistance. They have been on strike for months battling for shorter hours and the elimination of all piece rates. Many have exhausted their credit and are truly suffering financial hard- ship. However, for the Convention delegates to provide this assistance by bending the Strike Fund’s rigid rules, could destroy some of the democratic principles that this organization is founded on. This was the fear expressed by some delegates at the Convention who sug- PRECEDENT gested that the Union would be wiser in the long run to seek alternate solutions to the problem. They pointed out that the Convention delegates had already approved raising the payment of strike relief from $35.00 to $50.00, and to make an exception of the shingle workers by giving them even more from the Strike Fund, was not democratic unless all members on strike received the same amount. To support this argument some speakers suggested that to ensure a uniform policy on strike relief, the $50.00 figure set for strike relief be amended to the $61.00 figure proposed by the Convention for the shingle workers. Unfortunately, this was not followed up and in their desire to show support for the shingle workers, the delegates lost sight of the fact that all IWA members are equal and must have equal treatment. Drop yer load anywhere Jack... I’m finished fer th’ day! STATISTICS CANADA Canadian population goes up by 1 person every 2 minutes, 0 seconds. There is 1 birth every 1 minute, 27 seconds. There is 1 death every 3 minutes, 17 seconds. 1 immigrant arrives every 4 minutes, 29 seconds. 1 emigrant leaves every 9 minutes, 15 seconds. ouueteenemeenene Editor’s note: indeed, considering the multi- UIC RECIPIENTS — 5’s OPEN LETTER TO TRUDEAU the UIC, but with the head- The following is a copy of the letter sent to Prime Minister Trudeau by the officers of Local 1-85 Port Alberni, protesting his remarks about UIC recipients. Also included is the reply from the Prime Minister’s office. : An Open letter to: The Right Honourable Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, Ottawa Dear Sir: On behalf of the Officers and members of Local 1-85 IWA who represent 5,000 wood- workers on Vancouver Island, I wish to protest your recent remarks concerning Unem- ployment Insurance recipients. Your recently quoted remarks that the Unemploy- ment Insurance Commission was hiring more Inspectors to track down fraudulent _ elaimants coupled with your remarks that there are thous- ands of jobs available tend to ereate ihe totally erroneous __ impression that the average Unemployment Insurance recipient is fraudulently col- leeting money to which he is ‘not entitled and too lazy to ch they are not entitled, There may well be some le collecting UIC benefits tude of errors the UIC make it would be surprising if there were not. However, they would be but a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people who have been deprived of, or had delayed for weeks, benefits to which they are both entitled and often desperately need. There is little point, and a good deal of dishonesty, in boasting of ‘‘the best Unem- ployment Insurance legislation in the world’? when bureau- cratic incompetence and foolish and illogical rules have . resulted in so many Canadians being denied the benefits of that legislation. A detailed account of the. errors of the UIC would fill volumes and it is impossible to adequately describe the frustration felt by the average citizen in dealing with that agency. The forms and computer cards that have to be filled out are designed to present great difficulty to anyone who does not have the advantage of a legal education and the form letters which are used to reply to any problem an applicant encounters are incompre- hensible to the average citizen. In all fairness it should be pointed out that to a great extent the fault does not lie with the regional employees of quarters in Ottawa. I am given to understand that the regional officers of the UIC are plagued with a combination of having their hands tied by ridiculous rules and regulations and a shortage of staff. Your proposal to employ more staff would have merit if instead of employing more Inspectors to pry, you employed some intelligent people to revise the regulations and additional competent people to help administer the Act properly. Complete chaos seems to reign within the UIC and too many Canadians are suffering from both lack of employment and difficulty in obtaining the UIC benefits they have con- tributed to and are entitled to. The membership of Local 1-85 would be interested in hearing from you some _ specific proposals to correct the current situation rather than pious platitudes and un- justified accusations. With this end in mind we are urging our members to attend the meetings of all the political parties to ask the various candidates what specific changes their parties would be prepared to make to the Unemployment Insurance Act if they form the next govern- ment. When thousands of honest unemployed workers are denied Unemployment Insur- ance over technicalities the rules must be wrong. If the rules are wrong they must be changed. If your party has no sensible proposals to make we urge the voters to elect a government that has. The statement of UIC Chair- man, Guy Cousineau, that employers on the West Coast had agreed to help the Com- mission track down insurance claimants who turned down “legitimate job offers’ does not surprise us. We are well aware that there are em- ployers who have difficulty in getting people to work for the sub-standard wages some of them pay and they will un- doubtedly be overjoyed at the prospect of having the UIC force people into their employ. While there may have been long periods in your life when you were not engaged in either productive or useful employ- ment I doubt that you have -ever had the experience of attempting to support a family on Unemployment Insurance or the wages provided by the majority of the jobs you say are available. I feel that if you tried living on that type of income for a year the experience would be extremely educational for you and perhaps beneficial for the Nation. Respectfully yours, W. E. HAWKES, IWA-Local 1-85 CLC -CIO-AFL GOVERNMENT’S ANSWER Ottawa KIA OA2 October 10, 1972 Mr. W. E. Hawkes, International Woodworkers of America, Local 1-85, 310 Montrose Street, Port Alberni, B.C. Dear Mr. Hawkes: Thank you for your Sep- tember 26 letter to the Prime Minister. I very much regret that you should feel the way you do about some of Mr. Trudeau’s statements in connection with abuses of Unemployment Insurance benefits. I enclose transcripts of remarks by the Prime Minister which clearly indicate that this government and the Liberal Party in no way suggest that the ‘average Unemployment Insurance recipient is fraudulently col- lecting money to which he is not entitled and too lazy to work’’. Again, thank you for having written to Mr. Trudeau. Yours sincerely, Henry Alan Lawless, Correspondence Sec’ty.