IWA In his keynote address to the 29th annual IWA regional convention, president Jack Moore said the past year had been very successful but he warned of challenges and stormclouds ahead. Here is the full text of his address: * * * The year that has passed since our last convention has been an exciting and reward- ing one. We have been able to successfully carry out the in- structions of the 28th Annual Convention in a manner that brought to our members higher living standards and better working conditions. This convention, however, has not been called to look back on past successes but rather to look forward to the challenges of the coming year and to lay out a program to meet its challenges. The labor movement in western Canada must take a look at the kind of industrial society which we would like to see in an age of automa- tion and then to lay down a program to bring into reality the type of industrial society which will benefit the work- ers and the community as a whole. Because we are the largest labor organization in western Canada, a greater share of re- sponsibility to lead the way for other unions falls on our shoulders and, for this reason, the course we chart must be a sound one. And I am certain that, as we have in the past, the dele- gates to this convention will debate and discuss with logic the various resolutions which _ will be placed before you for _ your consideration, and that _ the program we finally adopt will have the wholehearted support of all members of » this union. This convention should take note of our dependence on the organizations of this mn and we should realize better wages MOORE THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER our employer is not the only field that we must tackle. We were able to use that economic strength successful- ly in negotiating the best agreement we have ever nego- tiated in the coastal area of B.C. this past year. However, political decisions in both the U.S. and Canada by people who are deliberate- ly setting out to slow down the economy will result in many of our members being unable to participate in the gains we have made because they will be on the list of un- employed by winter. We should take a look at the kind of philosophy behind the decisions being made in Ottawa and Washington. They say they are afraid of inflation when really what they are ~ afraid of is that, for once in our existence, the working people of all nations have been able to get, through negotia- tions and economic strength, a bigger share of the pie we produce. That is what they are scared of, PRESSURE Peter Bentley (an execu- tive of Canadian Forest Prod- ucts Ltd.) has said: ‘Regret- tably, the only thing that would put some sanity into the Canadian scene is large scale unemployment.’ Here is a statement by a responsible officer of one of the chief firms of this province, advo- cating that we should have mass unemployment in the province. Because of the position that people like this are in, they can put pressure on the gov- ernment and have enacted in- to legislation things that will bring that about. The workers must do every- thing in their power to try to get the government away from tight money policies and high interest rates so that we can keep the economy going where it was earlier this year. The last thing we want is mass unemployment. It is not the Bentleys that become un- employed. It is you and I and PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FED A MISHMASH OF ECONOMIC FALLACIES the people we represent that become unemployed. It is also interesting to note that the politicians and econo- mists in this country have finally recognized an economic fact which we have been stat- ing for years, and that is: in- creased wages and _ better working conditions,.can be granted by employers such as the steel industry and our in- dustry without the need for a rise in prices. PRICES Increased productivity has always outpaced wage in- creases, resulting in lower la- bor costs per unit of produc- tion. ; For years the people in this country have been fed a mish- mash of economic fallacies re- sulting in a general belief that wage increases are responsible for inflationary pressures and increased prices. The recent decision of the Canadian government to stop the steel industry from raising prices and the fact that they could prove that the increased wages to the workers did not justify a price increase, should put to rest forever the mis- conception that working peo- ple, through their unions, are mainly responsible for in- flation. FREEDOM There are, however, many other disturbing decisions be- ing made at the political level in this country—not the least of which is the decision of the government of Saskatchewan to take away the right to strike by workers employed in certain industries. There is pressure in every province in western Canada for the same type of legisla- tion to be enacted and it is one short step from taking away the right to strike from some workers to outlawing the right to strike for all workers. No responsible trade union should embark on a strike un- til every possible avenue of reason and logic has been ex- plored and workers must be allowed to retain the freedom to strike when all alternatives have been exhausted, if we are to maintain a free society over all. No nation can enslave labor by outlawing strikes and em- barking on a system of com- pulsion without seriously un- dermining all other freedoms that we have built into our democratic society. This organization will have to spearhead — in all four western provinces—the right to retain freedom of action for working men and women. We should grasp the oppor- tunity set out in the Nemetz report to set up a committee comprised of three top people in the coast lumber industry and three top officers of the IWA to discuss and explore changes which should and could be made in the lumber industry. AN ATTEMPT It may be that little could be accomplished by such a committee; however, we have never had the opportunity be- fore to sit down with the king- pins of the industry and dis- cuss any problems whatso- ever. To me it would be a tragic mistake if we did not at least attempt to make such a committee work. We should also vigorously embark on the program to set up committees at the plant and camp level to deal with the matter of technological change, as outlined by Mr. Justice Nemetz in his report. - Because of the recent settle- ment on the coast and the fact that the interior of the prov- ince is on a three-year agree- ment, we will be entering ne- gotiations in both southern and northern interior of B.C. next August, with the differ- ential between the coast and interior woodworkers in ex- cess of 50c per hour. There has never—in the history of our organization— been such a differential and other organizations, such as the Pulp Workers and the Carpenters, have been able to equalize rates across the prov- ince of B.C. It will be imperative that we organize ourselves in such a manner as to ensure the ut- most co-operation between the negotiating committees in the interior to utilize the weight of the woodworkers on the coast to assist the interior woodworker in_ eliminating this great differential in pay which is reflected in the lower living conditions of our broth- ers and sisters east of the Coast Range. I am certain that using the full economic strength of our organization we can raise the living standards of the interior woodworker to a par with their coast counterparts, In conclusion, I would like to thank my fellow regional officers for their co-operation and close working relation- ships, and I would like to ex- tend my congratulations to the local union officers and the members of our organization for the unity and determina- tion they have shown in tackl- ing the problems of this past year, and which have resulted in such giant strides forward for woodworkers in all west- ern Canada.