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SEE PAGE SIX

LONG STRIKE ENDS
AT PRINCE ALBERT

The four and one-half month
strike by the 350 members of
Local 1-184 IWA employed by
the Woodlands Enterprises
Ltd., Prince Albert, Saskat-
chewan, was settled October 7,
with the Union winning a
number of key demands.

Included in the priority items
were:

Vancouver, B,C.

RETURN REQUESTED

THE LUMBER WORKER
2859 Commercial Dr.,

© A wage increase of $1.58
an hour for all hourly paid em-

ployees over the two-year term -

of the contract with 75 cents
paid in the first year, a further
75 cents in the second year, and
an additional eight cents on
October 1, 1977.

© A number of category
revisions ranging from 15 cents
per hour to 30 cents an hour.

© Piece rate workers to
receive an additional 10%
cents per square effective
April 1, 1976, and 8 cents per
square in the second year of
the contract.

e A formula negotiated
which will permit three-man
crews to work in two-man
crews when the average daily
production reaches or exceeds
eighty square feet over three
consecutive pay periods. 3

e Agreement that the bush
crews will not be forced to sort
their logs by species or grade
at the landings. ;

Improvements were also
negotiated in travel time,
staffing of camp cooking
facilities and the apprentice-
ship plan.

Negotiating the agreement
for the Union were Regional
8rd Vice-President Neil
Menard, Local President
Harry Doig, and Local
Business Agent Don Erhardt.

lumber worker |

ISSN 0049-7371

IN 40-PAGE IWA BRIEF:

EMPLOYERS, GOVERNMENT ACCUSED
OF ATTEMPTING TO DESTROY WCB

Regional President Jack
Munro in a blistering attack
November 29, accused the
major employers of the
province and Labour Minister
Allan Williams with deliber-
ately attempting to destroy the
Workers’ Compensation
Board.

The attack is contained in a
well documented forty-page
brief which charges that,
“since the change in govern-
ment parties last December,
the Workers’ Compensation
Board has been the object of
consistent political pressures
directed clearly by the largest
employer representatives in
this Province.”

The brief also strongly
condemns the three commis-
sioners of the Board for not
only failing to oppose the
sabotage of the WCB but for

actively aiding in its demise.

Munro stated that it is well
apparent that the climate of
the Board has changed from
concern over the workers’
interest to a selfish desire of
the employers to have their
WCB assessments slashed to
the bone.

Munro also charged that the
P.S. Ross Report on the Com-
pensation Act, commissioned

_ last January, is in the hands of

the Labour Minister, the three
Commissioners, some Cabinet
members and the Employers’
Council while labour is left to
speculate on its contents.
“There is no doubt,’”’ Munro
stated, ‘“‘that this activity con-
stitutes a wholesale attack on
workers and is the result of a
calculated political strategy.
We think that the reasons are
essentially three-fold:

DECEMBER 1976 — JANUARY 1977

Se
4

:
a

“First, they want to save
money, of course. That means
maintaining a constant com-

pensation assessment rate,
keeping a lid on the range and

levels of compensation benefits

and ensuring that health and
safety regulations do not
require increased expendi-
tures for equipment repair,
modification, engineering
work, and so on.

‘Secondly, they want to
divert developing worker
militancy over health and
safety matters (especially
disease prevention) back into
fighting for meagre compensa-
tion benefits on a case-to-case
basis. The evidence of this
rapidly growing worker
militancy has been apparent
throughout Canada, but

See “SCORED” p. 8

ORGANIZED LABOUR protested outside the MacMillan-Bloedel building December 6,
over the in camera hearings by the federal Restrictive Trade Practices Commission in-
vestigating documents of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union which were
seized by government investigators last year. Shown supporting the labour protest are Re-
gional 2nd Vice-President Bob Blanchard, left, and Syd Thompson, President of Local 1-217

IWA, Vancouver, and President of the Vancouver & District Labour Council.

A