Fr a eee ae er

MRS. GRACE MacINNIS AND JIM HENTSCHEL
. .. In Augus’ name, a $350 bursary

BURSARY TO JIM

Jim Hentschel, 22-year-old son of a shipyard welder, has
won the $350 Angus MacInnis bursary awarded by the B.C.

Federation of Labour.

And appropriately, the award and the cheque, was pre
sented to the University of B.C. student by Mrs. Grace Mac-
Innis, newly - elected MP. from Vancouver - Kingsway and
widow of long-time labor man and parliamentarian for whom

the bursary was named.

Hentschel is a fourth-year political science student at UBC.
He said the bursary will be of. great help in financing his

university studies.

He hopes to take his Masters degree in political science,
specializing in far-eastern affairs and perhaps, later, to take
part in students overseas services.

He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Hentschel of North Van-
couver. His father is a member of the Marine Workers Local
1 and is employed as a welder at Burrard Dry Dock.

Jim was born in Germany and came to Canada with his

parents in 1953.

The presentation was made at the recent B.C. Federation

of Labour convention.

~ FROM PAGE 1

PLANERMEN

classifications in the agree-
ment,

It is estimated that the new
agreement, the result of 16
months of negotiations, will
provide an hourly increase
ranging from 16 to 33 cents
for about 80 per cent of the
employees affected.

SICK
VISITS

isters Betty Skog and Nola Jones
ot New Westminster IWA Local 1-357
Ladies Auxiliary visited the follow-
ing hospitalized members, distribut-
ing cigarettes, chocolate bars and the
Lumber Worker:

Cyril Jones, B.C. Forest Prod., Lo-
cal 1-367; John Everman, Flavelle
Cedar, Local 1-357; Wm. Vilancies,
McMillan Bloedel, Local 1-357; Ed-
ward Pearson, Pt. Neville Log., Local
4-71; David Barker, Englewood Div.,
CFP, Local 1-71; Marshall Polyukon,
Lakewood Lbr., Local 1-367; David
Ginnever, Fraser Mills, Local 1-357;
Wayne Unger, Surrey Cedar, Local
1-387; Robert Anderson, Rayonier
(Marpole), Local 1-217; Fred Koochin,

Rayonier, N.W.,

It has defined two main
classifications with an addi-
tional provision for “set-uv”
men. The rates are $3.07 an
hour for No. 1 classification;
$2.90 an hour for the No. 2
classification ;and a rate of
$2.78 an hour for set-up men.

Earlier, after the agree-
ment had been worked out,
the employers’ representatives
had refused to sign until re-
gional and local union officers
provided a written guarantee
that what they described as
“pressuring job action” would
be discontinued.

The regional negotiating
committee refused to give
this written commitment and
denied emphatically that
IWA members had engaged
in any illegal activities.

The committee interpreted
the employers’ demand as an
ultimatum which would
wrongfully incriminate IWA
members and expose them to
punitive action by companies
opposing their demands for
long overdue rate revisions.

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

FROM PAGE 1

BREAKTHROUGH

of technological change or
automation shall be entitled
to severance pay equivalent
to one week’s pay for each
year of service in the employ
of the company, to a maxi-
mum of 26 weeks.

e Term of Agreement —

The term of agreement shall
be from April 16, 1965, to
April 15, 1967.

e Wages — It is recom-
mended that a general wage
increase of 35c per hour be
made as follows: 10 cents per
hour effective April 16, 1965;
an additional 10 cents per
hour at date of signing; an
additional 15 cents per hour
effective April 16, 1966.

e All other provisions as
contained in the Conciliation
Board reports shall apply.

DEADLINE

The oil workers’ deadline
for a full-scale strike had been
set earlier for Nov. 15. Until
then, they had limited strike
action to the British Ameri-
can Oil Company, hoping to
gain a settlement without any
wider involvement and indus-
trial disorganization. How-
ever, the law placed a 90-day
limit on their legal right to
strike the other oil companies
also disputing their demands.

This posed a crucial prob-
lem for the B.C. Federation
of Labour. Its affiliates had all
given generous support to the
B-A strike.

The protracted negotiations
with B-A gave every evidence
that the powerful oil compan-
ies were in league to smash
the oil workers’ union.

Local unions across the
province were in no mood to
work with “hot gas” for they
had already succeeded in
switching industrial accounts
away from B-A.

Sporadic attempts by crews
in isolated operations to boy-
cott “scab” gasoline and die-
sel fuel would produce a rash
of ill-timed and disconnected
work stoppages with chaotic
consequences.

On Nov. 15, as the first
deadline drew near, the Fed-
eration summoned a confer-
ence of local union represen-
tatives. The delegates induced
the Oil Workers’ Union to
postpone their general strike
deadline until Nov. 24, and
announced that at 11:59 p.m.
Wednesday, November 24 —
without a settlement of the
oil workers’ strike—all union-
ists would be asked to quit
work for 48 hours and take
a four-day holiday weekend.

PROTEST

This form of mass protest
was not originally conceived
as a general strike. The pro-
posed work stoppage was lim-
ited to 48 hours, with provi-
sion for emergency services.
A walk-out appeared to the
trade unions as the only
course of action by which

trade union traditions could
be upheld.

The decision of the IWA,
largest affiliate of the Federa-

tion was typical. Every B.C.
IWA local union pledged sup-
port in answering the call of
President Moore, also first

vice-president of the Federa-
tion.

The IWA decision, like that
of many other unions, was a
courageous step. Forest In-
dustrial Relations served no-
tice that any stoppage would
be regarded as a breach of
contract and a violation of
provincial law, rendering the
union liable to prosecution in
the courts.

But most labor leaders in
B.C. felt that they did the

only thing that could be done,
under the circumstances.

Moore and Stan Green, in-
ternational vice-president of
the Pulp and Sulphite Work-
ers, had wired Premier Ben-
nett earlier on Nov. 13, urg-
ing that he use his office to
settle the serious oil dispute,
but at that time no move was
made by the premier.

Labor Minister Peterson
had said he wouldn’t permit
a shutdown of the oil indus-
try—as the oil workers strike
deadline approached. And the
oil companies had announced
they were ready to throw
supervisory personnel into
their plants to keep operating.

The total picture was build-
ing up with chaotic colors. It
was known that unions would
refuse to use hot oil and gaso-
line products that were pro-
duced behind legal picket
lines once the Oil Workers’
Union struck all companies.

Under B.C. labor law, it
was just as illegal to enforce
a secondary boycott—refusal
to use hot products — as it
was to take part in a general
work stoppage.

INJUNCTIONS

Unions would have been
hit one by one with injunc-
tions for rejecting hot gaso-
line and industry in general
would have been in a turmoil,

possibly for many days or
many weeks.

Provincial labor department
officials made frantic efforts
to bring the disputing parties
back to the bargaining table
but the possibilities of a final
settlement grew more remote,
due to the stubborn resistance
of the oil companies, to any
infringement upon manage-
ment’s right in adjustments
to automation in the oil in-
dustry.

As the Federation’s execu-
tive council sat through the
night of Nov. 23, an almost
complete 48-hour work stop-
page in primary and manu-
facturing industries as well
as in transportation and com-
munications appeared to be
certain. Labor was evincing
almost complete solidarity.

The Teamsters had refused
to support an illegal work
stoppage, but indicated they
would respect picket lines and

refuse to haul scab oil and
gasoline.

At mid-morning on Nov. 24
— only about 14 hours before
the general walkout deadline
—the premier summonsed la-
bor leaders, oil company ex-

ecutives and the press to a_
conference.

He demanded
acceptance of the settlement

formula presented by Peter-—

son,

The oil workers’ union ne-
gotiators accepted the pro-
posal and the Federation im-

mediately cancelled the work —

stoppage call, and issued this
statement:

“The B.C. Federation is
pleased to announce that the
dispute between the oil com-
panies and the Oil Workers
Union has been resolved inso-
far as the unions and the
Federation are concerned,

“The general work stoppage
scheduled for midnight today
has been called off and all
union members are requested
to report for work as nor-
mally.

“The Federation is gratified
that the key issue of automa-
tion, which precipitated the
dispute and which was the
main obstacle in the way of
settlement, has received due
consideration in the settle-
ment formula.

THANKS

“Our sincere thanks go to
all those unions which un-
flinchingly and equivocally,
in the face of severe pressure
and intimidation, supported
the position of the B.C. Fed-
eration of Labour.”

J. R. Duncan, Canadian
director of the oil workers’
union, as the end came, said:

“We would like to thank
the B.C. Federation of. Labor,
the Canadian Labor Congress,
all the labor movement across
the country, especially in
B.C., for the kind of support
they gave us in trying to
bring this problem to the fore.
It is the best we have seen
in the labor movement for a
number of years.

“We are particularly pleas-
ed about the recognition of
the problem of automation.
Although the terms are not
all that we would like to have
had, we feel the gravity of
the situation requires us to
consider the settlement con-
ditions on a positive basis.”

Pat O’Neal, secretary of
B.C. Federation of Labor,
said: “The recommendation
by the government vindicates
the position we took on auto-
mation.

IMPACT

“T think the government's

recommendation on automa-
tion is one of the most signi-
ficant breakthroughs on this
question. It has dome more
than all the conferences, cock-
tail party discussions,

es, and dialogue. Now every-
one is aware of the problems
of automation and the im-
pact they can have on indi-
viduals and society.

“The fact the government
has recognized the serious im-
pact is very rewarding
gratifying and will have a far
greater effect than if it had
been worked out between the

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