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LUMBER

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WORKER

Vol. XXXVII, No. 1

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY -

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1st Issue
January, 1968

LOCAL 1-71 PRESIDENT Ernie Freer, second from left,
delivering his address to the Local’s Wages & Contract
Conference January 5. Officers from left, Bill Wilson,
secretary-treasurer; Freer; Walter Kozij, 2nd vice-presi-
dent; Ben Thompson, Ist vice-president; Bob Pickering,
3rd vice-president; Glenn Phillips, executive board member.

LOGGERS’ LOCAL MEETS

TO CONSIDER DEMANDS

Local 1-71 members have
made it abundantly clear that
they consider an improved
fare allowance formula for
loggers and’a reduction of the
44-hour work week for cook
and bunkhouse employees,
major contract demands in
this year’s coast negotiations.

FEDERATION
CONFERENCES

A four-day series of confer-
ences will be held by the B.C.
Federation of Labour Janu-
ary 27-30, in the Empress
Hotel, Victoria, to deal with
the problems of injunctions,
the Workmen’s Compensation
Act, and wages and policy.

The conferences were ar-
ranged by the Federation of-
ficers following the number
of resolutions passed at the
last B.C. Federation conven-
tion i that such

be held.
_ Following is the proposed

agenda:
_ January 27, 1968 — 10:00
am. to 4:00 p.m., Injunction

In a two-hour discussion,
fifty delegates attending the
Local’s Wage and Contract
Conference January 5, in the
Hallmark Hall, Vancouver,
approved a resolution which
would stop loggers being bled
white by high travel costs
and another resolution which
would extend the forty-hour
work week to cover cook and
bunkhouse employees.

All in all, the conference
dealt with 199 resolutions
covering such subjects as
wage demands, falling and
bucking problems, free room
and board, statutory holidays,
health & welfare, commissary
prices, taxation on work wear
and safety. The approved
resolutions will be submitted
to the Regional Wages & Con-
tract Conference.

Under the directive laid
down by the Regional Execu-
tive Board, the Lumber
Worker is prohibited from
reporting the monetary de-
mands of Local Unions until
they have been dealt with by
the Regional Wages & Con-
tract Conference which meets
February 23-24, in Vancou-
ver.

The conference was opened
by Local president Ernie
Freer who in a short address
stressed to the delegates how

highly important the meeting.

was to their economic wel-
fare. In welcoming the offi-
cers of Locals 1-80, 1-217,
1-363 and 1-367, who attended
the conference as observers,
Freer pointed out that this
was the first time such a visit
had been made to another's

Wage meet ‘and showed the

The IWA has rejected an
ultimatum of the Southern
Interior employers’ associa-
tion to accept the Munroe
terms of settlement by Febru-
ary 1, or have the offer with-
drawn.

Regional president Jack
Moore, the spokesman for the
Southern Interior Negotiating
Committee stated that the
employers’ . blackmail tactics
have left the Union with no

COACH FIRM MOVING

ECONOMIC DISASTER FACING
FORT MACLEOD COMMUNITY

Officers of Local 1-206 IWA
have requested Canada Man-
power officials to use their in-
fluence to avert a threatened
economic disaster at Fort
Macleod, Alberta, following
the million-dollar fire that
completely destroyed the Gen-
eral Coach Works of Canada
plant last December 30.

The company which manu-
factures trailers, is the largest
employer in the Fort Macleod
community which has a popu-
lation of 2,500 —peopie. The
firm employed 135 workers
who are members of Local
1-206.

Union officials have been
concerned over reports that
the company intended to re-
locate the plant in Lethbridge,

- which would seriously threat-

en the economic life of the
people of Fort Macleod.

The company now admits
that it has concluded an agree-
ment with the City of Leth-
bridge for the use of Hanger 6
at Kenyon Field as a tempor-
ary measure until it can re-
build either in the Lethbridge
or Edmonton areas.

The company has also inti-
mated that the certification
held by Local 1-206 for the
plant in Fort Macleod is not
valid elsewhere and any of
the former employees rehired
for work in the Lethbridge
plant will not keep their
seniority.

The Union, in contacting
Manpower officials, urged
them to take every possible
step to ensure that the com-
pany rebuilt its plant in Fort
Macleod. In’ the event ‘this
proved impossible, the Union
requested that the necessary
machinery be set up to relo-
cate the 135 workers as quick-
ly as possible.

The Manpower Service has
the authority by law to force
a company to rehire former
employees under the circum-
stances existing at Fort Mac-
leod. Unfortunately, it will
likely prove impossible for all
of the ‘workers to move into
Lethbridge, a distance of some
forty miles. Due to the low
wages paid in the area it is

See “DISASTER”—Page 5

LTIMATUM REJECTED ©

alternative but to continue
the strike. :

He has also advised the em-
ployers that an agreement
based on the settlement re-
cently negotiated with Celgar
Ltd. would be recommended
to striking IWA members.

IWA members employed by
Celgar voted 366 to 75 to ac-
cept the negotiated settlement
which provides coast stan-
dards of wages and conditions
by September 1, 1969, with
an immediate wage increase
of 34 cents an hour.:

Moore pointed out that
over 1,200 IWA members in
the Interior are now assured
of coast standards of wages
and conditions by September
1, 1969.- He added that these
workers are employed by Cel-
gar Ltd. and Weldwood of
Canada, whose profits were
the lowest of the big com-
panies in the Interior.

To back up his statement,
Moore referred to the Eco-
nomic Report given by Inter-
national research and educa-
tion director Walter Simcich
at the Interior Wage and Con-
tract Conference last May
which listed the profits made
by the eight large companies
operating in the Interior.

Weyerhaeuser headed the
list with profits of $106,300,-
000. The seven others were:
Crown Zellerbach $82,300,000;
Noranda Mines, $66,000,000;
Rayonier, $30,300,000; Cyprus
Mines, $23,982,000; B.C. For-
est, $12,600,000; Weldwood of
Canada, $3,788,000; Celgar,
$2,556,000.

“It is utter nonsense,”
Moore said, “for these other
six companies to claim, as

See “ULTIMATUM”—Page 8

BACK-TO-WORK MOVE DEFEATED

A back-to-work movement
by employees of Riverside
Forest Products Ltd. at Lum-
by, was short-lived through

the determined action of
other IWA members in the
area.

The back-to-work move-
ment was instigated by the
company in a petition circu-
lated to its employees Decem-
ber 29. This petition con-
vinced 28 of the employees to
return to work January 2.

Local 1-423 president Bill
Schumaker on being informed
of the crew’s return to the
job immediately left Kelowna
for Lumby. On arrival, he
found that approximately 200
IWA members had gathered
around the company’s proper-
ty and were awaiting the
workers coming off shift.

When the 28 employees
came through the gates they

RY - oe

were visibly impressed by the

controlled anger of their fel-
low members and quickly
gave their word not to return
to work and to rejoin their
brothers on the picket line.

tree

DETERMINED IWA STRIKERS in Lumby foil back-to-_
work move instigated by Interior employers. ,

Following this incident, the
manager of the IF.L.R.A.,

See “MOVE” — Page 2

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