THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

FROM PAGE ONE

“UNION TO FIGHT FOR CONTRACT REOPENING”

As revealed by the Com-
mittee, income tax deductions
rose last year by an average
of 10 per cent, due mainly to
the e.

With equivalent exemption
($2,500-$2,749) a man on base
rate working a 40-hour week
had his deductions increased
by 11 per cent, a sawyer, 7.4
per cent, over June 1968.

The average interest rate
for new homes rose 6.3% Feb-
ruary 1969 (8.9%) as com-
pared to February 1968. The
prime mortgage rate is now
9%.

NHA Costs

The average cost of a new
NHA bungalow rose 5.5% in
1968 over 1967.

Average sale price of homes
in the Vancouver area rose
12% in the first quarter of
1969.

Rental accommodation on
the average throughout Can-
ada rose 4.3% to January 1969
as compared to January 1968.

Two Canadian banks
(Royal and Canadian Imper-
ial Bank of Commerce) have
recognized the necessity of
providing supplementary sal-
ary increases to their employ-
ees, in addition to regular
merit increases, to restore the
purchasing power of salaries
in the face of rising living
costs.

Executives’ Salaries

Salaried personnel have
fared better than hourly rated
workers. A survey made by
H. V. Chapman and Associ-
ates Ltd., indicates that exec-
utives’ salaries have risen 60
per cent since 1961, while
wage earners’ pay has risen
on the average only 40 per
cent. Total pay of executives
went up 8 per cent last year
while the predicted average
for the present year is 8.7
per cent. .

There is a vast difference
between 8 per cent on a
$20,000 a year salary and the
same percentage applied to a
worker’s pay. The IWA base
rate since 1961 rose from $1.92
to $2.94 per hour, an increase
of 53 per cent.

Profits Still Soaring

The B.C. Lumberman, April
1968 (management journal)
published the conclusions of
an sis in depth of the
Western forest products in-
dustry, by R. A. Daly & Co.
Ltd., Toronto.

According to this survey,
the coast lumber industry has
a distinctly advantageous
competitive edge because of

the lowest wood costs in the

world and modern, efficient
operations.

Position to Capitalize
It states categorically: “In
this context the Western in-

in 1968. The annual report in-
dicated a 158.3 per cent in-
crease over 1967 — $6,677,462

as compared to $12,584,793 in
1968.

B.C. Forest Products set a

achieved through lumber and
plywood sales despite a de-
pressed market for both pulp
and paper.
Profit Records Broken
MacMillan Bloedel Ltd.

PREPARE TO ACT!

The workers’ need is acufe. Lumber workers must
share more equitably in the increased wealth

produced.

dustry is in an exceptional
position to capitalize on the
(anticipated) increases in de-
mand. The main factors are
summarized in the report’s
conclusions.

e Cheapest raw material
resources are available. West
coast wood costs are the low-
est in the world. Eastern
Canadian, Southern and
Scandinavian producers are
less competitive in this re-
spect.

© B.C. mills are tailored to
meet the wood costs of the
regions where they are lo-
cated. Modern and efficient
operations have also lowered
costs.

aeBienched! kraft pulp is
now an integral part of lum-

_ber and plywood production.

The demand for these prod-
ucts is increasing. The inte-
grated industry is the largest
producer of the cheapest
bleached kraft pulp though
lumber and plywood consti-
tute the largest profit makers.

© B.C. is one of the few

remaining areas in the world ~

producing large dimensional
lumber.

e B.C. producers are suit-
ably located in relation to the
world’s markets. B.C. water-
borne export lumber ship-
ments are shipped via foreign
bottoms at lower freight rates
than are available to Ameri-
can producers restricted by
law to “American bottoms.”

Profit Increases

The report predicts that
profit increases for the em-
ployers will be realized more
quickly and to a greater de-
gree by the large corporations
such as MacMillan Bloedel
Ltd., Crown Zellerbach Corp.-
Canada Ltd., and B.C. Forest
Products Ltd.

1968 Profits Escalated
The Globe and Mail, Toron-
to, April 29, 1969, reports that
Weldwood of Canada Lid.
more than doubled its profit

"CANADIANS ARE SUCKERS"

Consumer prices may have
to become a subject of collec-
tive bargaining if the current
spiralling trend continues,
says Dennis McDermott, Ca-
nadian director of the United
Auto Workers.

Addressing the Personnel
Association of Toronto, the

union official said most price
increases today could not be

the scapegoat by manufac-
turers who want to make a
little more from the consumer.

As an example he said that
cars produced in St, Thomas,
Ontario, sell for $380 less in
Detroit than in Windsor.

“Canadians are suckers to
accept this sort of treatment,”
he said.

Mr. McDermott suggested
that his union was prepared
to make consumer prices part

of collective bargaining.

profit record in 1968 to
$7,998,000 or $1.96 a share
compared with $5,852,000 or
$1.38 a share in 1967.

T. N. Beaupre, chairman, -

said that the company’s 37
per cent increase in profit was

profit for the 1st quarter of
1969 jumped 39 per cent
above the same quarter in
1968 to $10,238,469 (49 cents
a share). Chairman J. V.
Clyne said the operating profit
last March was the highest in

the company’s history. He
said that he expects a further
over-all improvement in the
performance of the company.

Crown Zellerbach Corp.
Canada Ltd. had a $3.1 mil-
lion profit in the first three
months of 1969 compared with
$1.9 million profit in the same
quarter a year earlier.

Forecast More Profits

Robert Rogers, president,
said the strong 1968 domestic
and foreign demand for lum-
ber and plywood, with rising
prices, was the main factor in
the improved profit position.
He forecast still further im-
provements in the company’s
profit position.

A factor in the domestic de-
mand is that housing starts in
Canada during April rose by
30 per cent — 15,489 in April
1969 compared to 11,883 in
April 1968.

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This advertisement is not published or displayed by the Liquor Control Board os by the Government of British Columbia