Plywood Evaluator Reviews HISTORY OF EVALUA By AL BUSCH Regional Plywood Evaluator Successful negotiations of an accelerated wage curve to apply to Coast Plyw ood workers was reported in this paper by Regional President Jack Moore two weeks ago. This settle- ment, after several months of difficult between-contract ne- gotiations, netted significant increases to those categories in 13 of the 19 labour grades in the plywood wage scale. It also provided for a re- phrasing of the Evaluation Manual so that it will better conform to actual industry conditions. Your Job Evaluation De- partment would like to take this opportunity to bring our members, especially those working in plywood, up to date with regard to the cur- rent progress of evaluation. We reported in our first March issue that evaluation had slowed somewhat, and that a large back-log of job changes had built up and was awaiting job study. The set- tlement referred to above has alleviated to a great extent the disagreement which had been a major cause of the lack of progress in job study. With the decks now cleared, we would expect that the back-log of jobs can be speed- ily reduced. EVALUATION STARTED IN 1955 Before reporting on cur- rent evaluation progress, it might be wellaq review brief- ly the course ahd results of evaluation since its,entry into our plywood wage \problems. Negotiated in 1955 in lieu of requested category in- creases, the initial study which involved job content interviews with more than a thousand workers, in the eleven large Coastal and Is- land plants, consumed two and one half years. This work was carried out jointly by the two-man Industry Evaluation Committee, one appointed by the I.W.A. and one by Forest Industrial Relations Ltd. A firm of industrial engin- eers had been engaged jointly by the I.W.A. and F.LR. to submit a plan, to put Evalua- tor applicants through a tech- nical examination, undertake training of the two selected in the techniques and meth- ods of job evaluation, and give guidance to the program through the first two plywood operations. HANEY When the jobs in all eleven plants had been studied and job descriptions had been completed, the jobs were “slotted” or set out in grades from 1 to 17, according to point values. This means that at this point, job rela- tionships were established. This does not mean, however, that the new wage rates were established at that time or that they were agreed upon between the I.W.A. and F.LR. The basic rate would of course be the “floor” for the new scale, and would eventu- ally apply to all those jobs which measured at Grade 1 but the increments or cents per hour spreads between each grade and consequently the total extra wage cost to the employers was still strict- ly a matter to be settled over the bargaining table between the Union and the employers, represented by the I.W.A. Negotiating Committee and F.LR., respectively. BUSIN ESQUIRE MEN’S WEAR (Graham Mowatt) Complete Stock of Work and Dress Clothing “THE STORE WITH THE POPULAR BRANDS” HANEY BRITISH COLUMBIA | ae 2 _I PORT ALBERNI BUSINESS. MacGREGOR’S MEN’S WEAR For Everything A Man Wears * WORK, SPORT or DRESS *x We Can Afford To Sell The... BEST For LESS! Woodward stores (PORT ALBERNI) 1p. YOUR FAMILY SHOPPING CENTRE SHOP AT WOODWARD’S FOR A COMPLETE SELECTION OF ae ae oe a oe STAR WORK WEAR ‘UNION MADE’ BY B.C. CRAFTSMEN Your guide to better value STORE HOURS ° OPEN 9 AM TO 5:30 PM CLOSED ALL DAY MONDAY OPEN FRI. NITE ‘TILL 9 PM _ PHONE 723-5641 As most of our members will recall, this was a hot issue for more than one and one half years. It became in- volved in the negotiations which led to the 1959 indus- try-wide strike, and was fin- ally settled in that year at the termination of that strike. It was a part of the Deutsch settlement formula. AL BUSCH Plywood Evaluator Although a minor sprink- ling of the 160-odd plywood job categories received little or no benefit from the plan at that time, because of a re- alignment of the wage scale, it is a demonstrable fact that 74% of over 4000 workers did receive pay increases ranging from two or three cents to twenty-four cents per hour, as well as the ten cents per hour gained from the settle- ment by ali sections of the woodworking industry at that time. The average hourly gain to plywood workers from in- stallation of the plan was 4.6 cents per hour in 1959. The spread between base rate and the then top rate, prior to evaluation, was 50% cents. The spreads between pre- mium jobs were as low as a half cent. In one case, a premiun: job category was paid as low as one half cent SCHEDULED OR CHARTER FLIGHTS To get there go by air... Go over basic rate. Evaluation then, established even spreads of 4c between grades, and increased the differential between the base rate and the top rate to 64c. It also ad- vanced more than one half the base rate workers to pre- mium grades bringing in- creases ranging from 4c to 16c per hour. In the intervening years, drastic changes in the content of many jobs has taken place. Advanced technology and mechanization have increased plant. efficiency to the point where employers have been able to reduce crews even in the face wi SORES production schedules. ‘ The adverse effects of these changes has been reduced considerably through the pro- gram of re-evaluation of changed jobs and evaluation of new jobs created. The sys- tem is designed not only to set up equitable job relation- ships at the outset, but also to maintain them up-to-date over the years. Since 1959, 350 - 400 he ed and new jobs have Pay re-studied, and the increases gained have in most cases been substan- tial, though not as spectacu- lar as was re case at the time of installation. INTERIOR PLANTS EVALUATED In those relatively rare cases where an evaluated job _has lost much of its original content, there exists in the Master Agreement a circle rate clause which protects the rate of the incumbent even though the job is reduced in grade. Three plants, new to evaluation, have entered the picture in recent years, two in the B.C. Interior and one on the Coast. These were evaluated concurrently with the coast re-evaluation pro- gram and have enjoyed gains similarly substantial. Appli- cation to the plan has also been made by a fourth plant, bringing to 15 the total num- ber under the program. Notwithstanding the many gains made, there has not been complete agreement or unanimity with all aspects of the program among our members, or for that matter the plywood employers. True to the tradition of our wood- workers, there has been much controversy on the sub- ject. Along with the five ed- ucational seminars held since 1959, there have been held at least six delegated plywood conferences by the Regional ILW.A. BC AIR LINES... FOR FULL FLIGHT INFORMATION Contact your Nearest B.C.A.L. Agent HEAD OFFICE: CR. 8-8466 VANCOUVER All points of view, com- plaints and problems were freely discussed at the con- ferences; industrial engineers and evaluation experts from other areas were brought in to give critical review of the Plywood Evaluation Manual (parts of which were a major point of controversy), and the system in general received a thorough going over. A summary of the discus- sions brought forward the opinion, to a greater or lesser degree, that the plan had achieved substantial gains in the application of the manual but it (the manual) was not well suited to this industry, and was difficult to apply, and consideration should be given to changing it accordingly. Also, it was stated that it did not adequately compensate for increased production re- sponsibility particularly af- fecting a certain few jobs. Gains made through re- evaluation have been more rewarding in recent months. This is due mostly to the na- ture of job changes, with the trend being. toward increased content in the changed cate- gories. As a case in point in regard to the three plants where re-evaluation was most recently completed, 27 cate- gories were studied with the result that 20 of the cate- gories increased at least one job grade (4c), six did not change, and one became red ‘circle, Results as beneficial as this may not be obtained in every case, since the nature of job changes is not always the same, and the instituting of these changes is not under _the control of the Union. We do, however, feel that this is a fair indication of benefits we may continue to expect to a lesser or greater degree in the future, as industry condi- _tions continue to change. LOOK FOR THIS NAME It is your Guarantee that you can’t buy a better ~ Glove ANYWHERE Union Made by JOHN WATSON LTD. 127 - 2nd Ave., E, Vancouver B.C.