syn ‘THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER » WORKER Vol. XXXVI, No. 3 VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY BROADWAY EE PRINTERS LTD. MARCH, 1970 IWA INTERIOR NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE charged with the responsibility of negotiating contract demands of IWA members employed by companies respresented by the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association and also the employees of Celgar, which bargains indepen- dently. Group left, Wayne Nowlin, Local 1-405 President; Art Kelly, Local 1-417 President; Wyman Trineer, Regional 2nd Vice-President and Committee Spokesman; Bill Schu- maker, Local 1-423 President and Committee Secretary. INTERIOR MEMBERS DEMAND $1.14 AN HOUR INCREASE IN A ONE-YEAR AGREEMENT IWA Southern Interior del- egates meeting in Kelowna February 14-15, hammered out a 29-point programmatic resolution containing the Un- ion’s key demands for pre- sentation to the forest in- dustry employers. High priority was given by the delegates to the demand for an increase of $1.14 an hour across the board on a one year contract. The demand for the addi- tional 14 cents an hour is to ensure that Southern Interior CANADA POSTAGE - POSTES PERMIT No. 2075 REQUESTED ZF LUMBER worker 3 RETURN 2859 Commercial 1» Vancouver, B.C. members gain wage parity with the coastal woodworkers. Conducting the negotiations for the Union, which are ex- pected to commence around the middle of March, are Re- gional 2nd Vice - President Wyman Trineer, spokesman; Wayne Nowlin, President of Local 1-405 Cranbrook; Bill Schumaker, President of Local 1-423 Kelowna, Secre- tary; and Art Kelly, President of Local 1-417 Salmon Arm. Last March 1, three hund- red Celgar employees, whose employers bargain independ-. ently of the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association, met in Castlegar to approve their contract proposals. These proposals are similar ‘in detail with those of the Southern Interior demands with the exception of special problems peculiar to the Cel- gar operation and the fact that Celgar employees have wage parity with the coast. The union negotiators con- ducting the contract talks in the Southern Interior will also do the bargaining for the Celgar employees. The following are the Southern Interior contract de- mands: (1) A ONE YEAR CONTRACT (2) WAGES e Across - the - board increase of $1.14 an hour. e No employee to receive less than base rate. e Plywood evaluation incre- ments increased to 3% of base rate, plus “manual” changes to properly reflect relative worth of categories. © Upward revision for trades- men, logging categories, graders, and steam engin- eers. e Increases to sawmill rates resulting from evaluation. e Shift differential to be in- See “INTERIOR” P. 2 UNION SUSPENDS MEETINGS AS COAST EMPLOYERS BLOCK CONTRACT TALKS - The Coast Negotiating Committee has suspended further negotiating meetings with the forest industry employers until they indicate a willing- ness to discuss the Union’s contract demands. Committee spokesman, Regional President Jack Moore, informed the employers representative, John Billings of Forest Industrial Relations Lim- ited, of the Union’s decision March 9. HARTUNG BACKS. PER. CAPITA TAX INCREASE Lower Mainland and Van- couver Island Local Unions ‘ast week requested former IWA International President A. F. Hartung to address their members on the urgent need to support the proposed 25- cent International per capita tax increase. which The International, has not received a per capita tax increase for twenty-one years, has been operating un- der a heavy deficit for the past two years. From July 1967 to July 1969, expendi- tures of the International have exceeded income by $199,962. During the week Hartung visited a number of mills in the Vancouver area where he bluntly warned IWA mem- bers that defeat of the Inter- national per capita increase could spell the demise of the IWA as an International Un- ion. Such a defeat, he stated, would play into the hands of the employers, who fear the bargaining power of Inter- national unions as opposed to the weaker and relatively in- effectual strength of national unions. Hartung went on to say that he was firmly convinced the majority of IWA members strongly supported the in- erease. His real reason for accepting the assignment, he stated, was to impart to the younger and newer members of the organization some of the pride he felt for the IWA which he considered was the most militant and democratic union in North America. The employers blocked the contract talks objecting to the presence of observers from the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers and the B.C. Federation of Labour. The IWA had requested their attendance at the bar- gaining sessions because of the new policy agreed to by the forest industry unions to co-ordinate their negotiations this year. The employers argued that only representatives from the IWA had the right to sit in on the contract talks. The Ne- gotiating Committee pointed out that the Union had never questioned the right of the employers to bring in whom they wished and the IWA de- manded the same democratic consideration. The new policy of co-ordin- ating this year’s negotiations among the forest unions was devised to counter the em- ployers’ “divide and conquer” tactics. This new move by the unions has obviously fright- ened the employers, who fore- see their 19th century ap- proach to negotiations going down the drain. This co-operation between the IWA and the other forest unions to co-ordinate their bargaining strategy would, for the first time, allow these unions to be fully informed on one another’s negotiating ‘progress. oe It would also, for the first time, prevent the employer from dividing the forest unions by forcing one section of the industry on _ strike while continuing to operate the other section. And finally, this unity and co-operation would strength- en the bargaining position of each of these unions, thereby ensuring better wages and improved working conditions for all forest industry em- ployees. The following in part is the letter from John Billings to Regional President Jack Moore informing him of his willingness to negotiate if the — representatives from the other unions are removed from the bargaining sessions. “We would like to reiter- ate that Forest Industrial Re- lations is ready and willing to meet with the I.W.A. negoti- ating committee or their rep- resentatives at any time or place of their own choosing to try to work out a new col- lective agreement but that it is not prepared to enter into discussions where representa- tives of other labour organi- zations are present. We do ‘not feel the problems of our industry can be usefully dis- ‘cussed with official repre- sentatives of other unions or labour bodies with responsi- bilities outside our industry.” rr 1-71 FALLERS AXED BY WELDWOOD CONTRACTOR Officers of Local 1-71 IWA have reported a classic ex- ample of how the industry is depleting the logging members of the Union, through the use of contractors and sub-con- tractors. Weldwood of Canada’s Squamish management, with- out prior consultation with its employees or Local Union, ‘informed its fallers that they were no longer on Weld- wood’s payroll and had been hired out to a private con- tractor. The crew, while angered by the treatment, agreed to work for the contractor following assurances by Weldwood of- ficials that the same contract rates and working conditions would prevail. After working one day for the contractor, the fallers were shocked to learn that once again they had been hired out, this time to a sub-con- tractor. Their new boss in- formed them that instead of the contract rates previously agreed to, they were now working on a straight day rate of fifty-five dollars. . Local 1-71 officers protested the Company’s action to John Billings of Forest Industrial Relations Limited, who told them the crew’s interests would be protected. Ben Thompson, 1st Vice- President of the Local Union, reports that tragically, there is no protection for these log- gers, either in the Labour Re- lations Act or Coast Master © Agreement. He stated that until the Un- ion was: prepared to strike for a clause controlling the use of contractors, sub-con- tractors and owner-operators in the industry, the employ- ers would continue to elimi- nate more and more of the logging membership.