°c e pa JUNE-JULY, 1976 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 19 FOR U.S. STRIKERS FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF $2,000 APPROVED AT LOCAL 1-423 MEET Delegates to the 4th Annual Delegated Meeting of Local 1- 423 IWA, Kelowna, May 8-9, indicated their support for IWA members on strike against the Weyerhaeuser Company in the Southern U.S., by voting $2,000 to the strikers! Region 5 member George Mizell, one of the Weyer- haeuser strikers, was a guest speaker at the Annual Meeting and gave a graphic report of the fight the Union was waging against this giant company. The conference held in the Capri Hotel was attended by approximately sixty-five dele- gates. Other guest speakers included International Presi- dent Keith Johnson, Regional lst Vice-President Wyman Trineer, Regional 3rd Vice- President Bob Blanchard, and a number of visitors from other local unions. Some sixty resolutions were dealt with, the Officers’ and Financial Reports approved and delegates elected to the various conventions and con- ferences. Delegates elected were: Regional Convention — Jack Welder, Les Goddard, Stan Anton, Des Hickey, Bill Oner, Bill Ortis, John Keys, Harvey Bailey. Regional Safety Conference (Fall Conference): Ralph Bellamy, Steve Papp. (Spring Conference): Al Hunt, Les Valouch. B.C. Federation of Labour — Jack Lomax, Angus Manson, B.C. Smith, Dick Morgan, George Duley. President Johnson devoted his address to the Weyer- haeuser strike because of the keen interest this battle has generated in Regional Council No. 1. He reported on the campaign mapped out by the Union to win the strike but he emphasized that the fight could only be won with the help of all IWA members. Money, he pointed out, was badly needed and he urged the delegates to solidly support any financial appeal which the Union might have to make in the future to ensure that the giant Weyerhaeuser company was not successful in breaking its employees. Regional Vice-President Trineer and Blanchard gave short reports on some of the activities in Regional Council 1, in which they are engaged. They also called on the dele- gates to fully support the Weyerhaeuser strikers in every manner possible. A motion to change future Local Delegated Meetings from Saturdays and Sundays to Fridays and Saturdays won quick approval of the dele- gates. Movers of the resolution argued that some of the dele- gates had so far to travel that they were forced to go directly. to work from the meeting. President Schumaker while in agreement with the resolution, pointed out that the Local’s finances would have to dictate if the motion was feasible. Another resolution which won quick support from the meeting called on all IWA members to refrain from dealing with self-serve gas stations. Delegates pointed out that these service stations provided fewer jobs at a time when there was so much unem- ployment and the only benefit was to the oil companies through increased profits. Other resolutions approved called for better dust pollution control in plants, double time ‘for Saturday work, a commit- tee to be set up to study the apprenticeship clause for the purpose of encouraging more apprentices, and for the Local Union to hold a one or two day Job Steward Seminar in May or June. The Officers’ Report noted that despite fewer. members due to the poor unemployment picture in 1975, the Local Union’s finances remained sound and in the black. In its review of the past year the Report was critical of a number of companies who suddenly were openly violating the contract. The Report was also highly critical of the tech- nological section of the Master Agreement and suggested that a major overhaul of this article was badly needed. As always, the _ Local sponsored its fine Banquet and dance for the delegates and visitors which was enjoyed on the Saturday night by all in attendance. P.P.W.C. RAID DEFEATED BY IWA AT WILLIAMS LAKE Once again the PPWC have failed in their attempted raid on IWA mills. In a government supervised representation vote conducted at Pinette & Ther- rien (P & T) sawmill on April 23, 1976, the employees there rejected the PPWC by voting in favour of retaining Local 1-424 IWA, as their bargaining agent. This raiding campaign com- menced late in January of this year with the arrival of several PPWC organizers to Williams Lake. They mainly concen- trated their efforts on Lignum Lumber Company and P & T sawmill where there are ap- proximately 250 employees in each operation. Before any IWA organizers arrived on the scene, the PPWC had already signed up the majority of the employees at P & T. Two regional organizers were immediately sent in to assist the Local Union to resist this raid. At a later date addi- tional manpower help was pro- vided by various IWA local unions from Region No. 1, costing this organization a con- siderable amount of time and money which could have been utlized to better advantage. The PPWC failed, however, to sign up a majority at Lig- nums Lumber Company and, therefore, did not apply to the Board for dertification. During the open season last year, the PPWC foolishly spent their memberships, money in attempting to raid the Cancel sawmill at Terrace, B.C. The application for certification was thrown out by the Labour Relations Board because they did not have the necessary majority for a vote. Again, thousands of dollars have been spent this year in having from 3-6 organizers in the Williams Lake area for several months at a cost of over $100 per day per or- ganizer. It seems strange that the PPWC did not have money last summer to pay their people while out on strike, yet a few months later can waste tens of thousands of dollars raiding other unions. How long will the membership of the PPWC stand for this kind of nonsense? AIB NOW EMPLOYS STAFF OF OVER 500 In Mareh AIB chairman Jean Lue Pepin quipped that he feared the day when the Board would employ more than 500 people, making it ne- cessary to control its own wages. As it turned out, he didn’t have long to wait. According to the Board, as of April 5 it employed a total of 583 permanent, short-term and borrowed employees. An official complained that even with this number the Board was falling way behind in its work. Although he voiced no con- cern about meeting the man- power burdens in controlling prices, he was concerned about the backlog of wage cases now awaiting Board attention. As of April 5, the Board had processed only 2,304 of the 6,149 cases submitted to it since the program began, and wage cases were still rolling in at a rate of about 150 a week. . ROBERT SCHLOSSER RESIGNS IWA Regional Secretary- Treasurer Robert Schlosser has resigned his position for personal reasons. Regional President Jack Munro has ap- pointed Wyman Trineer, Re- gional ist Vice-President, acting Secretfary-Treasurer until a full-time appointment is made. Jim Rouw, the very popular organizer for the Regional Council who was forced to retire because of ill health a few years ago, passed away in hospital in Vancouver April 28. | 3 9; ‘y 4 | ‘ Be | Soochow eae ia * JIM ROUW A long-time member of the IWA, Jim organized in all areas of Regional Council No. 1 FORMER ORGANIZER DIES IN CITY HOSPITAL for over twelve years. Along with Frank Stich, Assistant Director of Organization, Jim helped to organize a great many of the operations in the North and on the Prairies. Prior to coming to British Columbia, Jim was a member of Regional Council No, 2, in Ontario, and played a leading part in the Hanover Furniture strike in the early fifties. Part of this strike was filmed and was entitled ‘‘Strike in Town’’, As the Plant Chair- “man, Jim played a leading role in the film. A memorial service was con- ducted May 3 in Kelowna and was attended by officers of the International, Regional Council and a number of Local Unions. . Jim is survived by his wife Vickie, two daughters and one son. Their many friends extend to them deepest sympathy in their loss. BOSTON BAR MILL CERTIFIED Officers of Local 1-367 IWA, Haney, report that the BCFP Hampton Lumber mill at Boston Bar, following certifi- cation to the IWA, is now working under the Coast Master Agreement. The Local Union in conjunc- tion with the Organization De- partment had attempted over the years to organize the mill into the IWA, without success. The employers had set up .a company association which was registered with the Labour Relations Board. Local officers estimate that over ten thousand dollars was spent by the Union in the or- ganizing attempts. However, in June, 1975, British Columbia _ Forest Products purchased the opera- tion. The Local Union im- mediately made application for certification of the plant because of the blanket certifi- cation the Local held with BCFP. The Labour Relations Board on December 24, 1975 brought down the decision that the As- sociation could not continue as the bargaining agent for the 139 employees and ordered a representative vote as. to whether the crew wished to be certified to the Local Union. The Local Union, with the help of the Organization De- partment, signed up 83 mem- bers of the crew unaware that the Association had submitted a counter appeal to the Board’s decision, which postponed an immediate vote. After a frustrating period of waiting, the Board turned down the Association’s appeal and ordered a vote to be con- ducted February 20, 1976. Out of the 139 eligible voters, 114 voted of which the IWA won 70. Following the vote, the Local elected Safety and Plant Com- mittees and a few weeks later brought in Bob Blanchard, Re- gional 3rd Vice-President and Regional evaluator Tony Van- derheide, to study the wage rates. TO 1-367 The plant at present is operating two shifts with ap- proximately 160 workers. The Local is hopeful that in the near future it can also organize the loggers in the area. B.C. FED. REJECTS PROPOSAL The B.C. Federation of Labour has rejected sugges- tions by William Hamilton of the Employers Council that the two groups meet to discuss reports on the operations of the Workers Compensation Board by two management consulting firms hired by the provincial government. Federation spokesman Clive Lytle com- mented: “Our Federation has already advised the Minister of Labour that we are totally opposed to the studies being conducted by two firms of management con- sultants and accountants. Similar studies in Alberta and Ontario have been totally un- acceptable because these man- agement consultants are not concerned with occupational health or the needs of workers, nor do they have any particu- lar knowledge or qualification in this area. “We also reject Mr. Ham- ilton’s suggestion that the cost of Workers Compensation is an over-riding concern. The over- riding concern must be max- imizing safety and accident prevention on the one hand and guaranteeing adequate com- pensation on the other. Since employers’ assessments are based on frequency of acci- dents and injuries, the way to reduce assessments is to reduce accidents and injuries. Employers can insure this reduction by making serious and continuing efforts to fully implement safety provisions.”’