THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER i WORKER 38,000 copies printed in this issue. Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOQDWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Editor — Pat Kerr Business Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representative — G. A. Spencer Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, and for payment of postage in cash. eS? C.F.P. REACHES NEW LOW ANADIAN Forest Products, never noted for fair dealing with its em- ployees, has now reached a new low in its treatment of the Stave Lake Cedar workers. Its unjust refusal to meet with these employees to hear their legitimate grievances is bad enough, but to now threaten them with legal action is com- pletely reprehensible. These men have suffered the concen- tration camp tyranny of the plant man- ager too long to have the Company now expect them to return to work under the same conditions. Workers don’t walk off the job with- out sufficient reasons to justify their ac- tion. The Stave Lake Cedar employees had all the justification in the world for their walk-out and deserve medals for staying on the job as long as they did. . Any responsible company faced with the situation now existing at Stave Lake Cedar, would be more interested in re- solving the dispute than seeking ways to take punitive action against the crew. Unfortunately, however, the medieval thinking of Canadian Forest Products’ officials prevents them from acting in a rational manner. This is borne out by an examination of the Company's record number of labour disputes. Nearly all the Company’s operations, both in B.C. and Alberta, have been af- fected by work stoppages and strikes at one time or another. The majority of these disputes were caused by manage- ment’s attempts to ride rough-shod over the crews. Employees have even been forced to fight for job conditions which have long been recognized as their right by the Company’s more enlightened competitors. The Company is not only well known in the IWA for its atrocious working con- ditions but is also noted for having one of the worst accommodations for loggers on the Coast at Vernon Camp in its Engle- wood Division on Vancouver Island. It is obvious that with this anti-em- ployee record the Company doesn’t dare meet with the Union for fear it would be tacit admission that the Stave Lake Cedar crew was justified in taking job action. The Company must realize, however, as an employer it does have responsi- bilities among which is the responsibility to ensure that its employees are justly treated. The Union suggests officials of Ca- nadian Forest Products should take heed of this by agreeing to discuss the Stave Lake Cedar dispute or allowing it to be mediated, FORT MACLEOD SEMINAR PROVES HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Collective bargaining, la- bour history, job steward re- sponsibilities and parliament- ary procedure were the topics of discussion at a trade union seminar sponsored by IWA Local Union 1-206 in the Fort Macleod armouries April 15- 16. Forty-five job stewards and committee members from IWA-certified logging and FE I LL ae mill operations in Southern Alberta were in attendance. Many of them were accom- panied by their wives thus swelling the attendance to sixty. Included were IWA members employed at Fort Plywood Ltd. and General Coach of Canada Ltd., Blair- more Sawmills Ltd., and other neighbouring operations. EMPLOYEES LEARN ENGLISH A novel approach to lan- guage problems among new- comers to Canada has been taken by the United Steel- workers of America in co- operation with a Toronto firm and the Ontario depart- ment of citizenship. At two plants of Anthes Steel Products Ltd. in Tor- onto and Cooksville workers now regularly attend English classes before and after their shifts. Many of these employees are of Italian or Greek origin _and both union and manage- ment had considerable dif- ficulty in communicating with the new Canadians. Since the plants operate on the shift system, many of the workers did not have a chance to attend normal night classes, sponsored at the community level. The union, Local 4515, United Steelworkers of America, came up with the idea of conducting classes in the factory. Management readily ac- cepted the idea and now when . workers down their tools they take to the books. The department of citizen- ship supplies the teachers. One of the union spokes- men said the course was “the most wonderful thing that has happened to us.” Program arrangements su- pervised by local union presi- dent Michael Torscher, finan- cial secretary Tom Sprlak, and vice-presidents Fred Painter and Tom Zieffler in- cluded community breakfasts and luncheons, climaxed by a smorgasbord and dance Sat- urday evening. Highlights of the seminar sessions were the presenta- tion of the film “The Inheri- tance” depicting early trade union history, and “buzz group” discussions on subjects introduced with visual aids. Discussions on practical as- pects of the union’s program were led by Regional 1st vice- president Jack MacKenzie and Regional Director of Ed- ucation Grant MacNeil. A panel discussion on cur- rent negotiations at General Coach of Canada Ltd. drew sharp criticism of official de- lays in the appointment of a Conciliation Board chairman and the arrangements for sit- tings of the Board, now sched- uled for May 10-11. The local union officers reported on their constant effort since March to expediate the re- quired consideration by the Board of the deadlocked ne- gotiations. YOUR SUGGESTION CouLD MEAN MONEY IN YOUR POCKET D’ YA MIND? . . . | CAN’T THINK WITH SOMEBODY LEANIN’ OVER ME SHOULDER. LOCAL 1-71 PLANS AID FOR NATIVE INDIAN MEMBERS Officers of Local 1-71 IWA, concerned that their Native Indian members employed at the Twinriver Timber Limited are not being afforded equal job opportunities by their em- ployer, held a special meet- ing to discuss the matter April 6 at Old Aiyansh on the Nass River. The meeting was chaired by Rod Robinson, the Chief Councillor of New Aiyansh and was attended by members from the villages of New Aiy- ansh, Canyon City and Old Aiyansh. President Ernie Freer and business agent Gordon Davis represented the Local Union. Due to the distance involv- ed and the short notice of the meeting there was no representation from the vil- lage of Greenville. Freer stated that while the primary purpose of the meet- ing was to discuss the lack of opportunity provided for the Native Indian members to participate in job training pro- grammes, the agenda also in- cluded discussions on senior- ity, transportation for Nass crews and participation in In- dustry Apprenticeship Pro- grammes. He pointed out that Local 1-71 had the greatest number of Native Indian members in the IWA, and the Local was determined to protect their rights. He said that while the Local was well able to police the contract rights of these members, there were prob- lems caused by those individ- uals who still believed that the Native Indians were in- ferior. Freer added that too many Native Indians with suitable education were being depriv- ed of job advancement due to this bigoted attitude. He said that the Local officers were taking positive steps to eradi- cate this thinking by ap- proaching the various govern- ment agencies with the view to enrolling more Native In- dians into the vocational schools. EEO ————— Sa { a Migs é vs ERNIE FREER He stated that the wide open discussion at the meet- ing produced some beneficial and positive results. He said that further meetings of this type should be held as pro- gress is made on resolving some of the problems so that through their Union, the Na- tive Indian members on the Nass River can achieve the goals of equality and advance- ment in skills which they have set for themselves. LIGHTER SIDE One farmer met another on the road and said to him, “Hey, Jed, got a mule with distemper. What’d you give bet o’yourn when he had it?” “Gave him turpentine,” Jed said. A week later they met again and the first farmer shouted, “Say, Jed, I gave my mule some turpentine like you said, and it killed him.” “Killed mine, too,” said Jed.