ae tex THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER 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. GZS 2 EDITORIAL INDUSTRY SMOKESCREEN WA Interior members must prepare themselves for the massive propa- ganda campaign the employers are bound to mount in their efforts to defeat the Union’s contract demand for Coast parity. Already the Northern Interior Lum- bermen’s Association is crying that a cost and profit study shows the industry is in the throes of an economic depression. The Association states that if this trend continues or worsens many of the companies now just keeping their heads above water financially are bound to go under. The Union suggests if what the oper- ators claim is true, they have displayed a remarkable indifference to the plight by carrying on the largest expansion pro- gramme in the industry’s history. It contends, however, that the em- ployers are up to their usual game of twisting facts during negotiations. This contention is supported by the economic study of the Interior lumber in- dustry made by the Union’s research expert Walter Simcich. His study shows that far from suffering a depression, the industry is producing handsome profits for the employers. With this statistical evidence, the Union can now dispute with certainty employer statements that the industry is fighting for survival. A case in point is the NILA‘s claim that only the small companies made Spee oe money during the past three years. An examination of the yearly reports of the major companies from 1963 to 1966 shows sales and profits have steadily increased. The fact that shareholders have re- ceived no dividends on their investment for the past four years is being used by the employers as a smokescreen to plead poverty. The truth of the matter is that profits are being ploughed back into further in- dustry expansion and the employers are attempting to hide this in the hope of saving money at the bargaining table. This is confirmed by a statement of NILA president Hans Roine in his annual report which said, “It will be difficult to be generous at the bargaining table when ‘the companies have only meagre rations to offer.” The Union strongly questions this statement. The large Coast forest com- panies who have never been known to throw money away, are not pouring millions of dollars into their Interior op- erations for meagre rations. They know that present profits will skyrocket when the pregrammes of modernizing and in- tegrating their operations are completed. The Union’ is determined that this same smokescreen, which has been used so often during Coast negotiations, will not prevent Interior woodworkers from receiving their just share of the industry profits. EERE EE EMPLOYERS WANT CANADIAN UNIONS THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Hold it ‘til | light my smoke an’ I'll give you a hand. FOUR MILES FOR TEA A court in Berkshire has ruled that every British worker has a right to a tea break even if it isn’t spelled out in his contract. This addition to the great mass of British common law came about after a thirsty worker operating a mechani- cal digger was told by his foreman that he could take a tea break if he wasn’t gone too long. The nearest cup of tea was four miles away, so the work- er decided to travel there by his digger. When he reached the town he parked within a crosswalk. _ The bobbies grabbed him andg, charged him with a wide va- riety of infractions. One was that he drove without insur- ance, since he was using the vehicle for pleasure and not work. The defence claimed that he was working, stressing the point that the right to tea was part of every labour agree- ment, written or unwritten. The court, after giving the matter due _ consideration, agreed with the defence. PELRETET FALLING A FIR An independent Canadian labor movement at this stage in the nation’s history would be easy prey for anti-union in- dustrialists and -businessmen, the annual policy conference of the United Steelworkers of America has warned. Larry Sefton, director of the union’s big District 6, told delegates no one could dis- agree that full economic, cul- tural and political self-reli- ance should be Canada’s fundamental status. But this did not mean an end to the close ties between U.S. and Canadian workers through the medium of international unions. JODOIN SUFFERS STROKE OTTAWA — The entire trade union movement in Canada is rooting for the re- covery of Claude Jodoin, _ President of the Canadian La- bor Congress, who suffered a serious stroke while at his desk Friday, May 19th. Head of the Congress since its inception, the CLC leader is a big, hearty man who tackles his job with great in- tensity and who has always had widespread interests in- side and outside the labor movement. Internationally known es- pecially in labor circles, Mr. Jodoin has been receiving messages wishing him well from everywhere. Stricken more seriously than at first thought, he is being treated at the Civic Hospital here. “Employers yearn for the day when the comparatively small Canadian labor move- ment can be fenced in and isolated from its American la- bor ties,” he said. There were scattered groups of Canadian unionists who sincerely believed that Canadian labor could do bet- ter on its own. “They fail to take a lesson from our predecessors who found it economically realis- tic to join with their more numerous brethren in the U.S. Nothing has changed... to warrant the drastic break in labor solidarity that some espouse.” “Giant corporations respect no national boundaries,” the District 6 director empha- sized. “They go where there is a dollar to be made . Surely the answer is not to weaken our international un- ion ties by bickering about pseudo-nationalism, but or- ganizing more and more Ca- nadian workers so they too can share in the benefits of unionism.” Eprror’s Note: The following was submitted by Al Kovats, a member of Local 1-71 employed as a scaler at the Squamish Division of MacMillan Bloedel. Brother Kovats reports that he attended the scaling course at the vocational school’ for loggers in Nanaimo and graduated last summer. He added, “I feel that I wanted to do something for my Union, so I am submitting the enclosed poem for publication.” First an undecisive tilt, then a more definite start With a wail of final despair, resembling the cry of a hungry tomcat, The Douglas Fir is falling, The faller stands aside, the scaler watches on. ae idling of the saw is only disturbed by thunderous roar of pain As the big tree hits the ground. Branches and twigs flying, clouds of snow twinkle, glisten In the morning sun. Then, there is an ever embracing still. Silence is broken by the cold shriek of an automatic tape As the Fir is bucked into logs, Only to be shipped to some foreign land — to tortures unthinkable. The hardy faller moves on and his crackling saw is eating away At the foundation of yet another majestic giant. First the undercut, the wide gaping mouth seeming to cry for mercy, Then the backcut — ignoring the plea. Another Fir is fell. In the next quarter, the thousand year old giants relax in the Refreshing tickle of the coastal breeze, Not suspecting their fate to come.