THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 7 3 IWA By BOB CLAIR 1-217 Vice-President An educational Seminar on the Master Agreement, spon- sored by Local 1-217 IWA r drew an excellent response in -~ attendance and participation ; from Vancouver IWA mem- 4 bers. All day Saturday, January 4 15, was devoted to the one topic with prepared talks given by the fulltime officers. Numerous questions and de- bates developed from these ¢» talks and were dealt with in question periods following each speaker. \ Questions and Answer 1. sheets prepared by the speak- fF _ ers also were used in discus- ’ sion groups, conducted in the 1» afternoon. Copies of the Mas- ;. ter Agreement Question and Z Answer sheets, which proved * to be very popular, will, at *, the request of the students, * be distributed to all Plant Chairmen and Committee » members whose mills come 4 under the Master Agreement. -** The Local reports that cop- ies of the recently signed Southern Interior Millwright Apprenticeship Training Pro- gramme have now been cir- ‘ culated to all Plant Chairmen a in Local 1-423. When the com- 'y, mittees have been set up and 2 other details worked out, the present Millwrights, Improv- “ ers and Helpers will be con- » tacted for the purpose of hold- « ing meetings with their re- “x spective companies. ‘ Following lengthy negotia- ™ tions, the Local Union con- cluded an agreement with the Cox Logging Company, .s Greenwood, The agreement was signed January 21, just * prior to the Labour Depart- - © ment taking a strike vote re- -"t quested by the Union. The *, Loeal officers have commend- g, ed the employees on_ their % display of Silent and wel- re) them into the Union. The annual S. M. Simpson ~~ Company Safety Banquet was S* held January 15 at the Aqua- 4 x tice Building in Kelowna. Fol- se the customary awards and presentations, the Joint ty Committee was praised £: fe i 2 its outstanding Seon 7 nt in reducing ‘0 Com- ogee ey ored by the SMS. Sub- ‘which was a by - AV LOCAL 1-217 ) SEMINAR The seminar’s purpose, as viewed by 1-217’s officers, was to ensure that members are taking full advantage of the Master Agreement’s present provisions also to point out the agreement’s shortcomings and how it should be im- proved. Local President, Syd Thompson, spoke on the Bar- gaining Agency, Employers’ Rights, Union Security and Plant Committees. Tom. Clarke, Local Vice President, spoke on Hours of Work, Wages and Statutory Holi- days. George Kowbel, Local Recording Secretary, spoke on Plywood Job Evaluation and the problems of Job Eval- uation in general. Bob Clair, Loeal Vice President, spoke on Vacations with Pay, Call Time, Health and Welfare, Leave of Absence and Safety Committees. Doug Evans, Lo- cal Financial Secretary, dealt with Seniority, Grievance ‘ Procedure, Right of Reference and Arbitration. «; 1-423 REPORT ber Company at Princeton. Both these companies are in- stituting work practices which are detrimental to their em- ployees and trouble could de- velop if these conditions are permitted to continue. IWA CHOSEN Employees working on a Columbia Hydro system for- est land-clearing project have chosen the IWA as their bar- gaining agent. IWA International Assist- ~ ant Director of Organization J. C. Walls reported that the B.C. Labour Kelations Board has certifed the IWA as the bargaining agent for employ- ees of Comet Construction Co. Ltd. The unit, he said, covers all company employ- ees working in the boundaries of Kelowna Local 1-423 and Cranbrook Local 1-405. Walls explained that the joint sos a held by the two local unions will ulti- mately mean negotiation of a sing a labor agreement. ‘This willl facilitate administration of the collective agreement as well as the flow of man-power when and where required, equally helpful to union, em- ployees and management. SUCCESS OF 1-217’s one-day Master Agreement Seminar was contributed to by a good attendance from experienced IWA members as well as many new committee members and shop stewards. Discussion group students, later in the day, used question and answer sheets prepared by Local Union officers. These question and answer sheets, based on the Master Agreement, will be mailed to all plant chairmen and committee members in plants covered by the Master Agreement. One day for the entire Mas- ter Agreement, it was gener- ally agreed, does not provide enough time to deal with the problems involved, however, members participating agreed that many answers were pro- vided and many gray areas cleared up. Students also agreed that the Seminar was a good start that should be followed up with more of the same, perhaps in more detail. Discussion group Secretar- ies, in their wind-up reports to the Seminar, exposed many of the weaknesses of the agreement. These reports will be an aid to officers in draft- ing resolutions on Local Un- ion contract demands and val- uable in preparing future seminars. LOCAL 1-217 full time officers were the instructors at the one-day seminar on the Master Agreement. Left to right: George Kowbel, Recording Secretary; Tom Clarke, First Vice-President; Bob Clair, Second Vice-President; Syd Thompson, President, and Doug Evans, Financial Secretary. The Working Man's 3 Best Friends: (1) A cool head (2) Steady hands and (3) Well-shod feet (DAYTON'S of course) NO BETTER BOOT AT ANY PRICE