16 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER, 1974 4 Woe A. i 34,000 copies Printed jn this issue ww thewestern canadian lumber worker Published once monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. } Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Edijtor-PatKerr S®8usiness Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representatives— Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada inaccordance with convention decisions Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year LESS a SS NEMPLOYMENT in the B.C. for- est industry has reached the point where new ideas to solve this serious problem must be examined. The IWA, with between ten and fifteen thousand of its members out of work, is highly critical of those ‘who argue that until world lumber markets improve, 8B.C.’s_ jobless problem will remain insolvable. The Union believes this is sheer nonsense and ways can be found to stimulate the forest economy with- out depending on foreign markets. One suggestion advocated, which merits considerable attention, is for the industry to set up a two price marketing system. Under this system, domestic lumber would sell substantially cheaper while the price for export lumber would remain the same. The advantages of such a scheme are immediately apparent. Cheaper lumber prices here would allow more badly needed home _ con- struction while at the same time boosting employment in the forest industry and construction trades. Advocates of the plan recognize _there are a number of problems to overcome before such a system could be instituted. The forest com- panies could not be expected to go along without some form of com- pensation for lowering the price of their lumber. The practical solution would be for the provincial government to reduce the stumpage rates on lumber con- signed to the domestic market. The companies would also have to be compensated for stumpage rates paid on present inventories when sold locally. There are likely a number of other problems that would have to be worked out but none of these would be too difficult to overcome. Complete success of the plan would be ensured if the _ federal government would remove. its eleven percent tax on construction materials and lower the cost of mortgage money. However, the possibility of this occurring in the near future is highly unlikely as the government up to now has admantly refused to dis- cuss these subject.s The provincial government on the other hand has indicated its concern over the problem of unemployment and the housing shortage’ and Premier Barrett stated at the recent IWA Regional Convention that he is keenly interested in finding new markets for B.C.’s depressed lumber industry. Perhaps the provincial govern- ment in cooperation with the forest industry could develop a home market under the two price system which would at least cut some of the unemployment until world markets improve. CONGRESS CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF TIRE COMPANIES The Canadian Labour Congress has called a nation-— wide campaign against the purchase of products made by Goodyear Tire and Rubber and by Firestone Tire and Rubber in support of the United Rub- ber Workers on strike against both companies. _The employees have been on strike at the Firestone plant in Hamilton, Ont. since February 28 and at the Goodyear plant in Etobicoke, Ont. and Bowman- ville, Ont. since April 25. Main issue in the dispute is the union’s proposal for a cost- of-living clause in their agree- ment which the companies are refusing to grant. The decision to support the boycott was made at the CLC Executive Council meeting. . “We are asking our 1.9 mil- lion affiliated trade union members and all other fair- minded people across the country to refrain from buying Firestone and Goodyear products and to stay away from the retail outlets operated by these companies until a satisfactory settlement of the strike is achieved,” explained CLC President Joe Morris. “With the ever-increasing rate of inflation the Rubber Workers’ proposal for a cost- of-living clause is not only logi- cal and reasonable, but essen- tial in’ order to protect the standard of living of the workers concerned. Many other companies have recog- nized this problem and agreed to such clauses; others have even re-opened existing con- tracts to take care of the situa- tion. “The refusal by Goodyear’ and Firestone to recognize this need is inexcusable.” Mr. Morris also pointed out that both companies have in- creased their imports of tires ~ from their United States plants, dumping them on the Canadian market in an at- tempt to break their em- ployees’ bargaining power. “Tt:is estimated that if all tires used in Canada were made in this country, 2,700 new jobs would be created,’ he said. : “Both companies stand con- demned for their callous disre- gard of the needs of their em- ployees and for their indiffer- ence to Canada’s unemploy- ment problem. “The best way Canadians can show their-disapproval of such tactics is by refusing to buy these companies’ prod- ucts,” he said. VANALEN Yer lucky kid ..... ya should have lived thru th’ hungry thirties ..... ya had to be wide awake to even get a paper route ..... you awake kid? TO SAVE MONEY PREPAY YOUR MORTGAGE By PATRICK HOWE Question: What kind of loan shark requires $16,467.26 inter- est to pay off $1,532.74 of prin- cipal? Answer: It’s no loan shark; it’s your friendly mortgage company that charges these rates. Here’s how it works. An average Canadian bor- rows $30,000 to finance the pur- chase of a house. He pays in- terest on the loan at 11.5 per cent, and his payments are amortized over 25 years. During the first five years the monthly payments are $300, for a total of $18,000. But only about 8 per cent of the payments will go towards re- tiring the principal ,during those first years. The figures look almost ridi- culous, but are taken from a repayment schedule prepared by a Toronto firm. In Toronto, the average mortgage is about $35,000 and interest rates are generally 12 per cent and up. Robert Yeaman, a manager with Consumers’ Computing, admits the figures are startl- ing. Most house buyers do not fully understand how much they’ll have to pay in interest charges for a mortgage, he says. Mr, Yeaman’s company pre- pares about 22,000 amortiza- tion tables a month for poten- tial house buyers. ‘‘Most people buying homes are re- ceiving them, but not many are reading them as closely as they should.” ° He says house buyers can realize substantial savings if they prepay their mortgages. Using the example of a $30,000 mortgage, Mr. Yeaman says that if $100 of a borrower’s income were added to his monthly mortgage payments, his total interest charges would be reduced by $31,806.06 during the term of the mortgage. But purchasers who just go along with the mortgage will pay $105,044.68 to retire that $30,000 debt. Reprinted from The Globe and Mail, Toronto Although the convention passed a number of resolutions related directly to the function of the IWA the delegates also considered a number that have .a bearing on the society in which we live. One such resolution dealt with the parole system for those convicted of crimes. The delegates were told that - aspects of the parole system were inhumane and unfair and that something should be done about it. It was pointed out that a ‘person on parole can be returned to prison for commit- ting a misdemeanor even though he is gainfully em- ployed and trying to live within the guidelines set out by society. The convention agreed that -the Canadian Labour Congress should look into the parole system with respect to such cases where people have reacted normally to a situation and committed an offence in doing so. The delegates also asked that the study be presented to the Parole Board with the hope of eliminating these unfair practises. Logger’s girlfriend: ‘“‘Bucko, | that was great ..... where did you ever learn to kiss like that?” Logger: ‘‘Siphoning gas!”