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Special to the Tribune

KENORA — Wilf MclIntyre
and his fellow striking wood-
cutters at Boise Cascade know if
the company smashes the
Lumber and Sawmill Workers
Union here and at Fort-Frances, it
will destroy decent working con-
ditions in the Northern Ontario
lumber industry.

_ Mcintyre, leader of the strike

_ which has been raging since Oct.

II last year, was interviewed re-

_ cently by the Tribune on the

strike’s developments.

_ Though most of the other un-
ions at the company’s operations
are back at work, the Kenora
local of the Canadian Paper-
workers Union. have tabled their
contract talks with Boise Cascade
and have refused to cross the pic-
ket lines until the striking wood-

» cutters win a decent contract.

The. U.S.-owned multi-national
is trying to introduce a piece-rate
system which would eliminate the
union and force the workers to
provide their own wood-cutting
equipment. In effect the company:
would then be dealing with each
worker as an independent con-

tractor. *‘The union has no con-

_ Nickel stockpiles are disap-
pearing. Nickel prices are rising.
The move to higher nickel prices
was initiated In February by Inco.
At that time Inco posted its price
for electrolytic nickel at $2.10 per
pound (U.S.). Almost im-
mediately Le Nickel of France
and other producers followed
suit. In March Inco again led the
industry with an electrolytic nic-
kel price increase of 20 cents to
$2.30 per pound.

This month a new round of nic-
kel price increases has been in-
itiated, this time by Falconbridge
Nickel Mines Ltd. of Toronto.
The new Falconbridge prices are:

$2.55 (U.S.) a pound for plating _
_ grade electrolytic nickel and $2.50

for melting grade electrolytic nic-
kel. The company also raised its
ferronickel prices to $2.49 a
pound from $2.24 a pound of nic-
kel content. .
Inco Ltd. of Toronto, which is
the largest nickel producer in the
capitalist part of the world, claims
it is studying the Falconbridge
price rise. But observers claim it
will soon move to higher prices
along with other nickel produc-
ers. Spot or free market dealers
are quoting prices of $2.70 (U.S.)
a pound for plating nickel. Ilmer

_ Martins, nickel analyst with
Walwyn Stodgell Cochran Mur-

ray Ltd. of Toronto, says it is
*‘wishful thinking’’ to expect that
price rises will stop at this point.
“I would expect to see a price of
$3 (U.S.) a pound before the end
of the year.’’
Inco Nationalization Appropriate
In the meantime the strike of
11,700 Inco workers at Sudbury
-will soon enter its eighth month,
as this giant nickel producer re-
fuses to come to terms in a new
and decent contract with its

trol over the number of men that
Boise hires and if they win
Owner-operator, they would
probably ‘hire an .extra 50-100
workers, or whatever they figure
they would need to produce their
wood for 5 mionths’’, McIntyre
said.

_ ‘The other seven months there
would be no work in the bush and
what do you do with your pay-
ments for those seven months?”’

Boise clearly intends to smash
the union. The striking wood-cut-
‘ters.are all familiar with the com-
ments of the company’s wood-
lands manager who reportedly
told local owner-operators there
would never be another union
man working ,in Boise’s wood-
lands when the strike is over.
What started as a fight against a’
vicious multi-national McIntyre.
said, has become a battle with the
Tory government in Queen’s
Park. “The Ontario Provincial
Police (OPP) are in here pro-
tecting Boise«and now we have
the federal government posting
“jobs at the Canada Manpower
centre in Winnipeg for scab truck
drivers to come down here and
‘drive truck under police escort’,
the strike leader said.

from ‘‘Strike Support News” a
bulletin published by the Citizens’
Strike Support Committee in
Sudbury, dated March 23-April 7,
1979:

“T can’t think of a more ap-
propriate time for the nationaliza-
tion of Inco,”’ says MacMaster
University sociologist Wallace
Clement. Speaking at a workshop
at a Sudbury Secondary School
March 17, Clement called Sud-
bury a “‘privileged region’”’ com-
pared to other sources of nickel,
because its ore body is also rich in
copper, cobalt and precious met-
als.

**But Inco has drained capital
from-this region and put it in the
rest of the world, slashing jobs
here and treating the community
with enormous contempt by forc-
ing layoffs and long strikes.”’

Clement, author of ‘‘The
Canadian Corporate Elite’, said
Sudbury has “‘enormous poten-
tial’? because of the knowledge

INCO’s
greatest resource

isnt inthe ground,
it’s on the
PICKET-LINE!

UWS 2-79 -N¢

Broad support to
Nationalize Inco

workers. The following is taken

Boise workers fighting company’
attempts to smash their union =

As of the end of February, it
has cost the Ontario taxpayer

_some $2.1 million to keep the

200-strong OPP squad in Kenora
at the service of the company. Be-
tween thé scabs herded in from
across Canada to the scab-
herding OPP, Kenora’s li:xurious
Holiday Inn is filled to capacity.

There are no doubts in: the
strikers’ minds why the OPP was
brought in. “‘When we first shut
down the mill’’. McIntyre said,
“there were no police there and,
we never had any incidents. As
soon as the police decided to give
protection at the mill, that’s when
all the fighting took place.

“Tf the police hadn’t stepped in

we believe we would’ve been -

back to work today and with a
contract. We’ve got (OPP) In-
spector Lewis from Toronto
here’’, the strike leader noted, ‘‘
and he seems to be a professional
strike breaker. When he first
came here about two months ago
he said there was only one way to
settle this strike, and that’s more
arrests.”

Boise has never asked for an
injunction and the police have
concentrated on arresting the
union leadership to keep them

and skills of its working people.
Fhe Ontario Government

_ Should re-open the mines that

Inco has on stand-by, suggested
one striking miner. ‘‘Workers can
be rehired to work in those mines.
The government could say to
Inco we’re taking them over and
you’re going to smelt the ore.

’ We’ve been pushed around by the

corporations in this country for
too long.”’
Clauses in Contracts

A mining technologist said
nationalization would enable
workers to take control of the
introduction ‘of new technology.
In the meantime, he urged unions
to get technological change
clauses in their contracts to pro-
tect their work environment, save
jobs, and ensure the ore is used in
the interests of the community.
“For example there’s a relation-
ship between trackless mining
and high-grading an ore body,”
he said. ©

He explained that when com-
panies laid tracks underground
for ore cars, the expense commit-
ted them to mining the whole
area. But with the introduction of
rubber-wheeled trams they can
grab the best ore and leave the

. Test behind. That cuts the life of

the orebody.

Most people at the workshop
agreed a nationalized Inco would
not be much better than now, un-
less workers had a direct say in
how the company was to be run.
One Inco pensioner charged Inco
had built stockpiles of nickel out-

_ Side the country and said: ‘I think

we should take over the company
right now.”’ Another said: ‘‘Inco
is not exactly a popular company
in Canada. Don’t underestimate
the amount of support across the

country for nationalization.”

. ge ae

The Ontario Provincial Police are in Kenora protecting Bolse interests

as Manpower offices in Winnipeg advertise for scab truck drivers to
cross picket lines guaranteeing police protection.

away from the picket line. The
entire bargaining committee, the

. Strike captains and the whole

union executive have been ar-
rested and barred from appearing
on the picket line.

A wife supporting her husband
on the picket line was so seriously
injured, she has to take medical
treatment in Winnipeg.

The strikers’ wives are 100%
behind the strike. A support
committee has been formed and
the women have been writing let-
ters to all the politicians and
wherever they can get support.

Despite the police and scab-°

inspired violence they continue to
support ‘the men. As one woman
put it: ‘It’s one thing for the men
to yell at the scabs but when a
woman does it, it really bugs them
and makes them feel small.”

Boise Cascade owns 11 mills in
Canada and the U.S. and has a
terrible. labor relations record in
both countries. Up to Jan. 8 this
year, eight of the company’s 11

mills were on strike.

In Kenora, McIntyre said,
Boise’s position is that the work-
ers will do what the company dic-
tates or they will not work. “If
this situation goes through”’; he
said, “‘I think that in two years
time all of Northern Ontario will

be shut down because the other .

companies are going to want what
Boise got. They won’t be able to

compete with Boise, because if .

Boise breaks the union here
there’s no doubt that wages are
going to drop and there’s going to
be a cut in prices.”’
McIntyre said both Ontario
the federal government should
look into what’s happening at
Kenora and Fort Frances be-
cause, “‘It won’t just create prob-
lems in Ontario, but in Quebec, in
Newfoundland and where ever
logging operations are going on.
It’s going to have a bearing on it.
“T hope it will come to an end
soon’’, McIntyre said, “‘but, if it’s
a year, or two I guess we'll still be
here fighting Boise.”’

Alberta labor faces
long strikes, lockouts

By K. CARIOU

It could be another long, hot
summer on the labor scene in Al-
berta, accarding to some union
leaders here. The first ever strike
at the Interprovincial Pipe and
Steel Corp., IPSCO), and a lock-
out of cement mixer-drivers both
began on April 4.

The 250 IPSCO workers,
members of the United Steel-
workers, join 900 others on strike
at the company’s plant in Regina,
and IPSCO employees at Port
Moody, B.C. who were locked
out April 1. USWA staff rep-
resentative Frank Kuzemski says
the strike follows 10 months of
tough negotiations with the com-
pany. It has been nine months
since the last contract expired.
Speaking to the Tribune, a local
union spokesman predicted the
strike could be a long one, and
said the union was prepared for
this.

IPSCO is pressing its
employees to accept a three-year
contract on the same terms as ac-
cepted recently by Steel Com-
pany of Canada’s workers here.
The union wants the same COLA
clauses as in the other contract,
but over a two-year period, and
says the company’s wage in-
crease offer is too low. .

No Contract Since Dec. 31

The lockout of the 225 mixer-
drivers, members of Teamsters
Union Local 362; meant an im-
mediate shutdown of ready-mix
concrete operations in the city. If
the lockout continues, the entire
construction industry in Edmon-
ton could be halted within two or
three weeks.

The drivers are employed by
six concrete companies in Ed-
monton, and have been without a
contract since Dec. 31. They have
been offered a 72c an hour in-
crease Over two years, or a total
8.7%, far below the expected rise
in the cost of living for that period.
During their last negotiations, two
years ago, the drivers were forced
by the Anti-Inflation Board, to
accept a much smaller increase
than they had bargained for. The
local is seeking a $1.50 an hour
increase, or 18.1% over~ two
yéars.

-Northern Strikes

Meanwhile, two other strikes
continue in northern Alberta,
with no immediate signs of
settlement. The coal miners at the
Cardinal River Coal Co. in Hinton
have been out for nine weeks, tiy-
ing to win better wages-and a de-
cent shift system.

At the Parkland Nursing
Home, 25 workers are still picket-
ing after more than two years on
strike. The newly re-elected To-

ries are keeping silent on the dis-_

pute, although they came under
heavy pressure during the pro-
vincial election to force a fair
settlement.

In March, it was announced
that the nursing home, along with
several others, was being sold to
Extendicare Homes Ltd., of On-
tario. Extendicare has said it is
willing to settle the strike, but be-
fore negotiations can be renewed
the company must be approved as
a nursing home operator. This
can only take place after a provin-
cial government hearing, which is
expected in about a month.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 20, 1979—Page 5

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