Sa - Ment as having iceunny. 1978 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER FROM PAGE 8 “BURNS LAKE” who is the chairman. George also sits on the Board en Directors of Babine Forest Products. The Community Develop- ment Association, which provides an extensive range of social and community support services, has been governed by a similar structure and board. However, in December of 1976 the CDA made a significant move — expanding their mem- bership to include all residents of the local School District and enlarging their Board to provide for representation from the Department of Human Resources (1) and an the community-at-large (3 The native people of Burns Lake and area had developed a first rate community develop- ment and social service centre, and once having made it a success on their own, invited the majority community to join them. And they did. - CAPILANO COLLEGE STARTS NEW PROGRAM The Labour Studies Program at Capilano College is starting its Spring program of of- ferings. Endorsed by the B.C. Federation of Labour, the program received funding this year from the Canada Department of Labour. This hae enabled the program to expand its course offerings designed to meet the special educational needs of workers and the labour movement. New this spring is a course on the Canada Labour Code for unions organized under the federal jurisdiction. Also new is a course on contract clauses for women offered by Astrid Davidson of the B.C. Fed- eration of Labour. In addition there are repeat offerings of courses on trade union history, B.C. Labour Law, Occupational Health and Safety and The Workers Compensation Act. Two timely courses are the Unemployment Insurance Procedures course and one on Income Tax Coun- selling for Wage Earners. These courses are offered in . union halls and community centres around Vancouver on both evenings and weekends. For further information con- tact Ed Lavalle, Chairman, Labour Studies Programme, Capilano College, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver, B.C. PARK WINS | AWARD | Carling O’Keefe Shannon Falls Park has won the 1977 Park and Tilford Award for community beautification. The park was chosen by five judges from over 80 entries. Carling initially purchased the property to supply water for its products. This initial purchase includes a large area of land that the brewery ‘decided could be utilized by ‘people as a park and picnic site. With this in mind Carl- ing’s began to develop the.area putting in a number of trails and a picnic site next to the creek. In 1976 Carling approached the IWA Regional Council with a proposal to include an out- door logging museum at Shan- non Falls to round out the development of the park area. That museum became a reality a year later and is now a popular. part of the develop- ment. During the two years that the park has been open literally hundreds of thousands of people, both British Colum- bians and tourists have used the Shannon Falls Park. The IWA congratulates Carling O’Keefe on the award and wishes them success with the future of the park. KNOW iy BOB BLASINA Of the popularly recognized benefits of trade unionism, the grievance-arbitration pro-~ cedure is one of the least noted. Yet, it is one of the most signi- ficant aspects of your Collect- ive Agreement. Simply stated, the grievance-arbitration pro- cedure brings democracy to the workplace. As a worker, you are a businessman in that you have One invaluable commodity to sell — your labour. In return, receive wages and other efits, all of which are embodied in your Collective Agreement. The Collective Agreement therefore consti- tutes the Labour Contract m you and your em- Ployer and it governs your relationship. A Seohiera therefore arises when the employer does not abide by the Labour Contract. When a party to a Non-Labour Contract breaches that Agree- Ment, the other party may choose to consider the Agree- terminated and then sue for damages. remedy does not make ise in the industrial relations xt. It does not make sense ct whenever a dispute 8s. After all, both employ- nd employers would agree it on-going relation- is more desirable. Work- V ae to work and pewloy- YOUR employer could simply tell you that he was going to have his way — whether he was right or wrong. You could accept it or go elsewhere. You might even get the crew together and walk out. Obviously none of these alternatives makes for a smoothly running workplace. The Labour Legislation of the Dominion of Canada and the Provinces recognizes this problem and_ therefore requires that any dispute over the terms of the Collective Agreement must be resolved through a grievance and arbi- tration procedure without any stoppage of work. In addition, Strikes are expressly prohib- ited during the term of the Col- lective Agreement. The pur- pose of such legislation is to promote industrial stability and peace. It also recognizes that workers and their employ- ers participate in an on-going relationship and that it is in their mutual interest to work out their problems. Union and Management will therefore meet at various stages of the grievance proced- ure and discuss the worker’s complaint and attempt to resolve the problem. If they cannot resolve it, then the matter goes on to arbitration. By this time, the Union Local is in exclusive control of the grievance. This is because the Local is a party to the Collect- ive Agreement and not the individual employee. Also, the Local is concerned that if the employer violates the Collect- COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT ive Mereersent regarding an individual worker, all other workers might be affected too in the future. The Union and the Company will each select a representa- tive to present their case at the arbitration hearing. This rep- resentative is quite often a lawyer although this is not absolutely necessary. The rep- resentative will prepare his case just as if this were a court matter and he will see that a hearing date is set. The arbitration hearing in fact is a court-like proceeding. The Union and the Company appear before an arbitrator though their representative who calls witnesses in support of their case and makes legal -arguments as to why the Col- lective Agreement has or has not been violated. The arbi- trator acts as an umpire. He hears the evidence, listens to both sides, and decides what is right. His decision is final. Both the Union and the Com- pany must obey the arbi- trator’s decision. If either does not, then the decision may be filed in the Supreme Court of the Province where it becomes an order of that Court. Con- tinued breach of that order may then be treated as con- tempt of the Supreme Court. The beauty of arbitration therefore is that it provides a final method for the resolution of workers’ complaints. A solu- tion is found by appealing to reason, not by the unabashed exercise of force. SHANNON FALLS on the road to Squamish i is the 5th highest in the world. At the base is the lovely park of Carling O’Keefe’s. JAPANESE UNIONISTS BACK STEVENS BOYCOTT Japanese unionists dressed in black robes and death masks are picketing stores in several cities urging shoppers to boy- cott J. P. Stevens textile products. The unionists are members of the Zensen Domei, the Japanese Federation of Tex- tile, Chemical, Distributive and Allied Industry Workers. The union is one of many around the world which has pledged to support a boycott against the company. The Japanese union reports it has persuaded Stevens’ sole wholesale distributor in Japan to stop importing the com- pany’s products, and is picket- ing stores selling Stevens products already on the shelves. A spokesman for Zensen Domei said the labour organ- ization has a letter from the wholesaler declaring it will stop importing Stevens goods “for some time until the situation clears up.’ Pickets supporting the boy- cott against Stevens sheets, blankets and other products have been active in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. The union spokesman said the pickets have drawn heavy media coverage and won “‘extensive’’ public support for the boycott. In Canada, the boycott against Stevens is being con- ducted by a Justice for J. P. Stevens Workers committee. The committee had planned a large gathering in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre for Jan. 31 to show support for the Stevens workers. The worldwide boycott was called by the AFL-CIO in an effort to help 44,000 American employees of the firm who have been trying to organize for more than a dozen years. The company has repeatedly been found guilty of violating U.S. labour laws in fighting of the workers’ union, the Amal- gamated Clothing and Textile Workers. The U.S. National Labour Relations Board has mean- while set March 28 as the date of a hearing on yet more charges of labour law viola- tions against the company. Based on charges by the union, the director of the NLRB’s 11th Region issued a complaint against the com- pany and several of its officials and supervisors, charging the firm fired seven more workers for union activities at four different plants in North Caro- lina and Virginia. Among the charges in the complaint are that Stevens assigned “‘more arduous or less agreeable” jobs to union supporters; solicited employ- ees ‘‘to revoke’ signed union authorization cards; threat- ened to close a plant if workers voted for union representation; and enforced a “‘gag rule” at one plant restricting workers in one department from talking with workers in other depart- ments. ESE EE) “WE'RE MAD AS HELL” ‘We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this any more.” That’s the message NDP leader Ed Broadbent tried to have the House of Commons send to Bell Canada after news of the company’s application for a 20% hike in residential telephone service charges. Over the past seven years, Bell has asked for $477 million in six applications for in- creases, and has been granted 87% of what it asked for.