A PRG ek oe 38,000 copies printed in this issue THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Published once monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-C1O-cLC 2859 Commercial Orive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 rr Business Manager—Fred Fieber Advertising Representatives—Elizabeth Spencer Associates Forwarded to every member of the {WA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year- EDITORIAL “DOING FAR TOO WELL” FForest Industrial Relations head John Billings, spokesman for the forest industry in coast negotiations, has ac- cused the IWA of bargaining insincerely because of the size of the Union’s de- mands. He claims that the total cost of the IWA’s contract “package” exceeds the gross profits of the entire industry for 1971 and that if the Union’s demands were met, it would have tragic eco- nomic consequences for the whole province. In a desperate attempt to justify the employers “hard nose” position, Billings has been foolish enough to state that the forest industry is in an unhealthy financial position. He also added that the Union should remember industries that don't make profits, don’t hire people. Well let’s examine these statements. First of all the size of the demands has no bearing on how the Union Committee negotiates and never has. But it has had a remarkable effect on the industry. For the first time in memory, the coast employers almost at the start of nego- tiations, have come out and stated that their employees will receive a wage increase. ; By HARRY RANKIN I’m critical myself of some This is all the more remarkable con- sidering Billings statement that the in- dustry’s financial position is unhealthy. The only conclusion to be drawn from this is that the employers are doing far too well to allow an industry shut down. _And the industry is doing well fin- ancially. All the facts and economic figures show that the forest industry is having a record-breaking year and ex- perts predict that the trend will continue for at least the next three years. Billings statement that industries that don’t make profits don’t hire people, has never been questioned by the IWA. What the Union does question, however, is the present size of the industry's profits in relation to the wages paid. The IWA also violently objects to the employers investing profits derived from the natural resources of the province, into low-wage areas of the world. This can only result eventually in lowering the present living standards of B.C. woodworkers. In light of all this it is little wonder that the IWA has questioned the sin- cerity of the employers in negotiations and called for the services of a mediation officer. exist. If Grace McCarthy Grace McCarthy, provincial minister without portfolio, told a citizens forum on public housing recently that public housing in Vancouver has been a disaster. Apparently she was referring to some of the big housing projects such as Raymur and Skeena. She blamed this particular type of public housing for the high rate of juvenile delinquency in these areas and for a high rate of ‘unhappy, frustrated people’. She also told her audi- ence that the provincial government would not partici- pate in any more such projects, and that it had a ‘“‘whole new philesophy”’ on public housing consisted of buying up old houses and making them avail- able to people on welfare. These are brave, noble sounding words. Unfortunately they don’t quite square with the facts. And as far as the government's ‘‘new philosophy” on public housing is concerned, she could have been more candid and ad- of our large public housing pro- jects, but my criticism is aimed at improving them, not at doing away with them al- together. Grace McCarthy’s claim that people in public housing are worse off than be- fore just isn’t true. If it were, the present inhabitants would leave. What does she want these people to do — go into slum housing where they will have to pay twice the rent they do now? As I have said many times before, one of the main short- -comings of these big public housing projects is that City Council and Grace McCarthy’s own government refuse to build community centres to go with them, to be used by young ’ and old alike for health and recreation. Lack of such fac- ilities is a big contributing factor to juvenile delinquency for the young people and frustration for others. Grace McCarthy’s touching concern for people on welfare being unhappy should be communicated directly by her to the minister of rehabilita- tion, Phil Gaglardi, who sets the miserably low standards on which people on welfare must wants to know why people on welfare are unhappy, the answer is easy to find — they’re unhappy because they’re on welfare. Gaglardi’s recent increase in welfare rates amounted to 5c a day for mothers and 14%c a day for children. Does Grace Mc- Carthy expect them to jump for joy at this ‘generosity’? The provincial government’s new policy of buying up older houses doesn’t create any new housing. And at the present rate (300 in two years) it doesn’t even begin to make a dent in the acute housing short- age. The real estate people and the big apartment owners are, of course, happy at the government’s decision to stop building public housing. Low _rents never did go down well with them. Now they can continue to charge all the traffie will bear. But people with low incomes desperately need low rental housing. Vancouver should build at least 2500 new low rental hous- ing units a year to meet the housing shortage. At the same time it should build community eentres, adequately staffed and equipped. APRIL-MAY, 1972 WAALEN lf \ > He ain’t th’ first ‘drop out” I seen takin’ up a company sales course after a few weeks on th’ side hills. SSS EEE HOLBERG CREW GEAR — OFFICIAL ADS OF U.I.C. The Holberg Sub-Local members of Local 1-71 IWA caught the Unemployment In- surance Commission out in one of its newspaper ads pub- lished in The Province March 7th, a copy of which is print- ed below. To let the government know Mr. Ray Perrault, M.P. Parliamentary Secretary to Federal Minister of Labour, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario Dear Sir: Members of Local 1-71 IWA have suspected that the Un- employment Insurance Com- We Aim to Serve You Better Last month the Vancouver office disqualified 3,322 claimants because they did not meet the conditions of eligibility. We can only pay benefits to those who qualify. We must protest the interest of Em- ployers and Employees. xX Unemployment Insurance Commission 1145 Robson Street Vancouver 5, B.C. how they feel about the UIC they fired off the following letter to Ray Perrault, Parlia- mentary Secretary to the Fed- eral Minister of Labour, and copies to NDP Leader David Lewis and Progressive Con- servative Leader Robert Stan- field. 681-4211 mission was in business to pro- test, not protect, the interest of employers and employees. Your advertisement in The Province on March 7, 1972, confirms our suspicions. Yours truly, JOHN G. HINDSON, _ Secretary. Ree eee ON THE LIGHTER SIDE Sawmill Sue’s girl friend got chased out of an Interior nudist colony because she had something on her mind. he coi A middle-aged woman, ac- cording to Kamloops Katie, is simply a build in a girdled cage. * * * Waitress: a gal who thinks money grows on trays. MeO ake Sam the machinery sales- man reports that a logger friend is all roused up about the latest used truck he bought — it wasn’t all it was jacked up to be! xk k & Sign in a Vancouver Island bar: If you’re drinking to for- get — please pay your check in advance. * * * _Kamloops Katie’s latest ad- vice to women—Think Mink! * * * A Cariboo drive-in theatre manager told us that if busi- ness gets any better he'll have | to start showing movies!