By JOE MORRIS
Regional President

Every member wants our Union to succeed in this year’s negotiations. Success spells better wages and working
conditions. Every coast Local Union is now electing delegates and arming them with recommendations for the Wages
and Contract Conference. This period of membership discussion is quite as vital to success as the conduct of bargain-
ing strategy during negotiations. Membership opinion must be in tune with the demands to be determined and action
taken to secure acceptance of the demands.

No forecast of these demands is permissible here. This is the period for membership consideration and deci-
sion. No official of the Union should try to stampede membership opinion. Now is the time for all of us to size up
our needs, look to the economic weather and decide on contract benefits that we believe can be realized.

fl CNR

THE WESTERN CANADIAN

Dol

Incorporating Jhe &.C. Camberworker Official Publication of the Jaternational Weodwarkers of r¥meréea Regional Council No. 1

VOL. XXIX, No. 1

IWA LOGGERS emp
point for a Company

“Hillcrest Lumber

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

1st Issue

&
<a January, 1962

a

Transportation Clash
Keeps Loggers off Job

Seventy loggers employed by
the Hillerest Lumber Co. Ltd.
have maintained a determined
stand to gain restoration of
transportation facilities from

Duncan to Messachie Lake, a

ition of work they have en-
for over twenty years.

A notice was posted by the Com-
pany last November stating that the
usual free transportation arrange-
ments had been cancelled, thus
at ing to force the loggers to
ide their own transportation to
d from work. Since that time the
-erew has been reporting for work

the pve ange d points, as for-

erly J. When no company

LISTEN TO

Local Union, 1-80 IWA, immedi-
ately held several meetings with
management without satisfactory
results, The position held by the
Local Union is that the provision of
transportation under the circum-
stances had been a condition of em-
ployment for twenty years, The arbi-
trary decision to end free transporta-
tion, constituted a cut in take-home
pay.

The Company has obstinately re-
fused to change its position. Latest
reports indicate that matters are
still deadlocked. The Regional
Officers have visited the scene to
assist the Local Union in negotiating
a return to established conditions.

The clash of opinion cannot be
designated as either a strike or a
lock-out. Since January 2 the log-
gers regularly appear at the normal
pick-up points, and upon failure of
the Company to supply transporta-
tion do not report at the work site.

Local 1-80, IWA, Duncan, has
established an emergency fund to
assist the loggers in their struggle.
An appeal has been circulated to all
IWA Local Unions in the Western
Regional Council for donations.

—— ae

ed by the Hillcrest Lumber Company at Mesachie Lake, Vancouver Island, wait in vain at the pick-up
us to take them to the job site.

Photo Flett Studios Ltd.

CLC Committee
Investigating

IWA Charges

The Canadian Labour Congress
has appointed a special committee
to investigate the charges laid by
the IWA that the United Brother-
hood of Carpenters and Joiners is
raiding its jurisdiction among the
loggers of Newfoundland.

The question was reviewed at
the January meeting of the CLC
Executive Council with repre-
sentatives of the disputing unions
in attendance. Conflict in the evi-

dence submitted on some points
led to the decision to continue
the investigation.

The Committee is comprised of
four general CLC vice-presidents
—Frank Hall, Chairman; George
Burt, William Jenoves, and Wil-
liam Mahoney.

President Claude Jodoin, CLC,
stated that the committee has
wide terms of reference and that
only a detailed study can clarify
the situation. It is quite likely
that the Commiftee will visit
Newfoundland during the course
of its enquiry,

Congress deliberations will
continue when the Committee’s
probe has been completed.

Some Necessary
Preliminaries

All our thought and action must be centred on success. The
Union carries a solemn responsibility toward its members. It be-
comes our duty to sweep aside anything that might impede suc-
cess. We must clear the ground for united action. Our Union has
the right to stamp out moves which create confusion and divide
rather than unite.

The period for negotiations is not a time for sniping at indi-
viduals in the Union nor for war between factions. Internal friction
is fatal to the successful achievement of the Union’s objectives.

In a trade union democracy we can make room for differences of
opinion. Our members are not robots. We may differ at times, but
only with the purpose of reaching a solution satisfactory to major-
ity opinion. We strive for an expression of majority opinion that
we may lay a sound basis for united action. Especially during
negotiations, majority opinion when it is expressed must command
unswerving loyalty from every member. We have no time either
for personal antagonisms or personal ambitions which can only
create situations that are not in the best interests of our people.

Attempts fo excite distrust by accusing the Union’s leadership
of shortcomings in the past have been tried and failed. Repetition
of these arguments at the present time is dangerous to our cause.
Every major policy decision in past negotiations has received mem-
bership approval. An examination of the facts should stop any of
this ghost-walking as we mobilize our resources for the fight ahead.

We can place our trust in the Union’s democratic procedures.
The Policy Committee, as well as the Negotiating Committee, en-
trusted with bargaining policies, is as representative of the member-
ship as it is possible to devise. The rule still stands that major de-
cisions must be referred to the membership. No one, either inside
or outside these committees, may safely dictate the Union’s policy.
Our willingness to work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust
will make for success, and our success is the central issue. Nothing
would please the employers more than to be able to point to Union
dissension at the bargaining table. :

We make a mistake only when we rely solely on the negotiators.
They carry the ball in the formal discussions, but they cannot suc-
ceed without supporting action on the part of the entire member-
ship. Without massive support negotiations may stall, or worse,
leave us vulnerable.

Those of us who pin our hopes on success must hunt out and
light up every spot in the industry where indifference or apathy
may be found.

See “Key To Success” — Page 2

BCE Employees Face Loss
Of Bargaining Rights

Three unions representing 5000 employees of the government-
owned B.C. Electric face loss of all collective bargaining rights
under an official interpretation of the Act which placed the utility
under public ownership. Joint representations have been made to
the Provincial Cabinet by the International Brotherhood of Electri-
cal Workers, the Street Railwaymen’s Union, and the International
Union of Office Employees, requesting maintenance of full bar-
gaining rights.

The Act of the Legislature which

expropriated the B.C. Electric, states
that other provincial Acts are set
aside. The Labour Relations Board
has interpreted this to include the
Labour Relations Act. It now
appears that not only the civil ser-
vants, but all employees of Crown
Corporations are denied protection
under the Labour Relations Act. The
ruling also affects employees of the

B.C. Power Commission, the Liquor
Control Board, the P.G.E. and the
Bridge and Toll Authority operating
the ferry services.

The blow fell first on the IBEW
whose negotiations commenced be-

fore the BCE takeover. The long-
established closed shop held by this

See “FACE LOSS” page 2

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