=

»

b

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

~ APOLOGIZE!

Wwe publish in this issue a letter from Brother Ernie Freer
who, until his recent resignation, was Financial Secre-
* tary of Local 1-71, IWA. He deals in his own way with the
insinuation made in an IWA publication that he resigned from

motives of cowardice.

The same motives were attributed to Brother Joe Madden
* who recently resigned as President of Local 1-357, TWA.

Because they are not now officers of the Union, neither of
these Brothers desire to enter into a public discussion of their

reasons for retiring from full-time service in the IWA.

Their

numerous friends are aware that both had compelling per-
sonal reasons for their resignations. These reasons have no
relation to their trade union loyalties or any controversy
among IWA members. Every IWA member is entitled to
: privacy with regard to his personal affairs.

We now record the fact that the members of Local 1-71,
IWA, and Local 1-357, IWA, expressed extreme regret that
their resignations were prompted by personal circumstances
over which these Brothers had no control. Both Local Unions
are on record with warm appreciation of the faithful and con-

scientious performance of their duties over a long period of.

years.

A large number of their fellow-members in Region No. 1
and throughout the International Union desire to pay warm
tribute to their notable contribution toward our Union’s prog-
ress. They were both well and favorably known for their loyal
dedication to IWA objectives and were never known to run

away from an argument,

It is highly regrettable that wholly unfounded and dis-
paraging remarks were published to detract from praise-
worthy service. This departure from the best IWA traditions
calls for a handsome apology to respected fellow-members.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Company Safety Policy
Castigated by Member

I would like to take this
opportunity to inform you of
what has been transpiring on
the Safety Committee of
Columbia Cellulose, for the
following reasons:

In the past year, the pro-
duction manager has taken
the attitude that the floor of
the committee meeting is the
ideal place for inept and im-
proper answers to the prob-
lems the members are trying
to solve.

As_I wish to request that
this letter be read to the
membership at our next Local
Union meeting, I think it only
right to give a few examples
of what I mean in the above
statement.

In 1963 we have had three
steel towers fall down in the
woods as a result of the steel
guy line ring breaking. When
a Committee Member sug-
gested adding a second ring

as a precaution, he was told
that the C.N.R. train did not
have three tracks to run on.
When the problem arose
about carrying gas on the top
of crew buses, the answer
was “It could get struck by
lightning in the back of a
pick up.”

At our last safety meeting,
there was considerable dis-
cussion on an operator who
was unhooking his own chok-
ers without wearing caulk
boots. The production man-
ager’s attitude to this was that
if he stayed at home, he
couldn’t get hurt.

So, as I think I have plain-
ly pointed out, as long as this
kind of controversy is al-
lowed to continue, how can
we possibly hope to cut down
on the hazards that face us

in our every day work.
FRED GLOVER,
A Disgusted Safety
Committee Member

Freer Answers BARKER’s Attack

I recently came into pos-
session of a copy of The
Barker dated January, 1964,
No. 1, which contained a
number of references to me as
an individual, and also to a
certain incident which took
place at the last Annual Meet-
ing of the Loggers’ Local held
in Vancouver in December.

It is not my intention to
enter into a prolonged “war
of words” with the Officers of
Local 1-217, but it is my opin-
ion that the personal attack
made against me in The Bark-
er warrants an answer and
for that reason I request that
this letter be published in
the Western Canadian Lum-
ber Worker.

Before dealing with the re-
marks on the editorial page
of The Barker concerning my
recent resignation as Finan-

cial Secretary of Local 1-71,

, I will correct for the record a

number of inaccuracies which
appear on the back page of
this publication under the
heading “1-71 EJECT IWA
OFFICER.”

The Barker's version of this
incident, like the technique
of “Hitler's big lie,” while
founded on fact is a hysterical,

highly-coloured report of a
perfectly logical sce =
a series of events. It is pe
Sed Uidetetandinile that the
should appear in this

dure which the members of
the “Loggers’ Local,’ and
other Locals, had established
for themselves through refer-
endum ballot and which pro-
vided properly elected repre-
sentation to all camps and
plants scattered throughout
large geographic areas.

It seemed strange to the
Loggers then, and it still
seems strange to us, that the
Vancouver Sawmill Local
should seek to destroy a pro-
cedure which we found en-
tirely satisfactory and which
we had chosen to fit our par-
ticular need through secret
ballot. This was particularly
true when we considered the
fact that Local 1-217 had no
geographic problem them-
selves, being a Local whose
boundaries are approximately
seven miles from one side to
the other, compared to an ex-
treme distance of approxi-
mately five hundred and
eighty miles in our own case.

As time went on, in one
way and another, the Officers
of Local 1-217 continued to
devise means to attempt to
destroy delegated meetings
and this continuous effort on
their part finally culminated
in the four-hour explosion at
the last International Conven-
tion held in Vancouver.

The decision of the dele-
gates at the International
Convention finally establish-
ed the right for Locals like
our own to hold the only type
of meeting which fully pro-
tected the democratic rights
of our members in the far-
flung reaches of the B.C,
ag to elect representatives

to speak on their behalf at
the Local Meetings. But the
Loggers from LiL who were
anally to that International
Convention could not quickly

- forget the bitter taste of the

accusations hurled with a
ti face by the pious Stu

Hodgson or by Syd, “the
voice”, Thompson; accusations
which not only accused us of
being undemocratic, but
stupid as well, stupid because
allegedly we allowed our
elected Officers to dominate
and control our destiny;
stupid because we had to wait
for the sawmills to liberate
us. Have you ever tried to
dominate and control Log-
gers? Try it sometime. The
exercise will do you good, but
the lumps won’t be worth the
effort.

Needless to say, the temper
of the Loggers was some-
where about the boiling point
and remained high.

During the course of our
last Local Meeting consider-
able discussion took place on
this subject as delegate after
delegate got up to the ‘mike”
to report his impressions of
the debate which had taken
place at the International
Convention to the assembled
members.

This, then, is the series of
events which led up to the
inevitable conclusion when
Bob Clair, Officer of Local
1-217, and editor of their
Local rag The Barker, walked
into the hall, picked up a
resolutions book and sat
down.

The Chairman of the Ser-
geant-at-Arms Committee
took the mike to announce
that an Officer of Local 1-217

was present.

Brother Clair in The Barker
reports that a resolution was
passed excluding him from
the meeting and that I urged
the membership to support
his removal. This is not true.

Resolutions to our meetings
come from the camp or mills
or the Local Executive Board
and, obviously, we could have
had no prior knowledge that

Brother Clair would attempt
to attend a Local meeting.

What really happened was
that after the announcement
made by the Chairman of. the
Sergeant-at-Arms Committee,
I further clarified his words
by announcing Brother Clair’s
office and Local affiliation and
concluded by saying he was
one of those who gave us a
bad time at the International
Convention. I then, without
further remarks, moved a
motion “that the meeting be
confined to members of Local
1-71 in good standing and in-
vited guests.”

The members in attendance,
without any debate, voted
unanimously in concurrence
and Brother Clair was es-
corted from the Hall. It may
have been bodily, as he re-
ported; this I do not know as
I could no longer see him
after he had left the main
hall, but I suspected that if
he was bruised at all by even
so much as an assisting hand
on his elbow, his feelings
were bruised more, which
probably accounts for the
hysterical reporting in The
Barker.

Personally, my only regret
is that “The Voice” saw fit to
send a lackey instead of com-
ing down himself to report to
the Loggers and Sawmill
Workers at the meeting how
he had restored democracy in
our Local.

Let there be no mistake.
The members who had been
elected by their fellows in the
camps 2d mills to attend
that meeting made the de-
cision that was made. As far
as I’m concerned, that de-
cision was the right one under
the circumstances. A logical
eonclusion to a_ series of
events!

Let there be no mistake
about this either. We, in 71,
have no quarrel with the

“E357

The procedure used in ne-
gotiating and concluding the
Apprenticeship Training Pro-
gram for millwrights was no
different from that used in
years past where broad agree-
ments have been negotiated
on behalf of the Local Unions
between contract dates.

Local 1-357 has adopted
the plan, our millwrights
have commended the people
involved in the negotiations
for a job well done on their
behalf. It is the opinion of
this Local Union that internal
arguments centered around a
procedural technicality
should not be allowed to de-
prive the millwrights of the
rights, privileges, and bene-
fits negotiated in the Appren-
ticeship Training Program.

The will of the majority
has always been the deter-
mining factor in the IWA, -
and should prevail in this in--
stance. The Convention, by
majority action, directed the
Officers and the Regional
Executive Board to negotiate
the plan. That directive has
been carried out and adopted
by majority vote of the Re-
gional Executive Board. This
Local Union wants the plan
implemented without further
delay.

members of 217, none what-
soever. As far as we’re con-
cerned your rank and file in

- Vancouver are fellow wood-

workers and fellow trade un-
ionists, but when your Offic-
ers, or the Officers of any
Local, interfere in the affairs
of the Loggers (affairs and
policies which we determine
democratically), then the re-
sult can not fail to be detri-
mental to us all.

On the editorial page of
The Barker under the sub-
heading “SCURRYING FOR
COVER,” the inference is
left that I resigned my paid
position to return to a log-
ging production job in the
Queen Charlotte Islands be-
cause I wanted to get out
while the getting was good.
This type of personal attack
doesn’t really deserve an an-
swer, so I'll simply confine
myself to remarking that it
is odd to find the same people
who at the last International
Convention were accusing me
of perpetuating my position
now complaining that I left
that position.

Don’t worry, Bob, Ill still
be around at Regional and In-
ternational Conventions if I
can retain our members’ sup-
port on those ballots. Yes, Pll
still be around to do my best
in, supporting and advancing
the policies of the Local and
those of other bodies which I
consider to be in the best in-
terests of the woodworkers of
British Columbia and the
Western Provinces. Perhaps
on one of those occasions you
can explain to me exactly
how you were bodily evicted.

I’d like to hear that one.
E. L. FREER

Mignon McLaughlin, in "The =

= Mowessic' Notebook”: =
— “Many are saved from sin =
=. by being so inept at it.” By