Beowmeas, tien THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 280,000 MEMBERS NOW ; FOUR RAILWAY UNIONS MERGE Members of four railway Operating unions have ‘ap- Proved merger into a new, 280,000-member United Transportation Union. The Canadian membership will be about 25,000. The vote, announced in Chi- cago, was 97,728 in favour and 15,067 against. Unions in- volved are the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, the Brotherhood ‘of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen and the Switchmen’s Union of North America. LUNA PRESIDENT Charles Luna, 62-year-old president of the BRT, will be president of the UTU when it formally comes into existence January 1, Luna promptly urged. fur- ther efforts toward labor unity. “We invite co-opera- tion, a joint effort and consoli- dation with other railroad unions and indeed other trans- portation unions,” he com- mented, Even before the members ratified the merger agreement, leaders of the unions were working on plans to put it into effect. LARGER MERGER An even larger merger could result if non-operating railway unions get together. The 35,000-member Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Work- ers has advocated a merger. Exploratory talks have been Iaunched by leaders of the CBRT and the 180,000-mem- ber Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, which has 18,000 members in Canada. However, CBRT spokesmen have madie it clear they would like to see many more unions involved. The BRASC and the Trans- portation-Communication Em- ployees Union are carrying out a referendum on a merger. PRESIDENT MacDONALD President Donald MacDon- ald of the Canadian Labor Congress said after a recent CLC, Executive Council meet- ing that he was pleased by reports of mergers. “On many occasions the Congress has urged the con- solidation of unions in the same jurisdiction into one or- ganization,’ he said. “The Congress has on some occa- sions exerted its influence to bring such efforts to a success- ful conclusion. — Ross addressing the monthly meeting of Local 1-367 IWA, ’ November 30, in Haney. In his address, Ross stressed the urgent need for unions to implement their motion of sup- port for the NDP by contributing financially. He also stated that for the first time ‘the NDP had over 10,000 card-packing members who were devoting their time to defeating the Socreds in the next provincial election. La- bour, he pointed out, could help its own cause by giving full physical and financial support to the NDP now. ee — SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR TRADE UNIONISTS Scholarships are available for trade unionists desiring to © attend the Labour College of Canada, in Montreal. One is available from the B.C. Federation of Labour for the session May 4 to June 27, 1969, Applicants must be mem- bers of a local union affiliated to the Federation and must submit a short biography along with reasons why they wish to attend the Labour College. Applications must be mail- ed to the Federation office by January 15, 1969. The Canadian Labour Con- gress has a number of schol- arships available for trade unionists but in this case their unions as well as being affili- ated to the Congress must have made a contribution to the Labour College Fund. The Congress also requests an applicant to submit a short biography and short essay or reasons for wishing to attend the College. Application forms for B.C. unionists may be obtained from the -Canadian Labour Congress office, 2475 Mani- toba Street, Vancouver 10, B.C. Letters of reference are re- quired and applications must be accompanied by a registra- tion fee of $5.00 and are to be mailed to Mr. Bert Hep- worth, Registrar, The Labour College of Canada, by Janu- ary 31, 1969. ——————————————_——————__ > CUPE ACCUSES DOCTORS OF BOOSTING OWN RATES - The executive board of the 120,000 - member Canadian Union of Public Employees has accused the medical pro- fession with boosting fees in a high-handed manner. The board sent telegrams to all provincial premiers to ask them to investigate the increased rates for doctors’ services, “While wage earners have to go through mediation, con- ciliation and sometimes arbi- tration to have their pay in- creased, doctors can just. say they want more money and get it,” the board said in the ‘telegrams. _ The union's executive urged that the government step in and determine if the rates “The injustice of the pres- ent system of allowing com- plete freedom to the doctors can be seen when one notes that doctors are already the highest paid people in Canada and hospital workers are among the lowest.” CUPE represents 120,000 municipal, school board, hospi- tal and public utility work- ers in all provinces, STEEL APPEALS DECISION The Supreme Court of Can- ada has reserved judgment in a multi-million-dollar legal dispute between the United Steelworkers of America and Gaspe Copper Mines Ltd., a subsidiary of Noranda Mines Ltd. The union was appealing a Quebec court decision award- ing damages to the company for a strike at Murdochville, Que., 11 years ago. The original trial took place in 1962 and lasted for 120 days. Lawyers now believe that the suit is one of the longest on record and the amount of damages against the union, $1,646,057, the highest in the world in a management-labor civil case. In addition to the damages, court-imposed interest would boost the $1,646,057 by an- other $905,322 by the end of this year. The company, after the 208- day strike in 1957 by copper miners, ‘originally claimed $5,278,692 in damages. Central issue in the argu- ments by the company and the union is the matter of placing blame for the strike and consequent loss of earn- ings by the company. Also at stake is the amount of damages for which there seems to be no precedent. a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS LIKE LABOUR SEMINAR Officers of Local 1-424 IWA Prince George, in conjunction with the CLC, conducted a labour seminar December 13 for 125 students in Grades 11- 12, attending the Smithers High School, Smithers. seminar was chaired by Local 1-424 President Ross Inglis and panel members Speakers were Doug Ed- wards, Local 1-424 Business Agent; Regional 3rd Vice- President Jack Munro; and Jack Radford, CLC Prince George Representative. Inglis reports that the stu- dents were highly impressed and interested in the discus- sion on labour and indicated their desire for more seminars along the same lines. KERF ELIMINATION PREDICTED BY SCIENTIST Design a sawing system which drastically reduces kerf and sawmill operators will] build a path to your door to help save one hundred mil- lion dollars. In Canadian sawmills, losses in that value of raw material are caused annually by kerf—the width of the saw cut — and associated inaccu- racies of sawing and rough- ness of cuts. The conservative estimate is by Dr. T. A. McLauchlan, research scientist at the fed- eral Forest Products Labora- tory in Vancouver.. He said reductions of kerf by modified cutting systems could bring substantial savings in raw material and possibly reduced operating costs. (Lumber manufacturers in B.C. esti- mate that 75 per cent of the total saving could apply in this province if proven sys- tems could be found). Dr. McLauchlan, who has spent three years on projects involving saw guides, said BROADWAY PRINTERS LIMITED printers and lithographers since 1911 115 EAST 8th AVENUE VANCOUVER 10, B.C. Telephone 876-2101 RN PENT cA a) wy , yr that a three to 10 per cent saving in raw material, with a corresponding increase in production, would seem a rea- sonable, achievement for the industry to aim for. Dr. McLauchlan told a sym- posium held by the B.C. Lum- ber Manufacturers’ Division, Council of the Forest Indus- tries, “a reduction of even .010-inch in bandsaw thick- ness generally means a reduc- tion of .020-inch in kerf width. width. “In turn, the reduction rep- resents about a one per cent Saving in raw material.” He said additional savings may be achieved by sawing accuracy through improved feed systems and reduced vi- brations in the saw. —Forest Industry Facts GLOVE PROBLEMS? SOLVE THEM WITH THESE WATSON GLOVES AND MITTS ‘MILL-RITE’ "GREEN CHAIN’ “LUMBER © LOADER’ ATSON GLOVES