12 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 38,000 copies printed in this issue. Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Editor — Pat Kerr Business Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representative — G. A. Spencer Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post.Office Department, and for payment of postage in cash. Cea? EDITORIAL "NOT A NEUTRAL PARTY" 1 fie Labour Movement strongly criti- cizes the Provincial Social Credit Government for being guilty of extremely faulty judgment in handling the present Interior lumber dispute and of manipu- lating the government-supervised strike vote to the disadvantage of the union. In analyzing the actions and public outbursts by certain ministers of the Crown the IWA is of the opinion that the Social Credit government is over its head in playing politics with the welfare of 8,000 IWA members and their families _ in the Southern and Northern Interior of British Columbia. Authoritative reports forecast a strong and stable growth over at least the next five years for the United States softwood lumber market, with the B.C. Interior - supplying an increasing share of the market. For this and many other rea- sons Interior woodworkers demand. not only parity on the base rate, but also parity on all sawmill, plywood and log- ging category rates. In looking for financial and moral support for the Social Credit party from the Interior operators and in protecting the. government's revenue from the sale of Crown timber — the industry's raw material — by an antiquated method of stumpage appraisal, the Social Credit government is doing everything in its power to obstruct the Intérior IWA mem- bers in théir fight for “equal pay for equal work.” The present provincial stumpage ap- praisal system basically allows the In- terior operator a 15% profit ratio on the selling price of manufactured lumber. It further allows the Interior operator for all logging and manufacturing costs (in- cluding labour), leaving the remainder to be funneled into the coffers of the pro- vincial government. Subsequently any increase in logging and/or manufacturing cost on account of higher wages reduces the revenue to the provincial government. Only in the case where the revenue falls below cer- tain government standards will the In- terior operator not be able to realize the 15% profit ratio. The IWA charges that for the above reasons the Social Credit Government is NOT a neutral party in the present In- terior lumber dispute and condemns it for trying to make second-class citizens. of the Interior IWA membership. THOUGHT YA SAID THIS WAS A REAL UP-TA- DATE CAMP... MAN... YA DON’T EVEN HAVE READIN’ LIGHTS IN TH’ BIFFY! BRICK PLANT DOWN ESTEVAN — The Liberal government of Saskatchewan has again shown its contempt for labour by closing down the Estevan Brick Plant as recrimination against a strike yar employees began June This plant, which was ori- ginally publicly owned under the CCF government, now has an indefinable status, which even the government doesn’t seem to understand. Government spokesmen, in answer to questions in the legislature, have said that it is still publicly owned, but is privately managed. It appears — LTE SRO RR Why IWA said no By JACK CLARKE Province Labor Reporter It’s a safe bet that the In- ternational Woodworkers of industry could afford to pay America will never again look kindly on industrial in- quiry commissioners being appointed in their contract disputes with the forest in- dustry. Commissioners have been remarkably successful in re- cent years in getting settle- ments, and they made a con- tribution to industrial peace in the province, despite the misgivings of many. The disenchantment in the IWA, however, has been swift, deriving from Mr. Jus- tice F. Craig Munroe’s in- quiry and report on the cur- rent interior forest industry contract dispute. It would be easy to say the reason for the IWA’s hurt feelings was the fact that Mr. Justice Munroe did not give it its own way. The union wanted parity with the coast contract, meaning a 50 cents- an-hour increase here and now. But the judge recom- mended 44 cents over two years and also proposed a few other changes which fell short of the proposals by Mr. Justice Nemetz that settled the coast dispute last year. The IWA leaders were clearly anxious to have a commis- sioner in the interior and there is a modicum of truth in the suggestion that they’re hurt because their hopes have backfired on them. But there’s a more impor- tant reason for the disen- chantment. And it has to do with the nature of the Mun- roe inquiry and report. The inquiry had a judicial quality from the beginning which no other commission had before. It was open to the public. Submissions were made by both sides in turn, witnesses were called and there were rebuttals, much in the manner of lawyers plead- ing causes before a judge. Although there were private sessions later, the proceed- ings were somewhat in the nature of a civil action de- signed to reach a judicial de- cision. It may be argued that the issue of whether the interior parity wages rates and to meet the other coast contract terms required a decision based on evidence. But it was, after all, a crisis in labor - management negotia- tions which the commissioner was asked to solve. And it was a crisis in which the gov- ernment played a part by in- dicating, through one of its ministers, that it didn’t feel parity was justified. If it had accepted the Mun- roe report, the IWA clearly felt it would have been ac- cepting a judicial decision that the interior workers were not entitled to parity rather than a conciliated deci- sion that would not have in- volved a principle which it so vigorously argued against in its submission. If they had accepted a report, which, in their view, made no gesture toward parity, the IWA lead- . ers felt they would have been giving up the idea of parity for a long time to come. So it was important to them not only to reject the report but to reject it quickly in order to dispel any notion that they were unsure of them- selves or that there was any ambiguity in their position on the parity issue. A strike has already start- ed at Celgar Ltd., in Castle- gar, and a total stoppage seems inevitable when strike votes have been completed. So the high hopes that an in- dustrial inquiry commissioner would succeed again have disavpeared. What will this do to the commissioner system in the future? Because of its posi- tion of influence on other unions in B.C., the IWA’s disenchantment cannot help but affect the attitude of those other unions to the ap- pointment of industrial in- quiry commissioners. In this way the whole system may be undermined and a valuable labor relations tool may be lost. Time will tell. In any case, the interior forest industry dispute has created new con- flicts that will inevitably dis- tort the perspective of the labor scene for some time to come. that the deal must provide that if the plant makes a prof- it the private managers bene- fit, but if it takes a loss that is to be borne by the public. Employees of the plant are affiliated with the United Glass and Ceramic Workers of North America and the representative of the Union is Lewis Poole. When union and management were un- able to reach agreement on a wage and salary schedule Premier Thatcher threatened that if agreement was not reached by August 27 the plant would be closed. On August 31 plant manager Chuck Kane announced that the closing order was in effect and that production would not resume at least until spring. Closing of the plant will displace 37 employees’and will mean a loss to Estevan of $180,000 annual wage bill plus another $200,000 in other yearly expenditures. LIGHTER SIDE A sidewalk interviewer was taking a poll. He stopped a retired railroad man. “Tell me sir, are you familiar with the two leading candidates in the coming election?” “Yes, sir, I am.” “And which one would you like to see get elected?” ‘Don’t know. But I’m thankful only one of them can get elected.” * * * Man: Doctor, I have a corn on the bottom of my foot. Doctor: That’s lucky. You’re the only one who can step on it. * * * A telling segment of a fund- raising talk is the story of the man with a bone stuck in his throat. The doctor gets there in time and saves the man. When he can breathe all right again, the man asked the medic, “How much?” Replies the doctor, “Just give me half of what you were willing to give when was in your throat.” yeaa ee the bone. 1a 97 AF 1