THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

IWA

they will be able to give us
some information in the very
near future. We feel that, at
least up to this time, the
owners of Whonnock Lumber
Company have not been
noted for their philanthropy.
The company has been no bet-
ter nor no worse than many
other companies with which
we have had to negotiate.

2. WILL IT BE OF BENE-
FIT TO THE EMPLOY-
EES ?

Here again, we are not yet
able to answer this question
until we have gathered and
studied all the facts which are
available to us. This is what
we are now trying to do, and
we will report to the member-
ship as soon as possible. This
question itself gives rise to
many other questions, some
of which are as follows:

3. IS IT MERELY A TAX
DODGE BY THE PRES-
ENT OWNERS ?

There are undoubtedly tax
advantages to be gained by

the present owners. Evident-

ly, a portion of the profits are
to be put into an Employees’
fund, This fund will then be
used to buy the Company. If
the owners did not put any
portion of their profits into an
Employees’ fund, they would
have to pay a high rate of in-
come tax on the money. By
putting some of their profits
into such a fund, and then
using this fund to buy them-
selves out, they pay a lower
rate of capital gains tax on
the money. And if they were
Canadians it would be even
better for them, because
there is no capital gains tax
in Canada.

4, HOW WILL IT AFFECT
THE EMPLOYEES’ IN-
COME TAX?

The information we have
at present is not sufficient to
be able to answer this ques-
tion satisfactorily. Undoubt-
edly, you will have to pay in-
come tax on your portion of
the profits which is put into
the Employees’ fund; but it
seems that the payment of the
taxes will be deferred until
the fund becomes large
enough to buy out the Com-
pany.

5. WILL THIS BE A TRULY
CO - OPERATIVE VEN-
TURE? :

Based on the information
esently available, I can
er a definite “no,” and
one of the features

“OPEN LETTER"

NEW HIGHLY automated planermill under construction
at the Whonnock Lumber Company.

which I find most objection-
able. One of the most impor-
tant principles of a truly Co-
operative enterprise is the
principle of one member —
one vote. Not necessarily a
vote in the day-to-day man-
agement of the enterprise,
but at least a vote in the an-
nual election of the board of
directors. This is the only
way to assure that the pro-
duction workers have repre-
sentation on the board of di-
rectors. According to news-
paper reports, 98% of the
owner-employees would have
absolutely no voice in the
management of their Com-
pany, ever. A Management
team would forever hold all
the voting shares. What ad-
vantage would there be in
ownership, if you had none of
the normal rights of owner-

ship?

6. HOW COULD THE MAN-
AGEMENT TEAM, WITH
THEIR CONTROL OF
ALL THE VOTING
SHARES, ABUSE THE
RIGHTS OF THE REST
OF THE OWNERS ?

They alone could decide
the wages and salaries to be
paid to everyone. They alone
could decide to pay fat
bonuses to themselves, there-
by depriving the other 98%
of their fair share of the prof-
its. They alone could decide
that they should all go to in-
vestigate the market poten-
tials in Hawaii, while the mill
was shut down for a few
weeks in the winter. They
alone could decide to increase
the management. staff while
decreasing the production
staff. They could do all this,
and more, without ever the
fear of having to face a vote of
confidence at the next annual
meeting. This is not to say
that they would do these
things, but they could. ‘There
are many corporate struc-
tures in which the manage-
ment team can, and does, take
such advantage.

The membership of the
IWA would never tolerate
such abuse of privileges by
their elected Union officers.
Would you tolerate it by the
officers of a Company you
are supposed to own?

This is a question for you
to answer.

7. COULD THE COM-
PANY’S PLAN MEAN
THE END OF THE IWA
AS THE BARGAINING
AGENT FOR THE EM-
PLOYEES OF WHON.-
NOCK LUMBER COM-
PANY ?

Yes, it could; if the Em-
ployees could be convinced
that, as owners of the Com-
pany, they no longer need a
Union. However, I am cer-
tain the Employees do not
need to be reminded that, as
the plan now stands, they
would not be owners for at
least eight years. And even
then, it appears that their
ownership rights would leave
much to be desired. You have
already been told that you
would be foolish to go on
strike against the Company
which you own. This state-
ment was made by the man-
agement in anticipation of the
new contract in June of this
year. You will be a long way
from even the nominal own-
ership of the Company by
June of this year. Without

the Union to bargain for

wages and working conditions
for the next eight to twelve
years, what is to prevent the
Company from saying, “We
must keep wages down, so as
to keep profits up, so that
more money can be put into
your profit-sharing fund, so
that you can more quickly
pay 2.7 million dollars for the
Company.”

8 DOES THE UNION FEEL
THAT 2.7 MILLION DOL-

LARS IS TOO HIGH A
PRICE ?

We don’t know. It has been
reported that the Company
was purchased in 1950 for
half a million dollars, It may
well be worth 2.7 million dol-
lars now. We don’t know
what it will be worth ten
years from now. We are will-
ing to bet that the increase in
value from the time it was
purchased is due mainly to
the reinvestment of some of
the profits it enjoyed during

XY

that time. No doubt such
profits were accomplished
through good management, a
productive working force,
and favourable market condi-
tions. It appears that the own-
ers have enjoyed at least some
of the past profits, and now
have a plan whereby they get

a guaranteed sale at their own
price.

9. WHAT IS THE UNION’S
PRESENT POSITION ?

The present position of the
Union is this: 1f we become
satisfied that this is a legiti-
mate plan, which will be of
advantage to our members
‘employed by Whonnock Lum-
ber Company, we will recom-
mend that those members
participate in the plan. But
we must first investigate it as
thoroughly as possible. It is
the function of the Union to
look after the interests of its

members, and to make recom-
mendations which are’ in the
best interests of its members.
Before we can make any such
intelligent recommendations,
there are many questions
which must be answered. The
Union is certainly not opposed
to the principle of the produc-
ers owning the means of pro-
duction. The Union is in
favour of economic democ-
racy, and opposed to econom-
tu dictatorship. We are pres-
ently engaged in trying to de-
termine whether this plan
would really convey econom-
ic democracy, or whether it
would impose a cleverly dis-
guished form of economic dic-
tatorship.

In the meantime, you
should not be required to
make any immediate decision.
The Company evidently had
the plan in effect for more
than a year before they chose
to explain it to the Employ-
ees, So now you should have
some time to think about it
and investigate it.”

mand

7

Sh.

ee
=e’

GOLPSTREAM LOGGING COMPANY’S mill at Cowichan
Bay which was recently certified to Local 1-80.

AGREEMENT SIGNED

Local 1-80’s 1st Vice-Presi-
dent Fernie Viala and Finan-
cial Secretary Ed Linder ne-
gotiated a ‘Collective agree-
ment February 15 with the
Goldstream Log ging Com-
pany covering its 14 mill em-
ployees at Cowichan Bay.

The Local was awarded

‘certification of the Company’s

PITT LUMBER
ORGANIZED

President Wyman Trineer
of Local 1-357 IWA, New
Westminster, reports the Lo-
cal Officers, with the aid of
Regional Organizer Mike
Sekora, have organized the
Pitt Timber Products Ltd.

The Local Union was grant-
ed certification for the thirty-
man operation February 15,
and a collective agreement is
expected to be signed shortly.

mill at Cowichan Bay and its
planermill near Koksilah,
January 1, following an ex-
tensive organizing drive.

Fernie Viala stated that the
new agreement contains all
the provisions of the Coast
Master Agreement. He added
that the employees, up to now,
have never received any stat-
utory holidays or overtime
pay and they were now look-
ing forward to the protection
of the Union on these matters,

Viala stated that the Local
still has a few small unor-
ganized operations left in its
jurisdiction and it will con-
tinue the present organizing
drive until these operations
are certified.

— — SEE

BIG HELP

Farmer: What are you do-
ing up in that tree, young
fellow?

Boy: One of your apples

fell down and I’m trying to
put it back. :