JUNE-JULY, 1979 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER ad MEMBERS SUBMIT BRIEF A group of IWA members employed at the Tacama Forest Products operation in Fort Nelson, recently sub- mitted a brief to the Fort Nelson Village Council ex- pressing their concern at the lack of proper housing ac- commodation in the area. Authors of the brief, Nick Worhaug, Regional organizer, and Wayne Wittal and Alan Calander, members of the Union’s Housing Committee, suggested that the critical housing shortage and high rents were responsible for the 300% turnover suffered by the Tackama Forest operation last year. The brief stated that IWA members are the backbone of a number of communities in British Columbia where they have the proper accommoda- tion to bring up their families. Unfortunately, the high cost of accommodation in Fort Nelson prohibits members from settling down and resulting in them becoming transient workers. This, the brief pointed out, was both detrimental. to the workers and the people of fort Nelson. To prove their point how the workers were being ripped off the Committee made a com- parison of rents in such areas as Prince George, Whitehorse, Houston, Watson Lake and the Province of Alberta. The com- parison showed that renters in Fort Nelson were paying any- where from $100 to over $200 a month more for similar ac- commodation priced in the other areas. The brief was equally critical of the homes available for sale. It charged that the standards of construction were shoddy .and the prices exor- bitant. The brief was also critical of suggestions that the Tackama Company provide bunkhouses for its employees. This would not resolve the housing problem but only create addi- | tional problems, the brief | stated. j t The loggers of British Columbia UNION ORGANIZERS CLAIMED MURDERED It’s difficult for those joining a union for the first time to be aware of the rich and colorful history the trade union movement has in Canada, and in North America as a whole, and how the movement was built on the blood, sweat and tears, and even the deaths of many early labor pioneers. Today, there is a pronounced tendency for many of us to forget our past and to take for granted the many benefits and conditions we now enjoy. These were established over the years by dedicated labor leaders and by a united trade union rank and file that engaged in the fiercest of struggles to wrest important gains from some of the worst and.most reactionary, anti-union employers ever seen. It is also difficult for us to realize that right here in Canada, scores of workers were bludgeoned and some met death in epic strike struggles and that a number of union organizers suffered serious injury, and even death in the tough and rough job of attempting to unionize the unorganized. One such example, is the story of two Finnish lumber union organizers in the Thunder Bay area — John Voutilainen and Vilho Rosval — who perished by “mysterious means” over 50 years ago. It was reported in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, of Feb. 24. 1979: “On April 28, 1930, an eclipse of the sun which peaked about mid-afternoon coincided with the funerals of two Finnish lumber union organizers : . . Their funeral procession is said to be the largest ever held in Thunder Bay and even heaven is said to have mourned as the moon shaded the sun’s bright glare.’ According to the newspaper article, there was great unrest in the lumber camps of the north in the late 1920’s. WORKERS HAD DEEP GRIEVANCES The workers, largely Finns, had deep grievances against the timber firms, mainly U.S.-owned, who forced them to live in miserable bunkhouses, subsist on terrible food and receive very low wages for work that was the most difficult demanding imaginable. Another prime source of unrest was the typical company store. Workers were charged exorbitant prices, and because they were given no receipts, were often made to pay for items they had never purchased. It was in this background that Rosval and Voutilainen, organizers for the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union, set out in the midst of a rash of strikes, on Nov. 18, 1929, to organize camps in the Onion Lake area, 20 miles north of Pt. Arthur. Both men were experienced in bush travel and were wise in the ways of the outdoors. They made it to the first camp on the Current River, which flows into Onion Lake, but never reached the second camp and were never seen alive again. Search parties were organized to look for them, but they were not found. Not long afterward there was a heavy snow- fall that hid any trace of them. In the spring, on April 19, 1930, the body of Voutilainen was found and the next Saturday Roosval’s body was found about a half-mile from Voutilainen’s. Because foul play was strongly suspected, the Provincial Police ordered an inquest into the death of Voutilainen. Doctors who examined his body all maintained there were no marks on the body and drowning was suspected. The official verdict of the coroner’s jury was that he had died of drowning. DEEP SUSPICION PERSISTED But the deep suspicion persisted that the two had been CAR ACCIDENT CLAIMS AUTHOR'S LIFE Over two hundred friends paid their last respects July 19th to Myrtle Bergren, author of ‘“Tough Timber’”’ who died from in- juries received July 15th in a car accident on Vancouver Island. Myrtle lived in Lake Cowichan, a logging community on Vancouver Island, where she was both popular and respected. Her book ‘‘Tough Timber” is dedicated to the early union organizers who pioneered the eventual formation of the IWA in British Columbia. Her account of those early days is centred mainly on Vancouver Island and is fascinating reading. ~ As the wife of one of those early organizers she was well versed in her subject and for anyone wishing to get a graphic account of the conditions in the early logging camps and sawmills of British Columbia, ‘“Tough Timber’’ is recommended reading. The book, now in its third printing, may be obtained at most local bookstores. To another suggestion that the Company subsidize its em- ployees for their housing, the brief stated that the landlords Me eS Sa | “VAL OF LIFE” murdered because of their union activities. Mrs. Taimi Davis of ‘Toronto who is the daughter of a well-known Lakehead Finnish pioneer, Antti Pitkanen, and sister of the man who found Rosval’s body has no doubt that the two were murdered. Mrs. Davis is the wife of Toronto UE Retiree Union Presi- dent Jim Davis, and her daughter, Joan Morris, is union secretary at the Toronto Area Co-ordinating Council of UE- CGE Local & TACCO. would only increase their rents and this would put a greater burden on workers not re- ceiving a housing subsidy. While the brief made no re- commendations it did say that if the Village Council had any plan of action to solve the housing problem the IWA The Ambulance Employees Union, Local 873 recently launched the ‘‘Vial of Life’’ program. The program is simple. It costs: the person nothing and in a medical emergency could save his or her life. Simply, the Vial of Life is a 3- inch plastic cylinder which dangerous to individuals with drug allergies or existing health conditions. Further information on the program can be made through the office of the Ambulance Employees Union at 438-8191 or through P.O. Box 80900, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 3Bo. a Ee ae Her family was close te the events of that time, and Joan Morris remembers her grandfather taking her along with him to build a cairn in memory to the two on the site where they were found. “Oh, yes, they were murdered all right,” Taimi Davis said in an interview with Times-Journal writer Bob Ekholm., “There were definite marks on the bodies in fact there is strong evidence they were bullet holes. Mrs. Davis went on to say, that a bushworker who examined one of the bodies, is said to have put a match into a hole on one victim’s forehead. _ Mrs. Davis attended the funeral of the two murdered men and said the coffins were borne by fellow-workers who travelled in a long procession on foot from two Finnish halls and Committee would assist them in any way possible. contains a brief form with es- sential medical information on the various people living in an individual home; heart condi- tions, diabets, epilepsy, allergies, prescription. drugs being taken, ete. The vial is attached by rubber band to the underside of the top shelf of the refrigerator in the home. A decal indicating the presence of the vial is placed on the refrigerator door. In an emergency, FRENCH UNION WANTS TALKS PARIS — French trade unions are seeking urgent talks with the government and em- ployers over the threatened sacking of 21,000 people — one fifth of the labour force — in the steel industry of Northern and Eastern France. Unions in LIGHTER SIDE Kamloops Katie says that most girls don’t mind sharing a man’s lot. The problem is find- ing a guy who’s got a lot. When you're out to paint the town — don’t live it up so much that you have to live it down. The funeral procession was several miles long and it _ swelled to thousands of people. “‘The city seemed at a “standstill,” she said. —Reprinted from UE News Chokerman Charlie says if you want to know how your girl will treat you after marriage just listen to her talking to her little brother. medical personnel, guided by the information contained in the Vial of Life, will be able to begin treatment immediately or to avoid standard proce- dures which might be the regions concerned have already staged numerous pro- test demonstrations. The unions are demanding tripartite talks to discuss the problems of the steel industry.