THE WESTERN CANADIAN

LUMBER

Vol. XXXII, No. 15

POSSIBILITY of another postal strike appears unlikely,
as. postal workers, faced with the threat of the govern-
ment using strikebreakers to move the mails, are expected

to accept the wage hikes recommended by commissioner
J. C. Anderson.

SEVENTEEN WEEKS of strike have not dampened the~
enthusiasm of these members of Local 1-217 IWA striking
the Vancouver Casket Company. The Union is demanding
a wage increase of 40 cents an hour for the employees
Spread over two years. The Company has offered 15 cents
an hour for males and 13 cents for females over a three
year period. This proposal was unanimously rejected by
the crew.

WF:
STRIKE b

TWO-MONTH OLD STRIKE at the Alberta Wheat Pool
' by members of the International Union of Brewery, Flour,
. Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers Union, is de-
veloping into a national crisis as grain companies locked
\ out employees at two more elevators and threaten closure
b of another.

BOB ROSS, IWA Representative in charge of the strike at
Frolek Sawmills, North Kamloops, reports the operation
is still closed and the strikers are prepared to hold
out in their fight to win decent wages and
; working conditions. This strike is now ten months old.

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

~ The latest action of the
grain companies in locking
out employees at two more
grain elevators and threaten-
ing the closure of another on
the pretext that it couldn’t
get grain is provoking the
grain dispute into a national
crisis.

NEW
CONTRACT

Militant action by employ-
ees at MacMillan, Bloedel and
Powell River’s Aspenite Divi-
sion, Saskatchewan, has
forced the Company to sign
a new 15-month agreement
which will raise the base rate
by 32 cents an hour and pro-
vide for a joint job evaluation
programme.

The eighty employees,
members of Local 1-184 IWA,
Saskatchewan, voted 100%
for strike action to back up
their wage demands. The
Company, faced with the
threat of a plant shutdown,
signed the agreement just
hours before the’ strike was
to have been implemented.

The job evaluation pro-
gramme is a major break-

See “CONTRACT” Page 3

VACATIONS

Officers of Local 1-80 IWA
report they have concluded
an agreement with officials
of MacMillan, Bloedel and
Powell River Company,
which ensures that loggers
employed at the company’s
Nanaimo River, Copper
Canyon, Shawnigan and
Northwest Bay division, will
receive two weeks of their
annual vacations in July and
August of each year.

The Local is still negotiat-
ing with the company for a
satisfactory cut-off date for
determining annual earnings
to cover the vacation pay.

ORGANIZATION

President Glen Haddrell of
Local 1-367 IWA, Haney, re-
ports the Local Union has
been highly successful in its
recent organizing drive. Over
one hundred new members
have been gained following
the organizing of the Mill-
stream Timber, Larsen Log-
ging and Hunter Creek Log-
ging operations.

Efforts to organize three
other operations are under
way at the moment and good
progress is being made. These
operations have a potential

membership of approximate-
ly 130.

—S*

The governments of Alber-
ta, Saskatchewan and Mani-
toba, have demanded that the
federal government intervene
even if it means government
takeover of the Vancouver
grain elevators.

The grain officials, mean-
while, have questioned the
ethics of officers of the B.C.
Federation of Labour, for an-
nouncing their intention to
tell the Union’s side of the
story at a series of public
meetings on the prairies,
while mediation talks are in
progress.

Federation of Labour Sec-
retary Pat O’Neal, now in
Saskatchewan, stated:

“Tt would appear that there
is a conspiracy on somebody’s
part to prevent the orderly
shipment of grain from the
four elevators that are not on
strike.

“Tf such a conspiracy does
exist the Union is almost
powerless to prevent the sit-
uation from deteriorating.
But the public should know
where the guilt rests.”

The Vancouver Sun has
also questioned the further
stoppage. :

WORKER

AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH.

1st Issue
Aug., 1965

In a recent editorial it
stated the original strike
against the Alberta Wheat
Pool was clearcut and the Un-
ion was proceeding with a
legal strike after the grain
companies refused to accept
the majority report of a con-
ciliation board.

The editorial went on:
“The new closures at the

elevators of United Grain
Growers and Saskatchewan
Wheat Pool:haven’t even this
claim to clarity.

“Grain handlers at these
elevators refused to unload
grain originally destined for
the strikebound Alberta ele-
vator, terming it ‘hot’, upon
which the companies called ~
their action a strike and
closed the plants.

“Heaven knows our billion-
dollar grain industry works
in baffling as well as won-
drous ways. The heavy in-
volvement of the federal gov-
ernment, railways, farmer
pools and private companies
makes for a complexity which
provides some men with a
lifetime study. But really —

See “GRAIN” Page 3

DEL PRATT APPOINTED

Del Pratt, 3rd Vice-Presi-
dent and Business Agent of
Local 1-80, IWA, Duncan,
has been appointed the new
2nd Vice-President of the
Regional Council to fill the
vacancy caused by the resig-
nation of Ed Haw.

Del, who was born in Sas-
katchewan in 1928, is a log-
ger by occupation. He joined
the IWA in 1944 and has
spent the last 20 years in vari-
ous logging jobs on Vancou-
ver Island and other points.

‘During this time he was
an active Union member. He
has held many positions in
Local 1-80 including the po-
sition of 3rd Vice-President
for two terms, the Duncan
Sub-local Chairman for three
years, and Business Agent of
Local 1-80 for the last two
years.

DEL PRATT

He was also Chairman of
the IWA Grievance Commit-
tee while employed at West-
ern Forest Industries Ltd.’s
operation at Gordon River.

Del is married and has two
children.

Ed Haw, who is Financial
Secretary of Local 1-118 IWA
Victoria, stated his decision
to resign from the full-time
position as 2nd Vice-Presi-
dent of the Regional Council
was made only after careful
consideration of the best in-
terests of the Union.

He told President Moore
and the Regional Executive
Board that he believed the
post should be offered to a
younger man but stated that
if there was no one else suit-
able for the job at the mo-
ment, he was prepared to
carry on,