LABOR

Continued from page 1
we’re going back for what we
went out for. We’ve got to have a
good increase-or pretty soon you
won’t be able to buy anything.”’

The others nod their heads in
agreement.

Most of them also see the
possibility of a long strike, par-
ticularly in view of the comments
of the forest employers that there
would not be ‘‘one red cent
more,’” a comment made after
pulp union negotiators suggested
possible guidelines for settlement.

For both the CPU and the
IWA here, there is that gut feeling
that the big forest companies that
dominate both the wood and pulp
sectors have chosen this contract
year to dig in to try and block any
wage settlement that would keep
industry workers in pace with in-
flation.

“*Not everyone realized that at
the beginning of negotiations, but
I think they’re beginning to see it
now,”’ says Nick Chernoff, an
IWA picket captain, and also the
president of the Campbell River,
Courtenay and District Labor
Council, which is assisting the
strike.

One problem that local union-
ists here have been able to defuse
— even though it has exploded in-
to headlines in other areas includ-
ing Port Alberni — is the “‘go-it-
alone’’ policy of some members
of the Forest Industry Trades As-

sociation (FITA), an independent
association formed by a number
of industry tradesmen several
months ago to lobby on trades-
men’s issues and pay.

FITA has an estimate 90 of
the 300 tradesmen in the CPU at
Elk Falls, but production workers
have prevailed on the tradesmen
to seek redress of their grievances
within the overall strategy of the
local.

Moreover, they point out,
tradesmen have no justification
for taking any independent action
(as some FITA tradesmen have
threatened to do in other areas,
even after a settlement since they
command a majority on the
negotiating committee.

In the IWA local, FITA has
only a handful of members and
although there was some
unilateral picketing before the
strike began, neither the issue nor
FITA has figured prominently
since.

Chernoff emphasizes that
‘there are going to have to be ad-
justments for tradesmen’’ but
adds that FITA’s approach of
“picketing all over the place’’ will
add only division.

Cockburn, himself a
tradesmen, agrees, pointing out
that there are key issues, par-
ticularly that of a tool allowance
for tradesmen who are now com-
pelled to supply thousands of dol-
lars worth of tools as part of the

Unionists see ‘organized,
prepared membership’ key
to winning industry strike

job. But the union and the overall
contract are more important than
separate tradesmen’s grievances.

“IT need the extra money too,
but not that way,”’ he ways, refer-
ring to a Vancouver Sun story
quoting FITA members in Port
Alberni who reportedly have
threatened to close down the in-
dustry even after a contract is
reached if they don’t get what
they want.

Of more immediate concern is
getting the entire local member-
ship organized and ready for
what is expected to be a tough
fight to win a new contract.

Cockburn says that the picket
lines have been well manned but
‘‘we’ve had to spend a lot of time
on the phone’’ getting members
out.

He attributes many of the
problems to the regional leader-.
ship which, he says, ‘‘didn’t pre-
pare the membership for a strike
and didn’t gear up”’ once a strike
was imminent.

“‘We’ve managed a lot on our
own,”’ he says, ‘‘but it sure would
be good if we got alot more infor-
mation and assistance from the
region.

“They should be preparing the
membership for this strike and
helping to co-ordinate,” he says.

“‘That’s how this strike is going
to be won — if the whole
membership is precarcd and

_ organized.’’

_ Campbell River.

8
C..1.U.
OCALS 11735630

CPU PICKETS ...

AGAINST
KFALLS era)

TRIBUNE PHOTO— SEAN GRIFFIN

at entrance to Elk Falls pulp mill outside’

Timely call for one strong union in wood

The recent call for one union on
behalf of forest industry workers
by the president of the Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America,
Keith W. Johnson, deserves serious
consideration - not only by the
seven unions directly affected in the”
United States, where the [WA ap-
pears to be in a more difficult posi-
tion, but also by the IWA in Can-
ada, the Canadian Paperworkers
Union, the Pulp, Paper and Wood-
workers of Canada and the Lum-
ber and Sawmill Workers in On-
tario.

In-October, 1979, the B.C. pro-
vincial executive of the Communist
Party of Canada published its pro-
gram for the forest industry in B.C.

In view of the position of the

IWA president, it should prove
useful to reproduce the following

“The discussions ‘that have

taken place on a between
the IWA and the CPU, which
would unite more than 100,000
workers in Canada, should be
welcomed and the membership of
both unions should be fully in-
formed and consulted. The goal
should be one union in Canada for
all workers in the wood, pulp and
paper industry from the Atlantic to
the Pacific.

“Such a union could play a
decisive role in advancing the in-
terests of its combined membership
and in the achievement of a fully in-
dependent, sovereign and united
trade union movement in
Canada.”

The following quotations from
the Keith Johnson letter suggest —
that the IWA leadership is trying to

come to grips with some very
serious problems if faces in the
US.

‘*Wealthy and powerful
multinational corporations are
becoming more powerful through
the acquisition of other corpora-
tions or through mergers, while in
some areas unions are losing
membership and are experiencing

great difficulty in gaining new
membership and yet, with each-

corporate merger we continue to
bargain for improved wages, hours
and working conditons with a

smaller percentage of the total
workforce of these corporations.

‘In addition, we are in a hostile .

political environment, struggling to

‘continue to exist at a viable level

and to continue to serve our
members despite a reactionary na-
tional administration in the U.S.
which is bent on destroying the
social gains of the last century and
to switch income from the workers
to the wealthy. Perhaps that, too,
will pass away but probably not un-
til it has damaged organized labor
and workers in ways that will take
years of expensive, concerted effort
to repair.”’

Canadian members of the IWA
should give every encouragement
. to the discussions. More than that,
they should raise the issue at eucey

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 31, 1981—Page 8

level in the two Canadian regions
and demand that everything possi-
ble be done to expedite the propos-
ed merger.

What should be welcomed in
particular is the following excerpt.
from the Johnson letter:

“Tn this situation, ‘one union in
wood’ must cease to bea long range
goal and be recognized as an im-
mediate necessity. Without
preconceived ideas concerning
structure, we are prepared to take
the first step towards that historic
event.”’

Labor Comment
Jack Phillips

Without “‘preconceived ideas on
structure .:. .”” Tomy mind, this is
the key. on a ‘number of occasions
we have heard leaders of the IWA
in BC. make the statement that if
there is to be one union in wood,
that union must be the IWA,
meaning that the Canadian Paper
workers Union (also a CLC affili-
ate) which has 61,500 members,
must agree to be absorbed by the
IWA, which has approximately the
same membership in Canada.

Once discussion gets under way,
the Canadian districts of the IWA
should make it clear that the Cana-
dian membership will not
necessarily be bound by any deci-
sions made in the U.S. Any pro-
posal to merge must be evaluated
by the Canadian membership in

terms of what it will mean for the
Canadian forestry workers and
Canadian labor movement. For ex-
ample, it is not likely that the CPU.
would agree to merger if it meant
joining a re-organized interna-

+, tional union. After all, it is a

relatively short time since that
union left the international it
belonged to and set up a purely
Canadian union. Also, the PPWC,
with its 7,150 members (all in B.C.)
appears to be dead set against re-
joining any international union.
Even if a new international
union came into being which of-
fered a very wide degree of
autonomy for its Canadian
members, in respect to control of
finances, Canadian structure and
regular Canadian conventions to
elect Canadian officers and to set
policies for the Canadian member-
ship, there would still be a lot of

. hesitation on the part of the CPU

and the PPWC, at least in my opi-
nion. The ideal setup would be one
union in wood and allied products
in the U.S. and a similar union in

eiSsUuNeE

Canada, bound by voluntary,
fraternal ties and cooperating
closely with each Other as equals. _

However, the pressing need is to”
get the discussions going, in the

U.S. and in Canada. In the current

strike situation in B.C., the best
way to lay the basis for org

unity is to cooperate closely, at
every level, in the current strike.
Joint picket lines, joint meetings,
solidarity rallies and a common |
program of demands to settle the —
strike successfully - that’s what the
situation calls for. e

The ultimate solution to the pro-
blems of this industry is to place the
big, monopoly corporations which —
dominate the scene under public.
ownership and control. The im- —
mediate task is to unite to win the -
strike. Once this is done, the next
step can be taken, that is, to push
hard to get serious talks under way —
for one union in wood. No one can
predetermine the outcome of thosé —
talks, but the sooner they start, thé ~
better for all parties concerned.

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Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186

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