—— AT * mement — » ~ =<. HE WESTERN CANADIAN Vol. XXXVIII, No. 5 VANCOUVER, B.C. Sc PER COPY AUGUST, 1970 dispute. MESSAGE By REGIONAL PRESIDENT JACK MOORE Appeal Court Judge Nathan Nemetz is conducting hearings into the dispute between the IWA Coast section and Forest Industrial Relations. By agreement with the Minister of Labour any recommendations which Judge Nemetz makes to the parties on the settlement of the dispute will be of a voluntary nature and will be voted on and either accepted or rejected by the two parties to the Judge Nemetz has indicated he would like the Report down at the earliest possible date, and has suggested to the Negotiating Committee that we can expect to have his | Proposals sometime around the 15th of August. At the present time the employers represented by Forest Industrial Relations have issued to all Local Unions concerned a 72-hour lockout notice and the IWA Locals have issued 72-hour strike notice. The Coast Negotiating Committee does not intend to Calla strike until Judge Nemetz’ report has been handed down and the members have had an opportunity to study the recommendations and to vote on them. Now is the time to play it cool and wait and see if Judge Nemetz, as he did in 1966, can come up with a formula that will lead to a settlement. If he cannot, then a strike or lockout will then become inevitable. * PER CAPITA INCREASE _* APPROVED BY MEMBERS S IWA members in Canada ‘and the United States have «| approved by a three to one iA majority, the international i per capita tax increase of completed April 24, showed 30,083 ballots for the increase and 11,044 opposed. The increase became effective in June making the per capita payments to the International, one dollar per member - per month. UNTIL REPORT DOWN COAST NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE URGES MEMBERS TO REMAIN ON JOB The IWA Coast Negotiating Committee is urging members to remain on the job during the hearings. now under way before Justice Nathan Nemeiz: Regional President Jack Moore, Negotiating Committee spokesman, stated in a press release July 23 that, “The Negotiating Committee ex- pects the membership to continue working until the Commissioner’s recom- mendations have been brought down and a vote has been held on them.” The hearings are expected to be concluded around the COMPULSION OUT: BILL 33 “SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES” ___BY MILITANT ACTION OF LABOUR _ B.C.’s highly controversial labour Bill 33 appears to have been shot down in flames by organized labour’s militant refusal to submit to com- pulsory arbitration. - Under the leadership of the B.C. Federation of Labour, unionists openly defied the . government’s efforts to force compulsory arbitration on the building trades by warning that no affiliate of the Federation would appear before the Mediation Com- mission or submit to com-— pulsion. The crisis arose following the government’s attempt to end the long-standing construction dispute. It requested that the twenty-five cents - per member - per month. The referendum. vote < 5 J ca aS) m PUBLICATION NOTICE Because of the labour crisis created by the large forest com- panies instituting a number of court actions against the IWA for Supporting the Canadian Merchant Service Guild in the towboat dispute and the uncertainty of mail delivery badly disrupted by therotating strikes of the Postal Union Employees, publication of the Lumber Worker was suspended for the months of May, June and July. As fii B.C, FEDERATION OF LABOUR delegates attending the special convention July 17 in the Hotel Georgia, called to discuss the government's move to force compulsory arbitra- ti on on the construction unions. Delegates are shown tinuing for a new contract for Industrial Inquiry Commissioner Mr. middle of August. At the moment Mr. Justice Nemetz is hearing the union’s economic submission prepared by the international and regional research departments. This will be followed by FIR’s submission. Mr. Justice Nemetz will then allow time for further submissions from the parties before bringing down his recommendations. Negotiations are still con- the five thousand IWA members in the Southern In- terior. In the Union strike vote just completed, the mem- bership of the three Local Unions involved voted over 80 percent for strike action to back up their demands. Negotiations were also opened for the thousand IWA members whose em- ployers are represented by the Northern Interior Lum- bermen’s Association. industry end its lock out and the workers return to the job while negotiations were resumed. When this request was ignored by the unions, the government announced that it would hold a special cabinet meeting to deal with the problem July 18. To make labour’s stand clear to the government,Federation officers called a special con- vention July 17 of all its af- filiates to marshall support for the building trades. Ample evidence was sub- mitted by the building unions to the convention to show that their employers had deliberately created the construction crisis in the hope of forcing the government to intervene in the dispute. After the majority of the affiliated unions had stated their position, a declaration of policy was unanimously en- dorsed giving unqualified support to the construction unions, The declaration stated: “We reiterate our policy of refusing to appear before the Mediation Commission, of refusing to accept compulsory listening to Lorne Robson, Carpenter Representative, pon a a a dS arbitration and of refusing to work under compulsion. “In the event that an attempt is made to compel any af- filiated union or its members to return to work, we advise that, in accordance with federation policy, they will refuse. “If legal action is taken against any affiliate or ifs members, other building trades unions working under contracts will take appropriate job action. “Tf fines are levied, we recommend that those fired refuse to pay. We pledge full support to any affiliate and its members who carry out this policy. “We recognize that legal action seeking to compel men and women to work under imposed conditions means the end of free collective bargaining and we will take appropriate action in support of any union resisting such compulsion. “We point out that attempted compulsion through legal action in the construction in- dustry could jeopardize con- tinued negotiations in the See “BILL 33”—Page 2 voice his members’ criticism of the government inter vention.