VOL. XL, No. 3 ewestern canadian lumber worker VANCOUVER, B.C. =D 2 APRIL-MAY, 1972 Earl Foxcroft John Gauire FOXCROFT, SQUIRE RETURNED TO OFFICE Local 1-85 President Earl Foxcroft was returned to office by a large majority in the re- cent Local elections. John Squire, Financial Secretary, was elected by acclamation at the Annual Meeting of the ‘Local where nominations were conducted. Two incumbents, 1st Vice- President Bill Hawkes and 3rd Vice-President Hans Irg, were defeated by Bill Anderson and Bob Muir in the referendum ballot. Others re-elected: were: Lynn Larson, 2nd Vice-President; Recording Secretary Tom McCrae; Conductor Vic Boucher; Warden Doug Clark. Trustee, Simon Gaetz was elected by acclamation. 1.357 HAS COMPANY (CONVICTED OF CONTEMPT Local 1-387 IWA New West: minster has been successful in having Consumer Pallet Limited and one of its officials fined $500.00 for contempt of court in violating an injunction | Bulk Ennombre third troisibme class classe PERMIT No. 2075 . VANCOUVER, B.C “RETURN REQUESTED Zif LUMBER WORKER, gc, obtained by the Toca acs! the firm. The Local had requested the injunction when the company interfered with the Union’s attempts to organize the operation. Five days after the injunc- tion was granted and while the Local was applying for cer- tification, the company at- tempted to convince the em- ployees to cease to be mem- bers. In finding the company guilty, the judge said he felt the penalty was modest. He sug- gested a more severe penalty may follow if there are further breaches of the injunction. B.C. LABOR WINS BIG VICTORY ON BILL 88 Labor in British Columbia won a significant victory when Labour Minister James Chabot backed off ramming his highly contentious Bill 88 through the Legislature and allowed it to die on the order paper. The Bill which was aimed at the restrictive clauses in a number of building trades agreements, also threatened the very existance of free col- lective bargaining and a num- ber of other rights invaluable to the labour movement. Recognizing this threat, the B.C. Federation of Labour held a special convention March 24 in Vancouver, attended by over 400 delegates. Following ex- tensive discussion, the decision was made that the B.C. Fed. and the Building Trades Council jointly send a telegram to Chabot stating that if the Bill were recinded, labour would take immediate action to cor- rect the problems. The telegram stated in part: “We cannot emphasize strongly enough that the specific proposals which you presented to the Building Trades Council will not solve the problems which concern you, nor do they provide even minimal levels of protection to union members. “Accordingly, we urge you to withhold any future action for a reasonable period of time to enable us to study the problem in detail to enable our affiliates to consult their membership and ensure a workable solution to these problems is developed. “We give a personal and col- lective commitment that such a study will be given top pri- ority.”’ The Labour Minister readily agreed with this request. As promised officials of the Federation and Building Trades have been meeting to resolve the problem. MEDIATION OFFICER APPOINTED FOR COAST The IWA Coast Negotiating Committee has applied for the services of a Mediation Officer following Forest Industrial Re- lations refusal to negotiate with the Union. 1 THE IWA Coast Negotiating | Committee was notified April 19 | that Mediation Officer Clark ! Gilmour has been appointed to / mediate the coast forest in- | dustry contract dispute. | John Billings, head of FIR and spokesman in negotiations for the coast forest industry, broke off talks April 6 by re- questing a ten-day adjourn- ment for the IWA to reconsider its contract demands. Regional President Jack Moore spokesman for the Ne- gotiating Committee stated in a press release April 10 that Billings has refused to make any offer to the Union other than to say that there would be a wage increase. Moore stated that if Billings continues in this arrogant at- titude, we’ll have turmoil in the forest industry like nothing he’s ever seen before. He added that the Committee wanted to avoid the possibility of this happening and that is the reason the Union has re- quested a Mediation Officer. IWA DRAFTS PLAN TO ELECT N.D.P. GOV'T A broad plan for greater IWA participation in the political field was drafted by IWA dele- gates attending a one-day political education conference March 18, in Vancouver. The conference chaired by IWA Regional 1st Vice-Presi- dent Wyman Trineer ex- pressed strong concern over the policies and legislation of the Social Credit government by proposing a number of recommendations aimed at electing a New Democratic Party government in B.C. Included among these were: e To recommend that the present Regional Political Education Committee co- ordinate political action in the IWA in anticipation of an early provincial and federal election. e Call on the B.C. Federation of Labour, Vancouver and New Westminster Labour Councils, to set up a Lower Mainland political action conference. e Have all IWA Local Unions back the Regional Council’s policy of supporting affiliation with the NDP. The conference also fully endorsored the B.C. Fed.’s political policies and pro- grammes adopted at the Fed- eration’s 1970 convention and recent special convention. ‘* The following is the resolution adopted at the special Fed. convention: “WHEREAS free collective bargaining, the existence of a strong trade union movement and vital democratic rights, including the right to strike, are all seriously threatened by British Columbia’s power intoxicated Social Credit government, and ‘“‘WHEREAS failure to combat this menace would render useless all of the efforts made by trade unions on behalf of working men and women in this province; “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this Special Convention instruct the Of- ficers of the Federation to give increased priority, par- e “PLAN” — Page 3 IWA members who attended the “day-long political education conference March 18 in Woodworkers’ House, Vancouver.