| Office * tional Union. This has closed * ZL bership. Local Unions. % ULL LLL Lda ddd bldbdbbdbbbbddddbb THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER SLLLLLLILLLLLLLLLLLL LALA LLLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LL DELL LL LOL LL LLL ODD LLL LLL LLL ALLA ADL ADDL ADL AL hdd dl dd db bb ddddddddbhdddddditdildddddddiliiddddibiddsddsdddddddds Moore Acts To Inform Members Denied Facts The following statement was issued by Regional President Jack Moore after be- ing informed by certain IWA Local Unions that information from the Regional Council on the proposed coast lumber industry settlement would be withheld from the mem- “Tt has now become necessary for me to take extraordinary action to make certain that all IWA members have full information about the proposed settlement in the coast lumber industry. In many large operations this information is being with- held from them to influence a vote for rejection regardless of the consequences. For this reason, I intend to use all available media to inform TWA members. When the Policy Committee decided to recommend acceptance, we immediately is- sued a bulletin outlining the proposed terms of settlement and the reasons for our recommendation. It is customary for the IWA to place such information in the hands of very IWA member before voting commences. This has not been done in certain The members of our Union have the right to know before voting that the only procedures available to the Union upon rejection involve scrapping the settlement in hand and re-opening negotiations from scratch. This procedure will require a gov- ernment-supervised strike vote and consequently the threat of a strike unless a more satisfactory settlement is agreed upon by the employers. No one can predict the out- come. The Policy Committee advises the members to make sure rather than gamble on supposition.” WLLL Ladd LLL MLL of what they have MIU ddddddddadddddddddssitlbibbdssstd. Alberni Millworkers Respect Picket Line Three thousand, workers in Port Alberni have refused to cross the picket line of the Employees Interna- four large mills of MacMil- » lan, Bloedel and Powell River Ltd. producing pulp, paper, lumber, shingles and ply- wood. The office employees de- manded a pay increase of $75 a month over a present base as low as $200 a month. The company made a belated of- fer to equalize salaries with those paid in the offices of the company in other cities, This was not accepted by the em- ployees mainly because of the cempany’s stern refusal of all forms of union security. It is an open secret that the cor- poration was determined that its office employees should not be unionized. At first the pickets “in high heels” were ridiculed by company officials whose amusement was quickly dampened when all the crews co-operated with the office staff. Union members in sup- port of the strike are from the IWA, The Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, The Papermakers, the IBEW, and the ILWU. The corporation oe issued a stern warning to the presi- dents of the Local Unions mentioned to the effect that _ the work stoppage constitutes contract and that court action will be launched os oho Ma Notwith- e lega ition under the B.C. aed= Unions Act, the crews in the four mills remained firm in their refusal to cross the OEIU picket line. Millan, Bloedel and Powell River Ltd.’s pulp and paper plant at Port Alberni, picket the main entrance to the operation. O.E.I.U. Repre- sentative Doug Gibson and Local 378 Business Agent Bill Swanson are seen here picketing with the ladies. The Office Employees re- jected a proposal made by Labor Minister Peterson for binding arbitration. This posi- tion was warmly supported by the B.C. Federation of Labour who proposed an al- ternative plan for mediation. 1-357 URGES VOTE ‘YES’ Six hundred members of Local 1-357, IWA, meeting May 24 in the Queens Park Arenex, indicated overwhelmingly their approval of the Local Executive Board’s recommenda- tion to accept the wage formula proposed by conciliation officer. E. P. Fisher to settle the coast lumber industry dispute. No official decision was made by the capacity crowd on Fisher’s report as the Local ‘Union will ballot each opera- tion to determine membership opinion. The four speakers, Presi- dent Wyman Trineer and Ex- exutive Board Member Andy Smith from Local 1-357, and 2nd Vice-President Jack Holst and Secretary- Treasurer Fred Fieber from the Regional Council, made no attempt to gloss over the report’s short-comings when recommending its acceptance. They stated quite bluntly that while they believed it was the best offer ever made to the IWA.it was admitted- ly far from perfect. But, they added, “we are not prepared to jeopardize the welfare of twenty-six thousand members and their families by turning it down in an irresponsible fashion as others in the Union appear so willing to do.” Jack Holst, in a hard-hit- ting address, accused Syd Thompson of distorting the Union’s position and deliber- ately creating confusion for his own political purposes. The Regional officers, he pointed out, were elected by the membership to handle the affairs of the Union in a re- sponsible manner and this they intended to do. He went on to say that Syd Thompson was leaving the in- ference that the Regional of- ficers were attempting to blackmail the membership with the threat of strike if the report was not accepted. Canada’s Trade Turns Corner OTTAWA — A favourable trade surplus of $97,500,000 for the first two months of the year, com with $48,500,000 for last year, is re- ported. The gain was re- ported despite a sharp rise in imports from the United States. While total imports rose 16 per cent for January-Febru- arv, to $1,085,600,000, the value of exports rose by 20.2 per cent to $1,183,100,000. Canadian sales to Britain rose so much that this virtu- ally covered the chronic defi- cit with the U‘S. “Having participated as both an officer and a rank- and-file member in IWA strikes since 1935,” he stated, “I know it’s one thing to strike as an individual and quite another thing to be re- sponsible for ‘striking thou- sands of others. As respon- sible officers we have made our decision in what we be- lieve is the best interest of the membership. Having dis- charged this duty to you we can only await your decision and be governed by it.” He concluded by scoring Thompson for ignoring the fact that all the employers’ proposals were thrown out by Fisher; for his failure to men- tion that no union has ever negotiated a perfect agree- ment in one contract period; and for refraining from stat- ing the report would give coast lumber workers parity with the Pacific Northwest in the second year of the agree- ment. Fred Fieber in an address free from the table pounding and highly coloured adjec- tives of those opposing the report, suggested to the mem- bers that they be honest and frank in their opinions. “Don’t be stampeded,” he said, “by remarks that the Regional officers are afraid of strike. If a strike is good for this Union I would be the first to advocate one.” Wyman Trineer in com- menting on the report pointed out that Shingle Sawyers would be guaranteed a mini- mum rate of $23.80 per day. At the moment, he said, fifty percent of the sawyers in Local 1-357 are cutting junk and the proposed solution would ensure better rates for these workers. He pointed out that the ma- jority of the other recommen- dations in the report were too good to be ignored or used as a political football to the detriment of the membership. He urged members not to be deluded by the misleading statements contained in the bulletin circulated at the meeting by members of the Vancouver Local. Their purpose, he con- cluded by saying, was to cloud the issue and divide the membership.