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THE WESTERN CANADIAN

LUMBER

WORKER

38,000 copies
printed in this issue.

Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOQDWORKERS OF AMERICA

Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1

Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC

2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261

Editor — Pat Kerr Business Manager — Fred Fieber

Advertising Representatives — Elizabeth Spencer Associates

Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions.
Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year.

Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post.Office Department,

and for payment of postage in cash. «Gia

GUEST EDITORIAL

"A DANGEROUS BILL"

ONE of the more devious and danger-

ous concessions which the Liberal
Government has been prepared to make
due to pressure from Quebec is contained
in a bill, now tucked away in a Commons
committee, which would alter the rules

governing the Canada Labour Relations
Board.

The Board has consistently held, in
jurisdictional disputes brought before it,
that it is against the interests of both
unions and employers to permit unions
to carve regional chunks out of national
bargaining units. This policy has infuri-
ated the Quebec-based Confederation of
National Trade Unions, which has tried
to take over Quebec sections of both rail-
way and Canadian Broadcasting Cor-
poration unions and been refused the per-
mission of the Board to do so. The CNTU
contends that its minority representation
on the Board, which is naturally weighted
toward the much larger Canadian Labour
Congress, always ensures its defeat in
such jurisdictional disputes.

The bill would get around this by
establishing a special panel of the Board
with equal representation from the CLC
and the CNTU to hear cases in which the
two are disputing bargaining rights. Just
in case this didn’t give the CNTU what it
wants — and it probably wouldn't, be-
cause management representatives on
the Board have joined CLC representa-
tives in opposing the break-up of national
bargaining units — the bill would further
establish a three-man appeal board,
made up of the Board chairman and two
representatives appointed by the Cabinet
from outside the labour movement, thus
demolishing the CLC’s built-in advantage.

The bill was said to have been created
and pushed through Cabinet by Man-
power Minister Jean Marchand, who is a
former president of the CNTU; but it was
presented in the Commons by Labour
Minister John Nicholson. It met a hostile
reception and was referred to the Com-
mons Labour and Employment Committee
after only first reading and without
approval in principle — a most unusual
procedure.

The bill is opposed by the CLC (even in
Quebec where the CLC represents more
workers than the CNTU), by management
generally, by the New Democratic Party
and by elements in the Liberal Party and
Cabinet. -But what is most important
about the opposition is that it is right. If

the public understood what was involved,
it too would oppose the bill. Passage of
the bill could seriously endanger the pub-
lic interest.

What it would mean is that Quebec —
and not only Quebec — could slice off
pieces of what are now national unions in
national services. The railways would be
a first target — the CNTU has already
tried to invade that field, as has the
Teamsters’ union in British Columbia. Civil
service unions would probably be under
siege also.

Canadians in general may not under-
stand the complexities of the legislation
before Parliament. But they know what a
railway strike, an Air Canada strike, a
postal strike can do to the daily lives of
almost every one of them. It can cause
serious economic loss to the country, seri-
ous financial loss to hundreds of thou-
sands of individuals and injury in their
personal lives to other thousands.

Such a strike is bad enough — is in-
variably, in fact, recognized as a national
crisis — when it involves a country-wide
union. This bill would provide the possi-
bility — the probability — that strikes
would be popping up in region after
region, vastly multiplying the crises and
their destructive effects. Just imagine the
Teamsters taking the railways out in
British Columbia, followed by some other
union doing it in the Prairies, followed by
the CNTU doing it in Quebec. Each would
throw out the whole national system (as
the strike of the Montreal postal workers
proved); and Canada would be in a con-
stant state of turmoil and loss.

Some part of Parliament and even of
the Cabinet appears to recognize the
potential for disaster buried in this bill.
There have been rumors that its move-
ment through the legislative process will
be so delayed that it will fail to be passed
before the end of this season and there-
fore die. If these rumors are not true, then
members of Parliament with any sense of
responsibility toward the country should
ensure that they become true.

Quebec and French Canadians are en-
titled to a better recognition in many
areas of their cultural and _ linguistic
aspirations. But the Liberal Government
goes irresponsibly far when, solely to
placate the CNTU, it hands that organiza-
tion a spanner with which it could wreck

the national works.
Toronto Globe and Mail.

GIRL PICKETS NEARLY BLINDED ON LINE

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

NORTHERN
GING C

WHALEN

1 WARNED YA ABOUT SLAMMIN’ DOORS UP IN THIS
NECK OF TH’ WOODS

INT. PRESIDENT THANKS
CASTLEGAR PULP WORKERS.

Mr. Len Emory, President
Local No. 1, Pulp & Paper
Workers of Canada,

P.O. Box 1028,
Castlegar, B.C., Canada
Dear Sir and Brother:

On behalf of the IWA mem-
bership in British Columbia
and the entire International
Union, I wish to express our
sincere appreciation for the
support and cooperation ex-
tended by your Local Union
during the recently-concluded
strike at Celgar Limited in
Castlegar.

The highest principles of
trade union brotherhood and
unity for the common good
were upheld by the members
of Local No. 1, Pulp and
Paperworkers of Canada, in
supporting IWA members
who were fighting for justice
at Castlegar.

We deeply appreciate th
sacrifice made by these Union
brothers during the 119 long
days of the strike. Members
of the IWA also recognize
that this sacrifice undoubted-
ly was, a factor in the satis-
factory settlement of the
strike for wage parity for
Woodworkers between the In-

terior and Coast areas of Brit-
ish Columbia.

Please convey our thanks
for their splendid cooperation
to members of your Local Un-
ion. The fine relationship de-
veloped during this period of
strife will, I hope, continue
to grow for the mutual bene-
fit of members of both unions
in the future.

Sincerely and fraternally,
RONALD F. ROLEY,
International President

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-
—
=
—
—

Officials of the United Steel-
workers’ Union (CLC) are
contemplating legal action
after the injury of two mem-
bers who were picketing a
local plant.

The pickets, two young

girls, were nearly blinded by
a powerful chemical while
walking signs in front of the
Victoria Precision Works Ltd.,
Montreal.

The girls and other union
members were protesting a

recent contract negotiated be-
tween the company and a rival
union, the Quebec Steelwork-
ers’ Association. The interna-
tional union contends the
Quebec Association is not
representative.

—

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Vancouver 682-4606