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2nd Issue
Jan., 1966

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

FROM PAGE 1

"CONFERENCE"

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REGIONAL Ist VICE-PRESIDENT Jack MacKenzie mak-.
ing his address to the conference. Group left, Bill Mc-
Arthur, Recording Secretary; Gordon Hurlbert, 2nd Vice-
President; Howard Webb, Ist Vice-President; MacKenzie;
Ross Inglis, President; Toby Mogensen, Financial Secretary.

GRANT BUNTZ
Prince George Sawmills

both the Officers’ and Finan-
cial Reports and dealt with
22 resolutions.

Among the resolutions
unanimously approved was
one authorizing the officers to
transfer part of the Local’s
Western boundary to the jur-
isdiction of Local 1-71. The
transfer will give greater pro-

* tection to Coast loggers work-

ing near the border by pre-
venting, in the event of a
Coast strike, operators in the
area transporting their logs to
Interior markets.

These logs are now trucked
to Hazelton where they are
loaded on flatcars and haul-
ed to the pulpmill at Port
Edward.

The resolution requires a
change in the by-laws and so
must be ratified by the IWA
International Executive
Board.

Other resolutions approved
by the delegates proposed
that:

e The officers negotiate a
cold weather policy with all
operations where requested.

© The Local President be a
full-time paid officer and es-
tablish residence in Prince
George.

e Public Health Inspectors
within the boundaries of Local
1-424 make regular inspec-
tions at least twice a year and

in company with the opera-
tion’s plant chairman.

© The Local Union request
the B.C. Federation of Labour
to petition the Provincial Gov-
ernment for a change in the
Labour Relations Act making
it mandatory for all contracts
between employer and em-
ployees to contain a Union
Security Clause.

© The Local President as-
sume the position of Local
Education Director and ex-
tend the programme through-
out the Local Union.

The delegates re-elected
Ross Inglis to represent them
on the Regional Executive
Board. Gordon Hurlbert was
elected alternate. They were
also elected delegates to the
CLC Convention in Winnipeg.

W. Zwahlen and G. Smith

were elected delegates to the

Regional Safety Conference.

President Hartung, first of
the three guest speakers,
opened with a brief history of
the organization and the part
he had in its formation. He
spoke of his early days in the
logging camps and how the
advent of the Union brought
better living and working con-
ditions.

He went on to warn the
delegates that the unorganiz-
ed workers constituted a
grave threat to the labour
movement and that unless

each unionist was prepared to
face up to the task of attempt-
ing to organize these people,
the sorry conditions of the
“dirty thirties” could return.

There are, he said, approxi-
mately 2,000,000 people em-
ployed in the woodworking
industry in Canada and the
U.S. and yet the unions in
this industry have only been
able to organize 600,000 of
them.

He also suggested that more
unionists should take an in-
terest in politics as a means
of protecting their job secur-
ity. If unionists were to sup-
port pro-labour candidates in
all areas of politics there
would be no need to fear the
employer or worry about ad-

verse legislation, he con-
cluded.

Regional 1st Vice-President
Jack MacKenzie compliment-
ed the Local on its achieve-
ments over the past ten years.
No other Local in the Re-
gional Council has a greater
potential for growth, he stat-
ed, but this growth will
involve continued hard work
and dedication to overcome
the formidable handicaps of a
widely scattered membership
and unorganized workers
moving in from low-wage
areas.

See “CONFERENCE”—Page 4