Halt rape of forests

Cont'd from pg. 1

These were: (1) All productive
forest land was to remain in
Crown ownership. (2) ‘‘The
Crown was to receive a fair
share of the wealth produced by
the exploitation of this natural
resource.’ (3) “‘Speciulation in
timber by private interests was
to be eliminated.’’ (4) ‘‘The
export of logs in unmanu-
factured form was to be reduced
toa minimum.”

Although the Sloan report
opened the way to the present
forest legislation, over the
years since 1945 each of these

four principles have been

violently abused.

Another point which the Sloan.

report emphasized has been
almost totally neglected. That
was his strong emphasis on the
need for rapidly advancing the
processing and manufacture of
wood products from the raw
material.

Graphic illustrations and facts
in the report emphasized the
greater advantage to B.C. if it
processed logs instead of
exporting them in raw or semi-

COPE.

Cont'd from pg. 2

Frank Kennedy, following the
nomination conference. ‘‘The
response of our members at the
meeting was enthusiastic and
encouraging. But we still need
more poll captians, canvassers,
office help and of course,
donations to our campaign fund.
I appeal to all who want to see
alderman Harry Rankin re-
elected and some new faces at
city hall to support COPE’s
campaign.

“The NPA, which represents
big business interests, has
dominated city hall too long. The
Electors Action Movement
(TEAM offers no real alterna-
tive. COPE candidates are
representative of the majority
of our citizens — working people,
professional people and small
business. COPE’s program calls
for sweeping reforms based on
developing our city for the
people who live in it, not just for
the real estate promoters. COPE
candidates will bring about
decisive changes.”’ :

The nominating conference
also decided that it will work for
the nomination of a mayoralty
candidate jointly with the New
Democratic Party and the Van-
couver and District Labor
Council.

aves

manufactured form. To this day
— with only minor changes — the
forest economy of B.C. remains
a raw material one to the great
profit of MacMillan Bloedel and
U.S. owned companies, and
great loss to the people of B.C.

The central theme of the Sloan
report was the call to end the
wasteful methods of logging
prevalent before World War 2
and to adopt new legislation
which would place B.C.’s forests
on a perpetual yield basis.

POLICY CHANGED

In 1947 and 1948 the provincial
government amended the
Forest Act to provide for an
entirely new kind of forest
tenure. It provided that the
government would parcel out
huge tracts of Crown forests to
large corporations in perpetuity
at one cent per acre per year.

These public forests lands
were henceforth to be
“reserved for the sole use of the
licensee.’’ In return the
companies under took to manage
the forests and replant trees to
replace those cut so that there
would be a perpetual supply of
new trees.

In the years that followed
public criticism forced minor
changes in the legislation. These
changes left the legislation
much as: it was except that the
name of the licenses was
changed to Tree Farm Licenses,
and the ‘“‘perpetuity’’ clause was
changed to a 21 year period at
the end of which they were to be
reviewed or renewed. In practise
the government has renewed
them as a matter of course —
just as if they were in perpetuity.

SELLOUT

The new forestry legislation
meant in effect that the govern-
ment would turn over many
millions of acres of our best
forest lands to.a handful of giant
forestry corporations as part of
their financial empire to control
and exploit.

It represented the most gross
sellout of the people’s heritage
ever to take place in B.C.

In the years that followed 38
licences were granted mostly to
companies like MacMillan
Bloedel and giant U.S. corpora-
tions who moved into B.C. to
take advantage of the new profit
bonanza offered by the govern
ment.

Huge forest empires were
built. Hundreds of millions of
dollars were made in stock

abor

nial

blasts Gaglardi

-Jobs not available

The B.C. Federation of Labor
this week charged Welfare
Minister Phil Gaglardi with
making inaccurate statements
regarding the availability of
jobs in B.C.’s northern areas, ‘‘if
workers would take them. . .”

In a press statement the
Federation claimed they had
investigated allegations that
unemployed workers had refused
jobs in the north, and pointed out
that IBEW has 60 unemployed
wiremem ready and able who
already live in that part of the
province.

There ‘are 100 machinists who
are willing to go anywhere to

companies which had acquired a
forestry licence.

At the same time, the lumber
barons, hungry for more logs,
moved into the Public Sustained
Yield Units — areas set aside to
be managed by the Forestry
Service to supply logs for
smaller operations — and
captured most of the yield.
Large chunks of the PSYU were
turned over to the lumber mono-
polies to serve new pulp mills.
They even moved into public
parks, such as Strathcona,
Manning Park, Jasper and Banff
and Cypress Bowl, etc., to swell
their profits.

The end result has been that
most public forests have been
alienated to a handful of giant
monopolies, most of them U.S.
owned. Of the top eight in B.C.
only two are Canadian
controlled. The ‘‘big three’? —
MacMillan Bloedel, Forest
Products and Crown Zellerbach
— produce about one third of all
our forestry production!

The time has come to call a

half to this rape of B.C.’s most '

vital resource.

The key problem is to regain
public control of the forests by
repealing the present forestry
legislation and adopting an
entirely new forestry policy
which will leave control of the
forests in the hands of the people
and their representatives.

It is fifteen years (1955) since
the last probe into our forest
industry took place, despite the
fact that the Sloan report
proposed a full inquiry every ten
years. Public opinion should
press the government to set up a

new public inquiry immediately

to thoroughly probe what’s
happening in our forest indus-
try and to explore the need for
new legislation to end the rape
of our forests and return control
of them where it rightfully
belongs— to the people of B.C.

work, as well as 300 unemployed
operating engineers registered
with the Dawson Creek office.

“. . We call upon (Gaglardi)
to acknowledge the inaccuracy
of his statement and set the
record straight. The people of
B.C. should not be misled about
the current grave unem-
ployment situation.”

Sek ke

The B.C. Federation of Labor
will hold its annual convention
in the Bayshore Inn from
November 2-7 inclusive.

The continuing struggle
against Bill 33 is believed likely
to be in the forefront of discus-
sions, as well as the necessity of
achieving unity.

* * *

United Fishermen and Allied
Workers have blasted Dr.
Gordon Shrum regarding his
statement that the Moran Dam
project (on the Fraser) will be
included in a study of provincial
power needs.

The UFAWU said millions of
dollars have been spent in
restoring the Fraser River
salmon runs, and millions more
must be spent to eliminate the

pollution from sewage, forest
and industrial wastes.

Union spokesmen said they
have always taken a consistent
stand in opposition to hydro
electric development on salmon
rivers so long as alternative
sources of energy were
available. :

The union pointed out that the
nine trillion cubic foot of natural
gas available for export would be
a pollution-free source 9
electric energy.

“Why sacrifice ‘our salmon
industry, worth more than $90.
million annually in order to sell -
an alternative source to the
BES 222

* KOK

A CLC representative at this
week’s seminar in Penticton
sponsored by the Workmen’s
Compensation Board and the

B.C. Federation of Labor, said —

the reluctance of employers t0
include labor in its safety and
accident prevention program

tends to reduce labor’s potential

in solving some of the probtems.

By HAROLD PRITCHETT

What started out to be one of
the greatest struggles against
the lumber barons has ended ina
betrayal of the economic
interests of the woodworkers in
B.C.

With seven unions claiming to
represent sections of the wood
and pulp industry, a new

approach is needed. The key to .

success is unity of all workers
against the common enemy, the
boss. Poe

The vital question of labor
unity is pointed up by Bennett’s
anti-labor law Bill 33, and
Trudeau’s “austerity” 6 percent
guideline. The executive council
of the B.C. Federation of Labor
realized this fact early in the
New Year when the Employer’s
Council called a lockout
(employer’s strike) in the entire
building construction industry
in B.C.

Some success in uniting labor
in lumber and pulp was obtained
when B.C. Fed. secretary Ray
Haynes and pulp representative
Pat O’Neal accompanied the
IWA negotiating committee in
the first meeting with FIR, the
Employers Council in wood.

The first break in this
excellent attempt at unity came
when Pat O’Neal of the Pulp and

“UFAWU.

$560 for their strike fund.

Merger talks with UFAWU

The 28th convention of the Canadian Brotherhood of
Railway, Transport and General Workers (CBRT) last week
voted to ask the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union to
merge with the CBRT. Delegates overwhelmingly approved
discussions already commenced by their executive board
concerning the possible entry into the Brotherhood of. the

Retiring president W. J. Smith declared the fishermen on

the east coast are putting up a heroic struggle, and later, full
. support for the striking UFAWU Nova Scotia fishermen was
given by the CBRT, with a convention hall collection of over

‘Woodworkers economic |
inferests betrayed’

Sulphite International Union
accepted and recommended
acceptance by the pulp section of
the industry of a 60 cent increase
over a three year contract. This

set the pace for the entire

woodworking industry. This —
when everybody knew there was
more to obtain, with employer
profits and production per man
hour at an all time high.

The next betrayal of the~

workers interest came when
Jack Moore, Regional President
of the IWA, recommended
acceptance of this formula to
the IWA negotiating committee,
and when it was rejected,
resigned from the committee as
chairman. This was a further
betrayal of the workers interest
in that the pattern set in Pulp
was carried over into the IWA,
and a breakfast with the boss
can’t change that.

All of this took place after the
woodworkers had voted better

than 90 percent for strike if the —

need arose; while at the same
time thousands of woodworkers
were locked out during the tug

_ boat dispute.

With the boss laying off wood-
workers and unemployed
reaching a high since 1960, we
have the spectacle in the
Regional Convention of palace
struggle for jobs. It makes the
boss happy when men who call
themselves socialists fight
amongst themselves for
positions while the interests of
the woodworkers are neglected.

While wages fail to keep up

with rising prices, compulsory
arbitration stares us in the face.
Woodworkers jobs are at stake!
We need a united union with a
policy which places the interests
of the woodworkers first; a
progressive policy which works
for a united labor movement

against our common enemy the

bossy; 3. 3

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