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WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

Editorial

Critical T
fades negotiations have now taken a more critical turn, re-
quiring close membership attention. Talks with the opera-
ied representatives will now be directed by a Conciliation
cer.

As this Officer meets with the disputing parties, separately
or together, he will be trying to discover an area of possible
settlement. The merit of the Union’s demands will be tested
by him in the light of acceptance or rejection by the em-
ployers.

The functions of a Conciliation Officer are not those of a
Judge. He is required to make all reasonable efforts to es-
tablish grounds for agreement.

A satisfactory settlement rests on three main elements in
the situation — evidence in bargaining, membership solid-
arity, and public opinion,

The gulf that lies between the views of the employers and
those of the Union is clearly outlined in the IWA Bulletin
contrasting the demands of the Wages and Contract Con-
ference with the operators’ counter-proposals.

The problem of the Negotiating Committee is to demon-
strate with evidence the feasibility of a settlement that meets
the urgent requirements stated by the Union’s Wages and
Contract Conference.

The fact-finding of the Union’s research staff provides con-
vincing evidence in support of the demands. It does not con-
firm the claims made by the operators that conditions in the
industry are stagnant. Furthermore, all the signs point to
still further improvement, as marketing plans get under way.

The usual propaganda which cries blue ruin is little short
of farcial. Fluctuations in prices and demand are exaggerated
out of all proportions, and used to obscure the true situation.

In his annual report to the B.C. Lumber Manufacturers’
Association, its President stated that the overseas demand
for B.C. lumber products in 1960 had pushed production to
a record high,

Lumber production in British Columbia of 5230 million
f.b.m. exceeded the previous peak year of 1958, when 5034
million f.b.m. were cut.

Reporting on sales he noted an upward swing in the last
quarter of 1960. -

There had been an encouraging return of United Kingdom
business, he declared.

This is typical of many statements made to the investors
which do not agree with claims made by the employers when
the workers’ needs are under consideration.

The facts are that production is up, sales volume is rising,
and market prospects are-as good as they ever- were.

The facts disclosed in their financial statements reveal
that the leading companies are in a sound profit position.
Surplus earnings have risen.

The Union has no desire to exaggerate these facts or deny
the existence of problems in marketing. The old refrain sung
by the operators during every negotiating period gets weari-
some. The Union always hears that the industry is on the
verge of collapse, and always this professionall f
tured pessimism is proven groundless.

The industry is well able to provide better living standards
for the workers in the industry.

The next contract year will see some important and profit-
able developments. New export markets are opening up for
plywood to the extent that American investors are showing
an interest in the acquisition of B.C. plants. :

The Kennedy administration in the United States is plan-
ning an expanded housing program, thus opening up the
possibility of a notably increased demand for B.C. lumber
products.

Productivity in the industry has continued to rise to the
extent which demands the upward revision of wage rates.

Sound business logic is on the side of the Union’s argu-
ment. As the wealth, based on the province’s natural re-
sources increases, the industry faces the responsibility of pro-
viding a proportionate increase in the distribution of wage
income.

Advantage is being taken of a temporary recession in other
industries to ¢reate the impression in the minds of workers,
that business will improve if workers accept less. Such
reasoning can lead to only one result. Wages will go down,
while profits go up. “The rich will become richer, and the
poor poorer”.

The-Union has compiled the facts, and is presenting the
facts at the bargaining table. The Negotiating Committee is
doing a first-class job.

At this stage it becomes doubly important that IWA mem-
bers press home the most convincing fact of all.

The membership of the Union is united in support of the
demands, and is determined to gain a just settlement.

J

Publication date of the next issue of the WESTERN CANADIAN
LUMBER WORKER is April 20th. Deadline for ad copy is April 6th, and

LEMaE

PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY ON THE FIRST
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for news copy April 7th,
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AND THIRD THURSDAYS
International Woodworkers of America Peas
(AFL-CIO-CLC) Regiona] Council No. 1 =]
REGIONAL OFFICERS:
President Joe Morris
st Vice-President Jack - Moore
nd Vice-President "Eas fe ° Oss
rd Vice-President Jack MacKenzie
Secretary-Treasurer Fred_ Fieber
International Board Members wocccccncecncencwuenemnnncenmaen Joe Madden
Jack Holst

Address all communications to
FRED FIEBER, Seeretary-Treasurer
2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C.

-2

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Ztverunns Representative ..............G. 16 Seesner
Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa

27,500 COPIES PRINTED IN THIS ISSUE

Aretnkt oe

“IT’S.FOR YOU. JOHN—IT’S LONG DISTANCE—CANADA”.

Squeeze Plays Seen °
On Tokyo Railways

While we in the lower mainland of B.C.
complain bitterly about slow busses, jammed
bridges and causeways, clogged-up roads
and the like, the following article reprinted
from the New Canadian, shows how much
more fortunate we are than the poor Tokyo
commuters forced to travel by rail.

TOKYO.—The Japanese railroads
blame winter clothes for some of
Tokyo’s rush-hour problems.

Heavy winter clothing, they say,
reduces the capacity of passenger
coaches by 20 per cent. Where 100
people can normally squeeze into a
coach, only 80 can do so during the
winter.

So great is the crush that Shinjuku,
one of the major suburban railroad
stations in Tokyo, is offering rush-
hour victims sandals to replace shoes
they have lost in the wild scramble
to get aboard.

A’ “button-box” collects hundreds
of buttons every day — “donations”
from railroad employees sweeping
platforms after the trains have pulled
out.

Police Link Arms

Special squads of police link arms
with station staff in an attempt to
control the crowds—or apply pressure
to get the last person into a coach.

As the people go in, the windows
sometimes come out. Some news-
papers here assert that 100 windows
are broken each day.

Tokyo newspapers have been run-
ning a series of photographs showing
the rush-hour life of a Tokyo com-
muter. He is pushed, shoved, kicked,
trodden on, prodded, tripped up, el-
bowed, and scratched. If his ear
itches, he must wait until the end of
the line when, with pressure- eased,
he can lift an arm to scratch it.

Warnings Added
The photographs were accompanied
by warnings that unless congestion
was eased, fatalities or serious injury

Mutual Aid

Popular

An employers’ plan of mutual aid
pacts to offset strike threats is gain-
ing in popularity. Under such a plan
the struck company is assisted finan-
cially by other firms in the same in-
dustry.

Payments totalling nearly $2.3 mil-
lion were made to Northwest Air-
lines and $835,000 to Eastern Air
Lines following recent strikes.

“TOLD HIM THERES No
SUCH THING,M@.HEES....
GUT HE INSISTS ON BEING]

LISTED AS A CANADIAN..."

might occur. Jostling on platforms,
for instance, might push someone in-
to the path of an oncoming train.
Enough pressure inside the coaches

might one day force open the doors, |

spilling people onto the tracks.

The worst line in Tokyo is the
Chuo Line, popularly known as the
“hell line.” The construction of blocks
of apartments along this line has so
increased the number of people travel-
ling to and from work that the rush-
hour timetable of one train every two
minutes has been started earlier to
try to cope with the morning rush.

It is estimated that about 4,000-
000 persons travel to work or school
every day on trains operated by the
Tokyo bureau of the Japanese Na-
tional Railroads. This is approximate-
ly 30 per cent of all the passengers
carried by this network throughout
Japan.

Most of the commuters travel be-
tween 7 and 9 a.m

As a temporary measure, metro-
politan and national government
workers in Tokyo have been per-
mitted to stagger their starting times.

VVIVVITVV VV VV VY

These items were gleaned
from the files of the B.C.
Lumber Worker's April Ist _
issue, 1951. . sy

Reduce hospital insurance —
charges or submit the issue to
the electorate, is the united de-
mand of British Columbia trade
unions, as preparations proceed
for an emphatic and
public protest. In rapid succes-
sion, steps by the trade unions,
repudiating the policies of the
Coalition Government followed
the announcement that collection
of increased rates would be en-
forced as from January 1, and
that co-insurance charges would
be imposed during the first ten
days of hospitalization.

* *

Directive issued by the District
Executive Board to all IWA
Local Unions at the regular
meeting, March 29-30, requested
that IWA members be instructed
by Local Unions to stop work
under unsafe conditions if order-
ed to do so by supervisory offi-
cials, and report the existing ac-
cident hazard immediately to
management.

*

*
Contravention of the ICA Act
is alleged by CCL Unions in the
concession proposed for the AFL
Building Trades Council in the
contract awarded Gilpin-Nash
Ltd. for the Capilano Dam.
* *

Mr. R. V. Stuart has announc-
ed his retirement from Forest In-
dustrial Relations Ltd. His suc-
cessor will be Mr. John M. Bill-
ings, who since 1944, has been
assistant manager of Forest In-
dustrial Relations Ltd. and has
understudied Mr. Stuart in prep-
aration for his new managerial
post.

Thief - Proof ?

The German Army recently
introduced ‘“thief-proof” spoons
with holes bored through the
bowl, instructing the men
“place the tip of the little finger
of the right hand underneath the
spoon while using it.” Defense
Minister Strauss has now ordered
their replacement because soldiers
were stealing them as souvenirs,

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