THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER CORBEIL SCORES WILLISTON Congress Stresses Right to Strike The right to strike was stressed by the Canadian La- _ bor Congress in its recent submission to the federal cab- inet. The CLC said the right to strike is an essential part of democracy. The issue was raised in connection with the recent strike of St. Lawrence river longshoremen. There had been pressure during the legal strike to force the men back to work to keep wheat ship- ments moving. By M. CORBEIL Financial Secretary Local 1-85 On October 17th I visited Fair Harbour which is one of the Tahsis Company logging operations under contract to this Local Union. While in the operation, I received num- erous complaints from our members with regard to wages and working conditions for Tree Planters employed by the Forestry Department and living in camp and using the same facilities ‘as our members. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might” Po we preach? ' STEVE — ROGER — MIKE — PIERRE How many people do you know who practice what they It’s a short list, isn’t it? Well, meet a family of shoe craftsmen who’ve been doing it for three generations: making a product proved by time and high principle. What better proof is there? — GREG — GEORGE — RICHARD YOUR Guardians of a Great Tradition PIERRE PARIS & SONS 51 West Hastings Street Vancouver 3, B.C. + Teamwork in Craftsmanship since 1907 ist Issue January, 1964 I was informed that the Tree Planters were paid $1.87 per hour and were working weekends and statutory holi- days for straight time. Upon returning to the office I immediately wrote the Hon- ourable Ray Williston, Min- © ister of Lands and Forests, and informed him of this sit- uation and pointed out to him that the negotiated rate for Tree Planters in our Union Contracts was $2.13% per hour, with overtime rates for all hours worked over eight per day or 40 per week and that overtime rates automat- ically applied for Saturday, Sunday and statutory holi- days. We requested a meet- ing with Mr. Williston to dis- cuss this problem. In his reply to my letter, Mr. Williston pointed out that the rates and working condi- tions for crews employed by his Department are set by government policy and that his Department had no auth- ority to pay otherwise. He also pointed out that govern- ment policy is not to pay overtime rates. The letter went on to say that Planters boarding in camps in isolated areas where it is not possible to come out or go home on weekends were given the op- portunity to work on week- ends and holidays rather than staying in camp paying board while not earning anything. Mr. Williston’s letter went on to say that this has been the normal practice in Forest Service planting camps for 20 years and has worked to the benefit of the men concerned. Our request for a meeting with the Minister of Lands and Forests was ignored. We would like to remind Mr. Williston that our Union had been successful in elim- inating some of the bad con- ditions that existed in the log- ging camps 20 years ago and that we have no intention of allowing employees of his De- partment to go into these camps and break down estab- lished wages and working conditions. I have given copies of this correspondence to our MLA John Squire and I am sure that he will give Mr. Williston and his government at the next session of the Legislature ample opportunity to correct the unfair wages and working conditions that the employees of his department are sub- jected to. es Return of students to school reduced, the jobless ranks to 20,000 in, mid-September — 20,000 fewer than in August and 10,000 fewer than a year earlier.