THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

AUGUST, 1973

yi thewestern canadian

‘Word

38,000 copies
printed in this issue

lumber worker

Published once wa mes the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA

ern Canadian Regional Council No. 1

Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC

She Commercial Orive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 674-5261

r—Pat Ker —Fred Fieber

Advertising Representatives—Elizabeth Spencer Associates

Forwareea 5 every member of the 1WA in Western Canada inaccordance with convention secelons:
Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. ms

EDITORIAL

W.C.B. RESPONSIBILITY

“THE IWA is growing concerned with
the rising tide of accidents and
fatalities occurring in the logging section
of the industry. There is little doubt that
this senseless slaughter is caused by the
companies’ pressure for greater log
production.
The high lumber market has the

industry drafting more and more new _ turnover in the industry is preventing §8=~=——>""iti# re Hit < Me :
devices and high speed equipment to them from properly training the crews. Z > ==
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cash in on the present bonanza.
Unfortunately, in their desire to
increase production such matters as
proper job training and adequate safety
procedures are being ignored.

A review of a number of recent ac-
cidents shows that in almost every in-
stance the main cause was lack of ex-
perience on the part of the individual or
his supervisor.

A prime example of this was a recent
fatality on Vancouver Island. The victim

with just four months experience in the
woods was working as a rigging slinger
when he met his death.

The two men working under him had
one and two weeks experience. One of
these workers was injured in the same
accident that killed the rigging slinger.

The companies claim that the high

The IWA suggests that this is nonsense.
No company has the right to expose
untrained workers to danger especially
in such a highly hazardous industry as
logging.

If the industry is going to continue to
place greed for production ahead of their
employees’ welfare then the Workmen’s
Compensation Board has no alternative
but to insist that all untrained logging
workers be given adequate training
before going into the woods.

tAILWAY WORKERS

ways which could spark a

Dismissing appeals for

railway workers back to

direct government interven-
tion immediately in the rail

strike as ‘“‘naive’’, NDP Leader
David Lewis set out a three-
point program for shortening
the dispute and reducing the
danger of real damage to the
economy.

Speaking in the House of
Commons, Mr. Lewis called
for:

—an independent inquiry
into railway pension plans,
which have fallen seriously
behind other industrial and
government plans, resulting in
bitterness among railway
workers.

—a strong warning that the
government will take a dim
view of provocation by the rail-

general strike instead of the
present rotating regional
strikes. For example, the

unions have accused the’

railways of unnecessary
layoffs in connection with the
strike.

—appointment of an in-
dependent mediator — some-
one with real understanding in
the community and experience
in labor relations ‘‘who can
carry some weight with both
sides in the dispute.”

Mr. Lewis was heckled by
Tory MPs as he challenged
them to ‘‘be honest enough to
say that what they want is for
the government to bring in a
law today ordering the striking

— | TELL It LIKE IT WAS ==

Ht ase RZ LEX; Bs | — SST A

ins *% oaasis

work.”’

“‘The idea that if the minister
of labor appears at the negoti-
ating table tomorrow, this will
settle the strike is a naive and
inexperienced idea. The time
for him to appear is when there
is an opportunity to settle the

strike, which I suspect is not

yet here.”

Railway workers have a
legal right to strike, Mr. Lewis
pointed out, and they should be
allowed to bargain freely
without the constant threat of
back-to-work legislation un-
dermining their position.

Ya know...

deered fer fire fightin’ . .

highway.

I’m kinda glad we wuz comman.-

WHALEN

. beats hikin’ a hot

OFFICE JOKE:

MANPOWER ACCUSED
OF FALSIFYING RECORDS;

A student working as a sum-
mer employee at the Canada
Manpower office has quit
because he says he is tired of
falsifying job-placement
records.

Robert Davidson says he’s
sending documentary proof of
the monkeyshines to Man-

-power minister Robert Andras

and to New Democratic Party
leader David Lewis.

Davidson claims that he
filled out forms showing that
the office had placed 264 people
in jobs during May, but only 25
had really been placed.

Reporting techniques for
student placement are
“equally false’, he said. “‘If
the same student is called 20
times for part-time work, he

accounts for 20 placements’.

Only nine students were |
placed in June, he said — not |
the 203 claimed in the official
reports.

“This statistics thing is
nearly fraud and an office |
joke”, he said. ‘We work to |
make the statistics look good
so we will have another student
placement officer next year,
who will make his statistics
look good . . . and the fraud i is
perpetuated each year”, he
said.

Mr. Andras commented in
Ottawa that the placement
figures are ‘“‘one of the less
meaningful’? yardsticks. A
department spokesman added
that they are used mainly to
calculate the workload at a¥
given office.

Pioneer makes things easier
for the professional with the

Super 3270

I’m a rough dog, a tough dog,

“| now amabsolutely sober

ARF! ARF!
ey MOSCOW — The following BROADW AY
“e explanation by an unidentified
= Soviet citizen pana with : PRINTERS
m hooliganism was taken froma .. I'ma lean dog, a keen dog, LIMITE D
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printers and lithographers ,

and | can say | behaved cor- Hunting on my own;

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barking the whole night at a 4 id oe lag dog, y di
belong ighbor i i |

dog belonging to a neighbor is I love to sit and bay the moon, 15% more power to weight >

pot a hooligan action. 1
ae wented to attract public at-

tention to the impropriety of
keeping dogs on balconies. It

than the first 3270,

To keep fat souls from sleep. ee
& 5 ; 50% quieter, too.

d McLeod, 1891-
.. Irene Rutherford McLe 15 GARR NU ERIE

| rs oe ars VANCOUVER 10. BC. |
ewer was not at home. . e ~  ‘Teleph 876-2101
SS alan Western Pioneer Chain Saw Sales er

GY BETHEL muses _ 328 Carrall St., Vancouver — 684-1822