THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER EXCELLENT SEMINAR wa) HELD BY 1-217 By BOB CLAIR Editor, The Barker VANCOUVER—tThe myth that increased wages cause higher prices was erased by an. instructor at an LWA De- cember Educational Institute. Grant MacNeil, Education Director for the IWA in West- ern Canada, told Vancouver Woodworkers at an IWA Seminar here that a handful of large companies control Canada. He showed how cor- poration profits had risen by 45% during the seven years from 1957 to 1964, while wages, during the same period have risen only 25.5%. In 1957 dollars, wages per unit of production had gone down 8.5%. MacNeil produced Dominion Bureau of Statistic figures that showed the top 20% of Canadians had 40% of the total income; compared to 41.6% of Canadian families who had an income of less than $4,000 per year. Domin- ion Bureau of Statistic figures also substantiated MacNeil’s claim that the wage cost to the Forest Industry had gone down. ; Contrary to popular belief the figures showed that the wage cost in B.C.’s Logging Industry had gone down $3.77 per 1,000 board feet during the six years, 1957 to 1962. The wage cost for 1,000 board feet in 1957 was $17.66 com- pared to $13.89 in 1962. On the subject of strikes, MacNeil insisted that labour must retain the right to strike, calling it the only weapon la- bour has to balance the differ- ences existing between labour and management. The talents of the IWA’s In- ternational Office, Regional Council and the Vancouver IWA Local combined to make the one day event a first class Educational Seminar. Over 50 Vancouver woodworkers par- ticipated. Frank Fuller, Assistant Di- rector of Research and Educa- tion for the International and Bob Clair, Local 1-217’s Edu- eational Chairman were the other instructors featured at this Seminar. Fuller showed ‘The Inheri- tance”, a fifty minute docu- mi of the labour move- meal Licey in North Am- erica. A must for every trade unionist. The film, containing never before released scenes of the striking steelworkers slaughter during the 1930's when unarmed strikers were machinegunned in cold blood, gives a graphic demonstration of labour’s sacrifices and the 5 which have resulted. famous Auto Industry sit- protect workers displaced by automation?” The questions brought an active response from students in the discussion groups, al- though everyone agreed that there was one thing wrong “with Union education; There should be more of it. A bibliography was given each student. Titles included were: - Toil and Trouble, Brooks; Working Men, Sidney Lens; Crisis of American Labour, Sidney Lens; Labour’s Untold Story, Boyer-Morais; Source- book on Labour, Chamberlain; Magnificant Journey, Wil- liams; Canadian Labour, Scot- ton; American Labour Strug- gle, Yellen; The Vertical Mo- saic, Porter; The American Labour Movement, Litwack; The Status of Trade Unions in Canada, Cameron-Young In- dustrial Relations, Crispo; The Economics of Labour, Peit- chinis. ; Future plans of Local 1-217 IWA call for special attention to education. Courses under study include: Public Speak- ing, Automation, Shop Stew-- ard Training and other sub- jects of interest to woodwork- ers. FRANK FULLER, IWA’s International Education Director, leads class discussion on aura film “The Inheritance’ ’shown to woodworkers attending Vancouver IWA’s one day Educational Seminar. The film is a must for every trade unionist. ceo SB de a ‘a L- A COURSE INSTRUCTORS, Frank Fuller and Bob Clair keep a watchful eye on Vancouver woodworkers during discussion groups at the Vancouver |WA’s December 3 Seminar. Give a party Nt eh oe we ~ Labatt’s Pilsener, aged and brewed naturally. This advertisement is not published or displayed by the Liquor Control Board of the Government of British Columbia.