a es a er 2nd Issue Nov., 1965 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER — 5 IWA Labor unrest will mount rapidly if management and governments ignore the social consequences of technological change in industry, Wyman Trineer, president of IWA Local 1-357 told a meeting of New Westminster Kiwanis. “Consider developments in our major basic forest prod- ucts industry,” he said. “Dur- ing the past 10 years, large integrated logging and saw- mill operations, not many miles from here, have shown almost a 50 per cent reduc- tion of the work force while producing as much or more lumber.” Out of these increased prof- its and increased profit oppor- tunities, surely it is fair that the employing corporations should accept greater respon- sibility for the displacement of workers, he said. “Just what do you expect from workers who recognize this threat to their job secur- ity while management refuses to consider measures adopted in other countries to mini- mize displacement?” he ask- ed the Kiwanis meeting. “When denied adequate op- portunity to acquire the new skills demanded, are they ex- pected to welcome the impor- tation of workers trained in these skills: by other coun- tries?” Trineer spoke on the sub- ject of labor strikes. He said that because strikes cause inconvenience to the public, production losses in industry and sacri- fices on the part of the work- ers and their families, the question is too often debated with more heat than light. “The more rational ap- proach is to consider why strikes occur and whether factors in labor unrest may be eliminated. We should give attention to the princi- ples involved rather than at- tempt to pass judgment on the issues presented in recent or current strikes.” A strike is an exercise of a civil right, he said. Workers must bargain, collectively or individually, to sell their la- bor to employers at the best possible price to assure them- selves decent living stan- dards. “Unless we abandon all pretense of adherence to the basic freedoms of democracy, the individual worker has the right to refuse to accept or to continue under unsatisfactory conditions of employment.” Because of fundamental freedoms involved, organized labor will continue to defend CONTRACT M.T.M. Logging Ltd. has signed a contract with Local 1-80 Duncan. The six employees involved work in the Cowichan area at Cayouse Beach where M.T.M. has a log salvage contract with B.C. Forest Products. This is the second log sal- vi firm under contract with the local union. R. W. s Ltd. of Nanaimo first company organ- with vigor and determination the right to strike, he said. This does not mean that unions recklessly engage in strike action. “We regard strike action as an economic weapon of last resort in collective bargain- ing. The record will show that the majority of industrial disputes are settled through bargaining, conciliation and mediation,” he said. But it is more in the public interest to examine and remedy the conditions which lead to strikes instead of heaping abuse on trade un- ions on strike. Those who advocate that strikes be outlawed should be INVITATION TO CHAOS warned by the lessons of his- tory, he said. “Whenever governments and employers have attempt- ed to outlaw strikes, they have only fomented greater labor unrest-and a rash of il- legal strikes, with increasing chaos in industry,” he said. “The use of force or legal coercion is not the answer to the problem.” The public interest would be better served if more em- phasis were placed on im- proved collective bargaining than on a proposed ban on strikes. “Destroy the right to strike and you destroy the right to effective collective bargain- Hewers of Wood and drawers of waver (JOSHUA 1X, 21) THE BIG NAME IN BOOTS »» ARTTSTRY IN Cs / LEATHER ing,” he said. “Destroy free and effective bargaining, and . you invite chaos in industry. “Destroy both collective bargaining and the right to strike and you deprive work- ers of freedom of choice. They are left only the illegal alternative of revolutionary action.” WYMAN TRINEER 1Doca ‘FLY B.C. AIR LINES’