. i P _ ~ ‘ ~~ es ~ ad = t £ OR g ye WESTERN CANADIAN AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH. WORKER Vol. XXXVI, No. 21 VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY 1st Issue November, 1967 CELGAR EMPLOYEES VOTE 93.3% TO REJECT NEW SETTLEMENT OFFER MEMBERS OF LOCAL 1-184 of the I.W.A. employed at MacMillan Bloedel’s Aspenite Division in Hudson Bay (Saskatchewan) met in a special meeting on Sunday, October 22, 1967, to discuss job evaluation with Glenn Thompson, retiring Local president; Alex Smith, president-elect and Regional Staff representative Tony Vanderheide. IN SASKATCHEWAN - CATEGORY WAGE RATES INCREASED THROUGH JOB EVALUATION - ~ ~~ Initial evaluation of the Aspenite Division of MacMil- lan Bloedel in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, was recently concluded through the com- bined efforts of the plant com- mittee, officers of Local 1-184 and the Regional Evaluation Department. Prior to the implementation ‘of the B.C. plywood job evalu- ation plan into their opera- tion at Hudson Bay, the com- pany sought the advice of Forest Industrial Relations td. and, as a result, ridicu- lously low interim category rates were put into effect. Subsequently a joint evalua- tion study was undertaken by the Regional evaluation de- partment and Forest Indus- trial Relations Ltd. and a serious dispute regarding evaluated rates emerged. MacMillan Bloedel then de- cided to relieve Forest Indus- trial Relations Ltd. of its obli- gations and took possession of the disputed rating records, However, the dispute con- tinued until, at a recent meet- ; Regional presi- dent Jack Moore and the com- ’s industrial relations de- it was decided that the picket line. The Regional president in- structed staff representative Tony Vanderheide to con- clude a settlement of the dis- pute. As a result, Local 1-184 called a special membership meeting in Hudson Bay on October 22, 1967, and the erew elected a negotiating committee to inform the local management of the Aspenite Division of their determina- tion to have this dispute set- tled in short order. The company brought in a representative from its head office in Vancouver and subsequently a letter of un- derstanding was signed on be- half of the Regional Council and the company on October 27, which brought a peaceful See “ASPENITE” — Page 3 FR re SSS MILL PROJECT HALTED BY IWA INTERIOR PICKETS Construction work at the big $42 million pulp mill at Skookumchuk, 30 miles north of Cranbrook, has been halted by pickets posted by striking members of the International Woodworkers of America. The pulp mill is being erected for Crestbook Forest Industries, one of the com- panies involved in the strike in the southern Interior. The pickets are members of the IWA in the southern In- terior. Work on the mill project halted when about 340 con- struction workers respected Regional president Jack Moore said arrangements were made on a meeting on November 15 in Vancouver with the Building and Con- struction Trades Council for the construction workers to get onto the site to remove their tools. As a result the pickets were removed Thursday, Nov. 16, but were placed on the line again Monday, Nov. 20. Moore said: “The building trades have agreed to respect the picket lines and we have agreed to remove the pickets while they retrieved their tools.” IWA members on strike at Celgar’s Castlegar and Nakusp operations voted 93.3% to reject a new com- | pany offer to settle the two-month old strike. The four hundred employees made their decision by secret ballot at meetings held in Castlegar and Nakusp November 21. The company proposed a three-year contract with increases in three stages: 22 cents from Sept. 1 this year; 12 cents from May 1, 1968; an amount equal to the coast contract increase in 1968, but not less than 10 cents, to be applied from January The strikers in rejecting 1, 1969. the contract offer made it plain that the company’s proposal was still short of the Union’s demands for parity with coastal woodworkers. The Celgar proposal differs from the North only in that it would guarantee a 16c maximum difference be- tween Celgar and the Coast whereas the North settle- ment could leave the Interio 16c per hour. PARITY Wage parity in the B.C. forest products industry is a question of “when”, not “whether”, says business writer Pat Carney, in the Oc- tober issue of Canadian Forest Industries magazine. She says the IWA’s dispute with the industry in the Northern and Southern In- terior touches on an _ issue vitally concerned with the future development of British Columbia—that is, the event- ual equalization of living standards throughout a prov- ince which is developing, no longer like a frontier econo- my but “as a cluster of con- glomerates.” The article says: “ _, . the realities of the issue have yet to be grasped by industry generally. In es- sence, B.C.’s present pattern of development is in conflict with traditional concepts of compensation. “That development pattern is unique. The shanty town or the temporary camp has a diminishing role in the open- ing up of the province’s re- sources. Partly by geography and partly by policy, resource development has been accom- panied by the establishment of urban centres, with urban standards of houses, shopping facilities and sewage plants— and with urban taxes. “These baby cities were built to attract the skilled, city dweller with city-nur- tured tastes; he wants a mo- dern home, a new car and good schools for his children. Yet these urban needs cost r even further behind than "WHEN" NOT - “WHETHER” more upcountry; it takes more money to build a house in - Terrace than in Vancouver, freight charges alone inflate the cost of many food and consumer goods. “Despite these economic facts of life, the idea still pre- vails that a skilled worker See “WHEN”—Page 3 TRINEER RE-ELECTED Wyman Trineer, President of Local 1-357 IWA, has been re-elected president of the New Westminster and District Labour Council. Others elected were: first vice-president, Dave Bryce, Amalgamated Transit; second vice-president, Don Garcia, Longshoremen; third vice- president, Charles Oates, Beverage Dispensers; secre- tary-treasurer, Ray Mercer, C.U.P.E.; trustees (3 year term), Andre Pepin, N. W. Cordage. The following were elected committee chairmen: organ- ization, John Hachey, IWA; education, Keith Harvey, Steelworkers; sergeant - at - arms, Frank Walden, Postal Workers; political education, H. Hoskin, Firefighters; com- munity services, A. Schiller, Amalgamated Transit: legis- lative, Alec Archibald, IWA.