: eS 10 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER OCTOBER, 1972 ES Greetings: The Officers of the Re- gional Council take this opportunity to welcome the delegates to this 35th An- nual Convention. During this week many resolutions and reports will be dealt with and decisions made. We are confident that the delegates after study and debate will develop pro- grams and policies that will guide the Regional Council through 1973 as an effective co-ordinating body dealing with the problems of all the Local Unions in Western Canada. We note with interest that the Local Unions are re- quiring and asking for in- ereased service from the Regional Council which has resulted in a busy year for the Regional Officers. Each year seems to have its own peculiar problems and we can say that 1972 has been a busy year with nego- tiations conducted for the various areas in British Co- lumbia and also throughout the prairie provinces. NEGOTIATIONS During the past year ne- gotiations across the Re- gional Council took up the major part of your officers’ activities. Our Union made great strides in these nego- tiations in British Columbia as well as on the prairies. Today the Coast woodwork- ers are the highest paid in the world and by the end of the present contract all woodworkers in British Co- lumbia will be on a stan- dard base rate and an agreement similar in all significant clauses. We were able to establish a fully employer-paid pen-- sion plan in all areas of B.C. and an entirely employer- paid health and welfare plan. We were able to with- stand a strong effort by the employers to foist the se- ven-day work week upon us. During the Coast negotia- tions we had the fallers dis- pute which will be dealt with separately in this re- port. As a result of negotiating a pension plan for the first time and because it is im- perative that the plan be set up properly the Regional Officers put Jack Washburn on staff to assist us in the plan’s implementation. THE FALLERS’ DISPUTE Ever since the I.W.A. was founded in 1937, the policy of the Union was one of eli- minating piecework in the industry. Although the Union had demanded a day rate for fallers in negotia- tions during the early fifties the employers managed to hang on to the bushel sys- tem. Failing to establish a day rate the Union concen- trated on negotiating pric- ing formulas to protect fallers from being cheated by their employers. The best formula achieved was the Franklin River formula negotiated in 1955. As the years rolled by formulas were negotiated in several operations, day rates developed in others, but the majority relied on direct negotiations between faller and bullbucker. The falling situation became a complete mess and wildcat strikes by aggrieved fallers erupted in camp after camp. : Prior to the 1970 negotia- tions the Regional Council called a meeting of fallers and Negotiating Committee members who drew up.a proposed formula consider- ably richer than the Frank- lin River formula and en- tered it into negotiations to cover all fallers in all camps on the Coast. In his report on a pro- posed settlement for 1970 negotiations, Judge Nemetz recommended that formal ¥, eager ng the fol- iL a “So | “SR es ee lowing two years, the Union attempted to do this but met with determined opposition from the companies who flatly stated that they would negotiate formulas but in no way would agree to any- thing even approaching the established Franklin River pricing agreement. As a result, the 1972 Wages and Contract Con- ference passed a resolution that committed the Union to enter into broad negotia- tions the standard pricing proposal which was put be- fore Justice Nemetz if the fallers problems had not been settled by June 15. In the meantime, a group of fallers set themselves up as a steering committee of the fallers and organized the fallers into a well disci- plined pressure group to at- tain their ends. On April 18th, the steering committee called the fallers out of the woods and most responded. The I.W.A. Coast Nego- tiating Committee on June 1st, passed by a unanimous vote the following motion: “That we put into nego- tiations the 1970 Falling and Bucking demands on a base rate of $1.10 per M in- cluding note No. 1 and the items under R—W plus the demands on trimming of tops and limbing developed in the Alberni negotiations and allitems agreed by M & B under definitions known as phase No.1.” This formula would have greatly increased the earn- A ee Peed ye ings of every faller on the Coast. The fallers steering committee rejected out of hand this proposal as not being good. enough. This rejection by the steering committee of a standard pricing agree- ment destroyed any oppor- tunity for the Coast Nego- tiating Committee to nego- tiate along the lines author- ized and approved by the Wage Conference. Faced with this impossi- ble position of the fallers steering committee and re- cognizing there were 28,000 other I.W.A. members awaiting a new agreement the Coast Negotiating Com- mittee returned to the well established policy of elim- inating piecework. The final agreement which was accepted by the majority of the members gave the fallers a minimum day rate of $80.52 for a 6% hour day. SOUTHERN INTERIOR Negotiations between the I.W.A.‘and the IFLRA were concluded with a Memoran- dum of Agreement signed The world's smartest the day after a strike had been officially called by the Union. Terms of settlement followed closely the pattern established at the Coast, and parity with the Coast base rate was established, effective June 1, 1974. © CANADIAN CELLULOSE This company negotiates independently from the rest of the Southern Interior but with the same contract ex- piry date (June 30). Again the general pattern of the settlement was the same as the Coast, with important gains being made in the fringe and local conditions areas. Sawmill evaluation was also included in the terms of Settlement with a 2.29% wage curve esta- blished. SOUTHERN ALBERTA The Regional Council also assisted Local 1-206 to ne- gotiate and conclude agree- ments with Boise-Cascade at Lethbridge, Alta.; Crest- brook Forest Industries at Fort Macleod, Alta.; and Sungold Manufacturing at Calgary. Important gains were made in those operations. Sungold Manufacturing is the first certification and agreement the JI.W.A. has been able to establish in the city of Calgary. NORTHERN INTERIOR Negotiations in the - Northern Interior were completed this year without a strike situation develop- ing. We feel a major factor in being able to achieve this is the fact that the commit- tee had excellent strike votes from all operations and the operators were con- He could be you. vinced that the membership were determined this year to obtain an agreement which would eliminate the large spread between the North and the coastal area. Highlights of that agree- ment are: 15 cents per hour See "REPORT" Page 11 logger. If there’s an Oregon chain on your saw, there’s no doubt. It's the first choice of professional loggers across Canada and the world over. For good reasons. They know that any saw is only as good as the chain. That's why Oregon chain is engineered to beat the toughest wood cutting conditions the world has to offer. Including Canada’s frozen northern woods. Strength and speed are built into every one of Oregon's 35 types of chain. Super Chisel and Micro Chisel have square type cutters for speed cutting and boring. 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