AUGUST, 1974 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER nn AT ANNUAL MEETING LOCAL 1-184 REPORTS GREAT ORGANIZING PROGRESS Officers of Local 1-184 IWA Saskatchewan, reported at the Local’s 15th Annual Delegated Meeting August 17, in Prince Albert, that the Local was making great progress and that nearly 500 new members had been organized during the past year. The meeting, attended by approximately fifty delegates and officers, dealt with 31 reso- lutions, approved a compre- _ hensive Officers’ Report and heard from a number of guest speakers. Among the _ resolutions passed were demands that: © The Local Union pay 10 cents per member per month affiliation fee to the NDP. ® The Saskatchewan provin- cial government consider con- structing a particle board plant in the Hudson Bay area to utilize the wood now being wasted by the logging opera- tions. © The provincial government bring in legislation prohibiting employers from hiring em- ployees to operate a plant or operation during a strike. The delegates also approved increasing the initiation fees from twenty to thirty dollars, and raising the per diem allow- ance from the present eight dollars to twelve dollars a day when away from the place of residence and to increase the twelve dollars to sixteen dol- lars a day when out of the prov- ince of Saskatchewan. Other resolutions called for the government to allow hunting on Sundays; prohibit all non-Canadians from hun- ting in Saskatchewan; the fed- eral government to increase the income tax exemption; and the provincial government to raise the present 65 mile per hour maximum highway speed to 75 miles per hour. The keynote speaker was Regional President Jack Munro who had just returned to Canada from attending Re- gion No. 5’s Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. He des- cribed his visit and impres- sions of the people and sug- gested that it was imperative that Canadian IWA members give IWA members in the deep South all assistance possible to bring wage rates in line with those of Canadian woodwork- ers. He stated that the large com- panies (like MacMillan Bloe- del) were setting up huge operations in the South where Right to Work Laws existed to produce lumber and plywood with non-union workers. These workers, he stated, are paid a third of the wages paid in Canada and if the IWA allowed this to continue it wouldn’t be long before Canadian wood- workers would be jobless. Munro then told the dele- gates some of his future plans for Region 1. He stated that the Union’s image needed improv- ing and it was now embarking on a massive public relations program to make everyone aware of the organization’s structure and aims. He also reported on the re- cent coast contract negotia- - tions and said that it was his hope that in the near future all IWA members in British Col- umbia would be covered by one master agreement. Other speakers at the meet- ing included Regional 3rd Vice- President Bob Blanchard, Local 1-207 President Arne Christensen Local 1-357 Presi- dent Gerry Stoney and Local 1- 324 President Bill Benson. At the close of the meeting the Local sponsored a banquet and dance which were thor- oughly enjoyed by the dele- gates and visitors alike. NEW LIST OF OPERATIONS ORGANIZED BY LOCAL 1-184 On July 24, 1974, Local 1-184 became certified by the Sas- katchewan Department of Labour as the bargaining agent for the employees of Homco Industries Ltd. at Este- van Saskatchewan, reports Frank Stich, International As- sistant Director of Organiza- tion, Regional Council No. 1. This is a trailer plant manu- facturing mobile homes em- ploying 109 employees at the time the application for certifi- cation was made. The com- pany was also in the process of hiring additional employees for a third shift which will add to the total work force. In other certifications re- ceived recently by Local 1-184 are: Willie Omelchuck (12 em- ployees), Guest Brothers Con- struction and logging (12 em- ployees), George J. Boychuck sawmill (22 employees) and Tisdale Feeder Group Ltd. (12 employees). The following-dormant certi- fications in. the Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan area for the contractors were also revived: Joe Dunn (11 employees), Jack Russell (15 employees), Lucas & Langdon (11 employees), Don Hallen Logging and Trucking (10 employees), W. Kozak’ (18 employees), N. Kozak (19 employees), A. Neu (35 employees and D. Stoudt (12 employees). This is a total of 131 employees. These operations were or- ganized and certifications re- vived by Harold Massey Jr. and was assisted in the Homco Industries Ltd. campaign for two days on a weekend by an IWA member from Regina, Sask., Don Erhardt. a Joe Morris, president of the 1.9 million-member Canadian Labour Congress issued a statement in support of the more than 4,000 striking em- ployees of Cominco in Trail, Kimberley and Salmo, B.C. The strikers are members of the United Steelworkers of America and the Association of Commercial and Technical Employees. They have been on strike since July 1. “The major issues in this strike such as early Labour Congress has urged its affiliated unions to strive to ob- tain for their membership,”’ Morris said. “‘They are compa- tible with the goals set by or- ganized labour in the advance- ment of social conditions for ~ working people of our coun- ry. “Unions such as the United Steelworkers have always been leaders in obtaining break-throughs for their mem- bership, and companies like Cominco have always vigor- ously resisted the march of so- cial progress,” he said. PETITION SUPPORTS GOVERNMENT The Vancouver Area Council of the NDP is supporting the government’s refusal to back the Winter Olympic bid for B.C. by. launching a counter petition in opposition to the one now being circulated by the. Vancouver-Garibaldi Olympic Committee. The Vancouver-Garibaldi Committee, a group of devel- opers.who will make a fortune from their Whistler Mountain holdings if the Olympics are held, are seeking 100,000 signa- tures from all areas of the pro- vince in an effort to force the government to reverse its posi- tion. In refusing to support the Olympics, the government pointed out that over one hundred million dollars in tax- payers’ money would be needed to service the event through the building of new roads, new water and sewer systems and providing new buses and railroad cars to transport the people to the area. The government also pointed out that having over 100,000 spectators moving into ‘the Whistler area at one time would be dangerous to the en- vironment and the volume of sewage generated would destroy the chain of lakes in the valley below for years to come. The government stated that it was also necessary to respect the wishes of the resi- dents of the Whistler area who have voiced their opposition to the staging of the Olympics. BEST JOBLESS RATE The three Prairie provinces had the lowest unem- ployment rates in Canada in June. Saskatchewan had 1.6 per cent, Alberta 2.1 per cent, and Manitoba 2.7 per cent. Most economists regard anything under 3 per cent as ‘‘full employment’’, to take into account people who leave jobs voluntarily and who have not yet found, or accepted, other employment. The Canadian rate in June was 4.8 per cent, down from 5.4 per cent in May, and also down from the 5.2 per cent in June, 1973. “DOES ANYBODY OUT THERE GIVE A DAMN?” By ROMEO MAIONE CLC International Affairs Director Once upon a time when religion ran the world, theolo- gy was the prisoner of the theo- logians and it was hidden under the shroud of ‘‘it is far too complex’ for ordinary people to understand. As reli- gion loses its power grip over the world, theology seems to be moving out of its prison and trying to get people to under- stand. In today’s world, econo- mics holds sway and it also tries to wrap the shroud of complexity around itself, so that people will not come to understand what is really happening. Every once in a while, the public relations‘\experts (the priests of the modern economy) mount their expen- sive media pulpits (how much did the mining association of Canada pay for their full page ‘ads in most large newspapers in Canada on July 25, 1974 — $200,000 or so) to preach on ‘Does Anybody Out There Give a Damn (rough language) if the Mining Industry is Taxed to Death?”’ There you have it, the governments are planning to increase taxes and mining ‘companies are close to death. PROFITS AND TAXES Noranda is one of the great mining companies in Canada. Noranda’s profits after taxes in 1972 were $64 million; in 1973, profits after taxes nearly doubled to $121 million. This year, according to Eric Kierans, Noranda will ap- proach $200 million of: profits after taxes. What a way to die! Not only will their profits have more than tripled in three years but at the end of 1973, Noranda owed $57 million in back taxes to the federal gov- ernment which, of course, poor hard pressed Noranda did not pay any interest on this debt which is equivalent to an in- terest-free loan. The sorrowful story of INCO is akin to Noranda. After taxes, profits went from $110 million in 1972, to $227 million in 1973 and this year will exceed $300 million. Tripling one’s profits in three years in anybody’s language is surely not being taxed to death. Maybe they need increased profits to dis- cover new resources for Canada and develep new jobs. Wrong again, they have just bought a battery company in Philadelphia for $230 million. Like Noranda, they owe. the federal government $274 million in deferred taxes or an interest-free loan to buy up the battery company. The next time that you send in your income tax return, tell the gov- ernment that you will pay your taxes in five years, and wait and see what happens. 5% DIVIDENDS Our government thinks that all these little gifts to our mining industry will spur them on to prospect and develop other mineral resources or who knows they may even increase the dividends to their share- holders or maybe even lower their prices of their products. Don’t hold your breath too long! According to Mr. Powis, the president of N oranda ‘‘We used to have a policy of paying out 50 per cent of earnings in dividends. But application on today’s: earnings wouldn’t make sense because of the radical increases in the amount needed for capital de- velopments in our industry.” “Thou shalt not lie’’ or in modern terms make mislead- ing statements. The radical in- creases in amounts needed for capital development are not for the development of mineral resources but rather for the buying up of other companies. The truth of the matter is that the capital is not for new pro- ductive investments; nor does it add to Canadian output and employment. The corporation grows in assets and power but the shareholders must be satis- fied, in a year of huge profits, with the standard 5% dividend. So far from being taxed to death, the mining companies are using the profits on mineral resources to become holding companies by -buying up other non-mineral com- panies. The age of the con- glomerate is upon us and the taxing policies of our govern- ments are helping to develop corporate power without really developing a healthy and pro- ductive economy. This full page ad has re- moved the shroud just a little. Are we ready to do some serious thinking about the hold that the corporations have over our future and their relations with our governments.