wR A A a OP ei ies i. i a a Ce See 8 > «4 FROM PAGE 1 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER "EMPLOYERS PREACH STONE AGE ECONOMICS" The employers would have us close our eyes to the inflationary effects of excessive profits. It is true that up to a point income is distributed as a result of capital expansion. Our employers have gone beyond that point and siphoned huge profits out of a resource industry for the accumulation of wealth in the financial capitals. The lumber industry is asked to bear the burden of higher and higher wages for capital quite out of proportion to the wages paid the workers in the industry. No one can dispute the fact that extortion- ate profit-taking has inflated prices in a greater degree than wage increases. The industry spokesman is arguing for a more dangerous imbalance between wages, prices, and profits. The truth is, as economists now agree, that organized labour’s demands exercise an important restraint on the unbridled greed of the “power elite.” GUIDE LINES PROVED INEFFECTIVE Evidently the industry's editorial writer has read only the headlines about President Johnson‘s proposed guidelines, protested by the AFL-CIO. If he had studied the reports of the President’s economic advisers he would have learned that the central problem was the relation of wage increases to increased productivity. In the United States, wages, salaries, and fringe benefits per hour in the period 1960 to 1964, rose at an annual rate of 3.3%. Productivity rose even faster. It rose at an annual rate of 3.6%. As a result, unit labour costs declined 1.1% during the period as a whole. Productivity for the total private economy increased 28.3% during the period 1956 to 1964, During the same period, real average earnings rose only 20.1% for all workers in the private economy. Corporation profits, after taxes, rose to the fantastic rate of 10.5 billion dollars annually. Canadian statistics show a comparable relationship between productivity and wage income, obscured only by the employers’ ef- forts to suppress the facts. SEE? 17S Like | ALWAYS SAY--- “Fewer HANDS MAKE LOWER CosTS SG in YI Bue INCREASED OUTPUT LOWERED LABOUR COSTS Employers in the lumber industry will not face the fact that output per man hour has increased enormously. This has proportion- ately reduced their labour costs per 1000 f.b.m. Production per man year in B.C. logging increased by 29.6% in the period 1957-1962. For the same period wage costs per 1000 f.b.m. were 21.3% lower. In the B.C. sawmills, production per UNION BACKS LOCAL 1-288 workers rose 60.9%, while wages as a percent of value declined from 25.5% to 20.4%. This development alone has so enhanced their profit position that a substantial wage increase will not impair their competitive po- sition on the world market. As a matter of fact, they could simultaneously raise wages substantially and cut prices as well, while still retaining their present commanding position in export trade. The proposition that substandard wages are essential to promote successful export trade is another Stone Age concept. It is axiomatic with every economist that trade is a two-way street. Trade is an exchange be- tween nations of goods and services with money functioning merely as the medium of exchange. TRADE A TWO-WAY STREET To keep international trade in reasonable balance we must accept and pay for goods and services offered in exchange for our lum- ber. The circuitous method of striking this balance does not alter the principle involved. Our export trade will thrive only when we, the Canadian consumers, are furnished with the income enabling us to buy the goods and services offered in exchange for our lumber. Everyone agrees that investments should yield a reasonable rate of return, but when each dollar invested yields a greater and ‘greater volume of output without increasing wage income distribution, the further inequity of income and wealth increases the danger of recession and prolonged periods of economic stagnation. ; The employers’ unreasonable demands for increased wages on their capital leaves them no good ground for their criticism of unions, so artfully disguised as a plea for common sense. They are obviously agitated only because the workers have actually shown a surprising degree of common sense. PNE TO HIGHLIGHT LOGGERS’ SKILLS Rod Beaton, President of Loeal 1-288 IWA, reports the Local Union has applied for the services of a Conciliation Officer in its dispute with the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau over terms of a new agreement. The present con- tract expires June 15, The Local, which has 270 lumber inspectors, opened ne- gotiations March 24 with the Bureau’s representative For- est Industrial Relations Lim- ited. The inspectors are renew- ing their demand for exclu- sive recognition of the PLIB grade stamp on lumber ex- ported by the lumber indus- try. Another major demand is parity in wage rates with IWA tradesmen. The inspec-— tors at present receive 16 eents an hour less than the tradesmen, ROD BEATON reau, which has made no of- fer of a wage increase, is de- manding as one of its counter- proposals that the Local par- ticipate in broad negotiations. The chief obstacle to this arrangement is the dispute with the Bureau over the status of the present inspec- tors. The IWA Regional Ex- ecutive Board, to protect the job security of ‘the 1-288 members, issued a policy statement advising that IWA graders will only use PLIB grade stamps under the direct supervision of 1-288 inspec- tors. The decision commits the Regional Council and the Lo- eal Unions to a policy of pro- tecting the integrity of the PLIB stamp and the members of Local 1-288 to control the _ use of the stamp. ‘special The skills and status of the logger will be highlighted at the Pacific National Exhibi- tion in its 1966 feature, “The Festival of Logging”. IWA Regional President Jack Moore, accepting mem- bership on the PNE Forest Advisory Committee, com- mented: “The PNE ‘Festival of Log- ging’ will provide the public with a rare opportunity to see the feats of skill and daring for which our loggers are famed. The PNE Board is to be congratulated upon featur- ing colorful aspects of work that built our major basic in- dustry. It is a happy idea for the Centennial Show.” “The choice of the logging feature of the PNE shows recognition of the importance of the industry and its men in B.C.,” said W. D. Moore, Past President of the Truck Loggers’ Association. The PNE is constructing a “Feature Attraction Area” on a three-acre plot of land in the centre of Exhibi- tion Park where this year’s ' “Festival of Logging” will take place. Three one-hour shows will be presented daily at the PNE which runs from August 20 to September 5, excluding Sundays. The shows will highlight logging occupational skills which are in danger of be- coming forgotten as the in- dustry continues to move to- ward mechanization and mo- bilization in the woods. These skills include log burling, axe throwing, stand- ing block chopping, obstacle pole bucking, pole climbing, power saw bucking and pole falling. Once an integral part of a logger’s working skills, these are now seen by the public only at loggers’ sports days held annually in scattered centres. At the PNE this year, it is anticipated that over 1,0 000,000 will watch and enjoy this spectacular event. Union and management leaders are working jointly to encourage young loggers to take up the traditional skills and enter the PNE 14 day event. A committee has been working for many months to implement all phases of the loggers’ competition. Prize money, totalling $15,- 000, will be awarded to the top contestants daily. with Championship First Place Awards, ranging from $600 to $200, to be presented on La- bour Day, the closing day of the 1966 PNE. This show will be a prelude to a full fledged “Festival of Forestry” at Exhibition Park in 1967, which will be the PNE’s Canadian Centennial Show featuring every facet of the industry and which is ex- pected to draw participants from many parts of the world. It will be the most ambitious show of its kind ever at- tempted in Canada.