¥ 4 bo Regional President Jack 2 Meore in a radio address - April 15, bluntly attacked the » -, Canadian Forest Products Ltd. for their refusal to ne- _° | gotiate with the IWA to settle _’ the strike at their Grande ¥ ‘Prairie planer mill operation. " . > The following is the complete text of Moore’s broadcast: “As President of the West- ern Canadian Regional Coun- cil of the IWA it becomes my duty to state publicly, in plain and blunt terms, the position + of our Union with regard to | the strike at the Grande Prai- . rie planing mill, which is ' owned and controlled by one ' of the wealthiest lumber cor- porations in British Columbia. “First let me pay tribute, on v » behalf of the Union, to the | courage displayed by the men ic who have faithfully held the picket lines in this strike _ through eight long weary _* months. I know from personal | experience just how much ' » courage it has required. Let me say to them that their con- duct has been in the best tra- i dition of the early trade union ] pioneers. Let me also say to ‘ them that the IWA member- ¢ ship Local Unions from Vic- Nl > toria, B.C., to the Manitoba h boundary stand firmly behind . them in their struggle. WILL LLL dad LLL LLL 4 By JEAN MOHART In the trade union move- ,. ment it isn’t the number of workers that impress the most, especially in the story from Victoria, British Co- lumbia, where the shipyard workers comprising 22 unions are out on strike. But this F . Story isn’t so much about the _ shipyard workers as it is about the little-heard-of office workers who are supporting them. ght weeks all the of- ©? For ei _ fice workers (47 in number) y Members of Local 15, Office Employees International Un- ion, who are not involved in this strike, have respected a picket line and taken their place in labour history’s pre- cedents, For eight weeks they . have been off the payroll, and all that time they have not received any strike relief. * Only be a few ean st in = case of a mother, wi 7 two elt shitiven to sup- ; where the Local paid . . her rent, have they received nee. Until now they ven't even appealed for ~ VILL LLL ddd LLL LLL Meany Criticizes Policy Addressing the 19th Convention of the United Auto- mobile Workers of America, which opened March 20 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, George Meany, president of the American Trade Union Federation, AFL-CIO, criti- cized the United States’ Government’s policy on the prob- lem of wages and prices and denounced the authorities opinion that wages should not exceed increases in pro- ductivity. “If we go down this road far enough, it leads to the end of free collective bargaining,” the American trade union leader said, and pointed out that the govern- ment would have to propose guide-lines for executives salaries, stockholders’ dividends and corporation cash reserves once it gets into the wage-price field. NAZI ddddddddaaddddddddlddddddddddddddiddddddddar Office Workers Back Shipyard Strikers IN RADIO ADDRESS Moore Attacks Canadian Forest Products Stand “It is now clearly evident that their disgracefully low wages will not be adequately increased until as free men they show the courage they have shown to fight for their rights as provided in the law. We have known few owners in the lumber industry who would voluntarily give their employees anything but what they have been forced to give. That is why we have so many millionaire timber magnates, like those who dominate the corporation controlling the planing mill. “We are forced to the con- clusion that the organized em- ployers in the Alberta lumber industry have an agreed-upon policy to depress wages for lumber workers in Alberta. That is why the local manage- ment talks about parity wages in the area. This claim is not valid. The same company in negotiations accepted an in- creased base rate for employ- ees in its Grande Prairie ply- wood division. They can easi- ly make the same adjustment for employees in the planing mill. We direct attention to the fact that the Swanson Lumber Co. Ltd. has increas- ed the base rate to $1.55 in three northern Alberta opera- tions. These facts indicate the ? by LLL LL LLL ZZ help. Hopes were held that they would be eligible for Unemployment Insurance benefits but now that seems to be out, too. Not one of the 47 office employees involved has brok- en faith with the striking shipyard workers; and this is all the more noteworthy in view of the fact that very shortly their own negotia- tions will be coming up, with the same employer as the striking shipyard workers. At Local 15 OEIU’s most recent meeting their fellow trade unionists felt it was time to bring this to the at- tention of the trade union movement. “You have shown that office workers’ loyalty is second to none. By example, you have done what we wish we could have done. We are proud of you!” and they pro- mised to seek financial assist- ance for this group who wil- lingly demonstrated the time- less value of trade-unionism at its best: An injury to one is an injury to all! THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER company in making this claim was merely flaunting a flimsy . pretext for its sub-standard wages in Grande Prairie. “Our Union has no apology to make for its support of this strike. Under the law, we have the responsibility to exert every effort to promote the welfare of the men and their families. Lumber work- ers are human beings and not merely ciphers on the com- pany’s ledger sheets. Every family of every worker em- ployed by this company is en- titled to living standards that conform to acceptable com- munity standards. “The workers have only asked for fair consideration of their families’ urgent needs which are exactly the same as the needs of all other fami- lies. A reliable survey made -of food prices has revealed that prices are higher than for the more highly paid Brit- ish Columbia workers. Fre- quent surveys made by family welfare agencies have shown that their annual take-home pay is dangerously below sub- sistence standards. “We will not rest until all the disgraceful facts are made known to the public in the Province of Alberta. If the publie consider that such ex- ploitation should spring from the special privileges enjoyed by the employers in access to our forest resources, I have misjudged their sense of fair play. “As President of the IWA in this Region, I have author- ized the insertion of paid ad- vertisements in the Edmonton Journal and the Grande Prai- rie Herald-Tribune. We be- lieve it to be important that the public should be fully aware of the facts, and we have stated them fairly and reasonably. We ask you to read our statement. “J may also announce that we have requested the Pre- mier of Alberta, Hon. E. C. Manning, to appoint a Com- mission of Inquiry to investi- gate and report upon such conditions in the Alberta lum- ber industry. We expect to meet with members of Mr. Manning’s Cabinet that we may state our views frankly in a face-to-face manner. “We call it a scandal, with- out apology, that this pro- tracted strike should have been so long denied suitable and official mediation. We blame the parent company for this. The Union stands ready, as the Managing Director well knows, to enter into discus- sions leading to a settlement. We ask only for good faith on his part. “We call it a scandal that this ‘runaway’ industry, from the higher wage area of Brit- ish Columbia should insist upon sub-standard wages and conditions in a town like Grande Prairie. “We call it a scandal that a community like Grande Prai- rie should be so imposed upon by this company. Every alert citizen knows that the fair distribution of wage income through the lumber industry _ always stimulates business ac-- tivity in a lumbering centre. We wish the industry to yield a fair return on investment and to maintain a sound pro- fit position. On the other hand, with our knowledge of the extraordinary profits made by the parent company, we say that never did it have a bet- ter opportunity to give more generous consideration to the welfare of its employees.” SICK LIST Financial Secretary Ed. Linder of Local 1-80, IWA, visited patients in the following hospitals and distributed candy, cigarettes and copies of the Western Canadian Lumber Worker. NANAIMO HOSPITAL Mr. Irvine Pointe, Nanaimo, B.C, KING’S DAUGHTERS HOSPITAL Mr. Dalton H. 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