ght for
‘cognition

suspected of union activity. A spy system was used by the
employers, and reports of that time indicate that police prowler
cars swept through Maillardville at night and peered through
windows with flashlights to rout any attempted union meetings
in private homes.

News of the progress made in negotiations in the United
States aggravated the situation in British Columbia; 3,000
employees of Weyerhaeuser Co. secured a base rate of 81 cents
an hour. The Union fought the bonus system for loggers, and
found that many operations were paying far below scale.

As organization grew in the mills, wages were upped. A
wage scale reported for the Eburne Sawmill, in April 1937, was
as follows:

Head sawyer ..........-........ $1.10 Marker (green chain) .......... 45
Auto trimmer ................. .60 Cranexcrew .26...-> 225i. eee 40
EGROnMAD iad oo ec a cacees 70 BOOM cre Sales oe notes -40
RGsSaWio yee ih eos cue 50 DyAKIIN es tet te este e ee y's 38
SELB ere oa skys sivcunvo tues 45 Sizer chain)... 20-6... nese es 30
Carrier driver ................. 45 ConvVeyonsieacre) - 4-5 ence 25

On or about this time some mills demanded and secured an
increase of 2% cents an hour. A strike policy was not then ad-
vocated as in the view of the Union the 1936 strike had been a
mistake — no real gains were consolidated, and few new
members were secured. Because of the blacklist, the policy was
adopted of establishing a large group of delegates in individual
camps to make intimidation difficult.

As the IWA gained a foothold in the industry, it was quickly
realized that trade unions required legal protection in the right
to organize and bargain, with a requirement upon employers to
execute an agreement reached through collective bargaining.
The Loggers’ Local heard a CCF speaker, and approved of
political action. The CCF commenced a fight in the Legislature
for an Act guaranteeing the right to organize without in-
timidation. At the same time the Loggers’ Local decided to
establish a hiring hall to escape the evils of the private em-
ployment agencies.

1938

As a result of a vigorous campaign on the part of the trade
unions, and despite the opposition offered by the employers, the
Provincial Government enacted the first Industrial Conciliation
and Arbitration Act. The International appointed three In-
ternational organizers, and the B.C. District Council named Tom
Bradley and Lloyd Whalen organizers for B.C. with instructions to
concentrate on the sawmills. The fear complex abated under
legal protection.

In 1938, the Loggers’ Local, now 1-71, staged in July the
biggest loggers’ dance yet seen in Vancouver as the beginning of
an organizing campaign. In that year, the Local established a sub-
office in a cigar store, the Woodworkers’ Cigar Store, 179 E.
Hastings, Vancouver.

The Union's problems were many in that year. The logging
operators tried to circumvent the ICA Act by forming company
unions. The Loggers’ Agency (Black’s) included a clause on
employment contract slips requiring applicants to refuse to
invite any person into the camps without company permission.

Fallers at Franklin River on contract rates complained that
they could not compete with the new power saw gangs, as they
were assigned to poor timber on the most difficult terrain. Many
of them walked off the job. The Queen Charlotte loggers made a
determined stand against wage cuts attempted by the operators.
A constant fight was waged against the blacklist which was the
employers’ most deadly weapon against the Union.

Unemployment was rife, and the Union organized an
unemployed section, whose members, from time to time, un-
dertook mass treks to Victoria asking work or relief. During this
year the Union was deeply involved in the Blubber Bay fight,
described elsewhere. The ICA Act was declared to be wholly
unsatisfactory, because of loopholes for employer evasion, and
the campaign for watertight legislation was again launched.

The IWA District Council established its offices in the Holden
Building in close proximity to the loggers’ hiring hall.

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1939

In 1939, the Union made some headway in organizing the
sawmills. The campaign to organize Fraser Mills, one of the
toughest, secured the restoration of a wage cut in the previous
year. It gradually began to dawn on sawmill and plywood plant
workers that without organization they were helpless to raise
their sub-standard wages or protect themselves against drastic
wage cuts.
When the plywood plant workers demanded a wage increase,
the large companies retaliated by large lay-offs. The plywood
workers moved to affiliate and in 1939, the first plywood local
was formed.
As World War II broke out the slogan adopted by the Union
was “raise the pay a dollar a day’’. During the early stages of the
war, the Union was active in taking advantage of the increased
demands on production. Plans were laid to get an industry-wide
pay hike.
The Cowichan Lake Local won an agreement at Lake Logging
which gained it union recognition, a safety committee, the
established hours of work, no discrimination for union activity,
and the re-hiring of employees after lay-offs. Its camps were
regarded as models for that day.
Fallers and buckers working at Menzies Bay reported that,
working in poor timber, they earned an average of only $2.00 a
day. Englewood Camp, Wood and English, demanded a 15-cent an
hour wage increase, and before arbitration was commenced,
settled for ten cents. Chokermen were raised from $4.25 a day to
$4.60 a day.
The Union’s first wage conference was held in 1939. The
demands formulated were:
A minimum wage of 62% cents an hour;
An industry-wide agreement with all employers to include:
1—Collective bargaining through a committee of the employees
and provision for the peaceful settlement of disputes through
arbitration.

2—Seniority.

3—Elimination of strikes and lock-outs for the duration of the
agreement.

4—Provision for the observance of regular holidays, time and one
half for overtime, and double time for holidays.

5—Recognition of safety committees elected by the employees.

6—Provision of board and commissary at cost instead of the
present profit basis.

7—Provision for the check-off and employer-employee
representation in hiring arrangements.

8—Arrangements for leave of absence.

The minimum wage scale was approved as a means to
prevent any employers paying below the accepted scale. The
“cheat stick” method of scaling was denounced. Steps were
taken to have loggers included on the Unemployment Insurance
Scheme. A shortage of loggers was reported, which enabled the
QCl loggers to gain another 50-cent an hour wage increase. Lake
Logging employees won the second wage increase for the year —
ten cents retroactive.

The Western Canadian Lumber Worker — Special Edition/7