LABOR The Campbell River, Courtenay and Dis- trict Labor Council last week called on unicipal councils in its jurisdiction to press the provincial govrnment for a review of “tree farm licence legislation to ensure that the forest companies “provide the same “security of tenure for their employees as the “companies themselves enjoy under the tree arm licences.” In briefs to municipal councils in Camp- ell River, Courtenay and Cumberland, the labor council emphasized that the bargain- ing demand by the companies for an increased use of “phase contractors” threa- _ tended the stability of employment that is Supposedly guaranteed by the 1945 tree arm legislation. (“Full” or “stump to ump” contractors perform all phases of imber harvesting; “phase” contractors Peform only one function, such as yarding, alling or maintenance.) That issue can only be addressed by a change in the legislation, the council sated. It called for amendments to: __ @ Discontinue the practice of contracting- Out SO per cent of the logging cut to small Contractors; © Require tree farm licence holders to Provide the same security of tenure to their mployees as they themselves enjoy; ® Provide by regulation that companies Who fail to provide such security of Mmployment be required to relinquish their tree farm licences and that the licence be Issued to a logging company prepared to harvest the timber and provide security for ts employees. Labor council president Cameron McLean said the brief was endorsed by the Cumberland municipal council which 4greed to make representation to Victoria ‘ll€ echoes Continued from page 1 trom $20 to $25 per month for each year of Tvice; amendments in early retirement Provisions to allow retirement between the 4ges of 60 and 65 at full pension; © No change in current contracting-out Ctices in logging operations “except in Special circumstances” but the employers Ould be allowed seven-day operations at aight time as long as shifts do not exceed hours per day and work weeks do not eed 40 hours on average. The shift sche- ®uling could be arranged without the con- t of the union; ® Changes in shift scheduling in mills to Vide for Saturday work at straight time; ® Changes in shift scheduling in mainte- € to allow employers Saturday work Id extended days at straight time provided | ots do not exceed 12 hours per day and etk-weeks 40 hours on average. Only the day premium would continue to apply. The key proposals on contracting-out ve IWA members almost no protection »M contracting-out since it is current prac- *€s that have led to extensive loss of work Sontractors. ny ion What is worse, however, is that [WA Aly “Mbers are asked in addition, to make Mae €ssions on weekend work and _ the of the work day. Munro slammed the proposals as rly worded” and termed the report ‘Give workers same tenure as company, council brief urges once the report of the three-member com- mission of inquiry studying the forest dis- pute has been brought down. The presentation to the municipal coun- cils was prompted by the effects the lengthy dispute between Forest Industrial Relations (FIR) and the IWA is having on the com- munities on northern Vancouver Island which depend on forest industry payrolls. However, “we wish to make it clear,” the brief emphasized, “that we are not suggest- ing that the workers be legislated back to work. “In a dispute between labor and man- agement, legislating workers back to work without addressing the irritants causing the dispute in the first place, have never been a solution,” it said. The irritant lies not only in the contracting-out of work to logging contrac- tors as provided for in legislation, but also FIR’s demand for increased use of phase contractors which would “create an atmos- phere in which workers will have to com- pete with each other for a limited number of jobs,” the council brief stated. The proposals for changes in legislation would accomplish three things, the council added. They would provide the basis for settling the forest industry dispute; they would result in better management of the forest resource; and would give small log- ging companies “a fair advantage to to acquire timber harvesting rights.” The labor council has also launched a petition which demands “that the forest companies holding tree farm licences who have not signed the 1986 IWA agreement have their TFLs reviewed or removed until they are willing to give woodworkers the same security as they have.” employers itself “probably the worst document I have seen for a long time.” In its opening introduction, the 19-page report — prepared by chairman Stu Hodg- son and commission members Peter Pearse and Mary Saunders — acknowledges, as Justice Henry Hutcheon did two months ago, that in adapting to changes in the industry, the employers must recognize “the implication for employees’ job security, working conditions and social and family lives.” But unlike Hutcheon, the report’s authors do not recognize those needs and instead echo the employers’ arguments about the overriding need for change and flexibility in a highly competitive industry. In more than three pages of discussion on the “context of industrial change,” the report outlines in detail problems of compe- tition, U.S. protectionism and “market uncertainties” — all problems dwelt on by the forest companies throughout the 128 days of the dispute. The report does not mention, however, that the industry has enjoyed an unprece- dented U.S. market share and a resurgence of profits that even industry analysts have described as “dramatic.” Munro also charged that the report “did not take into account the economic evi- dence we provided them and contradicted the economic argument we gave them.” Dave Crosby (centre) and John Shaw, members of the Campbell River, Courtenay and District Labor Council’s unemployed committee, collect signatures on the council's petition in Campbell River. sd ie Labor Briefs es UF W Christmas appeal set to aid Gainers strikers The United Food and Com- mercial Workers has launched an appeal for a Christmas fund for striking Gainers workers who have been on picket lines at three B.C. plants since July 14. and in Edmonton since June 1. Dave Cherrille, president of the B.C. industrial council of the UFCW told the Tribune this week that the union is set- ting up a special account to receive dona- tions for the strikers at Christmas. “We'll CHERILLE A three-member Soviet trade union delegation will be in Vancouver this week as part of a cross-Canada tour intended to begin discussions on the resumption of exchanges between Cana- dian and Soviet trade union centres. The three Soviets — Vladimir Nik- itin, head of the Canadian section of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions; Mikhail Kuzmenko, secretary of the Medical Workers Union; and Anat- oly Palashenko, chairman of the Odessa Regional Committee of State and Co- operative Commerce Workers — are here at the invitation of the Canada- Former Solid- arity Coalition co-chair Renate Shearer will be heading up a new campaign against racism, launched earlier this month by the B.C. Fed- eration of Labor with the assist- ance of the fed- eral government. SHEARER Soviet union leaders here Fed campaign targets racism be putting any money we receive into that account and then giving each striker a cheque so at least they can have some- thing at Christmas,” he said. Some 80 UFCW members are on strike at three B.C. plants in Kamloops, Victoria and Richmond, to defend their right not to | handle hot products from the scab-run plant in Edmonton. Donations can be sent to UFCW Christmas Fund, Unit B, 5261, Lane St., Burnaby, V5H 2H4. For those who want to direct a dona- tion specially to the special fund for the children of Edmonton Gainers’ strikers, the CLC has set up a fund in Regina. The address is: CLC-UFCW Local 180-P Children’s Christmas Fund, 2267 Alberta St., Regina, S4P 2VS. USSR Friendship Society. Their itinerary during a five-day stay in B.C. includes a meeting in Port Alberni Nov. 29, attendance at the B.C. Federation of Labor convention and a reception for B.C. Fed delegates hosted by the friendship society Dec. 2. They will fly to Ottawa Dec. 3. B.C. Fed convention delegates last year called on the Canadian Labor Con- gress to resume official exchanges with the AUCCTU. That position was subse- quently adopted by the CLC convention § in May. “Since 1983, we hav noted a steady decline in human rights protection and education in this province,” Federation president Art Kube said in announcing the campaign. “The government attack — on these programs combined with high unemployment has made racism a con- cern for all organizations addressing human rights and social justice.” Shearer will be working with federa- tion affiliates and labor councils as well as community groups in the campaign.