’ * Vol. XXXI, No. 8 / i 4 ; { ‘ t #4 I ye ’ ¢ \ t £ af ORS r ETRY _ THE WESTERN CANADIAN ¢ h wy ory (Pg >. Sie el te i WS Incorporating Phe B.C. Lembereworher Official Publication of the Jetereattonal Weedwerkers of s¥mextca Regional Council No. 1 VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY 2nd _ Issue April, 1964 <—S>* CHEQUE FOR $4,000 contributed by Local 1-85, IWA, Port Alberni, in aid of the Alberni Fund is presented by Financial Secretary left, to Fred Bishop, Mayor Mayor of Port Alberni. Valley se) West Coast Disaster Maurice Corbeil, of Alberni and Les Hammer, Fort Plywood Workers -, Win First Contract FORT MACLEOD, April 30 — A settlement of the dis- pute at Fort Plywood and Lumber Co. Ltd. was an- nounced here today by IWA Regional ist Vice - President Jack MacKenzie. After pro- tracted negotiations, the em- ployees won their first con- tract on terms that represent a distinct improvement over the conditions previously in- sisted upon by the employer. The settlement was reached as a result of conferences at- tended by Vice - President MacKenzie, the Deputy Min- ister of Labour, K. Pugh, and the employees’ committee headed by Jim Smith, Presi- dent of Local 1-206, IWA, and the plant committee chairman, Cae Stockton. The contract provides for a wage increase of five cents an hour across the board, effec- tive May 1, 1964, and a fur- ther increase of seven cents SHISTTISILSLES TTT LETTS 7. an hour, effective Oct. 1, 1964,- to establish a base rate of $1.52 an hour. The contract expires July 30, 1965. In addition, the employees - won a health and welfare plan - providing for medical cover- age on a fifty-fifty contribu- tory basis. Seven paid statu- tory holidays were also awarded and union security is provided through mainten- ance of membership requiring either membership or pay- ment of dues as a condition - of employment. The award previously made by a Conciliation Board had been rejected by the employ- ers. The employees voted de- cisively for strike action, but postponed the strike deadline to allow further discussion of the issues. The threat of a strike notice brought the em- ployers back to the bargain- ing table. LLL 172 TUTTI TILT LULL TLLLULTULLLLUL LLL LLL TULL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLALLLLLLLL ALLA L LALLA LU LLL LLL LLL LLL Lh VILLE LLL LLL LLL LLL Members’ Wives Support the Union By GRANT MacNEIL Interior Contract Meet Fifty IWA delegates repre- senting four Interior IWA Local Unions and their Policy Committee will assemble in the Capri Motor Inn, Kelow- na, May 8-9 for the Union’s Interior Wages and Contract Conference. The Conference will formulate bargaining de- mands for revision of the Northern and Southern Inter- ior master agreements which expire August 31. The conference will con- -sider resolutions already sub- mitted by the Local Unions which represented approxi- mately seven thousand wood- workers in logging, sawmill and plywood operations east of the Cascades. The delegates will list those demands con- sidered to have the greatest urgency in the collective bar- gaining due to commence on or about June 1. _ The central bargaining agency for the employers in the Northern Interior: is’ the Northern Interior Lumber- men’s Association and in the Southern Interior, the Inter- ior Forest Labour Relations Association. The bargaining between the IWA’s central negotiating - committee and these two agencies usually sets the contract patterns for employers who bargain inde- pendently. The present base rate throughout the Interior is $1.89, whereas the present base rate for woodworkers in the coast area, now in nego- tiations, is $2.08. The IWA J.ocal Unions to be represented at the Confer- ence are: Local 1-424, Prince George; 1-417, Salmon Arm; 1-423, Kelowna; and 1-405, Cranbrook. Listen to the IWA Radio Broadcasts on Negotiations — See Times: Page 9 Conciliation Extended IWA members in the coastal area are asked to prepare for a membership referendum on terms for settlement of the dispute with the employers earlier than expected. Conciliation Officer E. P. Fisher has undertaken to make specific recom- mendations to break the deadlock which has resulted from conciliation talks to date, if allowed an extension of time. .The Union, the Department of Labour and the employers have assented to this extension in preference to the appoint- ment of a Conciliation Board or an Industrial Inquiry Com- mission. The Conciliation Officer has promised that his report to both parties will be in time to finalize membership voting before June. In a radio report to. the Union’s membership, IWA Regional President, Jack Moore, spokesman for the Ne-— gotiating Committee said: “When the time set in the Labour Relations Act for the first stage of conciliation ex- pired without any settlement 1/1. a ZL LLL LLL LLL aK CLC Officers Re-Elected Claude Jodoin was re- elected by acclamation to his fifth term as President of the Canadian Labour Congress at the recent Mon- treal . convention of that body. Also re-elected as Execu- tive Vice-Presidents were Joe Morris, former IWA Regional President and Wil- liam Dodge. The four general vice- presidents elected were: William Jenovese, . Frank Hall, William Mahoney and George Burt. Ed Sims, President of the Vancouver and District La- bour Council and William Black, Secretary of the Hos- pital Employees’ Union, were re-elected as regional vice-presidents for British Columbia. LLL LLL LILIA LLL LLL LLL Ve ne a a ae ale in sight, your Negotiating Committee was obliged to consider the interests of our members under any one of several continuing -pro- cedures. JACK MOORE We could either join with the employers in requesting an extension of time for the Conciliation Officer or termi- nate the discussions and await his recommendations. If dis- cussions at this stage ended, the Conciliation Officer could, under the provisions of the Act, recommend: 1) that a See “CONCILIATION” — Page 4 LLL 7 reception given the Policy Committee's bulletin addressed to the wives of IWA members in the coastal area has been most gratifying to the members of the Committee. “We're always loyal to our husbands’ Union,” ’ they almost unanimously declared. Some had questions which should be answer- ed. Others had fears of a pro- longed strike. But, the consensus of opinion expressed when newspaper reporters attempted to canvass them was that the wives and mothers re- eh more money to provide necessi- ties for their fam- ilies. Editorial -- 1-423 Safety - - - 6-7 Fieber --- 8 Alberta - - 9-11 1-417 --~- 10 fac ----12 One wholesome and, perhaps, amusing result was that many an IWA husband had to spend a little more time in explaining his interest in negotiations. Woe betide the man who professed indifference. Make no mistake about it, the ladies, bless ‘em, are discussing the issues and hoping for the best. Their lively participation in this extension of job discus- - sions is good for the IWA. Their discussion indicates that some ‘points should be clarified by the husbands. Some wives have gained the impression that the IWA plunged recklessly forward into a strike situation. Of course, they remember the Union’s two big strikes, 1952 and 1959. They quite properly remind the Union that in a strike it is the family that endures the greatest hardship. One wife, speaking for the seven- teen loggers’ wives, tells a harrowing story of the struggle in her home to pay debts in- curred in 1959. The problem was acute be- cause of their husbands’ seasonality of employ- ment. Every trade unionist will understand her natural anxiety, NO RECKLESS ACTION The IWA Policy Committee asks the wives to note that the Union is not recklessly plan- - ning strike action. No union as large as the IWA ever does. Every Local Union officer, every official, is fully aware of the risks and the sacrifices demanded of the members’ fam- ilies in a strike. The official: who advocates strike action, contrary to membership desires, lays his head on the block. IWA wives have been asked to recognize that the Union is striving to obtain decent living standards for the members’ families without the necessity of strike action. The Policy Committee’s appeal to the wives was made for that very reason. An emphatic dem- onstration of determination on the part of the entire membership, backed up by the wives, offers the best hope of a proper settlement without a strike. With production and mar- See “MEMBERS’ WIVES” — Page 3