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thewestern canadian

lumber worker

ISSN 0049-7371

OCTOBER, 1978

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PEERS 82 --:

REGIONAL PRESIDENT Jack Munro m

IWA Regional Convention, October 2-6, Vancouver.

aking his presidential address to the 41st Annual

Photo by John Smith, Local 1-71

ACTRESS TELLS

THE J.P. STEVENS’ STORY.

By JANE FONDA

Actress Jane Fonda has
supported the consumer boy-
cott of J. P. Stevens textile

products since its inception two -

years ago.-In the following
article she comments on a visit
to one of the largest Stevens
plants in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
where the workers voted for
union representation in 1974

but still have no contract.

Last year I was smuggled in-
to a J. P. Stevens plant in
Roanoke Rapids, N.C. I briefly
experienced what thousands of
workers face for eight to
twelve hours a day, six days a

week, year after year.
I thought I had been aware of

the situation in which this giant
textile company has resisted

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its workers and defied the law
for so many years. I’d been
supporting the worldwide con-
sumer boycott of J. P. Stevens
products. But until I visited
North Carolina, I frankly never
realized the extent to which the
Stevens workers have been
made to suffer.

Someone helped me to get in-
side one of the plants. I had
been told that the day before
my arrival, a Federal inspec-
tor from the Occupational
Safety and Health Administra-
tion (OSHA) had been there.
OSHA had called management
before coming, so manage-
ment knew they were coming
and cleaned the place up. I’d
been told the place would be
relatively clean, so I couldn’t
believe my own eyes and ears.
What I saw was absolutely hor-
rendous.

I stepped through the door of
the plant. The sound was of the
machinery — wall-to-wall
looms towering over the work-
ers — was deafening. The noise
and the working of the
machinery made the entire
floor shake violently. I
screamed just to see if I could
hear, and I couldn’t hear my
own voice, It was like being in-

side a tremendous machine.

There was dust flying
through the air, clinging to
everyone and everything. It
looked like a snowstorm, even
though the OSHA inspector had
been there the day before. The
dust hung like huge cobwebs
from the ceiling; it had a sharp
and pungent smell, and _ in-
stantly I knew what the work-
ers meant when they told me of
the shortness of breath every
Monday morning that slowly
develops into brown lung
disease.

I met brown lung victims,
people who choke from the
effects of exposure to cotton
dust every day of their lives.
But thanks to the company, its
insurance carriers and the in-
adequate enforcement of
health and safety standards,
many of these people are not
diagnosed as having byssinois
(brown lung disease), so they
are unable to receive workers’
compensation. Hundreds of
families living in the Carolinas
and working for J. P. Stevens
and the other textile giants can
personally attest to this
tragedy.

See “STEVENS” page 2

NEW SAFETY COUNCIL

Jack Welder of Local 1-423,
Kelowna, was elected Chair-
man of the Regional Safety and
Health Council, during the
Council’s 29th Annual Confer-
ence September 29-30, in Van-
couver.

Other officers elected were

Vice-Chairman Jack

et BS

| Westminster. —

Higgins, Local 1-424, Prince
George; 2nd Vice-Chairman
Karl Lidberg, Local 1-363,
Courtenay; 3rd Vice-Chairman
Gordon Claypool, Local 1-367,
Haney; 4th Vice-Chairman
Jim Anderson, Local 1-324, The
Pas; Recording Secretary
John Bese, Local 1-357, New

_

| ON PERFORMANCE |
CONVENTION DELEGATES _

IWA Regional Convention held
October 2-6, in Vancouver, ex-
pressed their satisfaction with
the work of the Regional offi-
cers by -re-electing by ac-
clamation all of them but one.

Ernie Clarke, the incumbent
3rd Vice-President, who was
_recently appointed to that
‘position by Regional President
Jack Munro, is being opposed
by Nick Chernoff, a member of
Local 1-363 Courtenay.

Clarke and Chernoff’s names
will go out on a referendum
ballot to. the membership.

Elected by acclamation were
Regicnal President Jack
Munro, 1st Vice-President Bob
Blanchard, 2nd Vice-President
Neil Menard, and Secretary-
Treasurer Wyman Trineer.

In his presidential address to
the convention, Munro warned
the 200 delegates that the
Union was faced with powerful
opponents on the economic and
political fronts and it was
absolutely essential to have a

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Ernie, the incumbent
Regional 3rd Vice-President,
joined the IWA in 1951 while
working at the W.F.I logging
company at Gordon River.

He left there to join the
Canadian Army for a six-year
period.

Returning from the Army he
went to work in a sawmill in
Youbou and spent a year ina
plywood operation.

From there he went back to
the woods at Franklin River
where he was on the Camp
Committee and elected Camp
Chairman for six years.

In 1974 he was elected an
officer and Business Agent of
Local 1-85. In September of this
year he was appointed
Regional 3rd Vice-President.

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REGIONAL CANDIDATES

battles that lay ahead.

He was particularly critical
of the advocates of right-to-
work laws, whom he termed
“lunatics from the far-right’.
Their sole purpose in advocat-
ing such laws, he stated, was to
see the unions destroyed and
the workers left to the tender
mercy of the employers. - ;

He expressed concern at the
country’s high rate of inflation
and mounting unemployment.!
This could only be curbed, he
suggested, by unions becoming
even more active in political
action and increasing their
support to the New Democrati
Party. vos

The approximately 200
resolutions dealt with by the
convention. also reflected this
concern. There were a number
of resolutions calling for an
improved forestry policy for
the province; demands that the
forest companies modernize

See “CONVENTION” page 2

N. CHERNOFF
Nick joined the IWA in 1943
when he came to the coast
from Saskatchewan and was
first elected to the Camp Com-

mittee at Franklin River in
1946,

He served as Camp Chair-
man at Harvey Log in 1949, at
Jeune Landing in 1950, at Elk
Bay in 1954 and at Baikie
Brothers Logging in 1955.

Nick has been employed at
the Menzies Bay Division of
MacMillan Bloedel since 1958
and has been the Camp Chair-
man for 16 years.

He is currently the Secretary

of the Campbell River,
Courtenay and District Labour

Council.

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