THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

FROM PAGE ONE

“STRIKE ENDS IN VICTORY”

position that having done this
the Company was obligated
under the terms of the agree-
ment to return Miss Gilbertson
to her former job where she
was well qualified.

This the Company flatly re-
fused to consider. The Local
officers, concerned that the
precendent set in Miss Gilbert-
son’s case could ultimately
affect any employee in the bar-
gaining unit, asked for and was
given a strike mandate by the
crew.

Shortly after the strike
commenced seven other
women in the plywood plant
swore out affidavits that they
had also been sexually
harassed on the job. While not
admitting the charges the
Company asked Union officials
if they were aware of further
cases.

President Lowery stated that

the Union while deploring such
conduct was not attempting to
make the sexual harassment
charges an issue in the dispute.
The chief issue, he stated, was
the Company’s violation of the
agreement.

However, it is well known in
Shelton that one of the Com-
pany officials did resign
although the Company claims
his resignation had nothing to
do with the case.

Following her dismissal,
Miss Gilbertson laid charges of
discrimination against the
Company with the Equal
Employment Opportunities
Commission. The case was
heard November 30th, in
Tacoma, and the Judge or-
dered her reinstated.

During the two months the
Simpson workers were off the
job they received strong sup-
port from their Region, Inter-
national, other IWA Local

Unions and members of the
Lumber & Sawmill Workers
Union.

The IWA Local Union in

California as well as the -

Lumber & Sawmill Workers
Union walked off the job for a
number of days in sympathy
with the Simpson employees.
This was a big boost in morale
for the strikers who were being
criticized by the business
people in Shelton for pro-
longing the strike.

Other than a short strike last
February the present strike
was the first major strike in
twenty-five years. The con-
census of the majority of the
employees that while it was a
costly battle for both the
workers and the Company, it
was long overdue and showed
that the Simpson employees
were not afraid to stand up for
their rights.

British Columbia Forest
Products Limited has an-
nounced that the Company
expects to begin negotiations
shortly with the Alberta Gov-
ernment for rights to harvest
timber on a 2.2 million acre
forest area in northwestern
Alberta. The announcement
follows an earlier statement by
the Hon. Merv Leitch, Alberta
Minister of Energy and
Natural Resources, that a
comprehensive proposal made
by BCFP for development of
Alberta’s Berland Forest Man-
agement Area had been ac-
cepted by the Provincial
Cabinet.

The Company plans to un-
dertake a three-phase, $230
million forest development
program over a five-year
period. Included in the
program are two sawmills with
a combined annual capacity of
180 million board feet of
dimension lumber and a 500
tonne per day newsprint manu-
facturing facility (approx.
175,000 tonnes per year). The
total project is expected to
create 975 new permanent
forest related-jobs in the pro-
vince with an estimated annual
payroll of approximately $25
million.

The first phase of the
development will begin in 1980,
with construction of an 80 mil-
lion board feet capacity dimen-
sion sawmill, on a site 20 kilo-
metres east of Grande Cache.
The mill is expected to cost $21
million and will create a total
of 360 new permanent jobs, all
based in Grande Cache, of
which some 175 jobs will be in
the sawmill when it becomes

operational in1981. Logging
and forestry crews required in
the western portion of the
Berland forest region to sup-
port the mill will create the
additional 185 jobs.

The second and third phases
of development will create a
total of 615 new permanent jobs
based out of Fox Creek and
Whitecourt. The second phase
will commence in 1981 with
construction of a 100 million
board feet capacity sawmill in
the Knight region, southeast of
Fox Creek. This mill will
employ approximately 200
when completed in late 1982.
Its cost is expected to reach $23
million.

The third and largest phase
of the development will be the
construction of a 500 tonne per
day TMP newsprint manu-
facturing facility expected to
cost $165 million, and em-
ploying 200 when completed.
The site of the papermill will
be at Hurdy, approximately 30
kilometres west of Whitecourt.
Engineering for this phase of
the project will commence in
1981, with construction in 1982
and start-up expected in early
1985. In addition to the installa-
tion of a large newsprint
machine, the facilities will
include a 450 tonne per day
thermo-mechanical pulp mill,
a steam generation plant, and
other chip handling and rail
car facilities.

The Knight and Hurdy
facilities will be supported by
extensive forest operations in
the eastern region of the
Berland. Some 215 new jobs in
logging and forestry will be
created,with Company and

The true horse, or Equus, developed during the Ice Age.

contractor crews based out of
White Court and Fox Creek.

Commencing with the
operation of the TMP news-
print mill, the Company will
utilize all the wood chips
from the Knight area sawmill,
and in addition will purchase
some 50,000 to 60,000 units of
chips from other regional saw-
mills. BCFP has also indicated
to the Government that it will
use its best efforts to find
buyers for area chip volumes
in excess of the Company’s
requirements until the future
installation of a second news-
print machine at Hurdy
requires them.

In addition to the substantial
investment in new manu-
facturing plants, over $20
million will be invested in
woodlands development for
road construction, bridge
building, forestry activities,
tree nurseries and equipment.

The mill construction pro-
grams are expected to create
nearly 200,000 man-days of
employment during the five-
year development period.

The Vancouver local of the
Canadian Union of Postal
Workers has warned that a
major confrontation between
workers and management is
inevitable in the Vancouver
post office unless postal offi-
cials act quickly to end a
staffing crisis.

Acting president Evert
Hoogers said that since June 1,
121 persons have resigned or
retired in the Vancouver post
office and only six new workers
have been hired.

Hoogers said management
insists that only 30 of these
vacancies will be filled.

Crimpshaw, did you take a day off last week?

FROM PAGE ONE

“IWA OFFICERS”

safety, Munro charged that it
was the lack of cooperation by
management and the WCB
with the Union that was the
root cause of rising accidents
in British Columbia.

Earl Foxcroft, President of
Local 1-85 IWA Port Alberni, in
a news release called Lan-
skail’s remarks scandalous
and suggested that he had little
knowledge of the working
conditions and the workplace
of the employees.

He went on to say that it was
an asinine statement for
Lanskail to say that workers
would neglect their own safety

In next year’s round of
collective bargaining, the Nor-
wegian unions will press for
five weeks’ annual holiday.

The demand is one of the
main points in a document ap-
proved by both the union feder-
ation LO and the social-demo-

or would knowingly place
themselves or their fellow
workers’ safety in jeopardy by
carelessness.

He suggested that instead of
attacking the workers, Lan-
skail should examine the
safety training that employees
in the forest industry receive
and the lack of WCB in-
spectors.

He also stated that Lanskail
would be well advised to look at
the number of forest com-
panies who completely dis-
regard WCB inspectors orders
to improve safety conditions on
the job.

crats (Arbeiderpartiet), who
will make it part of their elec-
tion platform.

Other major points include
full employment, an end to the
freeze on incomes and prices
and special increases for the
low-paid.

UNION MEMBERSHIP PAYS

“In every major occupation and industry group, union
coverage is associated with higher earnings.”’

This is the conclusion of a study reported by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor based on
data collected in May 1978. In every category of work —
blue-collar, service and white-collar — organized workers
earned substantially more both in terms of hourly rates and
weekly earnings than did their unorganized counterparts.

The Bureau’s conclusion is based on an annual national
survey of 56,000 households carefully selected so as to ac-
curately reflect a broad cross-section of American workers.
Almost one-third of all hourly paid workers included in the
survey were reported working under a union contract.

Overall, the median hourly earnings of the union group
were 87% higher than for the non-union group. (The median
is that point in the population where half of the workers
earned less and half earned more.( In the ‘“‘service-
producing sector’ the differential for union members was
92%, while in the ‘‘goods-producing sector employees work-
ing under a union contract had median earnings 61°” above
those for workers without union coverage.” These figures
on hourly wages, naturally enough, were reflected in sharp
differentials in weekly earnings for union members as com-

pared to the unorganized.

Although the Bureau’s survey does not include any data
on fringe benefits, given union efforts on medical and dental
care, pensions, and paid time off, one assumes that the
differentials in these areas are at least equal to or even
greater for workers who labor under union negotiated
collective bargaining agreements than for those who don’t

have union representation,

——ILWU Research Department 9}