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}