12 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER OCTOBER-NOVEMBER, 1976 GREETINGS: The Regional Officers wish to extend for the second time in 1976 a warm welcome to the delegates and visitors to our 39th Regional Convention. GENERAL The Officers’ Report to this Convention is not long as we had a comprehensive report only seven short months ago. Since that time, the Officers and Regional Staff have been extremely busy in various functions. There have been some very important negotiations since our last Convention. Negotiations at the best of times are difficult but when employers are assisted by a WYMAN TRINEER a, STAN PARKER BOB BLANCHARD . | | ¢ i 4 | 4 | 4 NEIL MENARD REPORT TO CONVENTION government whose lack .of principles allow them to double cross the Canadian people by passing a bill which destroys free collective bargaining, employers and negotiations become almost impossible. A section further on in the report will deal in more detail with those negotiations. At the time of writing this report there are three strikes in progress in the Regional Council. The strike at Huntting- Merritt on September 12th entered its fifth year, and hopefully by the time this report is being read to you, there will have been an an- nouncement concerning that strike. DYCKS STRIKE We are still on strike in Local 1-324 against Dycks ‘Con- tainers at Swan River, Manitoba. This strike has been in progress for 26 months in an attempt to achieve our first agreement. The owner is an extremely anti-union person and has been successful. in keeping unions out of any of his operations in Manitoba and Alberta. The strikers are determined there is going to be an aeceptable collective agreement signed before picket lines are removed. There is a strike now in its 18th week in Local 1-184 against Woodlands En- terprises over the renewal of a collective agreement. During 1976, three thousand I.W.A, members went on strike against the Weyerhaeuser Company in four southern states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Georgia. The strike was the longest in the history of the Weyerhaeuser Company, The major centers of the strike were in Arkansas and Oklahoma where twenty-five hundred members of Local 5-15 ent seventeen weeks on the line. Weyerhaeuser was for the strike and to undermine the morale and effectiveness of the strike y using a comprehensive ign to shift to the campaign sano sysmpathy At the request of the In- ternational Office, the Regional Officers sent Tom Fawkes to Arkansas where a counter advertising campaign was laid out and executed. The Union campaign was un- derway for only four days when the company withdrew its advertising. The publicity impact on the company, the strikers, and the communities at the realization that the entire Union from the Gulf of Mexico to the sixtieth parallel was supporting the three thousand southern strikers was amazing. The Officers are extremely proud of the response from the Locals to the call for assistance from our International Office in both financial and moral support. It was a gratifying feeling for those of us who had an op- portunity to visit the picket lines, talk with. the strikers, and see the results of a truly International Union at work. We have received a most en- thusiastic thank you from Region No. 5 for our support and for the hospitality shown to our Brothers from that Region who toured a number of our Locals. Brother Charlie Campbell who in a few short weeks will be the Director of Region No. 5 is going to be attending this Convention and will be ad- dressing you this week. Your President also attended Region No. 4’s Convention in International Falls, Minnesota and was very impressed with the participation in the Con- vention proceedings by the delegates. Region 4 is having a difficult time as they are a small Region with very little money, but the membership are determined that the employers are not going to take ad- vantage of the I.W.A. because of a lack of funds. An excellent example of this is the fact that one thousand of our brothers and sisters at ‘‘Artic Cat’’ went on strike with absolutely no strike fund because that em- ployer would not negotiate in a realistic manner. It should also be pointed out that even without a strike fund the strike vote was in excess of 90%. Representatives from our Region are very warmly received by other Regions and they appear to show greater interest in our concept of large Local Unions. The officers have for a long time been advocates of more involvement in the workings of the C.L.C. and are pleased with the appointment of Brother Munro as Vice President at Large. . A Our organization was for- tunate in being nominated as one of the Canadian worker representatives to the I.L.0. Conference in Geneva. The I.W.A has an_ excellent reputation in the world trade union movement and this reputation is primarily due to the fact that Brother Morris has done an excellent job of putting our-organization in the forefront. The Conference was a very good one and dealt with a number of problems that working people have throughout the world. The committee that we were in- volved in was the ‘‘Tripartie Machinery Committee” which is attempting to find ways and means for working people to have a greater voice in the workings of Governments and decisions of Governments that affect the lives or working people. We have not received the reports from the Federal Government to date but when we do, they will be circulated to all Local Unions. LADIES AUXILIARY The Auxiliaries from Locals will be meeting in this hotel on Wednesday, September 22 and Thursday, September 23 and will be making a report to this Convention. It seems timely to reflect that our auxiliary members and the wives of woodworkers are a most important factor of the consuming public. There could be no issue more appropriate today to exemplify the true purpose of active Auxiliaries than the A.I.B. and labour’s October 14th Day of Protest..No one group of people is more aware of the effects the supposed Wage & Price con- trols are having on the con- sumers’ pocket book. There is no one group more knowledgeable as to the’ 2} hardships that occur when income falls behind financial outlay. Consequently, no group is more qualified to assist labour in guaranteeing that October 14th will be a success. Con- vincing neighbours, friends and shoppers that labour’s protest is not only just but necessary is a vital part of the program. Local 1-405 is the host auxiliary this year and has outlined an agenda of business and entertainment. We wish the Ladies Auxiliaries well in their deliberations and look forward to receiving their report. ES PO NEGOTIATIONS © The 1975-76 Negotiations were covered comprehensively in the Officers’ Report to the Thirty-Eighth Annual Con- vention in January of this year. Therefore, because of the short period of elapsed time between Conventions, this report on Negotiations will be brief. Meetings with the Industry and Committees have been few and far between. Both parties took the opportunity to catch up on the backlog of vacations accumulated as a result of the lengthy negotiations last summer and fall. This caused many scheduled meetings to be re-scheduled, postponed and even cancelled. The Industry has, for reasons known only to them, elected to display an attitude of disinterest in resolving even the most minor problems. This aloof attitude has been ap- parent at meetings called for the purposes of dealing with - Right of Reference, Logging, Sawmill Rates, etc. Several issues are still pending at the time of writing this report. The indifferent attitude displayed by Industry towards the problems that continue to plague us grows propor- tionately more serious the nearer we come to contract talks. A stuttering market, plus the A.I.B., may well suit the Companies’ plans and ob- jectives, but they serve only to aggravate the already monumental task facing the « I.W.A. Negotiation Com- mittees. It should be noted that it took the A.I.B. from the date of signing the Southern Interior Master Agreement in November 1975 until August 10, 1976 to ratify that settlement. LOCAL 1-184 The Region was involved in negotiations with the following companies in Saskatchewan: (1) MaeMillan & Bloedel (2) Saskatchewan Forest Products Corporation (3) Simpson Timber (4) Woodlands Enterprises Ltd. Negotiations commenced ‘with MacMillan & Bloedel in early April and continued for | several weeks. The Company took a very hard-nosed attitude on all items which resulted in a two-day walkout by the em- ployees about midway through bargaining. This changed the Company’s position and we finalized the items which were still outstanding. Negotiations with’ Simpson Timber was also a difficult set to deal with. It should be pointed out that although both Mac & Blo and Saskatchewan Forest Products were under some form of wage guidelines, Simpson Timber was not. In all three instances, the negotiating committees negotiated as though there were no guidelines. However, Simpson Timber in the final stages of talks insisted that their settlement be similar to See “OFFICERS” Page 13