APRIL-MAY, 1976 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER LISH ieee i ANE RIS THY REGIONAL PRESIDENT Jack Munro addressing the ICBC rally sponsored by the Prince George and District Labour Council February 14. Regional President Jack Munro told an audience of eight hundred attending an ICBC protest rally in Prince George, B.C. that the Social Credit government is elitist and has no feeling for working people. Munro told the audience that he thought it was contemptable that the’Socreds were not at- tending the rallies being held throughout the province to: explain the reasons behind the insurance rate increases. He told the audience that people could find a lot wrong with the NDP government but one thing no one could accuse the NDP of doing and that was not facing the people with decisions they had made. Munro called for the people of the province not to give up their fight against the unjust increases. ‘‘The only thing that politicians listen to,’’ he told the audience, ‘“‘is when people complain loud enough and let the politicians know that they won’t vote for them again.” The fight to have the insur- ance rates rolled back will con- tinue, Munro stated, until such time as the government admits it’s wrong. STILL GOING ON: MORE TAKEOVERS _~. OF CANADIAN FIRMS Foreign takeovers of firms operating in Canada were allowed in 63 of the 93 cases ruled on by the Foreign Invest- ment Review Agency in the last fiscal year. Applications were refused in 12 cases and withdrawn in 17. In 27 of the 63 allowed ap- plications, however, the companies were already con- trolled by foreign interests. This information is con- tained in the first Annual Report of the Foreign Invest- ment Review Act, released last month, Under the terms of the Act, foreign interests ac- quiring control of Canadian businesses must apply to the Agency for approval, as must foreign interests setting up new businesses in Canada and foreign firms diversifying their investments in Canada. Foreign takeovers in the last fiscal year resulted in the creation of 7,000 new jobs and $500 million in new invest- ments, the report claims. It does not specify what areas the new investment occurred in, nor in what sector the “jobs were created. Foreign interests acquiring control of Canadian businesses . must show that the purchase will result in a_ significant benefit to Canada, the report claims. Ten applications by foreign firms to acquire controlling interest in Canadian busi- nesses were disallowed. The report says the primary reason for disallowance “was most frequently a reduction in Canadian ownership without any sufficient offsetting benefit.” ‘ The Agency received 230 applications. Fifty-five were returned as non-reviewable, 92 were resolved, and 58 are still under consideration. Of the 150 reviewable applications, 94 originated from the U.S., 23 from Britain and 23 from the rest of Europe. Applications affected 65 companies in manufacturing, 63 in services and construction, and 22 in primary industries of foreign takeover bids to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Com- merce. The Agency reviews the applications in consultation with other government depart- ments and provinces con- cerned. IWA DENTAL PLAN NOTICE The IWA Dental Plan, which has been in effect since June 15, 1974, has ac- cumulated a surplus. As a-result of this surplus no Dental Plan premium deductions will be made from the wages of IWA members for the months of April, May, June and July, 1976. It is anticipated at the end of that four month period the Dental Fund reserve should be in proper relationship to the overall fund. LOCAL 1-367 WINS HAMPTON MILL VOTE In a representation vote con- ducted at Hampton Lumber Mills Ltd., Boston Bar, B.C. on February 20, 1976, the employ- - ees voted 70 to 44 in favour of Local 1-367 representing them -as their bargaining agent. ’ These employees were form- erly represented by the Boston Bar Lumber & Timber Work- ers Association. In the summer of 1975, Hampton Lumber Mill was taken over by B.C. Forest Products Limited. The asso- ciation applied to the Labour Board of B.C. to vary its certi- fication to name B.C. Forest Products as the employer. Local 1-367 of the IWA inter- vened in this application sub- mitting this variance spouid not be granted as the local union already holds certifica- tions for all B.C. Forest Prod- ucts operations within the geo- graphical boundaries of. the local in which this operation is situated in and therefore covers the employees involved. On December 1, 1975 a hearing was held in this matter and on December 23, 1975 the application of variance by the association was rejected and a representation vote ordered to determine whether the em- ployees were in favour of the IWA representing them. The association appealed the Board’s decision and on Febru- . ary 16, 1976 this appeal was dismissed and a representation vote was conducted immedi- ately LOCAL 1-80 GAINS TWO NEW OPERATIONS A certification for Doman .Timber Sales Limited, Manu- facturing Division, was re- ceived by the local union on January 13, 1976 and another certification for Cowichan Bay Transport Ltd. on February 9, 1976. Domans is a newly con- structed sawmill and planer- mill at Cowichan Bay, B.C., and has just recently gone into production. It presently em- ploys approximately 110 em- ployees. Cowichan Bay Transport Ltd. has 9 employees and is engaged in the transporting of lumber. This is part of Domans. Nick Worhaug, Ross Davies and local union participation were involved in these certifi- cations. SUPPORT MUSEUM Members are reminded to contact the Regional Council No. 1, P.R. Department or Otto Mihic, Carling O’Keefe representative, (733-1131 in Vancouver), should they know of any old logging equipment that could be restored and placed in the Museum at Shannon Falls. We are still looking for all types of equipment that were used in the old days. The building being constructed to house smaller and more delicate artifacts will be completed soon, and we would certainly like to have it full when the Museum is officially opened in June. T ELSE Is NEW? ie | Lando owners mal epecalators are robbing the homebuying public. It’s as simple as that. Take it from William Teron, president of Central Mortgage and Housing Corp. If he says, “a very large, disproportion- ate share of the profits go to the people in the land end of it,”’ that’s the way it is. Teron became a millionaire ~developer and homebuilder before he was 30 years old — in Ottawa. Now that he’s got Canada’s top housing job in government, he is peaking up against the rabid land areca tion which has boosted housing prices in urban areas to the highest levels on the North American continent. He has called for a rollback to cut down the massive profits of developers who buy farm land for thousands and sell it for millions. The land market may be a “gravy train for a lot of guys’’, says Teron; ‘“‘but it could be a grave. There’s got to be a roll- back.” Certification for Alberta Aspen Board Limited at Slave Lake, Alberta was granted Local 1-207 on February 25, 1976 by the Alberta Board of Industrial Relations. This operation has only recently gone into production with ap- proximately 100 employees at the present time and additional employees to be added at a later stage. During this organizational campaign by the IWA, a small group of employees were at- tempting to form a company union. A petition was. submit- ted to the Board at a hearing in Edmonton on February 18, 1976. This petition was thrown out because evidence clearly indicated that a Lead Hand employed by the company had personally approached em- ployees and had them sign the petition proposing to form their own association. It was further stated at the hearing that there were a number of other impro- per tactics used. John Smithies was the or- ganizer and was assisted by the local union at various times - in the signing up of members. Other certifications granted the local union in recent months were: Moduline Indus- tries (Alberta) Ltd., a mobile . home manufacturing plant at Penhold, Alberta comprising of 70 employees. Federated Co- Operatives at Smith, Alberta with 130 employees in a repre- sentation vote. John Smithies, Art Friske and the local were involved at Moduline while at Federated Co-op, John was the organizer . and was assisted by the local on occasion. | RED BAND | MILL STRIKE | RESOLVED 7 Local 1-217 IWA has reached agreement with MacMillan Bloedel to end the 45-month-old Red Band Shingle mill strike. Workers from the mill, which has now been phased out, will vote on the terms of settlement. These include sey- erance pay, a pension package for older employees and pref- erential hiring. The strike commenced in June, 1972, in a fight for shorter hours of work. The Local also struck the Canadian Forest Products Huntting-Merritt mill in 1972 over the same issue. That strike is still in progress with no sign of settlement.