THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

The following statement was
drafted by the officers of Local
1-367 IWA Haney, because of
the refusal of the Canadian
Forest Products Company to
rehire seven fallers at its
Harrison Mills operation.

The present fallers’ problem
in this Canfor operation results
from the Company’s refusal to
reinstate seven fallers when
they returned to work on
Thursday, August 3rd, 1972.
The Company’s Logging
Manager, Cecil Salmon and
Head of Personnel, Arnold
Smith, accompanied by the
RCMP advised the seven that
their services were no longer
required as they had not shown
up the day before and were
terminated as of Wednesday,
August 2nd. A Local Union
Officer present at the time
informed the company that
this was contrary to point 29 of
the recently ratified
memorandum which states:
(a) All civil actions taken

against employees as a
result of the current fallers’
dispute will be discon-
tinued;

(b) Neither party will initiate
any action or discriminate
in any way against em-
ployees involved in the
current fallers’ dispute;

(c) It is agreed that all em-
ployees affected by the
fallers’ dispute who ter-
minated or were ter-
minated by the Company
during the current fallers’
dispute shall be reinstated
without loss of seniority or
vacation credits if they
apply for reinstatement
within 30 days of the date of

_this agreement. Rein-

statement shall include
retroactive coverage of all

Health

benefits.
It was also pointed out to the
Company that the Local Union
would get legal advice and if
necessary proceed to ar-
bitration in order to have the
fallers reinstated.

The Local Union then sent a
telegram to Pete Bentley,
Vice-President of Canfor,
asking him to intervene by
taking a second look at the
Company’s position as at that
time Local 1-367 fallers were
the only ones on the Coast
agreeing to return to work and
the Company’s position would
only aggravate the situation.
Mr. Bentley then replied by
telegram that Canadian Forest
Products was flexible and
willing to review their position
as well as optimistic of the
outcome if co-operation was
forthcoming from the Local
Union and the fallers. Meetings
then took place between Arnold
Smith and the Local Officers
with the Company taking the
position that a letter from the
Local or fallers to show good
faith and willingness to comply
with the Agreement was
necessary. Letters were drawn
up by both the company and
the Union which were not
satisfactory, the Local finally
drafted the following letter

which was accepted by the
Company:

and Welfare

August 11, 1972
To; Mr. Arnold Smith,
Canfor Limited,
15th Floor,
505 Burrard Street,
Vancouver I, B.C.
Dear Sir:
This is to advise your
Company that we expect
immediate reinstatement of
the fallers from the Harrison

Mills Division of your company

LOCAL 1-85 OFFICERS
WIN CREW BACK PAY

Officers of Local 1-85 IWA
Port Alberni, after months of
hard and difficult work, have
been successful in gaining for
the employees of the Rockwell
Logging Company all money
owed to them following closure
of the firm.

The Local officers when
notified by the crew that wages
had not been paid, contacted
the company, the Department
of Labour, and the Tahsis

Company head office. After
exhaustive investigation of
each claim and numerous
meetings which took over four
and one-half months, all em-
ployees were paid in full.

The officers stated that the
co-operation of the Depart-
ment of Labour and the Tahsis
Company was extremely
helpful in settling all the
claims.

CANADIAN JOBLESS
ON THE INCREASE

Statistics Canada reports
there was an increase in the
seasonally adjusted unemploy-
ment rate in July to 6.3 percent
of the labor force — up from 6.2
percent a month ago and a
year earlier.

Between June and July the
actual number of jobless but
willing workers dropped by
25,000 to 543,000. In July, 1971,
the actual number of unem-
ployed — before adjustment to
remove the effects of seasonal
variations — was, 514,000.

The July employment survey
shows the actual number of

people in the labor force in-
creased by 3.3 percent to
9,368,000 from 9,068,000 a year
earlier.

New Democratic Party
leader, David Lewis, com-
mented “It doesn’t look like
there is any end to it. What it
clearly underlines to me is that
all the government policies
have failed — the Oppor-
tunities for Youth program, the
Local Initiatives Program —
all these things have failed and
we continue to have massive
unemployment.”’

who are not yet back to work as
a result of the current fallers’
dispute. We furthermore ex-
pect that neither party will
initiate any action or
discriminate in any way
against employees who were
involved in the current fallers’
dispute.

The Local Union and its
Officers agree to co-operate to
the fullest extent possible with
the Company to ensure the full
benefits of orderly and legal
collective bargaining,
economy of operation, quality
and quantity of output and
protection of property. We
fully recognize that it is the
duty of both the Company and
the Union as the em-
ployees to co-operate fully,
individually and collectively
for the advancement of the
above conditions and pledge
our sincere desire and support
for these ends.

We fully expect the rein-
stated fallers to comply with
all the terms and conditions of
the Coast Master Agreement
and have advised them of the
conditions contained in that
agreement. We also expect the
same consideration from the
company for the duration of
the agreement.

In the event of a strike or
slow down during the term of
this agreement, the Union will

instruct its members and of-
ficers who may be involved to
cease such activity and comply
with the terms of the I.W.A.
1972-1973 Coast Master
Agreement.

Yours truly

(signed- R. A. Stark,

President

(signed) Erik Wood,

Financial Secretary

The Company then took the
position that the fallers or the
Union had to sign a letter
agreeing to not ask for any
back wages to August 3rd when
they first reported for work.
Under these conditions and
with a further letter from the
Union stating that the crew at
Harrison Mills was agreeable
to having the seven back, they
would then reinstate the
fallers.

The Company finally agreed
to write a letter which in-
dicated that the Local
Financial Secretary had ad-
vised them that the crew when
consulted by him were
agreeable to the seven fallers
returning but would not move
on their demand for a letter on
back wages.

The Local Union’s position is
that they do not have the
authority to take away any
members’ right to process a
grievance under the I.W.A.

Coast Master Agreement nor |
does the Company have this
right. The Local will not —
initiate grievance in this or :
other case, this is a decision —
that must be made by aq
member. The Local Union nor
the fallers have not made any —
mention of back wages; this
item was brought up by the
Company.

The fallers again showed up
for work on Monday, August
14th and were advised that
they must sign a letter in-
dicating they would not ask for
back wages before they could
return to work. This the fallers
refused to do. If the Company
is so concerned about back
wages why not let it go the
grievance procedure route; if
they win the fallers were
wrong, if they lose then the
Company was wrong. Or are
they afraid that a Company
official who makes a costly
mistake of this nature might

just be looking for a job him-
self?

In any event it looks like a
complicated legal battle has
been forced on the Local
Union. This is unfortunate and
unnecessary at a time when
other companies are agreeing
to bury the hatchet, take their
fallers back and let by-gones
be by-gones.

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