4 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER LAST ARTICLE ON LEARNING THE METRIC SYSTEM Editor’s note: The following is the last of five articles explaining the metric system for those of our members not familiar with this measuring system. So, when all is said and done, System International is long overdue coming to Can- ada. In Lesson One, we said that metrics would not really change things all that much because, despite being a different sounding system, which measures things by using a single unit, instead of Many, many unrelated units, the things which we will measure will not change in themselves. The only things that will change for the most part, will be the numbers we will use to describe those things. If you can accept, and ARBITRATION WON BY LOCAL 1-423 Officers of Local 1-423 IWA, Kelowna, were successful in having one of their members reinstated to the job and awarded nearly $6,000 in back pay, at an arbitration board hearing held in Vernon. The member, Brian Case- ment, an employee of Crown: Zellerbach Canada Ltd. (Arm- strong Plywood Division), was fired by the Company Febru- ary 23, for allegedly taking too long for his lunch break and leaving the Company property. At the hearing before a lone arbitrator, Mr. Jack Sherlock, witnesses testified that Case- ment had a flexible lunch break and was not off the job the length of time (55 minutes) the Company claimed. The Union’s representative on the baord admitted Case- ment had extended his lunch break by ten minutes but argued that his dismissal from the job for such a small infrac- tion was excessive punishment _for an employee with five Yaa seniority with the Com- In his findings Mr. Sherlock noted that the Company was attempting to suggest that em- ployees didn’t have authority to leave Company property during coffee or lunch breaks. He suggested in bringing down his award in favour of the Union that the Company couldn’t provide any written proof to support that leaving the property was against Com- pany policy. : In reinstating Casement with back pay he agreed with the -_Union that the dismissal was excessive punishment for an employee with such a good work record. LIGHTER SIDE Kamloops Katie says that once she’d like to see her -law fix something “around the house besides gin and martinis. * * * id ~smmge Bee says her boss understand, this, then metrics will never present any compli- cations to you again, ever. In reviewing the past few lessons, perhaps we can illustrate some of the ways common measurements we use now wil look in metrics. ALL ROAD SIGNS It is hard to imagine anyone who does not drive. By Sep- tember, 1977, all road signs will be in kilometres (km), and km/h: The 20 mph school zones will become 30 km/h; and 30 mph will become 50 km/h. On the highway, 50 mph will become 80 km/h; 55 will be 90km /h; and, whereas before, you could do only 60, think of how much fun it will be to be able to do ‘‘100’’, legally. What about buying gas for your car? Well, if you have a very small car, it will probably take about 40 litres to fill the tank; medium sized cars have gas tanks of about 50 to 601; and the full sized domestic cars will take about 75 to 901 to fill them up. What will it cost? About the same as it does now, at anywhere from 16'4c to 19!4c a litre, depending where in the country you are. How about height and weight? The average man will range from a short 170 cm toa medium 180 cm toa tall 190 cm. If you stand 200 cm (2m), you should have thought about a career as a basketball player. Asmall man will weigh 60 to 70 kg, anda heavy man up to 90 or 100 kg. The average football linebacker comes in at 100 to about 110 kg. For the women: If you’re under 160 cm, you’re short even for a girl; 165 to 170 would make you average; and anything over 175 cm would make you noticeably tall. And the average woman weighs anywhere from a petite 45 to 50 kg up to a well-rounded 60 to 65 kg. These are, of course, only GENERALITIES, as people come in all shapes and sizes; but it may help to give you a rough idea about what is : Boyes. - SUBJECT OF WONEN 3 While we’re on the subject of women, we might also mention that Miss 36-24-36 will become Miss 90-60-90: Bigger numbers, yes, but still just as round- looking, A petite girl might be 85-55-85; while an admirably well-built woman might measure 100-65-95. Doesn’t that ‘100’ look impressive? ) Want to find the floor area of your place in metrics? If you divide square feet by 10, you will have a rough idea what the area is in square metres(m2). This is not an exact conversion, but it will give you a general idea. How about groceries? To begin with, we doubt whether you could tell the difference between the old quart, and the new litre, they’re so similar in size. And you will probably go = on using the largest size of just about anything, because it is the most economical. Many items have been sold, for some time now, only in metric sizes: Tooth paste,for one. Alcoholic drinks will come in for their conversions soon, too. If you look at the space at the ton. of a bottle of heer you can see for yourself that there is some space there. Whether or not the beer companies will fill this space with an extra 9 ml, and call it 350 ml, or whether they will continue to call it 341 ml, as they do now, remains to be seen. But the bottle of good Rye Whiskey will almost certainly change from its present 710 ml (25 oz.), to 750 ml. That, incidentally, is also the size that most large soft drink bottles will also probably end up as. TINKER WITH ENGINES If you like to tinker with engines and ever want to check the compression ratio on one, it its necessary to divide by 14.7 psi: In metrics, pressure is measured in kg / em2 (kilograms per square cen- timetre). Surprise! One kg / cm2 is almost exactly one atmosphere. How about that? The actual difference is barely 3%. What about horsepower? Hardly any difference at all: 100 metric hp is 99 English hp. Barely 1% difference; not enough to even worry about. Do any scuba diving? In- stead of dividing your bottom depth by 33 feet, divide it by 10 m. This involves only saying that, for example, 27 metres is 2.7 atmospheres. You can do it in your head, and consequently reduce ALL of your com- putations to one simple problem. change. Time will still be measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. And you can forget any of that nonsense you may have heard about ‘metric dozens’; that was just pure shammery: A dozen eggs will still be 12 in number. And our money will still go on being metric, dollars and cents, just as IT always has. So that just about covers everything that this series of articles was intended to cover. They were not intended to be a ciel education: Rather, to serve as an introduction to the metric system; to show you the system itself, BY ITSELF, without any complications raised by comparing it — ver- batum — with our own extra- ordinarily complicated sys- tem. If even a small part of the fun, and helpfulness, that these articles were in writing them is shared by you, the reader, then it was all worthwhile. The B.C. Labour Relations Board has ruled strikes against wage rollbacks ordered by the Anti-Inflation illegal. But the ruling says a con- tract which has been altered by the Anti-Inflation Board is no longer valid. In order to bring the contract in line with the AIB ruling, the union can legally take strike action. Paul Weiler, chairman of the Board said unions might find reasons to take strike action Board are after non-wage demands in the © original contract were refused by the employer. The Labour Relations Board said a union that goes out on strike against an employer in an effort to win a higher settle- ment than that approved by the Anti-Inflation Board would be in contravention of the provin- cial labour code by failing to bargain in good faith. “Can a union be said to be bargaining in good faith if it insists that an employer must agree to do something if the employer has just been told by ne. AIB uae it va be ieee AUGUST - SEPTEMBER, 1977 under a federal law? That | would not seem to be a sensible course of action,” said Weiler. The Labour Relations Board decision was in response to an application by a CUPE local representing the outside workers of the Vancouver School Board. The union had asked the Board to rule on the validity of their 1976 collective agreement with the school board which had been rolled back by the AIB. Weiler said a strike in defiance of an Anti-Inflation Board ruling would be illegal. “There may be many con- tentious issues that the two parties may have to resolve following an Anti-Inflation Board ruling. For example, how to distribute the wage increases that have been allowed among different job classifications, or whether the union may retrieve non- monetary concessions it had already made or how to obtain new concessions from an em- ployer now that the employees must get less money,”’ he said. PILLARS OF UNION The wreaking ball in Ottawa has hit at our foundations It has attempted to destroy us with anti-labor legislation They caused distrust, stop signs for us, green lights for business giants But with this all our pillars stand tall and fight with open defiance . So day by day as pressures grow our pillars show a crack The strength they’ve shown is now replaced by a sagging in the back So in they come with tales of woe the ones you represented Your weakness showed their eyes they glowed their axe is double bited. A leader he is, respected he’s not His head may be hard, but not for the block The axe itis sharp and it frequently falls On the one that has given his guts and his all When the going gets tough, they find someone strong — They use him, abuse him, then tell him he’s wrong He is their pillar for what they can get Then stands all alone, for they quickly forget May you find the added strength you need to stand alone For, that is what you have to do, when you are not at home So, make your home your pillar and make it strong with love For that is where you’ll find your strength, at home with ones you love. ALLAN EDWARDS MacMILLAN-BLOEDEL, HUDSON BAY LOCAL 1-184 REGIONAL PRESIDENT Jack Munro is shown trying his skill at axe throwing during the Port Alberni Loggers Sports day May 22, in Port Alberni. Munro attended the day-long meet to present the all-round loggers trophy.