4 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

EDITORIAL

the bad old days, before the IWA was formed,
lumber workers were regarded by the public as

shiftless transients. They were the “floating” workers

who were moved from job to job, from camp to camp,

from company town to company town, to take care of

the fluctuating work of harvesting and processing timber.

The prevailing conditions of employment compelled them
to be transients.

The logger was welcomed and robbed when he hit
ee with his roll, and kicked out of town when he was
roke.

The public attitude was that transient workers were
necessarily low-paid workers. Their skills ‘and the haz-
ards they faced were overlooked. The early timber
barons got away with murder in their juggling of wage
rates and imposition of terrible working conditions.
Fortunes were built in this way at the expense of the
lumber workers.

Times have changed, thanks to the IWA. But the tra-
dition remains that lumber workers should never be on
the same wage footing as other skilled workers. This
has always been an invisible barrier behind which the
operators have accumulated their great wealth. It ac-
counts for the bitter struggle necessary to bring wage
levels in the lumber industry to an approximation of
the average wages paid in Canadian and American
industry. This groundless attitude toward lumber work-
ers has often made them feel that they were the poor
relations of industry.

Another wage barrier has been erected by the op-
erators with the false claim that an industry which relies
mainly on export trade cannot pay standard wages and
retain its competitive position in the world markets.
Time and again, this has been proven incorrect. The B.C.
lumber industry has always commanded an exceptional
share of the existing world market because of the qua-
lity of B.C. timber. Comparatively low wages in B.C.
has given the operators an unfair advantage over pro-
ducers ‘in the Pacific Northwest fir-producing areas.

This is shown to be true in Washington and Oregon,
the chief market for B.C. lumber. The base rate negoti-
ated for American lumber workers has been raised to
$2.45 an hour. Producers in both countries are taxing
their capacities to meet the demand in the American
market. The big American operators are also making
exceptional profits. They have the right to complain,
as they do, that the low wages in B.C. enables the B.C.
producer to compete unfairly. This situation is further
aggravated by the devaluation of the Canadian dollar
and Canadian tariffs which protect the Canadian pro-
duction.

The time has come to crack this wage barrier. It’s as
phony as a three dollar bill.

One important result from this year’s demands is
that the public has been forced to recognize that a wage
barrier exists. Woodworkers are claiming their rightful
status in Canadian industry.

The best thing that can happen in British Columbia
is the smashing of this wage barrier by the IWA in the
current negotiations.

Publication date of the next issue of the WESTERN CANADIAN
LUMBER WORKER is April 2. Deadline for ad copy is March

A GUY DON’T KNOW HOW MANY PALS HE HAS .. . UNTIL HE HITS TOWN WIT’

A ‘STAKE’!

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THE WESTERN CANADIA:
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26, and for news copy March 27.
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Published Twice Monthly on the First and Third Thursdays by
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA
(AFL-CI0-CLC) Regional Council No. 1
. Grant MacNeil ESS?
Jack Moore

Editor ..

Rn Mar inn aRiTe nea a eee ee ee ed Meeben
fataattonsl Board Members ..... Joe Madden, Walter F, Allen
Address all communications to:

FRED FIEBER, Secretary-Treasurer
2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C.

TR. 4-5261 - 2
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Rdvertising Representative ......... G. A. Spencer

ized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa,
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27,500 COPIES ‘PRINTED IN THIS ISSUE

The voice of IWA member Tom Barnett, M.P., has been
heard once more in the House of Commons with his plea for
income tax exemptions for loggers in respect of board, pro-
tective clothing and tools. The following is a verbatim quota-

tion from Hansard of March 23

MR. BARNETT: I hope I
have not sounded too wrath-
ful in my denunciation of the
hon. gentleman’s budget. I
must say that if I do feel
some wrath it was _ height-
ened this year by the fail-
ure of the minister to make
even the feeblest effort to re-
solve some of the income tax
problems which were dis-

Tad pA, Co ae a . «
.

TOM BAR
cussed last year affecting
those who make the greatest
effort to provide themselves
with income—those who live
on salaries and wages. I did
have some small hope after
the discussion which took
place last year that proposals
would be made in this year’s
budget to deal with the griev-
ances which were raised; that
there might, indeed, be some
proposal to amend section 5
in an appropriate way So as
to provide for expenses in-
curred by those in receipt of
wages and salaries. I have
been arguing this matter in
the house since I first came
here in 1952, and I suppose
if I am still here in 1973 and
the Minister of Finance is still

over there I shall probably
still be arguing it. Just for
the record I will read one of
many letters that I have re-
ceived on this subject from
constituents in recent weeks.
This letter is addressed to me,
and it says:

“I am writing to you, as
my elected member of parlia-
ment for Comox-Alberni, re-
garding desired amendments
to the Income Tax Act.

“Because I am a logger I
had to pay out a total of
$204.40 in fares last year in
getting back and forth to my
place of employment. These
fares were not paid for holi-
days but because the opera-
tion is closed seasonally.
While I was in camp I had to
pay board and lodging costs
of $536.50. This is a huge sum
when you consider that I am
at the same time paying $65
per month house rent plus
additional costs for my own
family dwelling elsewhere.
Special logging clothes; work
boots; hard hat and a rubber
rain suit cost me $100 last

year.

“Please note I have not in-
cluded cost of regular work-
ing clothes which in logging
are subject to rapid wear and
tear.

“As a logging truck driver
employed in a logging camp,
I not only have the above
costs to contend with, but also
find that I have an annual
cost of $90 replacing broken
or worn out tools. I am also
finding that every month I
am buying some tool to do
required maintenance on the
new machinery that is com-
ing into my camp. In accep-
ting a job as a truck driver
I am required to supply my
own tools, so that my fare to
camp is increased by - $25

Barnett’'s Plea For Loggers
Falls on Deaf Liberal Ears

every time that my place of
employment is changed.

“T would like to point out
that with recent increases in
salaries to M.P.s, $6,000 was
made to be tax free. This
money alone is more than I
am able to gross each year.

“Would you please tell me
what steps you have taken or
will take during the current
session to grant me some re-
lief from this unfair burden.”

Mr. Speaker, this is exactly
the question I would like to
direct to the Minister of Fi-
nance (Mr. Gordon), who is

in a much better position to
answer than I am as to what
can effectively be done or will
effectively be done in this
connection. Even if there had.
been only one little gesture ta
the people who incur these
expenses regularly in the
course of earning a fairly
modest livelihood, I would
have felt a little happier with
the budget which the minister
has introduced.

Federal Plan
Favoured

A public opinion poll of
over a thousand people in 10
major population areas has

shown that 72% have a pref- —

erence for a federal pension
program over either a private

imsurance company or a pro-
managed :

vincial government-

pian. ‘
The Telepoll program
shown on Sunday, March 8th '

on the private CTV network,

announced the result of the fl

which would you prefer—a
private plan or a government —
plan?”

sn wenn wap

a government plan, 25% for
a private plan.

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