SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER, 1974 Ist VICE PRESIDENT WYMAN Trineer and 3rd Vice President Bob Blanchard presented Regional Council 1’s position at the Weyerhaeuser Conference in Seattle. WEYERHAEUSER IWA LOCALS HOLD STRATEGY MEETING Eighty delegates from four of the five Regional Councils met in Seattle, Washington in October to discuss the possi- bilities and strategies for coor- dinated collective bargaining among IWA Locals that have Weyerhaeuser operations in their jurisdictions. The two-day conference saw the delegates study in depth the economics of the forest industry with special emphasis on the contracts existing between IWA Local Unions and the Weyerhaeuser Company in the various regions. Regional President Jack Munro spoke at the opening of the conference and told delegates that he did not ex- pect anything immediate to come from the meeting but said that the very fact that people from all over the union were communicating on a common problem was a good sign. Munro stressed that if any Region expected help from the rest of the union they must first make every effort to solve their own problems before expecting others to help them. Munro added that the confer- ence was the first step in what he hoped would be a continuing communication process bet- ween all areas of the union. Towards the end of the con- ference delegates broke into groups to discuss in detail what each local and Region thought the benefits and pitfalls of co- ordinated bargaining with Weyerhaeuser would be. The conference then struck a com- mittee to continue to study the proposals made by the delegates and also to keep the lines of communication open. REPRESENTATIVES from Local 417 Kamloops attended the Weyerhaeuser Conference in Seattle. Local 1-417 has the largest number of members working for Weyerhaeuser in the Region. Premier Dave Barrett, with- out citing details, promised provincial government action to alleviate the current depres- sion in the forest ana, when he addressed the Re- gional Convention. He did state that the primary purpose of his November trip to China, in company with Re- gional President Jack Munro and MacMillan Bloedel Presi- m@ dent Dennis Timmis, was to seek new lumber markets. The balance of his address eee tree oe 8. wrong Se his government’s 2 Ry ed catenin a. 3 Se ae office. He stated that no other government in Canada had passed better social legislation and very few were as con- cerned for the common people as was his government. He emphasized the import- ance of labour continuing its support to the government by stating that both groups were fighting for better social con- ditions. He admitted that his govern- ment had made mistakes but added that these mistakes were of a minor nature con- sidering the good that had been accomplished. THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER “WANTED” Heavy Equipment Mechanics to service and repair logging equip- ment; Loaders, Skidders, and Crawler Tractors. Mechanics to supply their own hand tools. Cutters and Skidder Operators (Piecework Rates). Room and board $2.00 per day. Comprehensive health, welfare and pension plan, Com- pany paid. Access to all Camps by all weather roads. 1.W.A. rates. For further information contact: Employment Supervisor Manitoba Forestry Resources Ltd. Woodlands Division ~ P.O. Box 1950 THE PAS, Manitoba Phone: (204) 623-5451 ext. 249 Family Income Plan. the family. benefit under the plan. ¢ NEW INCOME PLAN Application forms have been mailed out to families who will be eligible for benefits under Saskatchewan’s new The plan, which was passed by the provincial legislature in its last session, will provide additonal income to working people based on family income and number of children. Eligible families will begin receiving benefits in October. Maximum benefit will be $40 a month for each of the first three children and $30 a month for each additional child in Approximately 30,000 families will qualify for some TOP PRIORITY GIVEN. UNEMPLOYMENT MOTION Certainly one of the most im- portant resolutions to come to the floor of the thirty-seventh annual convention was the one on unemployment. Submitted by the Regional Executive Board the resolution called on the federal government to act quickly to make the con- struction of homes possible for working people. The complex resolution called for the elimination of land speculation through the implementation of a crash pro- gram of land assembly, relaxation of NHA loans stand- ards to allow access to more working people, the reduction of interest rates on mortgages for single family dwellings to approximately half of the present rates and to make in- dividual home owner pay- ments deductible from income taxes. The resolution also called for the federal govern- ment to remove the eleven per- cent sales tax on construction material. The resolution came to the floor of the convention just prior to an appearance by Federal Tabane Minister John Munro and debate was well under way when he entered the hall. The Minister arrived just as Syd Thompson President of Local 1-217 was speaking on the motion and it was obvious that Mr. Munro understood fully the intent of the resolution Be the time Thompson had finished speaking. Noting that it may have looked like coincidence that the resolution was being debated just as the minister arrived, Regional President Jack Munro assured the Minister that this was not the case and that the debate had not been engineered to coincide with his arrival. President Munro then presented the Minister with his own Personal Copy of the resolution. In the Throne Speech de- livered at the opening of Parliament the government in- dicated that it would make moves on housing but did not spell out the exact plan of future legislation or when that legislation would be presented to the House of Commons. WAGE CONTROLS OUT Delegates to the annual con- vention reaffirmed the union’s position on wage controls. The convention ordered that copies of a resolution condemning any form of wage controls. be forwarded to Federations of Labour throughout the Regional Council. The IWA has already made its position on wage controls known to governments throughout the Region on a number of occasions but con- vention delegates decided that it wouldn’t hurt to let them know again that the IWA em- phatically opposes any form of wage controls. It was made abundantly clear that the union would resist such controls no matter what the consequences. GEORGE SMYTHE FORMER PRESIDENT PASSES George Smythe, a former President of I.W.A., Local 1-80, passed away at his home in Richmond, B.C., August 15, 1974. : Brother Smythe was elected as Local 1-80 2nd Vice-Presi- dent under the Presidency of Joe Morris in 1951, 1952 and 1954. In 1955 and 1956 he was 1st Vice-President under Local Union President Tony Poje. Smythe acceded to Presidency in August of 1956 following the resignation of Poje and held that office until 1960. Brother Smythe began work- ing in the forest industry in 1920 as a brakeman on a log- ging railroad. Following a number of railroad jobs in the woods on the Mainland and Vancouver Island, Smythe started working at Cari 6 (Caycuse), Lake Cowichan in 1934. He joined the early Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union in 1934 and later joined the I.W.A. in 1937, six months after our Union was formed. He became a Job Steward in the new Union, later a Financial- Secretary of the Caycuse Sub- local, rick to Camp ‘Sheds and President of the sub-Local, before being elected to office in the Local Union.