January, 1964 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 5 A REPORT ON HARMAC By FERNIE VIALA Local 1-80 Business Agent After months of negotiations, the Harmac situation remains unresolved. We are faced with a threat to our union’s security which surpasses any that we have had in many years. We have, situated in our Local Union, a sawmill capa- ble of greater production than many of the existing sawmills presently certified with our union. This sawmill] is under International Pulp & Sul- phite contract. After meetings with Pulp Sulphite officials in which Re- gional Officers participated, a settlement seemed possible, but, unfortunately, this set- tlement did not come about. The Pulp Sulphite leadership and F.1.R. seem to have much in common on this issue. Allegations have been made that the IWA is attempting to raid and claim members who are not rightfully: ours. If trying to keep lumber manu- facturing within IWA juris- . diction is “raiding” then the answer to these allegations . is “Yes.” Realistic View Needed Let’s take a realistic view of this problem. If the IWA should have to go on strike for better wages and condi- tions and MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River can still pro- duce lumber with tremen- dous volume, who benefits? The IWA? The Pulp Sulphite? or MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River? The answer is obvious! Does this help the Pulp Sulphites’ position when it is their turn to better them- selves? Again the answer is obvious! MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River are attempt- ing to weaken the IWA’s posi- tion when ‘negotiations come up this year and will be suc- cessful if all unions do not combat these insidious “di- vide and conquer” methods. Statements made by a Pulp Sulphite official in a letter to the Labour Relations Board indicated that the employees at the Harmac Sawmill would not consider belonging to the IWA because, and we quote, “The wages are better, the fringe benefits are better.” In some cases this appears to be true but stop and consider some of the “better fringe benefits!” There are no rest periods morning or afternoon. There is no lunch hour—it is a straight eight hour shif from start to finish. Saturdays are worked at straight time rate. Little Simple Arithmetic A little simple arithmetic -will prove one of the reasons the Pulp Sulphite contract is so attractive to MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River. Rest periods in plants under IWA contract consist of 10 minutes in the first half and 10 minutes in the last half of a shift. In a three shift opera- tion such as Harmac sawmill is working, this amounts to one production hour a day. Based on a production quota of 700 thousand board feet in a 24 hour day — 24 hours divided into 700,000 FBM equals 29,166 board feet per day — multiplied by seven working days a week (which is covered in pulp contracts) this amounts to 204,162 FBM per week — now multiply the last figure by four weeks per month — our answer is 816,648 board feet per month. Carry this a little further by multiplying 816,648 board feet by 12 months. Yes, the answer is just short of 10 million board feet annually produced on rest periods alone. Are you still in doubt why MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River want the Pulp Sulphite union in their sawmill? If you are, sharpen your pencil and fig- ure out what the “no lunch stop” part of the contract comes to! Regional officers dispatched a letter to the Canadian La- bour Congress on December 20, 1962, asking them to rule on the jurisdictional dispute between the IWA and Pulp Sulphite. A representative of the Canadian Labour Con- gress was instructed to tour the plant and submit a re- port. Again in June of 1963 our Local financial secretary wrote to the Canadian La- bour Congress asking them to clarify their position. To date Local 1-80 thas not received any communication from this organization. On May 20, 1963, our Local union applied to the provin- cial Labour Relations Board for a blanket certification covering all MacMillan, Bloe- del & Powell River sawmills within the boundaries of Local 1-80. A hearing was held in Van- couver, B.C. at which presen- tations were made by FIR, Pulp Sulphite officers, and Local 1-80. FIR’s presentation was most impressive in that it contained 27 pages of man- agement opinion and _ half truths which were, in the writer’s opinion, put there to hide the real motives of this attempt to keep the IWA out of Harmac sawmill, (Pulp Sulphite leadership sat on the sidelines nodding emphatic agreement to this presenta- tion.) The Labour Relations Board, in spite of this, award- ed our Local a. blanket cer- Huge production at new Harmac Sawmill B.C.’s Most Modern Sawmill tification which read in part, as follows: “The Labour Relations Board has determined that the employees of MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell River In- dustries Limited, 1199 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C., employed in or inciden- tal to the sawmill operations on that portion of Vancouver Island within the boundaries of Local 1-80 except those ex- cluded by the Act; office staff, and engineers and firemen employed in the operation and maintenance of the power plant in the sawmill at Chemainus, B.C., are a unit appropriate for collective bar- gaining and is satisfied that the International Woodwork- ers of America, Local 1-80 has complied with the re- quirements of the Act, and for the purposes of collective bargaining therefore hereby certifies it as the trade-union for all the employees in the said unit. Harmac Not A Woodroom A letter attached to’ the certification indicated this “did not include the wood- rooms at Harmac.”’ Local 1-80 will not deviate from its ori- ginal position that Harmac sawmill is not a woodroom in any way, shape, or form. In spite of the overwhelm- ing problems placed before us by Forest Industrial Relations and the Pulp Sulphite Union officials, the officers and mem- bership of the IWA must continue to fight for jurisdic- tion over this sawmill. Our position is strengthen- ed a great deal by the fact that common sense has invar- iably been used by the work- ing force of this Local to set- tle any and all disputes. We. sincerely hope that tougher methods will not have to be used. However, Forest In- dustrial Relations and any one else concerned may rest assured that we are fully pre- pared to exercise these methods should they become necessary. Canada Pension Plan Gets CLC Backing The Canadian Labor Con- gress through its Political Education Department has‘ launched a nationwide cam- paign to arouse public support for a Canada Pension Plan and has sent out letters to all its affiliates asking for im- mediate co-operation and action. A letter addressed to affili- ated local unions, federations of labor and labor councils by CLC PEC Director George Home emphasizes that a na- tional pension plan will “probably be one of the most contentious issues to be raised at the coming session of parliament.” “There is substantial evi- dence,” the political educa- tion director continues, “that the Canadian Manufacturers Association, local Chambers of Commerce and insurance and investment companies are preparing a campaign either to defeat the Bill or by delay and opposition, to water it down to the extent that it will have no real prac- tical value to the average Canadian citizen.” The campaign is being planned in three stages, first to encourage public discus- sion, second to have citizens sign cards in support of the plan, third to get trade union- ists to sign petition forms which would be presented to parliament some time in March. Congress P.E.C. director Home is sending all neces- sary information to local unions, labor councils and federations. Bulk quantities of campaign cards, petition forms and posters are being shipped to labor councils and federations, for distribution to local unions. The CLC PEC department is also preparing speakers’ notes, radio and TV scripts and leaflets, all of which should be ready by mid-Jan- uary. Urgent letters have gone out to all trade union lead- ers across Canada giving de- tails of the campaign plans. The $500 bonus incentive for winter house construction has attracted 26,000 success- ful applicants, most from On- tario and Quebec.