anadian

ber worker

VANCOUVER, B.C.

ISSN 0049-7371

JUNE - JULY, 1977

THE IWA PROVINCE-WIDE Negotiating Committee meeting April 18 with the coast forest
industry in the Hotel Vancouver to present the Union’s contract demands. The Union
negotiators are facing the camera while the industry negotiators may be seen at the right of

_the picture.

PROTEST DAY LEGAL
COMMISSION RULES

Neither governments nor
employers can legitimately
prohibit political strikes such
as the P Canadian Labour
Congress’ October 14 day of
protest because Canadian
workers were exercising their
legitimate constitutional right
to dissent, a Manitoba in-
dustrial enquiry commission
has found.

“The loss of profits to the
employers, the inconveniences
to the public and the loss of pay
to the protesters were all
sacrifices | which were
recognized in advance,’ the
commission’s report said of the
national work stoppage. ‘‘To
think that the collective bar-
gaining process could deny
such an orderly and peaceful
protest participated in by so
many Canadians is pelle otie. ”

The protest was not in
violation of work stoppage
clauses in collective agree-
ments, the commission found.
The October 14 protest was not
a strike in the legal definition
of the term but the exercise of
a constitutional right ‘“‘which
could not be taken away by a
provincial statute or a
collective agreement.”’

In ruling that the day of

protest work stoppages were
not strikes, the commission >

said both common law and
statute law recognize the
purpose of a strike is to
compel the employer to agree
to the terms and conditions of
employment. The October 14
work stoppage clearly did not
fit that definition, the commis-
sion’s report said.

“The workers’ desire was to
influence the federal govern-
ment to change its anti-infla-
tion legislation. The work stop-
pages were political, therefore,
and were not carried out to
compel their employers to
change terms and conditions of
employment.”

The commission disagreed
with an Ontario Labour
Relations Board ruling that the
day of protest constituted an
illegal strike. The Ontario
board said the national work
stoppage could be classified as
a strike because its object was

to change legislation which
affected the collective
bargaining process. But the
Manitoba commission refused
to take that approach.

“The fact that it would be
difficult to draw the line at
what is genuine collective bar-
gaining and what is the per-
sonal right of the individual is

See “PROTEST,” Page 2

TALKS
SLOW

Regional President Jack
Munro, spokesman for the
Negotiating Committee,
reports no progress has been
made to date in the contract
talks with the forest industry.

The Negotiating Committee,
he said, is of the opinion that
the only way to force the em-
ployers to negotiate quickly is
for the Union to conduct an
early strike vote.

If a strike vote is conducted
the Committee requests that
all members vote ‘‘yes” to
provide the Union negotiators
with a strong weapon at the
bargaining table.

A solid strike vote does not
imply the Union will strike
without exploring first all
avenues to achieving a decent
settlement. A solid strike vote
will also prevent the employers
from stalling negotiations
beyond the contract expiry
date.

MEMBERS
ACCEPT TERMS

The approximately 230
members of Local 1-207 IWA
employed at the North West
Pulp & Paper plant, Hinton,
Alberta, voted to accept the
terms of a new two-year agree-
ment May 13.

Recoteioce for the Union
were Regional ist Vice-
President Stan Parker, Local
President Joe Pirker, Local
Financial Secretary Bob
DeLeeuw, and four members
of the Plant Committee.

ea areca nc oe

IWA DEFEATS

—P.P.W.C.

RAID

IN LOCAL 1-424 ©

The IWA has for the second
consecutive year defeated the
raiding attempts of the Pulp,
Paper and Woodworkers of

Canada (PPWC) at the Pinette_

and Therrien sawmill at

;. Williams Lake in the jurisdic-

tion of Local 1-424 Prince

George.

In the representation vote
conducted by the Labour
Relations Board April 26th, the
PPWC won fewer votes than in
last year’s vote. The results
were 150 for the IWA and 100
for the PPWC.

The raid at Pinette and
Therrien was the 16th raid
conducted by the PPWC in the
last seven years against the
IWA. There were 4390 mem-
bers employed in the 16 opera-
tions and the PPWC was only

successful in winning certifica-.

tion for four of them.
However, one of the four,
CIPA Mill in the jurisdiction of
Local 1-80, voted to switch back
to the IWA the following year.
The number of members the
PPWC gained from the three
remaining operations totalled

503.

During the same seven year
period, the IWA as a respon-
sible organization, devoted its
time and energy to looking
after the needs of its own mem-
bership while at the same time
organized ten thousand

unorganized. workers into the

Union.
To stave off the PPWC raid
at Williams Lake IWA officers

BUD RAHBERGER

APPOINTED

International President Keith
Johnson has appointed Quintin
(Bud) Rahberger Internation-
al 2nd Vice-President effective
April 1,1977. Bud served as Re-
gion 3 Vice-President since
January 1974. He has been a
member of the IWA since 1962.

“ edsereativel estimate the
cost to the Union was $75,000
over the three month raiding
period.

What the cost to the PPWC
for the raid is impossible to
guess accurately but it must
have been in the thousands of
dollars.

All the Locals in Regional
Council No. 1, either contrib-
uted money to the campaign or
loaned experienced people to
aid in the fight. Nine full-time
IWA members worked around
the clock contacting all the em-
ployees of Pinette and
Therrien to. convince them to
remain in the Union.

On the voting day the IWA
had sixty members from all
over the Regional Council on
the information line. Through
the dedication of these
members and strong support
from the towns people of

“Williams Lake, the IWA was

able to defeat the PPWC raid.

A great deal of credit for the
IWA win must be given to the
Regional organizing staff who
bore the brunt of the fight.
Organizers Nick Worhaug and
John Smithies under the
direction of Regional 3rd Vice-
President Neil Menard laid out
the campaign and brought the
affair to a successful con-
clusion.

The staunch IWA supporters
in the plant as well as the
crews at Merril Wagner, West
Fraser Planer and Lignums,
also gave invaluable help and
support. :

The IWA Regional Executive
Board is now determined that
the raid at Pinette and
Therrien will be the last raid
the PPWC will be allowed to
conduct against any IWA
operation without being raided
in return.

While the IWA is opposed to
raiding other unions it is not
prepared to waste money and
time protecting its own juris-
diction year after year because
an organization like the PPWC
is led by officers lacking the
intelligence and skill to
organize the unorganized.

The officers of the Regional
Council wish to express their
sincere thanks to the Local
Unions and all those members
who so generously contributed
their time and effort to help
their IWA brothers at Pinette
and Therrien.

This demonstration of
solidarity is the keystone on
which democratic
organizations like the IWA are
built and is the basic reason °
why they will survive and
prosper long after unions such
as the PPWC have disap-
peared. ‘