THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 38,000 copies printed in this issue. Published twice monthly as the official publication of the INTERNATIONAL WOQDWORKERS OF AMERICA Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 Editor — Pat Kerr : Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC 2859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 Business Manager — Fred Fieber Advertising Representative — G. A. Spencer Forwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in accordance with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members $2.00 per year. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, and for payment of postage in cash. >? THE GUARANTEED ANNUAL WAGE yynite most public interest in the forth- coming auto industry negotiations » has been focussed on the UAW’s demand for parity between Canadian and U.S. wage rates, another_historic and equally important demand has received less at- tention than it should. This is the UAW’s demand that hourly rates in the automo- bile industry be abolished and replaced by an annual salary. UAW President Walter Reuther is even more determined to achieve the Guaran- teed Annual Wage for his members this year than Canadian-U.S. wage parity. “We will not sign another contract unless it provides for annual salaries,” he says flatly. The coming battle with the giant auto companies over the GAW will be an historic one. If the auto workers succeed in obtaining it, other unions will be quick to include the same demand in their next bargaining sessions, until the practice of paying workers by the hour is completely eliminated. Hourly pay is one of the few remaining vestiges of the old master-servant rela- tionship that characterized industrial re- lations in the last century. It is based on the principle that-an employer has no continuing obligations to his workers, that he can hire and fire them at will, that he can employ them for as few hours a day or week or year as he desires, and need only pay them for the hours actu- ally worked. Down through the years, this “divine right of management” has been greatly curtailed by the unions, but the practice of dividing a worker’s life into 60-minute chunks has continued, with its punch-clocks, its loss of pay through sickness, and its other erosions of the worker's dignity. Now the UAW is saying that, if the big auto firms can afford to pay annual salaries to their executives, they can af- ford to do the same for their assembly line employees. The auto companies are even more determined to resist this demand than they are the demand for wage parity, so the stage is being set for one of the most important labour - management battles in the post-war era. It is important for Canadian workers as well as those in the U.S., since the achievement of the GAW there will inevitably be followed by a major labour push for the same system in this country. The success of the UAW this fall, there- fore, could very well touch off a truly revolutionary campaign by organized labour to improve the security and dig- nity of workers—a campaign unmatched in intensity since the drive for the 40-hour week twenty years ago. —Canadian Transport Mt MERE OL CTY ET POSS LE PE ED DOUGLAS OFFERS GOALS FOR CANADA THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER - Hon. T. C. (Tommy) Doug- last, federal leader. of the New Democratic Party, has proposed three goals for Can- ada’s second century — sur- vival, economic expansion and increased aid to other coun- tries. Mr. Douglas spoke at a cen- tennial banquet organized by the Ottawa Area Council of the NDP. His audience in- cluded most of the NDP MPs and the party’s Ottawa area provincial candidates. An election in Ontario is expect- ed this spring. He said Canada’s survival is threatened by “disintegra- tion from within and econo- mie absorption and cultural assimilation from without.” The only way to resist eco- nomic absorption was through “oublic planning and financ- ing of economic development. And Canadians must fight disintegration from within by recognizing the country’s bi- lingual and bicultural nature. He described Finance Min- ister Walter Gordon’s propos- als for Canadian ownership as “useless” and said nothing less than public planning and financing would do the job. The NDP leader said Can- ada can afford to expand its economy by utilizing the country’s full economic poten- tial but government planning and direction of the economy -were essential to do the job. Quoting the Economic Council of Canada, he said failure to do so had lost Can- ada $21 billion in the 1957-65 period — or $1,200 for every Canadian. This was an an- nual loss of $2,400 million. He said there should be free education and training to tap the full potential of Canadian manpower. And Canadian investments should be directed into expansion and production of wealth. The national income should be better distributed. “About 29 per cent of non-farm fami- lies now earn less than $3,000 a year. If we include the rural population almost 40 percent of Canadians live in poverty or deprivation. “Tn 1963, the top 20 per cent of non-farm families were receiving 42.5 per cent of the national income, the bottom 20 per cent were get- ing only 4.5 per cent.” Mr. Douglas said “quality of life’ was as important as the standard of living. More of the country’s resources should be allocated to schools, universities, hospitals, hous- ing, homes for the aged, re- creation and for clearing up air and water pollution. CANADIAN er IT’S YER OWN DANGED FAULT FER TAKIN’ YER NOON DAY SNOOZE ON TOP OF TH’ STUFF I WAS RE-STACKIN ! ON THE LIGHTER SIDE “And now,” the chairman said, “I would like to notify the members of the volunteer committee of their appoint- ment.” * * * Through the ages man has progressed to the point where he walks upright, but his eyes still swing from limb to limb. * * * Business is what — when you don’t have any — you go out of. * * * The angry woman’s voice made the hotel manager wince. “I’m up here in room 1510,” she ranted over the phone, “and I want you to know that there is a man walking around the room across the way with not one stitch of clothes on and his shades are up and it’s a shock- ing way to run a hotel.” “T’ll send the house detec- tive up right away, madam,” the manager assured her, and motioned for his minion of the law to scoot upstairs and see what the hassle was about. The detective entered the room, peered across the way, and said, “You're right, mad- am, the gentleman hasn’t any clothes on, but his window sill covers him from the waist down no matter where he is in his room.” “Indeed?” yelped the lady. “Stand on a chair! Stand on a chair!” Make saving a_ habit with a IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE MORE THAN 1260 BRANCHES TO SERVE YOU