THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER SALUTE TO SOUTHERN . The IWA congratulates the Southern Interior Local F ipairigng Unions, 1-405, 1-417 and 1-423, ae ee TA tg ae As a result of their diligent building of membership and = In a recent Kelowna conference with Regional President Jack Moore and Regional Secretary-Treasurer Fred Fieber, representatives of these Local Unions agreed to dismantle the facilities of the IRO as from February 1, 1965. Each Local Union agreed to acept full responsibility for the management of its own affairs. The Regional Council will no longer be required to subsidize Southern Interior activities, formerly centralized in the IRO. This milestone in the growth of the Southern Interior IWA provides the occasion for a brief account of the manner in which the Union has taken root in an area where organization has encountered exceptional difficulties. Widely scattered and small operations, requiring extensive travel to maintain communication, made organization always difficult. Employ- ment fluctuated with fluctuating markets for Interior lumber. The “October Revolution” disrupted the Southern Interior organization more than any other section of the IWA in B.C. ; ral ne ~ CONTRACT CONFERENCE Employers were determined to maintain lower wages and ARLY INTERIOR WAGES AND poorer conditions than at the Coast and migrating farm work- ers from Alberta, willing to work at sub-standard wages, were . .. they later won a bitter strike a constant threat. JOE MORRIS GEORGE MITCHELL (deceased) . . - founded the IRO Development of production in the Interior lumber indus- try was retarded until recent years. But last year, Interior production surpassed Coast production, although the monetary value was not as great. Doggedly, the Interior organization has kept pace with this industrial expansion until today the IWA is firmly entrenched in all important lumbering and mill centres as the one and only Union for Southern Interior wood- workers. Local 1-405, Cranbrook, was the first in the field as the result of an organizing effort on the part of the Dis- trict Council. A charter was granted in August 1944 and the application bears the names of the pro tem officers, V. Oakley, A. S. Marie and Wm. Langmeade, according to records furnished by Inter- national Secretary-Treasurer Wm. Botkin. Local 1-417 was issued a charter in May, 1945. Pro tem officers were S. A. Simpson, President, and W. C. Evoular, Financial Secretary. The original charter for Local 1-423, Kelowna, was is- sued in July 1945. A. Mc- Inroy, President, and M. Hol- ton, Secretary made the appli- cation. The Mayfair Hotel v-as given as the Local’s mail- ing address. The Southern Interior or- ganization suffered a major set-back in October, 1948 when the LPP -Communist group in control of the Dis- trict Council attempted seces- sion from the International Union. The IWA charters for Lo- cals 1-423 and 1-405 disap- peared when the secessionist Woodworkers Industrial Un- ion of Canada seized the records, funds and assets. Lo- cal 1-417, Kamloops, where Fred Fieber was stationed as an organizer, escaped the dis- ruption, and maintained con- tinuity of organization. The majority of the Interior members remained loyal to the IWA and a persistent campaign was promptly launched, with the aid of the International Union, to re- establish functioning organ- ization. Leadership in the recovery of IWA certifications, tempor- arily lost, was given by E. Boulet at Nelson, Fred Fieber at Kamloops and Kelowna and Clayton Walls, who cam- paigned throughout the whole area. When as a result of an intensive drive the IWA re- gained certification in the two largest WIUC operations — Kootenay Forest Products and Passmore Lumber Co., the WIUC gave up the ghost and faded from the scene. An IWA charter was re- issued to Local 1-405 on Oc- tober 18, 1948 but was amended on September 22, 1949 to carry the original charter date. On the same date Local 1-417 received a duplicate charter, but claims that it retained the original charter. Local 1-423, Kelowna, found it necessary to get a duplicate IWA charter in Oc- tober, 1948, when the disrup- tionists were defeated and the charter installation upheld. The IWA survived the treachery of the Communists but the Local Union resources were sadly depleted. This in turn, made organization diffi- cult. Throughout this period the International Union gave generous aid in organizational staff. Walls Directs IRO The next important step to aid the desperate struggle forced upon the Southern In- terior Local Unions was taken at aconference in Kelowna, May 31, 1953. This was attended by Local Union representatives, the District President, Joe Morris and Secretary-Treasurer, the late George Mitchell. An agreement was reached to set up a central office in Kelowna to be called the In- terior Regional Office. The District (later the Region) undertook to help staff the office and pay the rental. It was agreed that check-offs would be channeled through this office thus centralizing Local Union records. ~ Beyond the consolidation of internal bookkeeping and management, the Local Unions exercised all the usual autonomous rights of Local JACK KELLY Unions under the Constitu- tion, They continued to elect their own officers, and send their own representatives to District and Regional Con- ferences and Conventions. The plan had the advan- tage of enabling the Locals to clear up their indebted- ness on per capita tax to the Regional Council and the In- ternational Union. It also freed their Business Agents for more effective field work. The International Union en- tered into the plan with the undertaking to maintain three field organizers throughout the area, working in co-opera- tion with the Local Unions. Central figure in the suc- cess of the plan was Clayton Walls who had been Inter- national Organizer and was now named Interior Regional Director. He established the DELL WELDER . .. early Interior Pioneers Interior Regional Office with the support of the District Council and devoted his en- ergies to the development of an efficient and expanding or- ganization. Warm tributes were paid to him for the out- standing service rendered the Union in this capacity when he relinquished his duties to become International Assist- ant Director of Organization. Clayton Walls directed the activities of the IRO from May 1, 1954 to February 1, — 1964. For two years, he acted in the dual capacity of In- terior Regional Director and International Assistant Direc- tor of Organization. The success of the IRO plan cannot be disputed as the fol- lowing statistical comparisons indicate — starting with 1955 as the first full year of IRO operation: