10

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

DECEMBER, 1977

FOR TEN DAYS

IWA OFFICERS GUESTS
OF BULGARIAN WOODWORKERS

Editor’s note:

Last August the Bulgarian
Woodworkers Union extended
an invitation to IWA Regional
Council No. 1, to send two re-
presentatives to visit that
Country. Regional President
Jack Munro appointed Region-
al 3rd Vice-President Neil
Menard and Erich Ewert, 1st
Vice-President of Local 1-217,
as the IWA representatives.
The following is Menard’s re-
port of the trip.

Erich and I left Vancouver
on Sunday, September 26, 1977
at 9:30 a.m. on an Air Canada
flight to Toronto where we
boarded Lufthansa Airlines for
an overnight flight to Frank-

furt, Germany, arriving at 8:30
a.m. the following morning.
After a four-hour wait, we
boarded Bulgarian Airlines for
Sofia, arriving at 4:45 that
afternoon.

We were met by Slavi
Slavov, President, and Nicola -
Baschev, Secretary and Head
of Service for Foreign Rela-
tions “‘Ogniana Belverova.”’
They presented us with flowers
and we then proceeded to the
air terminal where we had cof-
fee while they took care of our
luggage. We were then driven
out to Boyana (small district
just outside Sofia) where the
Trade Unions have a hotel for
the exclusive use of Trade
Union people.

VISIT TO

LOVICH

We were escorted to our
rooms and given time to wash
up and have a short rest, then
headed down for a dinner
meeting with the President,
three Secretaries, and our In-
terpreter. We discussed many
things about our respective
countries and our trade union
movements. They went over
the program that they had pre-
pared for us and it looked as
though we were going to havea
very busy schedule over the
next week, which it turned out

be.

On completion of our first
evening, we presented them
with the various gifts we had
brought with us.

We were off to an early start
the morning of September 28th.
Immediately after breakfast,
we Hen for povich, which is

about a three-hour drive from
Sofia. The drive as well as the
scenery was very interesting.
There were many plants along
the highway. One such plant
was a very large steel mill
which operated 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. They indicated
they were having some
problems there but nothing
they couldn’t straighten out
and nothing more was said.
Along the way, we noticed
large groups of workers in the
fields. These were organized
work parties in the agri-
cultural section and also stu-
dent work parties. The stu-
dents were working in the
fields as part of their educa-
tional training. There were
many farms along the way that
raised cattle, hogs, chickens,
as tae piece for the state.

TOUR HARDBOARD PLANT

Once in Lovich, we were met
by the President, Yonho Tri-
fonov Trifonov; Nedha
Stefonova Balivsha, Secre-
tary; Nimitar Nenov Kyurdov,
Organizer District Council of
Bulgarian Trade Unions, and
Veliko Banchev Trohave, Pre-
sident, General Combine,
Trade Union organization at
the Forest economic combine,
Lovich. We had a fairly lengthy
meeting with this group, dis-
cussing the various aspects of
our organizations. They pre-
sented us with some very nice
gifts and took us out to lunch at
a very old restaurant. The
meal was a customary meal of
many years ago and very

sty.

We then left for a small
town called Troyan where we
had meetings with the local
union and plant people and
toured the G. Dimitrov plant.
This is a hardboard plant (wet
process). They took us through
the log yard which at first
glance looked like they brought
in everything but the leaves,
and I guess that is true, as they
grind up some very small
wood. The board they make is
of a very good quality in our
Opinion.

After the tour of the hard-
board plant, we drove up into
the mountains where they have
built a number of rest homes
for the workers. (Rest homes
are very common throughout

the entire be sie: We had an-
other dinner at the rest home
and a good night’s rest.

The following day, we left the
rest home in the mountains and
drove through this mountanous
range to a small town in a very
beautiful valley, called
Rosiainna or Valley of the
Roses. Here we attended a
meeting with the Forest
economic combine Manage-
ment Director, the President of
the Trade Unions for the wood-
working section, and the Presi-
dent of the woodworkers for
that particular area.

This particular meeting was
very interesting as they were
very open and answered all of
our questions as accurately as
possible. They have a forestry
plan laid out over a ten-year
period right from the nursery
to the time the trees are fallen
and shipped for manufactur-
ing. They then break the ten-
year plan down into a five-year
plan and then further to one-
year plans over the five and ten
years. The amazing thing is
how certain they are on every-
thing they have laid out. The
Director’s responsibility is to
see that the plan works and
turns a profit for the state each
and every year. The Combines
Union President’s job is to see
that workers are looked after
in accordance with their
national agreement which is
negotiated annually between

management, government and
the Union. There is a joint ef-
fort by union and management
to see that the plan is carried
out and is successful. When the
plan is successful (which is
most of the time) then every-
one benefits from it through
improved wages, bonuses, im-
provements to the plants, and
improvements which benefit
the employees. Their system is
highly motivated towards an
incentive program. You make
the plan work and you gain
from it, and everyone believes
in this and works towards that
goal.

On completion of this
meeting, they took us for a
very interesting lunch which
included wild duck, wild boar
and fish.

After lunch, we drove to the
city of Plavdiv where we met
with the local committee and
management of a furniture
plant which we toured. They
made exceptionally good furni-
ture, cabinets, tables, chairs,
chesterfields, picnic sets, etc.
The majority of the furniture
made here was made for sit-
ting rooms.

After the tour, we had
another meeting with this
group and we asked them
questions about their plant.
The plant was built for very
high production and efficient
utilization. The only real
problem that we could see was
the large amounts of fine dust
throughout the plant and the
strong smell of varnish. They
said they realized the serious-
ness of these problems and
hoped to have them corrected
within the next couple of years.

We returned to the hotel,
washed up, and had supper.
After supper, Bro. Baschev
and our interpreter took us on a
walk through a very old section
of the city. The shops and
homes were constructed as far
back as the 1600s and 1700s.
Cars were not allowed in this
area. The entire area was
covered with marble. At the
far end of this particular street
was an ancient Roman arena
that was uncovered during
some construction. The state
decided to dig it out and make
it a tourist attraction. This
arena was where the
gladiators fought the lions in
ancient times.

On the morning of Sep-
tember 29th, we were driven
through another very old
section of the city on our way to
an electrical power station
built right inside a mountain.
We drove about half a mile in-
side the mountain then walked
through some areas of the
power station, including the
control centre. All electrical
power stations in the country
are linked together with each
of their own stations plus con-
nections with other Socialist
countries. Should there be a
power outage, everything is re-
stored to normal in a very
short time.

We were then taken to the top
of a very high hill which is the
highest of five around the city
of Ploudiv. Two very large
monuments were erected on
top of this hill in honour of the

i x.
aren erp i es

THIS LOVELY nuildig is the St. Nichlas Church i in the City of
Sofia.

Russian soldiers for their as-
sistance in liberating the Bul-
garians on September 9, 1944.
Monuments in honour of the
Russians and the Partisans
can bee seen all over the
country of Bulgaria.

We then left for Peshtera to
visit a woodworking plant. On
our way, we stopped in a small
town to see a small church that
had been preserved because of
its history. The church was
built in approximately 1817
when the Turks took Bulgaria.
All the citizens of the village
went to hide from the Turks in
this church. The Turks set fire
to the roof, forced all the
people out, and chopped off
their heads. Three people
escaped this horrible death,
one of whom was our inter-
preter’s father. Every area of
the Country has a history of
this barbaric nature.

Upon arrival in Peshera, we
had a meeting with the
Director, Assistant Director,
Plant President and two other
Union officials from the plant.
This particular plant was a
sawmill which processed small
diameter pine logs into lum-
ber. The lumber was finished
then used to make pallets and
egg crates. All the equipment
in the sawmill was very old.
The saws were three very old
6” cant gang saws. The newest
and most modern machines in
the plant were automatic
mailers made in France. Ac-
cording to our standards, this
was a very old run down plant.
The various facilities for the
employees, were however,
very modern and up to date;
i.e. Dental, Safety & Health
Centre, very good eating facil-
ities, showers, washrooms,
lockers, etc.

SPIRIT OF COOPERATION

What really impressed us
was the plant committee’s de-
sire to work with management
to achieve their production
goals.

We then left for Velingrad
where we held a meeting with

‘the Combines Director, Com-

bines Union President, Plant
President and his entire com-
mittee from a woodworking
plant called G. Dimitrov.

This operation consisted of a
number of smaller diversified
plants which were privately
owned prior to 1948. The plants
were then amalgamated into
one large complex owned by
the State of Bulgaria.

The plant manufactured pine
lumber with an annual produc-
tion of 100,000 cu. meters. They
also produced lumber for
furniture, packaging con-
tainers, and a very high quality
hardboard with an overlay for
panelling. We would say that
their hardboard overlay was
probably of the highest quality

we have ever seen. Their out-
put of hardboard panelling was
approximately 15,000 cu.
meters annually.

The plant has a completely
integrated equipment repair
shop. There are approximately
1,000 workers, 20 engineers
(supervisors), 15 economists
and 100 specialists (foremen).
The plant at the time of our
tour was shut down for expan-
sion and installation of some
new equipment. This parti-
cular plant completed its an-
nual production goal 1%
months earlier. Everyone,
union and management, was
very pleased.

On completion of this plant
tour, they took us up the
mountain to a special hospital.
This hospital is for patients
with special ailments. When
the medical staff finds out the
patient’s problem, he would be
sent to a medical centre that

See ‘““BULGARIAN” page 11