THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER AUGUST- SEPTEMBER, 1977 LOCAL 1-85 IWA Recording Secretary Ernie Clarke, right, is shown with Al Biggs, one of the three incapacitated members of Local 1-85 who have been given a new lease on life operating the self-serve gas station. FROM PAGE ONE “GASOLINE CHEAPER” contract. They were finally successful in negotiating an agreement with the Mohawk Oil Company whose officials went out of their way to help. The next step was approach- ing Canada Manpower for assistance in finding and train- ing disabled IWA ‘members. Two IWA members, Al Biggs, a logging truck driver for the Cameron Division who was forced to quit work when he developed Multiple Sclerosis in 1970, and John Warkentin who was disabled last year, were selected. Because the station operates on a twelve hour shift, it was found necessary to hire Simon Holgarth, an IWA member from the Somass Mill who was forced to stop working because of an asthma problem. At first the Local set out a policy that only IWA members would be allowed to purchase gas at the station but this has now been extended to. all affil- iates of the Port Alberni and District Labour Council. The station issues windshield decals to members as well as to. a number of MacMillan- Bloedel officials who have shown interest in the project. These officials have also in- structed M-B buses to patron- ize the station whenever pos- sible. Ernie Clarke, Recording Secretary of Local 1-85, who was put in charge of the project stated that any profits made from the venture would be put back into the station. | He also stated that it was not the intention of the Local to get into any price war with the other gas stations. All the Union was interested in was selling gas and oil cheaper to unionists and providing part time work for its incapacitated members. Ernie said that it is the hope of the Local officers that trade unionists in the Alberni Valley will deal at the station as much as possible. This would ensure steady employment for the three disabled IWA members there and at the same time would give the Local the in- centive to look for other ways of sponsoring work for other incapacitated members. RO BLASTS. TION OFFICIALS — Regional President Jack Munro blasted immigration officers June 6 for ordering out of Canada forty American IWA members who were picketing three Rayonier operations on the lower mainland. Rayonier operations in the ‘US, Pacific Northwest have been strike bound for a number of weeks over contract dis- putes and to put more pressure on the y the IWA decided to close down Ray- immigration bowing to the 7, Oxporation — parent company of Rayonier — in having the IWA pickets ejected so quickly from Canada. The action angered Canadian employees. of Rayonier who all respected the American picket lines. So great was their anger that they threatened to close the plants themselves in retaliation for the immigration officials’ de- cision. = EE) LIGHTER SIDE Kamloops Katie says that if more men were self starters their wives wouldn’t have to be cranks! x FROM PAGE ONE “NEW LOCAL UNION FORMED” Barry.Dalling, Lana Arbuckle, Roy Nelson and Bruce Combs. Elected to attend the Inter- national Convention in Por- VANDER ZALM AT IT AGAIN B.C. Minister of Human Re- sources, Bill Vander Zalm, has admitted that 80,000 low in- come families in the province have been taken off pharma- care. Pharmacare is the gov- ernment scheme to assist in the providing of. prescription drugs for those that cannot afford the financial burden. The eighty thousand fam- ilies, some three hundred thousand people, were covered by pharmacare under the NDP government by a special plan called “Plan B’’. Under this plan those families on low income were required to pay for the dispensing fee charged by the pharmacist but were not required to pay anything for the actual prescription drug dispensed. Vander Zalm has now revamped the Pharmacare program into something he refers to as ‘‘universal pharamacare”’ which is in fact $100 deductible pharmacare for everyone. The overall ef- fect of this so-called ‘‘universal pharmacare’’ is that the eighty thousand families of the working poor will not receive any assistance from the gov- ernment at all. Under the Socred scheme the first $100 spent on prescrip- tions in a year is deductible and the government will reim- burse eighty percent of any- thing spent over the .$100 deductible. The drug industry has given figures which in- dicate that the average B.C. family will spend between $60 and $75 per year on drugs. It is easy to see just how universal the Socred plan actually is. With the $100 deductible and the average B.C. family only spending between $60 and $75 a year. very few people will be eligible for the government assistance. As has been the history of this government it is the poor that will take the brunt of Vander Zalm’s policy. CDN. COAL FOR JAPAN Mitsui Mining Co., has estab- lished a $1.1 million subsidiary, Mitsui Mining Overseas Co., in Tokyo to develop and import coking coal from Canada and steam coal from Australia. The company will participate in Canadian projects to develop coking coal deposits in British Coumbia. In the Quintette re- gion, the company plans to mine and export to Japan five million tons of coking coal an- nually beginning in 1980. In the Hosmer Wheeler region, the company will mine 2.2 million tons per year, beginning in 1980, of which 1.2 million tons will be shopped to Japan. Mitsui Mining is the first - Japanese mining concern to embark on development and import of overseas coal de- posits. tland in October were — Brian Symmes, Noel Gooding, Barry Dalling, Kishen Parmar, Paul Beaulieu and Rajinder Par- mar. Norma Elgie and Balran Gill were elected the Safety Con- ference delegates and Noel Gooding, Gurmel Baines and Sham Sharma were elected to attend the B.C. Federation of Labour Convention. President Keith Johnson was the first of a number of speakers to address the meeting where he pointed out that the charter he had presented to the Local was the first new charter granted by the IWA in the past sixteen years. He then went on to stress the importance of the IWA’s structure and the democratic manner in which this Union functioned at all three levels. Regional President Jack Munro in his address spoke on the responsibilities that union officers have to properly at- tend to the needs of the mem- bership. He followed this up with a report on Negotiations and concluded his talk with a brief outline of conditions in the Southern United States where Le — | } | ] a Regional 2nd Vice-President Bob Blanchard opened his remarks to the meeting by con- gratulating the members ‘on forming the new Local. He also mentioned the importance of workers belonging to large unions where there were greater benefits such as infor- mation on safety, pension facts, educational seminars and other aids available. The other speakers also con- gratulated the delegates and brought them warm greetings from their ‘respective Local Unions. Local 1-424 President Don Muirhead and Financial Secre- tary Toby Mogensen were presented with small gifts at the meeting in appreciation for the help they gave while the Local was being formed. At the close of the meeting a warm vote of thanks was given to Neil Menard and Regional Organizer Nick Worhaug for their hard work and effort during the months needed to get the Local in motion. Following the meeting the Local sponsored a Banquet and dance for the delegates and visitors which was enjoyed by all in attendance. B.C. FED. THREATENS WORK STOPPAGE’ A province-wide general work stoppage has. been threatened by the B.C. Federa- tion of Labour over two contro- versial bills now before the Legislature. Affiliates of the Federation will be asked to support a general work stoppage if the government refuses to kill the bills. One of the bills involved would decertify the faculty association of Notre Dame University in Nelson, now the David Thompson University Centre. The other would abolish the Vancouver Resources Board which would ba thereby decertify unions rep- resenting 1,400 employees. GRAPES NOT “HOT” The ‘‘hot’’ declaration on California grapes has now been lifted following an agreement worked out between the United Farm Workers and the Team- sters Union. Cesar Chavez has expressed the appreciation of his members for the support given by B.C. trade unionists to the struggle of the United Farm Workers. A} ig “\ A —