THE WESTERN CANADIAN

LUMBER

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WORKER

Vol. XXXVI, No. 21

VANCOUVER, B.C.

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1st Issue November, 1967

NORTH SETTLES

FIVE-WEEK STRIKE ENDS

MEMBERS OF LOCAL 1-184 of the I.W.A. employed at MacMillan Bloedel’s Aspenite Division in Hudson Bay (Saskatchewan) met in a special meeting on Sunday, October 22, 1967, to discuss job evaluation with Glenn Thompson, retiring Local president; Alex Smith, president-elect and Regional Staff representative Tony Vanderheide.

IN SASKATCHEWAN

CATEGORY WAGE RATES INCREASED THROUGH JOB EVALUATION

Initial evaluation of the Aspenite Division of MacMil- lan Bloedel in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, was recently concluded through the com- bined efforts of the plant com- mittee, officers of Local 1-184 and the Regional Evaluation Department.

Prior to the implementation of the B.C, plywood job evalu- ation plan into their opera- tion at Hudson Bay, the com- pany sought the advice of Forest fanaa! Relations Ltd. and, as a result, ridicu- lously low interim category rates were put into effect. Subsequently a joint evalua- tion study was undertaken by the Regional evaluation de-

partment and Forest Indus-

trial Relations Ltd. and a

serious dispute regarding uated rates emerged.

MacMillan Bloedel then de- cided to relieve Forest Indus- trial Role Ltd. of its obli-

The Regional president in- structed staff representative Tony Vanderheide to con- clude a’ settlement of the dis- pute. As a result, Local 1-184 called a special membership meeting in Hudson Bay on October 22, 1967, and the crew elected a negotiating committee to inform the local management of the Aspenite Division of their determina-

tion to have this dispute set- tled in short order.

The company brought in a representative from its head office in Vancouver and subsequently a letter of un- derstanding was signed on be- half of the Regional Council and the company on October 27, which brought a peaceful

See “ASPENITE” — Page 3

MILL PROJECT HALTED

BY IWA PICKETS

Construction work at the big $42 million pulp mill at Skookumchuk, 30 miles north of Cranbrook, has been halted by pickets posted by striking members of the ine vaiaaet Woodworkers of America.

The pulp mill is being erected for Crestbook Forest Industries, one of the com- panies involved in the strike

_ in the southern Interior.

The pickets are members of the IWA in the southern In- terior.

Work on ‘the mill project

halted when about 340 con- struction workers respected

cea

Regional president Jack Moore said arrangements were made on a meeting on November 15 in Vancouver with the Building and Con- struction Trades Council for the construction workers to get onto the site to remove their tools.

As a result the pickets were removed Thursday, Nov. 16, but were placed on the line again Monday, Nov. 20.

Moore said: “The building trades have agreed to respect the picket lines and we have

agreed to remove the pickets ei they no a their too ‘2 -

A new three-year agreement was announced on

Friday, Nov. 17, by IWA Local 1-424 and the North- ern Interior Lumbermen’s Association.

lt provides for a total wage increase of 44 cents an hour plus whatever increases are provided in the coast master agreement in the period from June, 1969, to June, 1970, to be applied in the northern Interior be-

Voting by IWA members was not completed at press time but the early indications showed that the terms had been approved by more than 50 per cent of the member- ship.

The northern operations were reported returning to normal quickly.

The agreement formula es- tablishes wage raises in four stages:

e 22 cents an hour from September 1, 1967;

© 12 cents an hour from May 1, 1968;

© 10 cents an hour from January 1, 1969;

© The increase or increases (if there are more than one) negotiated into the coast con- tract for 1969, to be incor- porated in the pay packages in the north between Septem- ber, 1969, and August, 1970.

In addition to the wage clauses, the agreement pro- vides these benefits:

e Night shift differential increases from the six cents in the old contract to eight cents an hour from September 1, 1967, rising to 10 cents an hour in September, 1968.

‘© Vacation pay calculated at 6% per cent for five year employees, the same as in the coast master agreement.

e A health and welfare plan in line with the coast, providing, from January 1, 1969, for $50 a week benefit for 39 weeks, in place of the old contract provision of $35 a week for 26 weeks.

e A statutory holiday clause, permitting a worker to take the holiday as long as he works within a 60-day per- iod around the date of the holiday. This is the same as in the coast contract. Under the clause in the old northern Interior contract, a man had to work within a 30-day per- iod before and a 30-day per- iod after the statutory holi- day to qualify.

Under the new clause, a man may work one day be- fore the holiday and within 59 days after it, or in any other combination, to qualify.

About 600 workers had been on strike against five major operations for five

_ tween September, 1969, and August, 1970.

weeks. Workers in 13 other operations remained on the job because they voted against strike action in their individual plants. Under B.C. law, they could not strike.

This agreement will cover about 1,100 workers in total.

About 5,000 workers in the southern Interior remain on strike. Two days of talks last week failed to make any pro- gress in the dispute with the southern association and with Celgar Ltd.

Regional president Jack Moore said: “The negotiating committee for the southern association told us that they had been instructed by their clients not to move off the Munroe Report, not to go be- yond it. So the talks were broken off.”

No new talks have been scheduled either with the as- sociation employers or Celgar.

See “NORTH” — Page 3

TRINEER RE-ELECTED

Wyman Trineer, President of Local 1-357 IWA, has been re-elected president of the New Westminster and District Labour Council.

Others elected were: first vice-president, Dave Bryce, Amalgamated Transit; second vice-president, Don Garcia, Longshoremen; third vice- president, Charles Oates, Beverage Dispensers; secre- tary-treasurer, Ray Mercer, C.U.P.E.; trustees (3 year term), Andre Pepin, N. W. Cordage. .

The following were elected committee chairmen: organ- ization, John Hachey, IWA; education, Keith Harvey, Steelworkers; sergeant - at - arms, Frank Walden, Postal Workers; political education, H. Hoskin, " Firefighters; com- munity services, A. Schiller, Amalgamated Transit; legis- lative, Alec Archibald, IWA.