ed a formal organization under the Societies Act of B.C. The name of the association is the NIC Forest Industry Trades Association. The letters NIC stand for Northern, In- terior and Coast.

The constitution, as registered with the registrar of companies in

- Victoria, lists the following pur- poses for the trades association:

a) To further the interests of trades people in B.C.;

b) To provide channels of com- munication to trades people in B.C.; and

¢) To promote education within the ranks of trades people in B.C.

I recently spoke to a tradesman who is actively involved in this soci- ety and he outlined the policies of his group as follows:

@ To promote trades upgrad-

ing;

@ To work towards standardi- zation of work hours for all trades;

@ To oppose the extension of the classification described as tech- nician (whom they refer to as super tradesmen);

@ To standardize trade guide- lines;

@ to get more protection against contracting-out;

@ To standardize the ratio of apprentices to tradesmen;

@ To improve apprenticeship training, at plants and in schools;

e@ To gain more respect for ap- prentices in the work place; and

@ To establish full banking of overtime for all tradesmen.

When I asked him if the society was set up in opposition to the In- ternational Woodworkers of Am- erica, the Canadian Paperworkers Union and the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, the three major unions in the industry, the answer was a definite no.

To drive home his point he gave mé an undated circular which, he said, was issued recently by the society as an open letter to all tradesmen in the forest industry.

On page two, I found the follow- ing statement:

“To set the record straight, this should not be seen as a condemna- tion of our unions, or an attemptto

break away. It should be seen by tradesmen as a recognition of the fact that with all due respect to our individual unions and its leaders at all levels, they simply have not been able to act in our best interests be- cause of outside pressure from non-tradesmen. ‘We feel that through the Asso- ciation we could remain in our own unions and remain a lobby group strong enough to assist each other in settling different problems, which we certainly can not do oper- ating in a vacuum from each other. “The Association is being set up in such a manner that members of one union will not dictate to mem- bers of other unions.”

LABOR COMMENT

BY JACK PHILLIPS

When I pressed for more infor- mation as to thespecifics of the ma- jor grievance of the tradesmen who formed the association, I learned that the relationship between the basic rate for unskilled labor and the tradesman’s rate was the main issue. Here is the picture as it was given to me:

@ In 1973, the rate for IWA tradesmen was set at $6.50an hour, by an hourly increase of 63 cents. The new rate was 146 percent of the then base labor rate of $4.45 an hour.

e@ Because of across-the-board settlements since 1973 (flat in- creases instead of percentage in- creases), the tradesmen need $1.66 an hour to put them back into the position they established in 1973. In short, the tradesmen argue that their wage rates have declined in re- lation to the base rate in the lumber industry, in terms of the differen- tial they enjoy.

My contact put it this way: ‘“We -

should fight. for percentage in- creases in all future contracts, or before long everybody will be working close to the base rate.”’ As of June 15 this year, the [WA base rate will be $9.96 and the trades rate $12.885 per hour. This

CAIMAW still striking for equal pay demand

The ‘‘chauvinistic attitude’ of the Kenworth truck manufacturing plant in Burnaby towards seven fe- male employees is spurring about 350 male workers to continue their strike to back demands for equal pay for work of equal value for the seven. The strike is now into its third week.

‘*The scenario for the strike was set,’’ according to Jess Succamore, president of the Canadian associa- tion of Industrial and Allied Work- ers union (CAIMAW) negotiating for the Kenworth workers, when Hugh Ladner of the Labor Rela- tions Board arbitrated unequal wages by refusing to use the equal pay principle as the basis for new base rates in May, 1980.

Shortly after the arbitration case, the union’s negotiating com- mittee offered to recommend ac- ceptance of the company’s two- year wage offer of 12 percent and

percent increases for plant workers if the discrimination against the seven women was drop- ped, and wage parity established.

The company refused to bring the women’s wages up, not because

it would cost them much more to-

equalize the pay, according to Suc- camore, but because it was “‘a mat- ter of principle.”

Kenworth spokesman Ed Blouin said it was “‘not a major economic issue” but that it might cause “‘whipsawing . . . they’ll try to get higher wages here, and then negoti-

_ ate for thesame settlement with our

competition.”

Succamore challenged the com- pany’s principles, noting that Ken- worth pays its data processors in Montreal a higher wage than their ‘counterparts in Burnaby.

“The data processors start at 13.4 percent more than the base rate and can earn up to 14 percent more than the top rate in the St. Therese plant outside Montreal.

‘In Burnaby, the data proces-

sors start at 14.8 percent less than:

the base rate and 18.2 percent less than thetop rate,”’ he said. He add- ed that CAIMAW has received tre- mendous support for its stand in backing the equal pay demand.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —-JUNE 13, 1980— Page 12

means that the tradesmen will be receiving 129 percent of the base rate. The Association argues that they should be receiving 146 per- cent of the base rate, as they were in 1973, which would bring their rate up to $14.54 per hour.

When I asked about the special: adjustment that the IWA negotiat- ed for the trades in the last round of negotiations, I was reminded that the adjustment is included in the current trades rate which is held to be unsatisfactory.

I worked in an industrial-type union for 27 years and the question of flat, across-the-board increases or percentage increases was a bone of contention in nearly every set of negotiations. Those on the base rate, along with most of those be- tween the base rate and the rate for the trades categories, consistently demanded a flat, across-the-board increase, that is, a given sum per hour applied to all categories. The trades (and others at the top of the scale) usually insisted on a percent- age increase. :

The trades argument was very simple: A fifty cent an hour differ- ential over a laborer in, say, 1950, was one thing. But the same 50 cent differential in 1970 meant an awful lot less, as a percentage of the base rate, and as a factor contributing to a given standard of living which the tradesmen figured they were entitl- ed to because of their long apprent- iceship and the value of their labor. Inflation and rising prices have also contributed to the dissatisfaction of tradesmen where the differential has remained constant, or relative- ly constant, in cents per hour over a long period.

Of course, the lower paid work- ers are usually dead set against any percentage increase. They argue that such increases tend to widen the gap in dollars between the base rate and the trades, to the detriment

’ of the lower-paid worker. If Ihave

heard the following simplistic argu- ment once, I have heard it a thou- sand times in my union career: “‘Why. should a tradesman get a

-bigger increase than me? We both

buy our groceries in the same store and it costs me just as much to feed my children as it costs him.” However, it was my experience that the moment a laborer, a truck driver, a semi-skilled worker, or a lower-paid clerical worker felt that his other responsibilities had in- creased substantially, that worker demanded that the union should

‘obtain a special adjustment in pay,

through a move into an existing, higher rated category, or through creating such a category.

In some cases, the same laborer, truck driver or stenographer who got a special increase would then scream blue murder against going for a special adjustment for the trades and other highly skilled cate- gories, after first rejecting the idea of a percentage settlement. The society we live in tends to foster this kind of competition and division between workers. _

There is no easy way to reconcile the divisions that arise among working people on the basis of craft and occupational differences. A union leadership faced with this problem must fight as hard as poss- ible to win the highest possible base rate and to guarantee that all the in- termediate and higher categories

obtain rates in line with their train-.

ing, skills and responsibilities.

There is no universally accepted. yardstick by which we can measure: how much a millwright, pipefitter,

electrician, welder or operating en-

gineer is worth in relation to a la-

borer. Among the factors that

must be bornein mind is the market

factor. For example, if a mill- wright, electrician or pipefitter in the IWA sees his rate slipping badly in relation to rates in construction and, say. certain other industrial unions, ‘he will demand that his union should do something about

it.

Apparently, the IWA leadership recognizes that there is a problem and is beginning to do something about solving that problem.

The Barker (official publication of Vancouver IWA Local 1-217) reported in April that a motion de- manding that the Regional Council of the IWA negotiate a substantial wage revision for tradesmen was approved at a tradesmen’s confer- ence held March 24 in Vancouver. As the IWA is the largest union in the industry, this is a significant de- velopment.

The conference was chaired by regional president Jack Munro, who pointed out that the Regional Council could take no action on the rate revision demand until it had been submitted to all local unions for approval.

Other items discussed at the meeting included pre-apprentice- ship training; non-indentured help- ers; the need to update the apprent- iceship agreement; the ratio of ap- prentices to tradesmen; shift sched- uling; selection of trainees; ap- prentice training; availability of schooling; seniority; trades rates and-trades lines.

As the current forest agreements held by the IWA have another year to run, it is possible that the de- mand for a revision will not be taken up before the next round of negotiations.

All members of the IWA, un- skilled, semi-skilled and trades are faced with heavy layoffs and an un- certain future. Any unnecessary quarrels over rate differentials can only cause serious divisions at a time when all members of the IWA, along with the members of the other two unions, should be united around the kind of policies that will guarantee maximum em- ployment and the best possible rates for all workers in the industry.

_ It-is to be regretted that the tradesmen from nearly every part. of the province have felt it neces- sary to set up an association under the Societies Act to serve as a per- manent lobby within the three ma- jor unions in the industry, with a formal constitution and a dues- paying structure. However, it must be noted on the positive side that the sponsors of this society are urg- ing their members to work within their unions in order to obtain re- dress for their grievances. It would have been better if the IWA had created a structure for the trades within that union, butit didn’t hap- pen that way.

It is not my job to pass judgment. on the leaders of the IWA who claim they have done a good job in representing their tradesmen. That’s for the membership of the

IWA to decide, including trades-

City or town Postal. Code

Donation $

* the trades in the TWA number

Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive. g Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186 i

Read the paper that fights for labor — :

1 am enclosing: 1 year $100 2 years $180) 6 months $6 oC OldO NewL Foreign 1 year $12 0

Wood t trades form own organization

men. However, as long as this sub- stantial body of tradesmen is dis- satisfied, the union has a serious problem to which it should address itself as expeditiously as The tradesmen, on their part, must recognize that their main enemy the monopoly group that the industry, and not their fellow workers or the union. ae The new association claims

proximately 10 percent of membership of that union. Ob ously, if such a large, key bl continues to be dissatisfied wi their representation, the end 1 can only be division and disru) tion. It doesn’t have to be that Ways provided there is a willingness the part of the leadership and tradesmen to tackle the proble constructively.

SUDBURY — The president’ Local 6500, United Steelworkers America, has called for a count wide inquiry into mining de The call by Dave Patterson follo the death last week of two mi miners at the Inco operations Sudbury. 4

In an interview with the Tribu m Patterson said: ““There have D¢ 10 mining deaths in Ontario si the beginning of the new Those deaths combined with f0 deaths in Grande Cache mine & lier in the year, and now the news the gold mine disaster at Val d Que., cry out for a comprehe: national inquiry.” .

In commenting on the own most recent deaths at Inco, Patterson said the deaths were avoidable. ‘Bill 70 (the mine safety | tion) has to be rigidly enforced, as a follow-up on Bill 70, our mand that mining should be recog- nized as a trade, should be ins tut ed. A trade classification for min: — ers would mean an appreniotP program, as well as contin’ dating and safety refresh? courses.”

And further to the recognitio? mining as a trade, Patterson ae | “The bonus system has to be { changed, and moved away fromme wards for production to a S: ed. |

he i

where safety can be rewate When the bonus system is tied it is to increased production wile out increased safety conscious then you have a system that miners.”’ “If it takes a shutdown of na dustry to protest these deaths, en it’s a measure which we as a 3 will have to begin looking to,” Pa terson concluded. :

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