THE B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Page Three

Sawmill News

“Every Reader a Correspondent”

- Sawmill Delegates Ask 65-Cent Minimum

MILL COMMENTS

Boundary Road Shingle Mill. The crew here are really getting together. The white crew are signed up one hundred percent and the Chinese are coming in. The movement of the Chinese is a big step as they are at present working under the vicious contract system.

Canadian White Pine. MacMillan is guarding well this operation but the union is making gains in membership and it is hoped that the employees there will soon be in a position to make a bid for better wages, hours and working con- ditions,

Fraser Mills, These boys are in much the same position as the CWP but slightly more advanced. Word just came from the secretary-organizer there -that the night shift is coming up fast and may soon pass the day shift in membership. ‘A good number of the men at Fraser Mills are old hands at organizing and there should be no trouble in consolidat- ing this group.

Alaska Pine, The manager at this mill

has said that he will not try to stop his,

men from organizing into a legitimate trade union. He is being taken at his word and the men are now proceeding with organization. If this man is sincere we are certain he will find that any con- tract he may have with the IWA will be beneficial to all concerned.

‘There are many others who have con- tacted the sawmill local office asking for assistance and we are doing as much as time allows. The program as laid down by the IWA Midsummer Conference is

cution of the war.-

‘The caucus was unanimous in its desire to cooperate with government and man- agement to stabilize the lumbering in- dustry and eliminate fluctuation of work- ers from one job to another.

‘The main problems of the workers dis- cussed in this sawmill caucus were broken down into four heads, The first was the improvement of wages in line with workers’ needs and the delegates were unanimous, both in the caucus and in the conference, in.view of the ever in- creasing cost of living, to strive for a 65¢ an hour base rate. Secondly, a cost- of-living bonus be instituted wherever possible, and thirdly, a complete revision of the bracket scales be made with the view to a levelling off process necessarily upward.

The second point was of vital import- ance to industrial stability, namely, a collective bargaining agreement. For the purpose of establishing a basis for all future negotiations a master contract was ‘agreed to as the pilot, embodying union recognition, wages, hours of work, ad- justment of grievances, safety and health, | vacation with pay, seniority, call time and the duration of the agreement. The caucus felt that all the above mentioned factors could only be accomplished through organization and therefore set

one which every millworker regardless of sex, creed or color can and should rally behind. Let’s go all-out for victory and all-out for an organized industry! , The two are inseparable.

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For the purpose of stabilizing hours, wages and working conditions the caucus of the sawmill workers of the Mid-Summer Conference of IWA District No. 1 met and drafted the following program, so essential to the most efficient production of vital wood materials and the successful prose-

Vitself the task of planning future work;

namely, the establishment of shop com- mittees in every plant and from time to time the holding of regional and district shop delegate conferences to trade ex- periences and swap ideas.

The delegates also expressed the im- portance of utilizing work buttons in the proper manner to show workers who are in good standing with the organization and the institution of shop steward but- tons to designate job leaders. Many dele- gates also spoke in favor of the institution of a shop bulletin dealing with the ques- tion of safety, health and grievances, pro- duction problems and news of their par- ticular operation.

The fourth point dealt with the all-im- portant question of organizing Production Committees. Labor will sacrifice when

make its best effort labor must partici- pate in full partnership with manage- ment and government to jointly work out elimination of waste and the intro- duction of a cooperative method of re- ducing accidents and improving health.

Labor-management cooperation is the key to maximum industrial efficiency. The BASE should be thousands of shop committees, one in every shop, one in every plant, composed of foremen and shop stewards, who would cooperate to speed production and settle shop disputes. The BODY would be, in each industry, councils composed of representatives of labor, management and government which would deal with transportation problems and settle labor disputes. The HEAD would be a national planning board which would supervise the coun- cils and serve as an agency when disputes arose over allocation, etc.

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PLYWOOD DISPUTE TO BE ARBITRATED

By BILL BENNETT, Secretary, IWA Local 1-217

Negotiations between McMillan Indus- tries, Plywoods division, and its em- ployees were abruptly terminated last week when company representatives Owen and Ballantine refused to discuss a union agreement.

Company officials granted two minor adjustments: (1) reduction of probation-\ ary period from six to three months, and (2) re-employment of four and possibly the fifth person out of seven who applied for reinstatement. The two refused re- instatement were President Bert Mels- ness of Local 1-217, and myself. Union charges of rank discrimination against members of a legitimate trade union were borne out by the company’s atti- tude towards these two workers,

The company’s original excuse for dis- charging these men was a shortage of peeler logs. However, in negotiations, a company official said: “We have another reason for laying off these men which we do not wish to divulge at the present time.”

In view of the labor policy in McMil- lan Industries, this other reason is in all probability union activity. It was pointed out to the company officials in no un- certain terms that the course they were pursuing was in direct violation of the ICA Act and directly opposed to the pol- icy of the government, which has recom- mended a program of cooperation be- tween management and employees.

‘he fact that a union agreement would prove beneficial to the manage- ment by increasing production and stabilizing personnel was pointed out to the company by IWA President Har- old Pritchett, who declared: “In every instance where a legitimate trade un- jon has been esi..isned there has been a distinct rise in production and a marked decrease in labor turnover.”

Since this dispute at Plywoods hegan the production of plywoods has been re-- duced over fifty percent in some sec- tions of the plant and the labor turn- over is approximately 15 men per week.

In spite of this alarming situation the company officials refused the only posi- tive solution to the problems and forced the union to apply fot a board of arbi- tration under the ICA Act. Minister of Labor Pearson has granted this request and has instructed both parties to ‘appoint one representative to the board and three representatives before the board.

‘The union has recommended the ap- Pointment of the following representa- tives: Harold Winch, CCF M.L.A., has been asked to act in the capacity of ar- bitrator; IWA President Harold Pritchett, Bert Marcuse, Director of the Pacific Coast Labor Bureau, and Bert Melness, Local 1-217 president, to present the union case to the board. It is not known

definitely yet whether Harold Winch will be available.

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