Page Four

B.C.

LUMBER WORKER

NEW ACT WANTED

‘THE official records for 1948 disclose that 88 death claims and 11,154 disability claims were dealt with by the orkmen’s Compensation Board arising from accidents in the B.C. lumber industry.

Already, in 1949, there have been over 43 fatalities and 5,055 injured men.

These are the facts which give the IWA a direct in- terest in the enquiry to be conducted by Mr. Justice Sloan into the scope of Workmen’s Compensation in B. C., com- mencing November 7th.

Lumber workers will approve the action of the B.C. District Council in deciding to collaborate with the B.C. Federation of Labor in the presentation of a brief, in order to emphasize the special protection required against the hazards of lumbering.

nl eee 4

rz will not suffice that a few men appear before the Com- mission on behalf of the IWA, in, company with the representatives from affiliated unions.

More far-reaching measures are necessary to make the point that must be made for the protection of lumber workers, whose names have appeared and may yet appear on the industrial casualty list.

The members in each unit of the Union must co-operate |}

to gather the data based on experience with compensation cases, to prove the urgent needs, and forward such infor- mation to the Union’s advocates.

The members on the job and in the community must rouse greater interest in the problem, that public opinion may make unmistakably clear a public demand for better compensation legislation.

* * *

GRIEVANCES against the Board for past administration of the Act should be given secondary place to argu- ments for a revised Act.

This is an opportunity to impress the Commissioner with the pressing need for amendments on major points.

The employers realize this, as they did in 1942. One hundred and sixty witnesses were heard during the 1942 Commission sessions which lasted 52 days. The employers’ representatives outnumbered the labor representatives almost 2 to 1.

The rates for compensation must be increased above the present sixty-six and two-thirds percentage of pre- vious earnings and allowing for a higher maximum of earned income than $2500.

The widow, entitled to pension, requires more than the pittance of $50 a month, with higher rates for dependents.

The man whose compensation rate was fixed years ago at a lower rate should no longer be asked to exist by try- ing to pay 1949 prices with the 1939 dollar.

The injured logger or millworker, unable to return to his former occupation by reason of partial disability, should be provided with every facility of rehabilitation and re-training that he may find a useful place in our economy.

These are only a few of the major problems that can only be remedied by amendments to the Statute.

The employers are ready to oppose any increase in the rates that will cause an increased assessment against the industry. It is rumoured that they will propose a return to the assessment on the workers for the Medical Fund.

British Columbia was the last of the provinces to re- move this tax on the workers. It is inconceivable that the workers will tolerate its re-imposition.

Ontario and Saskatchewan have now raised the rates of compensation to 75% of previous earnings. British Co- lumbia can do no less.

These issues to be won must be fought with the united strength of organized labor in this province. f

LET THE CHIPS FALL by Woody Woodpecker

NTRODUCING as guest columnist the wise - cracking editor of the Vancouver STEELWORKER, who insinu- ates that a few of his ten commandments published for steelworkers deserve attention from IWA members. “Thou shalt not miss more than one union meeting per year. (The properly trained wife should be glad to be rid of you once in a while. Feel free to call upon our experi- ence in this.) : “Thou shalt not be a rumour factory. (The planted ru- mour is the great Trojan Horse of the employer to jelly the morale of the Joe on the job and make him more readily pliable for his ends. These ends will leave you holding the bag in the middle.)

“Thou shalt not be a mouse masquerading as a man. (If any member must insist upon his inalienable right to act like a mouse, in all matters affecting his welfare, let him get down on all fours and be consistent. Men spent so many years painfully getting to their feet and learning to stand upon them squarely. Some, obviously, do not be- long on their feet yet.) y

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“MORE BOLONEY!”

LZ

EVERY MEMBER GET ANOTHER!

Dear Editor:

Now that negotiations are over and the 1949-50 Master Agree- ment is signed and in effect, it is up to us workers whom the Contract affects to line up to our part, and to see that the opera- tors line up to their part. This contract is only as good as the men on the job make it.

In a well organized operation it is noticable that the operators are more liable to line up to the agreement than they are in a camp or mill that has poor or- ganization. There are a few camps, of course, where this does not apply, but in the vast major- ity of operations a contract is no good unless the workers on the job make it good.

There are some bosses who con- tinually try to undermine and evade the clauses as set down by mutual agreement. If it were not for the united effort of the men on the job in enforcing the agree- ment, it wouldn’t be worth the paper it was written on.

Enforce Agreement

One of the best ways to police a contract is to acquaint as many members as possible with every clause of it. To the Job-Stewards and Committee-men usually falls the task of enforcing the agree- ment so they should naturally be the ones most familiar with it. In view of this, it is absolutely necessary for the Job-Stewards and Committee-men in all sub- locals to hold regular weekly, or semi-monthly meetings, and to study and discuss, not only the Master Agreement, but also to become familiar with their Con- stitution, By-laws and all other

Unionism, and the welfare of the workers. Any understanding of this kind will receive the fullest support and co-operation that your Local, District and Inter- national Officers can give you.

100% IWA

There is also another tremend- ous job confronting us and that is the one of getting each and every camp, mill, furniture fac- tory and all other operations that deal with lumber products, to be- come 100% IWA. We as wood- workers and trade unionists should realize the importance of such a necessary undertaking, and do all in our power to bring it about,

literature that deals with Trade}

%. Your Space Boys!

Readers

It may sound difficult and practically imposible to do, but, Brothers, it can be done. Let us support and advance our union and thereby advance our- selves. The many problems that face us today can and will be solved when we establish a strong organization, and a strong organization can and will be established when every member does his part and not till then.

So let us firmly resolve to put our shoulders to the wheel, and, using one of the slogans our former officers used “Every Member Get a Member”.

Frank Howard, Organizer, Local 1-71.

CANDIDATE IN OVERALLS

The Editor:

Well, boys, I see this by-elec- tion you are having in New West- minster is warming up a little with “Vote Go, Not Stop, Bill Mott” or “Go slow, Dead Stop, Bon Mot, Philpott” or something.

Starts’a buzzing in a man’s head so he can’t think straight, trying to make you forget the other outfit in the field, the one with a long time consistent rec- ord for fighting for the working man, young or old, in all fields, from the home front to the inter- national.

I mean Ron Irvine for the CCF. This Ron Irvine is a carpenter, the kind that wears overalls, cuts a board square, and hammers nails in straight. He lives in New Westminster, and comes over here every morning to Fraserview on Victoria Drive to work. He has six growing boys and they’ve all got appetites, so he knows the Score and how to watch the scale sheet pretty close,

He had to lay off a half-day last week to get to an afternoon meeting, and no chance for “Lunch Hour Meetings” at the plant. Who wants to be planted at the lunch hour, anyway?

What worries me is this. The CCF workers tell me most of you boys just look grim when they ask you for a buck for Ron's Campaign Fund. You say you'll give him your vote, but that’s all. ‘Well, if they all figured that way, who would fight your battles for you? Where do you think a worker’s party like the CCF, gets its funds except from the

workers themselves. Don’t ex- pect the Bosses’ Party to do it for you, or do you?

Eugene Debs, (you don’t re- member him maybe, but he was a_high roller for Labor in the U.S. years ago, and got jailed for his pains). Well, Debs used te say, “The thud of the policeman’s club on the head of a striking worker is but the echo of the last election”.

Get Cracking!

Anyhow, there’s still time to get cracking and make sure all the boys, AND GIRLS, get out and vote for Ron. But for God’s sake and for the sake of the rest of us who have to work too, don’t be like the bush-wolves who leave their skull-guards with their lunch-kits or in the crummy, and then with just a brief glance overhead, depend on the thick- ness of their skulls widow-makers,

‘There are too many of these things hanging around overhead in the bush at Ottawa,

A lot of us can’t vote in this by-election in New Westminster but we have a stake in it too. The best way you can show the Bosses that working men are men, and not wooden-headed Charlie McCarthys, is to send one of your own kind down there to Ottawa next= Monday. There’s

too many of the other kind there now.

to stop

Member, Local 1-71. eR 2 sh ane ae In the last ten years ¢ : bined membership’ of the tiers affiliated to Britain's Trades Union Congress has been practi. cally doubled. When the Congress met at Bridlington, England, in 1939 there were about 4,670,000 trade unionists in 217 unions,”

ON THE AIR...

VANCOUVER

600-CJOR, Thurs, Green Gold - - ~~ - 7:00 pm,

PRINCE GEORGE 550-CKPG, Friday IWA Program - ~ ~~ 6:30 pam.

CJAV Alberni, Thurs. Volce of the IWA ~ = 6:15 p.m.