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HE WESTERN CANADIAN

LUMBER

AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH.

WORKER

Tol. XXXVII, No. 1

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

BROADWAY cf PRINTERS LTD.

Ist Issue January, 1969

SUPPORT THE CARTER REPORT

DEMAND A FAIR TAX DEAL

Citizenship Month 1969

TAXATION will be the theme of of Citizenship Month to be observed by the Canadian. Labour Congress and its affiliates during the month of February. The CLC says that the unfairness of the taxes now being imposed on Canadi- ans was clearly demonstrated by the Carter Commission. It is hoped that a programme during Citizenship Month drawing attention to these matters will lead to a major review of taxation policies and to action on the Carter

Report.

The lengthy fight conducted

. by the NDP to win an access

road and public power for the

; residents of Tahsis is now be-

ing continued by Local’ 1-85 IWA, Port Alberni.

John Squire, Business Agent of Local 1-85 and for-' mer NDP-MLA for Alberni, has written to Premier Ben- nett urging him to reconsider his government’s position on Tahsis in light of the fact that it is the largest community in the Province presently denied an access road and public power.

Tahsis, a company owned town of fifteen hundred resi- dents on the West Coast, was created when the Tahsis Com- pany built its mill there in 1935. The daily cut of the mill, which operates three shifts, is

' between 750 and 800 thousand

feet. Approximately four hun- dred IWA members are em- ployed there.

Power from the mill is sold to the residents but on a re- stricted basis. Electric stoves and hot water tanks are not allowed in the town because

of power shortage and the _ rates charged are far higher

than rates paid by communi-

_ ties serviced by Hydro.

Squire pointed out in his

- Jetter to the Premier that the

Tahsis Company recently an-

1-85 SEEKS ROAD, POWER FOR TAHSIS RESIDENTS

nounced it was expanding its

other operations in the area and interests were construct- ing a new Cedar Mill. This was bound to increase. the town’s current population by a few hundred more people.

He also mentioned that the Forestry Department had built 38 miles of access road in the Chilcotin area includ- ing a 306 foot bridge over the Chilcotin River. The Forestry Department did this knowing that the increased revenue from the logging would more than offset the construction costs to the Department.

He added that it is a matter of record, as a result of past surveys, that both the access road and public power are within easy reach of a main highway at Gold River and the Power Station at Camp- bell lake.

He concluded his letter by stating:

“T am asking therefore on behalf of the residents and some six hundred millworker and logger members of this organization living and work- ing in the Tahsis area that the same principle be applied in Tahsis as has been found favourable in the Chilcotin and other areas of the Proy- ince.

See “LOCAL 1-85” — Page 2

ON BOTH SIDES OF BORDER

PORTLAND MEETING TO DISCUSS INDUSTRY- WIDE BARGAINING

Between eighty and one hundred Canadian and Amer- ican IWA delegates from lo- cal unions which hold con- tracts with U.S. Ply wood- Champion Paper (Weldwood of Canada), are meeting in Portland, January 24-25, to discuss the feasibility of co- ordinating bargaining talks with the Company.

Approximately twenty- eight IWA local unions on both sides of the border hold certifications with the Com- pany. The meeting is the first held by the IWA aimed at in-

dustry-coordinated and com- pany-wide collective bargain- ing. International President Ron Roley announced that the agenda of the meeting may include a presentation by an officer of another industrial union or a representative of the AFL-CIO Industrial Un- ion Department on recent co- ordinated bargaining activ- ities.

Discussion and study at the meeting will include contract standards and _ termination dates, shift of the industry to

LEGAL ADVICE SOUGHT ON LATEST M.B. LOCKOUT

Officers of Local 1-85 IWA Port Alberni report that Mac- Millan Bloedel Somass Divi- sion has again locked out its employees in the shingle mill by~ suspending twenty-three shingle sawyers for five days.

The sawyers were sus- pended January 3rd for alleg-

edly slowing down production.

Local 1-85 Financial Secre- tary Maurice Corbeil denied the charge. He pointed out that shingle sawyers and

packers are paid on a piece-

work basis and only they can determine the amount of shingles that can be safely produced in a shift.

He added that production quotas have never been nego- tiated with respect to shingle sawyers and packers, and management has no right whatsoever to unilaterally set production quotas for piece- workers.

He stated further: “We have always insisted that all management can and should expect from the workmen is an honest day’s work and that at no time do we intend, as representatives of the work- ers, to negotiate quotas of production for our members whether they be piece-work- ers or hourly paid employees.”

Last November the Com- pany locked out the shingle mill crew using the same ex- cuse of production slow down. The crew was off work two days before returning to work.

Corbeil said the Local Un- ion is fed up with the constant attempts by the Company to intimidate its employees. He stated he and his fellow of- ficers are now seeking legal advice on whether the Com- pany can be- charged with locking out the sawyers.

COMMITTEE UPGRADING B.C. LOGGERS’ SPORTS

First steps have been taken to: establish an overall co- ordinating body ‘to standard- ize and upgrade the calibre of loggers’ sports in British Co- lumbia.

Sponsoring organizations of the major B.C. events — at Sooke, on Vancouver Island; Squamish, Mission, and the Pacific National Exhibition— will meet this month to deter- mine what form the co-ordin- ating body should take.

The January 8 meeting was set after a formal discussion in Vancouver between John Martin, Milnes Landing, rep- resenting the Canadian Championship Logging Sports Association of Sooke; Michael Knox of the Squamish Log- gers’ Sports Committee and W. D. Moore of the Festival of Forestry.

Mr. Moore said the move was necessary in order to standardize loggers’ sports competition, to allocate cham- pionshiv events, to see that dates of meets did not conflict and to obtain uniform insur- ance coverage.

He stressed that the co- ordinating body would in no way interfere with the plan- ning or operation of events by local organizations.

“The sole aim is to raise the level of loggers’ sports in British Columbia and to bring some order to the situation that now exists,” said Mr. Moore.

One of the primary func- tions of such a body would be to assist other communi- ties in planning loggers’ sports programs and to set approved standards of competition and issue the necessary sanctions.

low-wage areas, economic analysis and projection, growth of a few large com- panies that control the indus- try and the growing trend toward formation of “eon- glomerate” corporations through merger of firms in varied industries.

Delegates to the 1967 IWA International Constitutional Convention recognized the problems of bargaining with the giant corporations by adopting a constitutional change that created the Inter- national Executive Commit- tee.

The resolution, in part, em- powers the committee to “de- velop and recommend policies for implementing programs for industry-coordinated and company-wide bargaining where feasible to protect and advance the wages and work-

‘ing conditions of the mem-

”

bership .

Similar conferences for delegates from local unions which have contracts with other major firms in the wood products industry are planned in the future by the interna- tional Union.

FEDERATION SCORES STATEMENT

The B.C. Federation of La- bour has attacked Mediation Commission Chairman Parker for his statement that he would prevent unions calling “sneak strikes” by quickly ap- pointing a mediation officer.

Federation Secretary Ray Haynes stated that Chairman Parker also stated in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade, that in the event of a scramble for time, he would be available on his home tele- phone just like a judge re- ceiving a habeas corpus ap- plication.

Haynes said: “This is an in- credible statement and, if Judge Parker intends to use the appointment of mediation officers as a judge issues in- junctions, we may-end up in a confrontation with the gov- ernment sooner than we an- ticipate.

“His whole speech shows a complete lack of labour rela- tions experience.

“The purpose of any legis- lation should be to encourage the parties to come together and solve their differences, not to aid one side to gain an upper hand on the other.

“This is just another ex- ample of the Commission’s and this government’s rigid and legalistic approach to la- bour management relations.” -