A PROFIT Reco Rb PER Feg have come under fire from the Alp- the evaluation provide a fair in- according to the Alply workers

A aes ly (Alberni Plywood) sub-local of crease to compensate for increased “‘the employer saved in wages and a. Local 1-85 of the International work load, speed-up or increased fringe benefits enough to meet the Woodworkers of America, in Port . productivity. Alply has been total cost of modernization. This is

| = Alberni. fighting job evaluation ever since. not counting all the benefits 0:

| 5) Dé The 425 members of this sub- “‘Over the years, several depreciation allowances, other tax — - : local, who produce plywood pro- modifications have been made to concessions, deferred taxes and — = ducts for MacMillan Bloedel, the job evaluation . . : but it remains other benefits from our free enter- _ > largest forest products company in what it was in the beginning. A _ prise governments.” : ate the province, have made their views completely inadequate means: a The strong statement from the 3 known on these subjects in no revise wages for increased produc- workers ends with five proposals:

| — uncertain terms. tivity, work load, speed-up and 1. Throw out the job evaluation _ | In December of last year, a crew reduction. and rate determination from the Rail set to rote st lengthy and critical statement from “The latest experienceis another master agreement.

| the sub-local was distributed to the 2. Provide for a suitable wage —

Terrace and Prince Rupert: Across the country, 40 of the present 70 uld be considered satisf: ithi

: ae “ah have been reduced to the lowest °° considered satisfactory. _ rate must be agreed upon within 90 | terminals will be eliminated, leaving affected communities to the | paid in the industry. Under this “Over 300 Alply workers have days of the time the machine | — of private carriers whose rates are already considerably etheme wehavenoright to bargain signed a petition r Gecling this so. hesonies operalibnial: | : : our wage revisions with the Called ‘evaluation’ but weare stuck _ If there is any shortcoming in _ | Steve Watson, recording secretary for Local 326 warned Monday employer. We just have to accept with it just the same. this statement, it is that it refers in —

eee ee ee ee TT TTT)

DAYS WITHOUT 3 AN ACCIDENT

DAYS WtTHouT O

CN express cutbacks

Unionists in Vancouver were set to demonstrate in front of the CN station in downtown Vancouver Thursday to protest plans by the federal crown company to slash CN Express service, thus cutting service to several Canadian comunities and eliminating more than

- 1,200 jobs across the country.

The rally was called by Local 326 of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers which will lose 40 of its members in Vancouver alone as a result of the proposed cuts.

Speakers from the B.C. Federation of Labor, the Vancouver and District Labor Council and other unions as well as affected workers in Victoria and Kamloops were scheduled to address the noon rally.

The CN express service — which now provides trucking services for small packages right up to full containers — is to be eliminated completely in both Victoria and Kamloops as well as in Kelowna,

that the service cuts, if allowed to proceed, ‘‘are probably the first instalment on the complete elimination of CN express.

“CN is the only publicly-owned trucking company in the country — and the government is trying to get rid of it,”” he said.

Many have also seen the cuts as yet another reduction in the ser- vices provided by CN — with the final objective of de- nationalization of all but those services which are riecessary to in-

Scheme of job evaluation © slammed by Alply workers

Plywood job evaluation and sawmill rate determination, as

practised in the lumber industry,

membership meeting of the local union, as authorized by the sub- local.

The opening paragraph of the document adds up to a ringing denunciation of job evaluation and rate determination, as practised by the IWA.

“Plywood Job Evaluation is a process by which the leadership of the IWA has taken away our right to negotiate wage revisions in the

mill and handed over the decisions -

on our wage revisions to the employer through the so called ‘job evaluation team’.

‘‘This is our conclusion based on 25 years of experience with this phony scheme. Plywood workers

whatever the ‘evaluation team’

decides for us. How else could the employer get us to agree to wage cuts of up to 44 cents per hour? We have no right to appeal! No right to refuse! No right to bargain! This is dictatorship! Dictatorship imposed

Hs

rm cull. “oe

evaluation resulted in wage cuts with ‘red circle’ protection for in-

- cumbents. But in no single case did

Labor Comment

Jack Phillips

horrible example. Though 160 workers were laid off, production increased and speed-up and line production introduced, no satisfactory . revisions had been achieved through so-called evalua- tion. In one case, the clipper operators, there has been a reduc- tion of 44 cents an hour. Several other reductions as well and not a single one of the few increases

The indictment of the IWA leadership on sawmill rate deter- mination is equally strong. The Alply statement makes the point that for many years, all attempts by local and regional leaders to in- troduce a sawmill job evaluation

ae where jobs are changed, speeded

- clusion of an agreement, then, after —

$22 million on modernization of their mill and that 162 less workers would be required. ‘In five years”

revision . negotiating procedure

up or new machinery installed — which increase production. ee 3. Provide that where manage- — ment fails to negotiate revisions in — good faith or unduly holds up con-

90 days, the crew shall have the right to strike.

4. Provide that under certain — conditions the revisions may, by — mutual agreement, be settled by non-binding conciliation or ar- bitration proceedings.

5. Provide that where new © machinery is installed, a new in- — terim rate must be set before it is operated, with provision that final —

many places to ‘adequate com- — pensation’? for the remaining — workers after others are displaced by mechanization. It does not raise — asapriority theneedto fightforthe — shorter work week to protect jobs, — as well as other protectivemeasures —

| dustry. lan buffed by th ber- i : : on the ALPLY crew by the Planwererebu yy the mem such as early retirement. | “cniowghaspelaeementneoined bythe CBRT dows po- | Sloyes andthe TWA leader. Sp, teomse ofthe Dowood er rales icimprsnon eee : a ship! De ; perhaps this is unintentio at tee! ey meek aie Bae ae : y Ha Se “From what we are told sawmill But the ‘leaders’ never gaveup. — speed-up is accep tableif the hourly — apna Ss va a as ae 2 i. some fi = 5 rate determination is turning out to Finally, a sawmill rate determina rate is right — instead of recogniz- ee orced to relocate, often to other | be the same sort of thing.” tion was introduced. In the initial jing that. workers must always

provinces. ‘ The loss of service would also affect many of the smaller com-

munities along the “‘north line” — from Prince George to Prince

Rupert — since CN is the only trucking company now servicing

The plywood document then goes on to give some historical background:

@ As modernization of plywood

stage, some gains were made for some categories before it was finalized, but now it has proven to be cut from the same cloth as

reserve the right to resist speed-up by slowing down the job if they — consider it in their best interests to do so, for example, for health and

them. They would be forced to rely on private carriers at higher mills set in during the 1950’s, the plywood job evaluation. safety reasons. costs — if they can get service at all. : See S union was aeatating wage revi- ‘“‘Jobs are changed, new = However, all in all, it’s a state- _ Inaddition, CNhas announced thatafter Feb. 27itwillbeimpos’ | sions for new equipment and machineryisinstalledandspeed-up ment that should spark a: lot of ing a 100 Ib. minimum on packages, Watson said. Although it will machines. Some of these negotia- and increased productivity are the debateintheIWAonthesubject of —

still carry smaller packages, the rate for 100 pounds will now apply. “Under the Railway Act, CN must carry everything,”’ he said, “but they’re going to make it,financially unattractive for anybody to bring in small packages.” He added that small businesses as well as individuals would be most affected.

GVRD talks critical

Negotiators ‘for municipal and school board employees

: the Greater Vancouver Regional District were meeting with provincial mediator Ken Albertini Tuesday and Wednesday this week as several locals poised for strike action.

Contracts for the nearly 8,000 employees in the GVRD expired at the end of 1980 and although demands have not been publicized, parity with the forest industry has been seen as a broad target.

rs have placed heavy emphasis on the need for catch-up increases in the face of the accelerating cost of living.

The workers are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in locals in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond,

tions were successful. Others were not, because of management's stubbornness.

e At Alply, the shop commit- tee was successful in winning an agreement that new rates must be negotiated before new machinery went on line. According to the statement, this worked out satisfactorily in most cases, because the membership had their say before negotiations were

@ 1n1955,theIWA leadership,

without any membership demand: for it, negotiated a plywood job

evaluation plan into the master agreement. The granting of wage revisions, including all those

. already in progress, was suspend- ed

result. There is no appeal, no right to reject their findings and their decision is binding on the member- ship. Again, it is dictatorship and the employer gets the benefit.”’

Both evaluation schemes are ad- ministered by top level employer- union committees whose decisions are final and binding, as laid down in the collective agreement.

The end result of plywood evaluation as experienced by the Alply workers is spelled out in some detail.

The company informed the workers that it was going to spend

BiBaUNE

policy direction for the eighties. RENEW NOW | Sub rates going up — Feb. 15

— j Burnaby, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, Delta and New : : Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive, —— Westminster, and the Vancouver Regional and Municipal @ In 1959 — four years later, Y Vancouver, B.C. VBL 3X9. Phone 251-1186 ; E Strike votes have already been conducted in most locals and have niet ee were in- 5 Read the paper that fights for labo averaged well over 80 percent in favor of strike action with one troduced, job evaluation was put CUPE local — in Port Coquitlam — registering 295 percent vote | into effect ‘and the. bitter truth g Namersc. cicero ease bee ee aa ee for strike. That local issued strike notice Monday. about this scheme became ap- Address ..... seepeggeneeebersrenents eee ee tennessee The GVRD negotiations are the first in the crucial 1981 contract | parent.” . J City ortown ......--.e-0sere Province.......- = en ors — public and private sector. <a hg Scis< Then comes this serious indict- Y Postal Code ........--++ ‘ ai SoS expire beginning in March 3 on ment: | am enclosing: + “i quickly by contracts for close to 6,000 in the province’s food in- é “Not onl had the membershi: 1 year $10 0 2 years $18 6months $60 [x dustry (March) and for some ay ee lost the ight to object, “a Old New Foreign 1 year $12 0 o Sasa 5 as ims aa : : oS renegotiate or refuse to accept the Donation $........-

results of evaluation. This so-called ee

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 16, 1981—Page 12