j Pulp-Paper

oo

_

win 13-day

The 13-day strike of the As- sociation of Western Pulp and Paper Workers ended Novem- ber 24, with the members winning an agreement from the industry giving them a first year total package of twenty-nine cents an hour.

The Western Pulp and Paper Workers with a mem- bership of twenty-one thou-

CLC staff

Conference

Jan. 18-22

Annual Education Confer- ence sponsored by the Cana- dian Labour Congress for staff personnel, officers and delegates of Local Unions, will be held January 18-22, 1965, in the Island Hall Hotel, Parksville, Vancouver Island.

The programme is design- ed to have general sessions daily of all in attendance to hear the speakers and lectur- ers on the subject of “Inter- national Co-operation Year.”

In addition to the general sessions, separate courses will be held for staff personnel, of- ficers and delegates.

Staff personnel courses will include discussions on the “Keonomic Council of Can- ada”, “Organizing the Unor- ganized”, “Canadian Confer- ence”, and “Political Science.”

Advance courses for officers and delegates will be held on:

“Collective Bargaining — Shop Steward Duties”, “Un- ion Administration”, and “Parliamentary Procedure — Effective Speaking.”

The Congress is making ar- rangements to have leading authorities as Instructors and Lecturers at the Conference.

College gets new

principal

MONTREAL — Professor Fernand Martin of the Uni- versity of Montreal’s Depart- ment of Economics has been appointed the first fulltime principal of the Labor Col- lege of Canada. He will as- sume his duties in May, 1965.

The college, set up in 1962, has held summer sessions in 1963 and this year with courses in sociology, econom- ies, history, political science and trade unionism, Courses were held for seven weeks in the first term and extended to eight weeks this year.

Professor Martin, who con- ducted the economics course at the college will assume the principal’s post from acting co-principals, Professor H. D. Woods, of McGill University, and Professor Beausoleil, of the University of Montreal’s Centre of Industrial Rela- tions.

The college is the product of the joint effort of the Mc- Gill and the University of

bor Congress and the Confed- eration of

National Trade

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

LABOUR

Workers

strike

sand in Washington, Oregon and California, recently broke away from the Pulp & Sul- phite Union and the Paper- makers and Paperworkers.

The new agreement is sub- ject to ratification by the members but the Union indi- cated it was calling off the strike immediately.

DAYS LOST

In 1960, close to 30,000,- 000 man-days of labor were lost through illness in the labor force in Canada.

To compare it to some- thing we hear a lot about, let me tell you that, in the same year, 747,120 man- days of labor were lost through strikes. We hear a lot about this latter eco- nomic loss but little about the former.

—Mr. Justice Emmett Hall

to the Thomas More Guild of Toronto.

Revelstoke dance

The Revelstoke IWA sub- local of Local 1-417 realized a profit of approximately $200.00 from a dance held at the Selkirk Hall on Saturday, November 14. A raffle was held in conjunction with the dance.

The committee responsible for the success of the dance had been planning the affair for over two months.

eee ee

IN POLITICS

Wins reflect interest

By JACK MacKENZIE

Regional 1st Vice-President

HILE in attendance at the recent meet-

ing of the New Democratic Party’s National Council, I found the Ontario repre- sentatives enthused over two election wins

in a row — Toronto-Riverdale, and latterly

Waterloo South. They had good reason to brag. The vic- tories are the outcome of well- | ; planned expansion or organ- | ization activity. It also re- flects the increased interest of Ontario trade unions in active affiliation with the New Democratic Party.

At the centre of this activ- ity is our old friend Jim Bury, known to trade union- ists in British Columbia as a former Secre- tary of the Vancouver Labour Council and CCF MLA from Vancouver Centre.

In Waterloo-South, Max Saltsman, stand- ard bearer for the NDP, picked up over 2500 votes over the Party’s total in 1963.

The Liberal candidate, a defector from the NDP, and choice of the Liberal top brass, lost his deposit.

SECOND WIN THIS YEAR The 1964 vote, with the 1963 results in brackets, was: New Democrats 12,695 (7,165); Conservatives, 10,283 (11,648); Liberals, 5,601 (8,132).

~ This was the second NDP win over the Tories this year. In September, the party took the provincial seat of Toronto-River- dale, and threw a monkey-wrench into Lib- eral candidate Chas. Templeton’s bid for his party’s Ontario leadership.

Federal New Democratic Leader, T. C. Douglas, M.P., hailed the victory as a rebuke to the “meaningless debate” of the two old parties in Ottawa, stalling effective action on important legislation.

The story of the Waterloo campaign is an interesting one, not only because of vigorous trade union support. Every household in the constituency was canvassed five times by NDP campaign workers. The candidate and his wife visited every household at least once. A basement “do-it-yourself” sign-writ- ing campaign produced attractive sidewalk signs for almost every block on every street leading to the polling stations on election day.

THE NEW M.P.

The new New Democratic M.P. is an alderman in the city of Galt and a successful businessman who came up the hard way.

The son of a Polish immigrant, Max Saltsman was born in Toronto. Leaving school

* in his 14th year during the depression of the

30s he worked as a message boy, cook, news- boy, salesman and machine operator in ‘the Spadina Avenue clothing district.

He resumed his education through five years as an airframe mechanic in the RCAF and after demobilization. Moving to Galt in 1947, he had two other jobs before getting into the dry cleaning business on a big scale. His firm has 40 employees, but now that he has reached Parliament, he intends to make Parliament a full-time job.

Trade union support in Ontario has made possible the employment of capable organizers, whose work is now bearing fruit. In British Columbia, trade unions may well follow the example set by our Eastern affiliates.

CANADIAN G.M.

STRIKE THREAT

TORONTO—Threat of a strike by 22,500 General Motors of Canada Ltd. employees grew when the United Automobile

Workers of America rejected GM’s first specific set of counter- - proposals as totally inadequate.

UAW spokesmen said the GM offer ignored the union’s proposals for wage parity with U.S. workers in the in- dustry. The UAW has esti- mated this gap at between 40 cents and $1.40 an hour.

Richard Courtney, UAW international representative and member of the union’s GM negotiating team, said the company proposals would leave Canadian workers fur- ther behind U.S. wage and pension standards set in re- cent master agreements with the industry’s Big Three,

GM also failed to make any move to meet the union’s de- mand for greater control over production standards includ- ing a contract clause granting the right to strike in the event of production speedups or technological changes result- ing in loss of jobs. GM also bypassed union proposals for improvements in working conditions in non-economic areas,

A conciliation board hear- ing of the dispute ended in deadlock after seven minutes. Strike action has been over- whelmingly endorsed by GM workers at the main assembly

plant in Oshawa, McKinnon Industries Ltd., St. Cath- arines, Frigidaire Products of Canada Litd., Toronto, GM transmission division in Windsor and General Motors Diesel Ltd. in London.

Meanwhile, 9,500 Ford Mo- tor Co. of Canada Ltd. em- ployees in four plants sched- uled strike votes. The UAW is also in negotiations with Chrysler Canada Ltd. for a contract renewal covering 5,500 workers in Chrysler’s Windsor operations.

In GM’s submission for a new three-year agreement, the wages offered provide for a 2.5 and 2.8 percent increase in the second and third years of the pact—the equivalent of from 6 to 9 and 7 to 10 cents per hour. In the U/S. pact, increases ranged from 15 to 24 cents an hour in the same period in an agreement which provided meaningful gains in relief time, production stan- dards control and grievance procedure as well as im- proved pension, vacation and supplementary unemploy- ment insurance benefits.

The GM offer in Canada called for an increase in the basic retirement benefit from $2.80 per month per year of credited service to $4.25. Coupled with an increase from $1.80 to $2.50 per month for supplementary benefits up to age 70, pensions would rise from $138 to $202.50 a month for an employee with 30 years of credited service.

The company also proposed early retirement incentives parallel to those achieved in the U.S. contracts. These would provide benefits at the same monthly $4.25 and $2.50 rates to employees between 55 and 60 with 10 or more years credited service, retir- ing under mutually satisfac- tory conditions or at company option.

Under a new voluntary early retirement plan, work- ers between ages 60 and 65 with 10 or more years’ ser- vice who retire voluntarily would receive benefits based on the $4.25-a-month formula plus supplementary benefits at $2.50 a month. Those be- tween 55 and 60 whose age and number of years service total 85 or more would retire voluntarily with the same benefits. There would be no reduction in benefits for those retiring at age 62 and over,

but between 55 and 62, re- tirees would receive between 57 and 93 per cent of the benefits. ;

GM proposed extension of sickness and accident benefits from 26 to 52 weeks, a new transition survivor income and a new widow’s benefit.

The company offered an in- crease in supplementary un- employment insurance bene- fits and a boost in scheduled short week benefits from 65 to 75 per cent of pay.

Vacations would be in- creased by one week in each category, rising to four weeks for those with 15 or more years service, and the equiva- lent of one additional statu- tory holiday would be added by making Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 full holidays instead of half holidays. :

GM also introduced a tui- tion refund proposal first achieved in the Chrysler con- tract in the U.S. This would provide up to $250 a year to an employee taking an ap- proved job-related training course in his spare time.

The company, which in its 1961 agreement agreed to

.meet the full cost of hospital,

medical and surgical coverage for employees, offered to pro- vide the same benefits to re- tired employees and their families.