Ed Linder, a familiar face around Local 1-80, has held an elected office longer than any other IWA officer in North America. For the past 28 years, he has been that Local

Union’s Financial Secretary.

He was elected in 1948 and since that time has served the

membership under six Local.

Union Presidents.

Linder has seen his Local grow from almost nothing during the turmoil of the 1948 split to become the strong and progressive Local it is today.

Ed Linder left his home in Alberta in 1934 at the age of 23 years. He gathered up all his belongings, which amounted to about $35, and headed for

Courtenay, intending to stay a few days with some friends, but having spent all his money on the journey from Alberta, Ed needed a job. The woods were then on strike, so the matter of getting a job had to

~ wait until the strike was over. .

Ed does not remember exactly how the strike started. A well established woodwork- ing Union as we now know it, did not exist. It was not hard to visualize why the woodworkers struck. The wages were un- believably low, and such things as job security, seniority, grievance committees, paid holidays, vacations with pay, and other things taken for granted today, just did not exist.

GREAT DEPRESSION

The great depression was then lifting only very slightly, and unemployment was rife. After the strike ended, his first job was on a railway section gang, for the Comox Logging and Railway Company, at Camp No. 3, north of Cour- tenay. Ed worked for the princely sum of $3.00 per day. It was the custom at that time that if a man on the regular choking gang did not report for work for some reason, that the company would reach out into the section gang and replace that man for the day. When this happened, his wages ascended to $3.50 per day. He said, “‘I was quite happy when I got put on steady on the chokers.”’ Later, he was promoted to Second Hooker. This involved a very modest raise in wages, from $3.50 to $4.00 per day, but the increase in the work load

was far from modest. “‘I never worked so hard in my life before or after. as on that job,” Linder said.

Ed said, ‘‘Sure, in those 1934 days we heard about Unions. It was ‘not considered a safe topic though, to discuss when Company personnel were around.

“Having come from a farm, I must admit that I was abyssmally ignorant of Unions, and my knowledge about them did not go much beyond what I heard in conversations.”

About 1937-38 he got a job as second hooktender at Thomp- son and Clarke, near Bowser. At this time, he began to see much more clearly what conditions can develop into when there is not the restraining influence of a

. Union.

NO UNION CONTRACT

There was no union and thus no seniority rights, guarded by a Union contract. This left a clear field for the superintend- ent or foreman to show favour- itisms. If he had a close friend he wanted to find a job for, it was a simple matter to find something wrong with one of the crew, to open a job for his favorite. This is what hap- pened to Ed. The boss ap- parently had a friend who had done his type of work before somewhere else, so when he reported back after the Christ- mas shutdown, Ed was replaced by a ‘“‘friend’”’. So he was out of a job — very simple. The Company did not have to

_meet a grievance committee.

Ed worked in a mine at Britannia Beach, also worked as a Rigging slinger, when the present site of Northwest Bay

was starting up, and finally

hired out as a_ skidder Hooktender for Bloedel Stuart and Welch, then operating at Port Alberni, at Great Central

While working at Great

Central Lake, the Second

World War had started, the

loggers began to hear of Union organizing becoming more

ome Hjalmar Bergren

inte camp one evening, called a meting of the tS Seinen

Woodworkers of America. Hjalmar was the first man to approach Ed to join the IWA. “T signed up and so did the others in the meeting, and I have been an IWA member ever since,”’ Linder said.

It wasn’t hard to sell Ed on the Union. He had had many years of experience working in unorganized camps, and knew only too well, the injustices, that prevailed without a Union, the poor wages, the lack of safety.

After working for a number of years in Great Central Lake, Ed went to work for Comox Logging and Railway Com- pany again, but at this time, at Ladysmith and Nanimo Lakes.

Before leaving Alberta, Ed had learned shorthand and typing and because of these skills, he accepted the position as Treasurer of the Ladysmith & District Credit Union. That credit union was then just beginning, and he volunteered to assist in getting it ‘‘on the way”. This was a factor in changing the course of Ed’s future. ‘‘We used the IWA office in Ladysmith at that time, as the office for the Credit Union, and at this time IWA members paid cash mem- bership tunity to hear IWA affairs discussed every week, as the

iaet Soaliig, be saeay 0 per

dues. I had an oppor- ©

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

their dues were my fellow IWA Members of the Ladysmith area. I attended the IWA Sub Local meetings in Ladysmith regularly,” Ed said.

It was not hard to detect at that time, that an internal struggle was shaping up, in the IWA. When IWA matters were talked about out in the woods,

not only was Ed very appre- ©

hensive about the political orientation of the leaders at that time, both in Local Unions, and Regional, but this apprehension was voiced: by fellow Union members he talked to about the situation.

It all came to a head in the autumn of 1948. Ed was in Van- couver one evening that fall, and was told that a disaffilia- tion meeting had just been held, which proposed to break with the International -Wood- workers of America, and to form the Woodworkers Indus- trial Union of Canada. The

latter organization was promptly dubbed the “‘Wooeys’’, and was known as

such everywhere during the stormy days that followed. Ed said, ‘‘A surge of loyalty for the IWA soon became evident, cul- minating in the largest meeting that I had ever seen at that time.’ A meeting set ata smaller hall in Duncan was not even capable of holding. the people that arrived, and the huge crowd of members moved

‘to the old Armories hall in

Duncan. Ed added,‘“‘It was the tensest and stormiest meeting Ihave ever attended in my life. I considered it so tense that it was potentially explosive. It seemed at first that it would be

impossible to restore any kind.

of order. But finally a chair- man was chosen who seemed generally acceptable to both parties for that particular evening, and so some type of order was maintained.

“On October of 1948, a well advertised meeting was held, to elect pro tem officers for Local 1-80 to replace those who had gone over to the WIUC. It was at this meeting I was elected Financial Secretary of the IWA Local 1-80, and I have held this office ever since. I should add that this meeting held on October 7, 1948, was also very well attended.”

Ed remembers those early days when there was only a rented office. He remembers entering the office from which

all the office furniture and -

equipment had been removed, taking along his own old L.C. Smith typewriter, and setting it on a table, the only thing left to set it on. Ed said, “I remember going to the bank, to check how much money was left in the IWA Local 1-80 ac- eount, and finding that only about fifty dollars was there. So we hired a girl for the office and set about reorganizing the Local Union.”

Their first problem was

dealing with the breakaway .

Union the WIUC. They were then attempting everywhere to woo the IWA members to their breakway Union, and to take over their certifications.

ED LINDER

Gradually the IWA signed up those who had gone over, and the WIUC was completely defeated, and went into oblivion. Ed told us, ‘‘It ap- pears that prior to October 1948 when the former District of- ficers were in charge, an auditing service was used that ‘‘audited’’ many if not all of the Local Union’s books as well as the District financial records. One of the first decisions in Local ~1-80 following this breakaway attempt was that we engage regular chartered accountants to go over the books. This has been done ever since. We engaged the firm of chartered accountants. The

books are examined four times a year. In addition our Local Union By-Laws provide for regular auditing by our elected trustees, who check every voucher, and every expendi- ture, to see that it is properly. authorized. The International Woodworkers of America is justly proud of the fact that a © strict adherence to proper ~ financial procedures has given us a reputation for ethical financial practices that is never questioned anywhere. We have had great days in the past, but I feel confident that the best days of the Inter- national Woodworkers _ of America are still ahead of us. .

FROM PAGE FOURTEEN

OFFICERS’ REPORT

GENERAL FUND

Revenue into the General Fund for the year ending June 30, 1975 was up by $3,115 while expenditures for the same period were up by $30,678, as compared to the previous year.

The excess of expenditures over revenue for the year was $27,563 more than the previous year for a total of $49,009.

Operating expenses were down by $8,530 for the year; however, administrative ex- pense rose by $39,208 over the previous year despite a reduc- tion of four (4) full time Or- ganizers in January 1975. The main reasons for the increase in administrative expense were:

(a) Increased Audit and Legal expense.

(b) Retroactive and _ in- creased premiums for Group Insurance and new premiums for dental coverage.

(c) Increased salaries and - statutory expenses, and (d) Additional costs stationery and supplies.

The bank balance in -the General Fund at the end of June 1975 was $20,705.

STRIKE TRUST FUND

The Strike Trust Fund had an excess of revenue over ex- penditures for the year ending June 30, 1975 of $397,621,

for

bringing the year-end total to

$3,075,924.

AUXILIARY The ladies’ Auxiliaries from Locals 1-80, 1-217, 1-357, 1-405. and 1-417 will meet on January 28 and 29, 1976 and will make a report to this Convention on Thursday afternoon.

Local 1-417 is the Auxiliary Host this year, and we feel that they have outlined an_ in- teresting and entertaining agenda for the Auxiliary Meeting.

We wish the Ladies well in their deliberations and we look forward to their report to the Convention.

CONCLUSION

The Report of the Officers this year is a lengthy report as we have attempted to touch on the highlights of our activities during the past 16 months. The Officers would like to remind all delegates that on accepting nomination to come to this Convention your responsibility does not end when the Conven- tion is concluded, it continues, and the only way we will even- tually have one union in wood is for everyone in the IWA to be informed of the policies and programs of the IWA.

In closing, we would like to extend to the membership of all Locals, our sincere appre- ciation for the co-operation, understanding and patience that has been given to the Re- gional Staff and Officers during a most difficult year.

All of which is Respectfully Submitted by the Regional Of- ficer's,

J.J. Munro, President T. W. Trineer, ist Vice

President S. Parker, 2nd Vice President

R. Blanchard, 3rd Vice

President R. Schlosser, Secretary-

Treasurer