Editor’s note: :

The following is a condensed
version of a speech made by
Wyman Trineer, IWA Regional
Secretary-Treasurer, to the re-
cent conference.of the Cana-
dian Institute of Forestry, held
in Vancouver.

We very much appreciate
the opportunity to express our
views on topics germaine to the
well being of the B.C. Forest
industry and consequently to
the well being of the work force
in a major portion of that in-
dustry. As always, the theme
of my talk will show ‘‘a con-
cern for people”. However, we
do recognize our social respon-
sibilities to the country and our
neighbours, and we take con-
siderable pride in the fact that
our actions indicate concern
for the welfare of those in need.

It is our conclusion that the
whole matter and practice of
forestry is far too important to
be left to just Foresters alone.
There are few other organized
groups. within Canada that
recognize the importance of
the forests to the economic, re-
creational and social well
being of Canadians as well as
the I.W.A. What we must now
do is to rectify past mistakes
and to ensure that future
errors will be held to a mini-
mum. We recognze fully the
importance of the forests of
Canada to the Provincial and
Federal economies. We more
fully recognize its importance
to our members’ economic, re-
creational and social welfare.
Improper forest management
policies or the lack of them
have far reaching conse-
quences. .

When we are convinced,
after consultation and study
with professional groups such
as yourself that a specific goal
should be met, then we are pre-
pared to assist in reaching that
goal by using any influence
that we may have. I am certain
that we will find much common
ground and our ultimate goal
will be the same. Where we will

probably disagree is to the de-
gree of importance or value
place upon subjective judg-
ments.

WYMAN TRINEER

However, as a forester, you
should remember that your
first responsibility is to people
rather than to trees. Layoffs
and wage rate reductions sche-
duled because of changes in
equipment and methods have
set off major disputes and even
wildcat strikes. Employers fail
to bear a proper proportion of
the human costs associated
with technological layoffs
when considering the economic
benefits that accrue to the cor-
poration from the introduction
of labour saving machinery. I
want to make it clear that we
are not opposed to techno-
logical innovations; in fact we
welcome them and expect
them as a natural evolution-
ary process with which, we, as
a Union must cope.

Logging and lumber indus-
tries continue to be high
hazard industries in the loss of
life and limb. Workers in the
industry suffer a higher than
normal rate of arthritis. Tech-
nology is, in fact, contributing
to worker dissatisfaction. As
the work becomes more ma-

JEAN CHRETIEN’S BUDGET
OFFERS ONLY RESTRAINT

Details of the economic and
fiscal statement of finance
minister Jean Chretien:

e A phase out of wage and
price controls, beginning April
14, 1978. Prices will be freed as
of April 14, but wages will be
held down for some time. Con-
tracts expiring before April 14
will still be subject to controls,
with a maximum allowable
wage increase of only six per-
cent.

e. Only $150 million will be
poured into job-creation pro-
grams, in addition to the
monies allocated in the March
budget of former finance
minister Donald Macdonald. In

-eontrast, NDP leader Ed
Broadbent has called for a $1.5
billion plan and even that, he
says, is just enough to keep un-
employment from going even
higher. Se

_@ A personal tax holiday in
January and February for
some people. Tax cuts of up to
$100 will be given low and
middle income people...

e A program of ‘‘employ-
ment credits’? for businesses
which create jobs. In the U.S.,
where this has been tried, the
AFL-CIO has denounced this
method of job creation as inef-
fective. Chretien says details
a a program will be provided
ater;

e@ Maintenance of strict
restraint on government
spending. Even Harold
Renouf, chairman of the AIB,
has admitted the economy can-
not stand much more restraint
than it has suffered to date. By
keeping the growth rate of gov-
ernment spending lower than
the dismal growth rate in the
economy, the government is
providing a fiscal drag.

e The same big bucks give-
aways to corporations and in-
vestors announced in the
March budget, which labour
and NDP critics have critic-
ized as being useless as far as
job creation and economic

stimulation.

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

chine-paced, faster, noisier
and, perhaps, causing isolation
from other people it becomes
more unpleasant and disagree-
able. And, most will agree,
worker discontent carries over
into labour-management rela-
tions making on-the-job prob-
lem solving that much more
difficult. There is a price at-

tached to automation and it is

time to recognize the price in
human terms as well as in the
terms of capital. outlays. It is

. time to recognize that labour is

not a factor of production like
capital that is without needs,
desires, ambitions and goals.
Labour is not a variable in an
equation that can be changed
at will.

The toll of human lives is
mounting as South American
dictatorships launch bloody re-
prisals against striking
workers.

About 120 striking sugar
workers were killed at Aztra,
Ecuador Oct. 18 when police
moved into a factory occupied
by the strikers.

At least 21 workers were
killed in the bloody repression
during and after a general
strike in Colombia Sept. 14.

In Ecuador, the striking
workers were demanding a
pay increase in line with the
rise in the price of sugar, as
laid down in their collective
agreement.

When police moved in with
guns and tear gas, the workers
and their families who oc-
cupied the factory tried to
escape through the back doors,
which led directly into a deep
irrigation ditch. Many were
drowned.

The government claims that
‘only’? 25 people died, 24 of
them by drowning. But ac-
cording to eyewitnesses, most
of the victims were shot or
beaten to death.

In Columbia, severe social
unrest continues after the
bloody repression of a general

strike on Sept. 14.
According to the Internation-

al Confederation of Free Trade
Unions, at least 21 workers
were killed by the armed
forces on the day of the strike
and the day following.

A further 28 were put in
prison and 97 — almost all
trade union leaders — lost their
jobs. Six workers’ organiza-
tions were suspended.

In Equador, the ICFTU has
lodged a formal complaint with
the International Labour Or-
ganization.

In the complaint, ICFTU
general secretary Otto Kersten
accused the government of
Equador of violating ILO Con-
ventions 87 and 98 on freedom
of association and the right to
collective bargaining. The case
will be examined by the ILO
committee on freedom of as-
sociation, which can make a
ruling on the violations, but

take no action.

- Mocha

Cerro Colorado
Sagasca

lauique

Quebrada Bianca
El Abra

% Pampa Norte
Tocopilla _-\ Chuquicamata
— -Exohca

Mantos
Blancos
Antofagasta ia Lomas
Bayas
Chilean copper belt
\
Sierra Jardin
: Ei Salvacor
Chanaral Potrerilios

Dulcinea

Carrizal Alto

Brillador

La Serena

Andacollo
Tamaya

El Soldado
- Andina
Disputada

| Valparaiso
Santiago

This past summer, Noranda

Mines and _ Falconbridge
Nickel merged as the world’s
biggest corporate patrons of
Chile’s ruling junta. The com-
panies signed contracts that
may lead to investment worth
almost a billion dollars.

Santiago newspapers
splashed the announcement
across their front pages. The
government of General
Augusto Pinochet hasn’t been
able to attract substantial
amotnts of capital, despite
easy terms offered to foreign
corporations. Until mid 1977,
investors had pledged only $240
million to the new regime.

It was originally planned
that Noranda would be
limited to a 49% stake in the
venture, while the junta re-
tained a 51% interest. But the
contract increases Noranda’s
share to 51%. The investment
may total $350 million — $200

for- the mine and $100 million ~

for a smelter.

Estimates of the Falcon-
bridge investment at Quebrada
Blanea, which may also in-
clude both mine and smelter,
range from $400 million to $600
million, but $500 million is the
figure quoted most frequently.
Like Noranda, the Falcon-
bridge consortium, which in-
cludes an associated company,
McIntyre Mines, and their U.S.
parent, Superior Oil, will se-
cure a 51% share in the project.
The Falconbridge contract
covers the exploration phase of
the operation.

The contracts cover copper
deposits at Andocollo, a few
hundred miles north of San-
tiago, and Quebrada Blanca, a
desert site near Chile’s nor-
thern border. Noranda had
been discussing the terms of its

La Africana

El Teniente

be

>

investment for almost two
years. The company’s present
agreement commits the com-
pany to both exploration and
subsequent operations.

BANK
DRIVE
PLANNED

The Canadian Labour Con-
gress is launching a national
campaign to organize the
140,000 employees in Canada’s
five major banks.

Affiliated unions will conduct
the campaign in most areas,
with the dominant union in the —
region organizing the em-
ployees, according to a CLC
spokesman. The Congress will
also charter directly some
locals in areas where tlie trade
union movement is not well-
represented or where affiliates
do not have the resources to do
the organizing.

A bank employees organiz-
ing committee will be estab-
lished by the CLC to draw on
the resources of the CLC and
its affiliates ‘‘in a mutual pro-
gram to help bank employees
organize as speedily as
possible,” according to Morris.

Substantial funds for the
drive are available from a
special organizing fund set up _
several years ago. The project —
will start in early 1978, after
details have been worked out
with interested affiliates.

LIGHTER SIDE

Pouce Coupe Pete says —
there’s no fool like an old fool.

You can’t beat experience!
HEE

.
;

#

Ore, ai