“IWA RADIO PROGRAMS FOR INFORMATION ON NEGOTIATIONS Radio CKNW: Vancouver/New Westminster: ; 3 x 1-minute spots per week, rotating 6:45 - 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, Wed- nesday, Thursday. Radio CFUN: Vancouver: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:50 a.m. Radio CHWK: Chilliwack: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:50 a.m. Radio CFCP: Courtenay: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CFWB: Campbell River: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CJJC: Langley: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:55 a.m. Radio CHUB: Nanaimo: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:05 a.m. Radio CJAV: Port Alberni: 4 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:05 a.m. Wednesday and Friday, 12:25 p.m. Radio CFTK: Terrace/Kitimat: 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30 a.m. Radio CKDA: Victoria: ' 2 x 5 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday, 7:10 a.m. ULL IIL dd dL LLL LLL / CLEC LLLTEE CELLET ELLE CELL LLL ELLE LLL LLL LLL LL TEED ELT LTTE LLL LLL. CLA WLLL LLL dd dddbdldlbddldbdbdddddbishbddid — vy NS N Nneeans) | IN eel * NST Ny NIN ve. p Seanunun | WE WISH WE'D BEEN BRIGHT ENOUGH TO HAVE HAD MORE THAN ONE. TO MAKE THE BEST BOOTS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (AND STARTING RIGHT IN B.C.). BUT THEN, WE'VE MANAGED TO DO ALL RIGHT WITH OURS. | IT WORKS - | EVERY TIME! PIERRE PARIS & SONS 51 West Hastings Street Vancouver 3, B.C > Craftsmanship THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER _ In Mills, Logging Camps | Official Probe Demanded Of Alberta Conditions By STAFF REPORTER “The IWA is fully justified in demanding an official in- vestigation into conditions in the Alberta lumber indus- try.” This was the comment cf a well-known TV commen- tator with logging experience, who recently made a return visit to some logging camps in that province. His views are confirmed by IWA organizers who have en- countered formidable ob- stacles placed in their way by the Lumbermen’s Association and condoned by the Man- ning Government. The Un- ion’s request for a Commis- sion of Inquiry met with a stonewall silence, broken only by the Minister of Labour who declared that no investi- gation was necessary. The facts are that condi- tions are as bad or even worse than those which con- fronted the IWA in its early days of organization in Brit- ish Columbia. Wages are low and conditions are disgrace- ful, but in Alberta today, the employers are determined to make it a low-wage Paradise for runaway industry from British Columbia. The in- creasing Alberta production presents an increasing threat to the B.C. industry and the standards negotiated in the province. B.C. woodworkers cannot ignore developments on their own doorstep intend- _ ed to depress their wages too. The chief complaint heard is with regard to wages. In the present strikes close to the BC. boundary, attention is directed to hourly rates from $1.32% to $1.47 an hour for work comparabl e with that performed in B.C. opera- tions Thor $2. 08 an hour up- ward. Less is heard about the eighty to ninety cents an hour paid in woods and planing Pail operations in some areas. Intimidation has made union- ization of these operations difficult. Logging lasts only from December to March or be- tween freeze-up and break- up. A 100-day run is con- sidered average. At the low wages, and with board rates averaging $2.50 a day, the workers may leave the log- ging camps with an income ranging from $400 to $600 for the season’s work. The con- tractors, with their gyppo operations, are the worst of- fenders. Workers still pack their blankets to and from many of these camps. The straw-filled mattresses have only lately been replaced by flimsy felt mattresses. Sheets and aillow cases are almost unknown and camp flunkeys are almost non-existent in Northern Alberta. The tiered or double bunks were seen until they were re- placed recently by surplus army cots. Washing and dry- ing facilities are seldom pro- vided. The loggers returning to the bunkhouse from the day’s work must hang their wet clothing around the wood heater in the centre of their sleeping quarters, as in the bad old days in B.C. “Out-door plumbing” is still the rule. Some improvement has been noted by the substi- tution of the more modern “two-holer” instead of the pole suspended over an open trench. The quality of the food varies from camp to camp, but all reports indicate an unusual turnover in the em- ployment of camp cooks. The man who beefs goes “down the road”. Little sanitary inspection is undertaken either by the pro- vincial or municipal health authorities. No inspection is made unless an actual com- plaint is laid, and woe betide the man who complains. Just how the loggers keep as free as they do from insect pests, familiar in the early B.C. days, is a mystery. At the more remote points, the men are dependent on “company stores” olieee they are charged fancy prices. They fare no better if they bee at HBC posts. Until the vdvont of the IWA in Northern Alberta, the Metis Indians who relied on the lumber industry for their livelihood, were cruelly exploited. Examination of one contractor’s payroll revealed that the median income for local whites was $191 a month and for seven Metis Indians from outside points only $83 a month. The Alberta Uni- versity Committee on Social Hessel has published a severe criticism af these con- ditions, suggesting that pover- ty among the Metis is largely resp arable for the high in- aldenee of tuberculosis. Many of the workets who move in and out of the indus- try to perform the highly seasonal work also work on small farms. Many of these workers have hitherto been indifferent to the trade union appeal. The worst feature of all is that thousands have been so conditioned and browbeaten into the accep- tance of low wages and in- credibly poor conditions that they fear to challenge un- scrupulous employers. The IWA has tackled a tre- mendous job in Alberta, but it is a job that must be done to protect B.C. workers against a flanking attack on their own negotiated stan- dards and expectations. OLYMPIA TAILORS WE ARE PROUD TO OFFER YOU SHIFFER HILLMAN QUALITY TAILORED CLOTHES A Large Selection of Imported Materials Tuxedo Rentals for All Occasions 2425 East Hastings St. (Nanaimo & Hastings Sts.) Vancouver 6, B.C. AL. 3-1310