CREE Pc owevineninen TOE SE is THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH. Vol. XXXVI, No. 16 VANCOUVER, B.C. 2nd Issue 5c PER COPY August, 1967 SS FAIR PLAY, MR. BENNETT .. . NO GOVERNMENT VOTE UNTIL INQUIRY REPORT Labour minister Leslie Peterson has notified the IWA that the government- supervised strike vote re- quested by the Northern and Southern Interior operators will not be taken until Mr. Justice Craig Munroe, the industrial inquiry commis- sioner mediating the contract dispute, brings down his re- commendations. The Union negotiators and operators are now meeting with Mr. Justice Munroe in the Stockmen’s Motor Hotel, Kamloops. During the first meeting held August 22, Mr. Justice Munroe suggested that if it were agreeable to both parties, their submissions should be made in public. It is anticipated that it will take the balance of the week for the two groups to make their submissions. This will leave the commissioner less than a week to make his recommendations before the contract expiration date of September Ist. In a letter to Regional pres- ident Jack Moore, Peterson stated: “Tt would be more condu- cive to a satisfactory Inquiry if any supervised vote were taken following consideration by the parties of the Commis- sioner’s recommendations. Nothing has happened in the interim that would cause me to change that point of view, and as I have also been ad- vised that the Commissioner does not want such a vote taken during the Inquiry, I believe that under the cir- cumstances we should com- ply with his wishes in this connection.” Peterson added, “Your let- ter suggests that certain em- ployers are making plans to provoke spontaneous walk- outs on the part of their crews when the contract ex- pires September Ist. If you have evidence of this nature, I would suggest that you bring the same to the atten- tion of the Commissioner who, I am sure, would deal with this matter in an ap- propriate manner.” The Union negotiating com- mittees have been deeply con- cerned that unless the em- ployer-requested strike vote baa Sr a aa: the terior members could be pro- voked into taking illegal strike action. Moore, in a letter to the Labour minister August 10 voiced such a fear. His let- ter stated in part: “At our meeting of the 28th you pointed out that you would be willing, in order to ensure industrial peace in the province, to appoint an Industrial Inquiry Commis- Sioner, as was done in our Coast negotiations in 1966, and that such Commissioner should be appointed as soon as possible to allow him suf- ficient time to bring down recommendations for our consideration. “You also pointed out that it would be unfair and unwise to conduct a government- supervised strike ballot while the Commissioner was meet- ing with both sides. “To date no Commissioner has been appointed, and it now becomes impossible, in my estimation, for a Commis- sioner to have sufficient time to bring down recommenda- tions for voting upon by both sides to the dispute prior to September 1st 1967. “This will, of course, mean that on September Ist, 1967, the provisions of the Labour Relations Act as it pertains to government-supervised strike ballots will not have been ad- hered to, and that any action by members of the IWA would, of course, be illegal. “It has come to my atten- tion that certain employers in the Interior of B.C. are making plans to provoke spontaneous walkouts on the part of their crews when the contract expires September Ist. If this is allowed to hap- pen we would, through no fault of our own, be in a posi- tion of striking illegally and would be subject to the pen- alties under the Act as well as to damage suits by the em- ployers; and the possibility of a fair and equitable settle- ment would become remote. “As President of the Inter- national Woodworkers of America I cannot allow a sit- uation to develop in which members of our Union would find themselves acting in an illegal manner; and since the law requires the taking of a See “VOTE” Page 2 2 ko * The follownig is the text of a letter addressed to Hon. W. A. C. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia, by IWA Regional President Jack Moore. *x x *k “Dear Sir: “First, on behalf of our organization, I should like to thank your government for appointing such an able man as Mr. Justice Craig Munroe to act as a Mediator in the dispute between our Union and the lumber em- ~ ployers in the interior of the province. “However, just prior to your announcement of this appointment one of your Ministers, without hearing any of the facts possessed by our Research Department on the state of the industry, publicly sided with the employers: that woodworkers doing the same work in one part of the province could not be paid as much as those working in another section of the province. ‘The section of the province this Minister was referring to (the Interior) also happens to have a higher cost of living than the coastal area, and his ad- vocacy of maintaining lower wages in an area with a higher cost of living simply means that he is advocating that people in one part of this bountiful and wealthy province should have lower standards than people living in other parts. “Tam certain that the Honourable Mr. Williston was speaking for himself and on behalf of those of his constituents who control the forest area in northern British Columbia rather than making a policy statement on behalf of the government of this province, for it is inconceivable to me that any government would deliberately adopt a policy denying proper living standards for groups of its people only because of the location of their homes. "On behalf of the IWA we would request that your govern- ment ensure that no further inflammatory outbursts are made by any Minister of the Crown until after Mr. Justice Munroe has been able to ascertain the facts from all the evidence he will be presented by both sides to the dispute. “For Ministers of the Crown to publicly put themselves on the side of either the union or management in any kind of dispute before or during hearings to be held by a Mediator might leave the inference in the minds of some that political pressure was being exerted on an impartial umpire in a dispute — a situation which is eminently unfair to the man who has taken on the onerous task of mediating a dispute — and extremely unfair to the party against whom such a Minister may have spoken.” Yours respectfully, FPF President. LET THE FACTS SPEAK!