THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER - WORKER AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH. Vol. XXXII, No. 19 VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY 2nd !ssue September, 1966 IN RETROSPECT By JACK MOORE Regional President T this time, as the representatives of 39,000 woodworkers in Western Canada, sit down in convention to lay out policies and: programs for the coming year, it behooves us to look back at our accomplishments and failures since the last convention. . We have had a very strenuous and exciting year and have made tremendous gains for the members we represent — not only in wages and working conditions, but in setting the stage to allow us to cope with the problems of automation in the future. We have been able to successfully carry out almost all the programs laid down by the last convention, and have been extremely successful in revising rates of pay for individual categories, negotiating training programs and generally im- proving the living standards of ourselves and our families. To me the one thing which made possible the tremendous gains in the past year has been the determination of the membership to achieve those goals set down by the 1965 convention and the ability of the leadership to work closely together in carrying out the instructions of the membership. This determination of the membership, and the teamwork by the leadership resulted in the ne- gotiating, on the Pacific Coast, of the best contract’ we have yet been able to wrest from the employer group. We have participated, with the rest of the la- bour movement, in what many believed to be a reckless gamble when, to support the Oil Workers, we participated in the general 48-hour work stop- page called by the B.C, Federation of Labour. 1965 ... BETWEEN CO Ls it o ie It should be noted that if the labour movement in the province of British Columbia had not re- mained united in their determination, the OCAW would have been utterly destroyed by the oil companies, The government had publicly stated they would not intervene in the oil dispute unless the oil refineries ceased to operate. The oil com- panies, on the other hand, had illustrated that they not only were willing but were perfectly capable of keeping their refineries at full produc- tion with their supervisory personnel. Had _ this Le situation been allowed to develop every trade un- ionist in the province would have been forced, under the provisions of the present labour- legisla- tion to use petroleum products which they knew to be produced behind legal picket lines. The labour movement could not allow this situation to occur, as it would have been the beginning of the end — not only for the Oil Workers but for the whole labour movement in this province. The government could only be forced to inter- vene if there was a sufficient threat to the whole economy of the province. The labour movement aevised a slrategem which accomplished this purpose: to withdraw the labour of every trade unionist in the province. All Locals of the IWA in British Columbia should be congratulated for their all-out support, which made this oil settlement possible, and which in turn laid the groundwork for settlement of a tech- nological change clause in our own Coast Master Agreement. It is only fair to the membership to point out that because of the tremendous amount of work which the Region and Local Unions had that not all the programs laid down at last year’s conven- tion were completed. Things such as the Seniority Conference,_which we were instructed to call by the last convention, had to be postponed and will have to wait until after this convention before being called. Generally, however, we had a good year, and if we can keep the spirit of the membership as it was in 1965-66 and if the leadership continues to work as a team we can look forward to 1966-67 and each succeeding year secure in the knowledge that whatever tasks fall to us we have the strength to meet those challenges.