FROM PAGE ONE “STRIKERS” that minimal amount, most make around $3.00 per hour and that is below the poverty level.” “The Forest Products Indus- try is a basic, wealth-pro- ducing industry,” the IWA leader said, ‘‘and it is redi-- culous that workers in that in- dustry, wherever they might be located, should be denied even a ‘low’ standard of living particularly by a company the size of Weyerhaeuser.”’ “Tt just doesn’t make sense,” he went on. ‘“‘Weyerhaeuser has spent hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring timber holdings and production facili- ties in the south. They get higher prices for most of their southern products, almost all grades of kiln dried lumber for example, and yet they think so little of their employees that they place them among the ‘working poor.’ We intend to change that attitude.” Johnson compared the “‘final offer’? which Weyerhaeuser made to the IWA jn the South — a three year agreement with wage increases of $.40 per hour each year — with the settle- ment reached in June of 1975 with the same company on the west coast — a two year agree- ment with wage increases of $.68 per hour the first year and $.65 per hour due in June of 1976. “If our Southern mem- bers had accepted that offer, instead of rejecting it over- whelmingly like they did, the already unacceptable gap would increase even more and we wouldn’t be back to the bar- gaining table until 1979 and who knows what the economic situation will be by then. We do know that the wages paid at the end of the contract in 1979 would still not equal the wage needed for a ‘low budget’ in- 1975.” “We realize that these vast differentials have built up over many years’’ he said, “‘and we do not expect to overcome them in one set of negotiations. We do, however, intend to keep the gap from widening at present and start overcoming them in future bargaining and that bargaining must occur more frequently than every three years.” Speaking for the entire IWA membership and particularly those in the South, Johnson concluded with a warning to other Forest Products Com- panies operating in the south. “Weyerhaeuser is not our only target,”’ he said, ‘‘just the first. We have many. contracts ex- piring with major southern producers and they can look forward to the same problems Weyerhaeuser is now having if they insist on applying a ‘double standard’ to our southern members. We are prepared to sit down with the industry and develop a long- range plan for standardizing wages, hours, and: working conditions across ~ North America or we are prepared to take them on one-by-one for the next ten years if necessary.”’ FROM PAGE ONE “FIRE VICTIMS” ficials had the Smiths driven out thirty-five miles to meet the ambulance which drove them another one hundred and fifty miles to the Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. Mrs. Smith, the more badly burned of the two, required ‘skin grafts for her burns and was only recently released from hospital. Howard is not yet back at work but the Local Union en- sured that he was covered by the Union’s Health and Welfare Plan. Local Union officials are fed up with the treatment ac- corded the Native Indians by Canadian Forest Products and are determined to force the Company to change its atti- tude. The Union officials charge that the Company refuses to al- low Native Indians to live in the married quarters at the main camp.although many of the buildings are empty. In- stead they are forced to live in broken down shacks three miles away that are not fit for animals. Erik Wood, Financial Secre- tary of the Local stated, that while the Union is pleased that the Company fired the superin- tendent following the incident, a complete change of attitude was needed by Canadian Forest Products officials on the rights of Native Indians, before the IWA would back off. He also stated, that of all company officials in the forest industry, officials of Canadian Forest Products should recog- nize and respect the rights of minorities. ———————————— ee ————————— SSD “THIS SHOULD TAKE THE BEEFS OUT OF BEEF” If consumers have had beefs about buying ground beef they have had plenty of reasons for it. It is being sold under 30 dif- ferent names in retail stores in Canada. gt sg t's It is hoped that this situation will end on July 1 when new food and drug regulations come into force. They will make it mandatory’ that ground — or minced — beef be sold under one of three names. The meat is to be termed re- gular if it contains 30 per cent or less of fat, medium if it con- tains 23 per cent or less, and lean if it contains 17 per cent or less. The regulations will help shoppers know what they are getting and also make com- parison shopping easier. THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER SASKATCHEWAN FOREST PRODUCTS IN PRINCE ALBERT CORPORATION NEW HEADQUARTERS PLANNED Saskatchewan Forest Prod- ucts Corporation, a Saskat- chewan Crown Corporation, has announced construction of a new Head Office building at Prince Albert. The nine million dollar struc- ture: will be fourteen floors in height and will include 120 thousand square feet of office space; 20,000 square feet on the ground level for a mini-shop- ping plaza and provision for a 400 parking staff parkade above and below ground level. Construction is expected to reach completion in the spring of 1978. Saskatchewan Forest Products Corporation is ex- pected to use only two floors of the tower with the balance being leased to provincial gov- ernment departments and private businesses. Honourable Ted Bowerman, Chairman of the Board of the Corporation, in making the announcement stated ‘‘the establishment of a building of this kind brings into focus the importance of our forest in- dustry in the province and indicates that Saskatchewan Forest Products Corporation is becoming a major corporation playing an important role in the management and _utiliza- tion of our forest resources”’. The Corporation, which manufacturers lumber, plywood and treated wood products at seven Saskat- chewan locations, is currently undertaking a major ex- pansion program that, when completed later this year, will result in five new plants. The Hudson Bay Plywood Plant, Green Lake Sawmill and Carrot River Sawmill have been completed and are in operation. The Big River Saw- mill and Prince Albert Wood Treatment Plant will be com- pleted in June of 1976. All of the Corporation’s operations are certified with the International Woodworkers of America. os SS aA ESSSNSCSSSNN DVSSUCSIS en THIS TAKES THE CAKE The former president and chief executive officer of Mac- Millan Bloedel, Denis Timmis, should be awarded a special prize for pure unmitigated gall. Timmis is the gentleman, who before boarding a plane for Europe last year, told re- porters that IWA members would have to practice wage restraint in their 1975 wage ne- gotiations and in his opinion they should not receive any in- crease above what was due to them from their COLA agree- ment. He conveniently -failed to mention that officers of MB were not subject to such re- straints and that his salary had just been boosted 32.5 percent to $220,833. ~ Now that he and board chair- man, George Currie, are now fired from the Company, they will still do very well. Timmis will get an annual pension of $62,598, while Currie will re- ceive an annual pension of $50,578. Two other former top execu- tives of the Company are drawing excellent pensions too. Robert Bonner draws an annual pension from the Com- pany of over $100,000, while J. V. Clyne receives $90,000 a year plus $25,000 incidental ex- penses. FOR THREATS: A.1.B. ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD BE REMOVED A bill now before Parliament giving unions the right to ap- peal decisions of the Anti-Infla- tion Board may be of little help to workers seeking fair wage settlements, at least if the re- cent remarks by AIB Adminis- trator Donald Tansley are to be taken seriously. Tansley, the man who will hear appeals arising out of AIB decisions, told a luncheon meeting of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce that Jean Luc Pepin’s treatment of workers may be “‘peaches and cream’”’ compared to what he may do in disposing of appeals. In an address titled -‘‘Some Misconceptions About the Anti- Inflation Program,’’ Tansley explained that some unions ap- pealing AIB roll-back decisions may end up with a lower wage increase than the AIB allowed. Although ‘‘many people think that the Board’s allow- able increase will be the bot- tom figure from which the Ad- ministrator begins when de- ciding an appeal,’”’ Tansley said he ‘‘may determine that the correct figure is lower than that of the Board.” The reason, according to Tansley, is that the Admini- strator can demand of com- panies more information that ‘the AIB, and so may base his decision on a different set of facts than were available to the Board. He also said he will take a more narrow legal view of what constitutes compliance with the wage ‘‘guidelines ’ than the AIB, which Tansley said has more ‘“‘flexibility.” Referring to these remarks, CLC President Joe Morris charged that Tansley was en- gaging in “blackmail tactics” by telling unions in advance that their appeal rights won't help them win fair settlement. The Congress is not supporting the amendments anyway, arguing that the wage control law should be repealed, not amended. ; NDP labour critic David Orlikow was also critical of Tansley’s statements, calling them “highly improper” for someone who is supposed to impartially judge appeals. -The NDP caucus, however, will support the amendments when they are presented in the House of Commons because Fe) they are “necessary.” ‘whether they will prove to be useful, only experience ' tell,”’ Orlikow said. :