AN

THE WESTERN CANADIAN &

PRESIDENT SYD THOMPSON

SS ie.

VIEWPOINT

The following article by President Syd Thompson of Local
1-217, IWA, is the first in a series to be submitted for publica-
tion by IWA Local Union Presidents. The article is printed as
submitted and no restrictions were made as to content. Articles

by the other Local Presidents

expressing their views will be

published in succeeding issues of the Lumber Worker.

By SYD THOMPSON

President,

Local 1-217

We are delighted to take advantage of the opportunity
offered by the Regional President to be the first among the
local unions to present our views in the Lumber Worker.

Our outspoken attitude on
problems and issues often
played up by the daily news
media and some time by those
in our own ranks who dis-

‘agree with our position have

at time made our local appear
as the “Bad Boy” in an other-
wise lovely family. Well, we
make no apologies for our
behavior and are prepared to
let history be the judge, about
who makes what contribution
to the betterment of our
membership.

Membership Participation

In this brief article we are
most anxious to express the
views of the leadership of

this strategically placed and
largest local union in the In-
ternational. We first of all be-
lieve that the real strength
and power of an organization,

such as ours, rests in the
hands of the membership.

_ If this is so, then naturally
everything possible must be
done to achieve maximum
participation by that mem-
bership. This is why we
fought so hard and successful
‘at the recent International

Convention to restore the

right of all members to attend
local union meetings with

See “VIEWPOINT”—Page 2

Lo I

Rs
ER

Incorporating 7he @.G@, umbermorker Official Publication of the Vaternatlonal Weodworkers of AAmextea Regional Council No. 1

Vol. XXX, No. 21

VANCOUVER, B.C.

5c PER COPY

ist Issue

ae? November, 1963

IWA ALBERTA STRIKERS

HOLD FIRM AS DISPUTE
ENTERS FOURTH MONTH

IWA strikers at the Canadian Forest Products Sawmill
and Planing Mill, Grande Prairie, Alberta, are still maintain-
ing their picket lines as the strike enters its fourth month

with no signs of settlement.

The strikers are receiving
payment from the Regional
Council’s Strike Fund but

oy

j La,
ee As,

I

MAURICE CORBEIL, popvu-
lar Financial Secretary of

Local 1-85, IWA, is seeking
election as an Alderman for
the City of Port Alberni.
Maurice has resided in Port
Alberni for the past seven-
teen years where he worked
in the local sawmills and leg-
ging camps. In 1957 he was
elected Financial Secretary
of Local 1-85, and has been
re-elected to that position
ever since. When announcing
his decision to stand for Al-
derman, he stated, “If elected
I will judge any proposal or
action strictly ‘on its merits,
its economics and its value to
the residents as a whole.”

because of the crucial winter
months ahead an appeal has
been made by Regional Presi-
dent Jack Moore to IWA Lo-
cal Unions for further finan-
cial assistance.

The employees, members of
Local 1-207, IWA, struck the
operation August 7, after: fail-
ure to secure from the Com-
pany a new one-year agree-
ment providing for improved
wages and working condi-
tions.

The new agreement sought

a twenty-five cent per hour’

wage increase, Union Shop
Agreement, Seniority pro-
vision, extended vacations
with pay, and additional paid
Statutory Holidays.

A Conciliation Board rec-
ommended a wage increase of
2 cents per hour effective
April 1, 1963; a further 3
cents per hour effective April
1, 1964; and a final 2 cents
per hour effective October 1,
1964; based on a two-year
agreement.

The employees rejected the
offer in a Government-super-
vised Strike Vote.

The present hourly basic
rate paid employees is $1.40.
The weekly earnings for em-
ployees during 1963, on the
basic rate was $61.60. In Sep-
tember 1959, it was $61.44.
The basic weekly earnings of
the employees have increased
only 16 cents per week over
the last four years.

The same Company recent-
ly signed a two year agree-

IWA DOCUMENTARY

— PART 4

ment in their Plywood Di-
vision giving employees a ten
cent per hour increase in the
first six months, and a further
six cents per hour increase in
the last year of the agree-
ment, establishing a base rate,
as of August 15, 1964, of $1.52

per hour.
See “ALBERTA”—Page 2

A =

: 1-357 Accepts |
Millwrights |
Program

‘Local 1-357, IWA, New
Westminster has’ accepted
the new training program
for Millwrights, reports
Local President, Joe Mad-
den. Approval was given at
the Local’s General Mem-
bership Meeting October 27.

Commenting on the
Local’s endorsation of the
plan, Madden stated, “The
members accepted the pro-
gram only after a careful
study had assured them
that their rights were fully
protected.”

He added that in: their
opinion the program will
give those members desir-
ing to be Millwrights a bet-
ter chance. The program
will also eliminate the pres-
ent practice of the com-
panies of by-passing their
employees to hire replace-
ments from the street.

“Considering the advan-
tages of the program,” he
said, “it's a mystery to us
why all the Coast Local
Unions haven’t yet endors-

ed it.” z

HUT

Fi

_ STRIKE ACTION WON BENEFITS

When the chips were down, strike action became an indispens-
able weapon for woodworkers. Strikes which threatened the employers
with the loss of business and profits were at first the only means to
gain recognition of legitimate demands for fair wages and decent
working conditions. A strike demands organization and sacrifice on
the part of the workers involved. Strike organization and strike sacri-
fices laid the foundation for the living and working standards now
established in the lumber industry.

The right to strike — the right of workers to withdraw their labor
when denied satisfactory conditions of employment — has been one
of the important rights inherited and maintained by the International
Woodworkers of America, Had woodworkers, through the long years
of struggle, lacked the courage to strike they would still be the low
men on the industrial totem pole.

The massive propaganda inspired
by the employers and intended to para-
lyze strike action, compels a brief exam-
ination of the woodworkers’ strike record.
It cannot be said with truth that the
woodworkers were ever “strike-happy.”
Strikes have always been costly for the
workers. Each strike required the lumber
workers to balance the immediate losses
against probable future gains. The rec-
ord discloses that the gains far exceeded
the losses. Woodworkers today owe a
debt of gratitude to those who manned
the early picket lines.

Aggressive action by lumber work-
ers was inescapable in the early years.

WHAT’S
INSIDE

Turns -
1-288 -
Editorial
Safety -
Benefits
History

Strikes were the visible expression of the conflict which existed between
employers and the workers. The employers in full control of job op-
portunities denied lumber workers any right of collective bargaining
and grievance handling. The employers’ attempt to dictate intolerable
conditions of employment led to spontaneous and sporadic explosions.
The woodworkers quickly learned that violent explosions do not
always have happy results and that only the well-organized can take
effective strike action. The results of the early strikes must be judged
in the light of the conditions which then prevailed. Certainly these
strikes tempered and steeled the determination of woodworkers to
continue the fight for justice. The IWA finally brought order out of
seeming chaos.

The grim experiences which preceded the advent of the IWA
taught a lesson never to be forgotten. Collective bargaining becomes
a farce unless the organized workers have the right to threaten or
take action. This right places the workers on an approximate footing
of equality with the employers at the bargaining table.

The function of the strike in collective bargaining was admitted
in 1951 by the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Public
Welfare. It said in part, “The strike threat and the actual strike itself
are instruments of bargaining . . . Since the threat of a strike would.
not be very formidable without its occasional use, strikes will ever

_remain an ingredient of collective bargaining. Strikes must thus be

regarded as a concomitant of collective bargaining and the growth
of unionism.”

It is not possible to record in this documentary all the strikes
that occurred in the lumber industry. Only some of those which had
the greatest significance may be selected. As an instance, only brief

See “STRIKE ACTION” — Page 7