Ti 2m canadi lumber worker VANCOUVER, B.C. <>’ JUNE-JULY, 1976 WEYERHAEUSER STRIKERS i in Regional ‘Council No. 5, i in the ‘southern United ‘States, pose with International President Keith Johnson on one of the many picket lines set up by the 3,000 striking IWA members. FIRE VICTIMS . , REFUSED ASSISTANCE oPpéERATIONS A married couple, badly burned in a gasoline explosion April 10, were refused help to get them to a doctor by the su- perintendent of the Spring Creek Logging Camp of Cana- dian Forest Products, because they were Native Indians. Officers of Local 1-367 IWA, Haney, charge that the Com- pany has_ discriminated against Native Indians at its Spring Creek Camp for along time although almost half of the employees are Native Indian: The incident occurred when Howard Smith, an employee of the Company, mistook gasoline for kerosene when filling the tank of a fridge at the Indian camp located three miles from the Company’s main camp. The gasoline exploded and Smith and his wife who was as- sisting him, were both severely burned. Although in pain and shock Smith managed to drive his wife and himself to the main camp for help. The camp, which operates on R, B.C.) PERMIT No, 2075 | VANCOUVER, B 4: ibd / ; ’ —— as oe Go 3 - 8 9 is | 5 S @ : Ors mos zoe See = § 2329 Fe oe w wD His a ten and four basis, was down at the time and only the super- intendent, Al Crape, and his wife were there. Mrs. Crape put salve on the Smith’s burns but Crape offered no as- sistance and refused to radio phone for help or drive them to another camp. In a state of shock Smith was forced to drive five miles to the pole camp where the people there took them to the J. V. Logging Camp some fifteen miles away. There they were given im- mediate first aid and an ambu- lance was summoned from Pemberton Valley. To speed things up the J. V. Logging of- See “VICTIMS” Page 2 PRODUCTIVITY HIGHER IN CANADA The C.D. Howe Research In- stitute has reported, that con- trary to all the statistics, Cana- dian productivity in the manu- facturing sector outpaced that of the United States during 1969 to 1974. The new statistics reveal that U.S. productivity — output per manhour — increased by an annual average of 1.5 per cent a year between 1969 and 1974 rather than 3.8 per cent as reported previously, said the private research organization. Canada’s manufacturing productivity increased by an annual average of 2.9 per cent during this period. The downward revision of the U.S statistics occurred after measuring procedures were changed. In calling for a halt to rising wages in Canada, businessmen have often cited the previous statistics which showed Cana- dian productivity gains to be inferior to those of the U.S. LOCAL 1-184 ON STRIKE Approximately 750 members of Local 1-184 IWA, Saskat- chewan, are on strike at the Saskatchewan Forest Products Ltd. and the Woodlands Enter- prises. The 400 employees of the Saskatchewan Forest Products - struck the Company May 12, and the- 350 employees of Woodlands Enterprises struck their employer May 19. While a report on the nego- tiations has not been submitted to the Lumber Worker, the main areas of disagreement appear to centre around wages, the pension plan, and piece work rates. A complete report on the strike and the issues will be published in the next issue of the Lumber Worker. IN REGION NO. 1 SUPPORT GROWING FOR U.S. STRIKERS Support for the 3,000 IWA members of Regional Council No. 5, on strike in the Southern United States against the giant Weyerhaeuser Company, is growing steadily among mem- bers of Regional Council No. 1, following the visit to British Columbia by two of the strikers. The two rank-and-file mem- bers, George Mizell and Wal- lace ‘‘Doc’’ Ford of Dierks, Ar- kansas, have toured a number of IWA operations on the Lower Mainland, Fraser Val- ley, Boston Bar, Vancouver Island, Southern Interior and addressed Local 1-184’s Annual Delegated Meeting in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. : Their story has resulted in the members and Local Unions contributing thousands of bad- ly needed dollars to keep the strike going. So keen was the interest in the strike among Weyer- haeuser crews addressed by Mizell in the Southern Interior, that they refused to report back to work from their lunch and coffee breaks, until he had reported all his facts. His visits were not appre- ciated by the Company whose general manager kept phoning the Local Unions to ask where the Arkansas traveller was going to hit next. . The strikers are still holding firm on the picket lines and provided enough financial sup- port is forthcoming from the rest of the IWA, they will win. The basic issue in the strike is wages. The base labor rate ,. 5 ae. in the southern Weyerhaeuser operations ranged from $2.75 to $2.80 prior to the strike. The base labor rate in Oregon and Washington Weyerhaeuser plants is $5.25 and in British Columbia it is $6.14. On Monday, May 3, a Weyer- haeuser spokesman was quoted by UPI as saying “‘. . cost of living factors account for the difference.” IWA President Keith Johnson responded to this statement by saying ‘“‘Whoever that spokesman, is, he had bet- ter introduce himself to the facts of the matter. According to figures for Autumn 1975 re- cently released by the U.S. De- partment of Labor, the cost of living in the non-metropolitan south is only about 5% less than the cost of living in the non- metropolitan west. The dif- ference in wages speaks for it- self.’ ‘In terms of hourly wages,”’ Johnson went on, ‘‘It requires $6.58 per hour over a full 2,040 hour working year to maintain an ‘intermediate’ budget for a southern family. Few, if any, of our members working for Weyerhaeuser in the south make that kind of money. On the other hand, the hourly wage required in the west is $6.84 and many of our western members make that or more.” “It gets even worse,” he said, “when you look at the wage required for a lower’ budget in the south — $4.33. Very few southern Weyerhae- user employees make even See “STRIKERS” Page 2 Photo by Lyle Pona REGIONAL PRESIDENT Jack Munro was guest speaker at the installation meeting of Local 1-217 |WA, Vancouver, May 15, and also installed the new officers who are left, Walter Pooghkay, 2nd Vice-President; Erich Ewert, 1st Vice-President; Doug Evans, Financial Secretary; Marvin Rasmussen, 3rd Vice-President; Paul Beaulieu, Conductor; Syd Thompson, President; George Drescher, Six-Year Trustee; Jack Munro.