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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 1963)
Issues Involved In Lumber Dispute Discussed Association's Views: KdUor's Note: This is manage merit's side of the current lumber dispute as outlined by Lowry Wy att, vice president of Weyerhaeus er Company, and chairman of the nesotiating committee of, the six firms involved. "I would like to e x p I a i n the position of the six companies in volved," Lowry Wyatt told a group in Klamath Falls Friday; afternoon. "It is important that all com munities involved know how this situation developed, why it did. &9d what is being done to get out unions on their 1963 demands and would be bound as a group to v.hat the negotiations developed. "The first day we met for two! long discussions on what was the association, what was its bargain ing rights, who did it represent, and what issues would we talk about. Then the bargaining start ed. Both sides bargained for a settlement and we have been crit icized for ottering up to 22 cents. If we had been bargaining for a strike we would have slopped at 10 cents, not 22. "At the time negotiations fell o, it. i am not nere to arguciapart, the six companies corn- were ready to meet with theiciation UVYA! was for 40 cents an tiio issues nor to ask you to be judge or jury on the merits. "Historically, in the past, the pattern of labor negotiations by lumber firms has always been an individual approach. It was this Way up until this group bound it self to a common result, a typical arrangement around the country. "Back as far as two years ago, these six companies t Weyerhaeus er. International Paper. Rayon ier, Crown-Zellerbach, St. Regis Paper and U.S. Plywood', and others discussed the need for si:ch an organization because we did not have a proper vehicle to handle negotiations with two un ions. Just as surely as the equip ment and type of operations of 10 ears ago were not sufficient for today, so was our former in dividual approach. "We were looking at the lung range program, of costs, union position, competition, trying to plan for the future and remain as; open minded as possible not knowing what our competition would do. ' "We realized we faced such problems as automation, travel time, mechanization and would r.ot be able to solve these issues !y the individual company ap proach. We decided we needed a totally bound organization. "We discussed this type of as sociation with both unions, p r e senting an exposition ol such an association and the desirable reasons for it "Both unions indicated then that this was constructive. This was not a patronizing conversa tion with them, but one of arriv ing at mutual acceptance of the rrcanization "The six companies decided to I bined had offered $20 million in increased wages over the nextl three-year period. The unions con sidered this insufficient and struck two members of the group, U.S. Plywood and St. Regis. "We met after the union had struck these members to decide on a course of action. The dis cussion had nothing to do with retaliation or use of power, but purely whether the group we had formed was good, and whether it still made sense. If it did, our course of action was clear. Our conclusions were that it was a good association, we had not changed our minds and the diffi culties even highlighted more the need (or such an association. Thel next step was automatic. If we were to preserve our association, the decision to shut down was automatic. "The mills shut down, but not in retaliation. Tile other side of the coin was that if an agreement was reached in the negotiations, all six firms were bound to it, if negotiations fell apart and action was taken rgainst one, we would all face1 the same action. "I understand that the associ atinn has been challenged legally by the unions who may be doing this to try to validate unemploy ment claims, although 1 don't know their strategy. The major issues are two, wages and economics. "The original position of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers LSW) was for a 60-cent an hour increase over the next three years. Their position is still the! same. The original position of t h e hour over the next three years and they modified this to 34' cents. The operators have offered them 21.9 cents per hour over the next three years, amounting to a total of $20 million additional increases for the six companies. "We have no criticism of the union's position. We are simply viewing the situation through dif ferent glasses. We probably have not done as good a communication job as we should have. There is not that much diflerence in the market place. "The request by the association was part of a long-range plan, as stated before. We W'ere bargain ing to remove some penalty clauses, some restrictions in ex change for base wages. "We were asking that we be relieved of the payment of over time on Saturday and Sunday work when and if the operations required regularly scheduled seven-day three-shift operations. This has never been understood clear ly. We are being charged with turning back the clock. "Specifically, we arc saying we don't want to change any provi sions ol any contract in any respect unless the operation is ready to run seven days, 24 hours continually. Then we would have to hire about 30 per cent more men. Nobody works over five davs and everybody gets two days off. We would still pay over-i time if any man works over eight hours a day or over 40 hours per week. However, if a man Views Of The IWA: AUSTRALIA'S VISITORS Australia, becoming the first rul-iof Carry Moore, CBS Television ing monarchs to do so. according Network star, was a play written to the Britannica Book of the in collaboration with F. Scott Year. Fitzgerald. In 12, King Bhumbol and Queen Sirkit, of Thailand, toured HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Oregon Sunday. June 16, 1961 PACE 3 A Editor's Note: The following is work days beginning on Monday a statement released by Otto E. and ending on Friday, which Hall, business agent for the IWA, means that all work over eight Local 3-12 regarding the un- hours per day and 40 hours per ion's viewpoint in the current week as well as all work per- and Sunday of the year, he would' P'05 campaign put on by get two other days off. join together and announced we International Woodworkers Asso- U.S. Space Funds Slash May Depend On Russians WASHINGTON (UPH-The U.S. space budget may be in for a $300 million cut in Congress un less the current Soviet flight shows the Russians are racing for the moon. House space committees al ready have voted to trim about half a billion. In the Senate Space Committee, w hich opened hearings on the So.7 billion request this week, there are also rumblings o! a SM0 million cut. Both Sens. Margaret Chase Smith. It-Maine, and Howard W. Cannon. D-Nev.. asked the Na tional Aeronautics and Space Ad The scientists, while divided on whether the moon trip should be made at all, generally agreed that It would have little direct military value and would be a very costly project for the amount of scientific information it turns up. The main thing, they said, would be the prestige of reaching the moon first. The bucet trimming, if there is any, is likely to be in the $12 billion which NASA wants authori sed next year for the Apollo moon light. This would represent more of a delay than a cutback A truly spectacular Russian lumber controversy. By OTTO E. HALL Business Agent IWA - Local 3-12 Facts and issues leading up to the lockout imposed by the "Big Six" lumber operators on Fri day, June 7, 1963: In order to fully understand the IWA's position on this mat ter let us go back to the year of 1961 at which time the IWA opened their contracts with the lumber operators for wage in creases and certain fringe bene fits. At this time, after months of negotiations and listening to the companies' claims of inabiUty to grant any wage increases, the contracts were signed with the companies granting a one per cent wage increase. In 1962 tile union again opened their contracts with the employers for a wage increase and other revisions of the contract. Again the story was the same witU the exception that the employers used the issue of Canadian lumber imports as their reason for not being able to grant a wage in crease. The companies did a marvelous job of brainwashing the public into believing that they were on the verge of financial ruin due to the imports of Cana dian lumber. The IWA at that time, being the responsible union that it is. and realizing that the 'No one seriously believes we can run the woods any different ly than we are running them, but we should be able to do it on a continuous basis without penalty. Some plants are already doing this. All pulp mills in Washington and Oregon are working on this basis. An operator needs more in centive to put $12 million into plywood plant today. He needs a uniform approach and that goes to the heart of our association. "We are ready to meet any time, any place. We have talked to the conciliation service and told them this. They have asked. Do you think it will do any good?' and we have answered. 'no. we would meet right now if we thought it would do any good "It seems like standing around while Rome burns, but if we called a meeting and only ex tended discussions it would not help the dispute. It appears to be a matter of judgment. The conciliation service has not called a meeting so apparently the un ions also feel it is not the time either." In reply to questions, Wyatt commented that the question ol travel pay for woods employes was not a big issue. "In my judgment." he said, "we have come up with a solution to settle that issue which I think is work able and which could be accepted by the unions. They have not agreed to it. but have explored it and I think would find it work able." I the lumber operators had been an effective one upon the general public, closed out their contracts without any wage increase and extended them until June 1, 1963. In March, 1963, in accordance with the contract language, the IWA again opened their con tracts with the lumber operators on the matter of wages and other contract revisions. The IWA on the matter of wages was asking for a 40 cents per hour wage increase over a three-year period in addition to a revision of the pension plan at Weyerhaeuser and St. Regis Paper Company. The union also sought some sort of travel pay for loggers who arc required to travel long distances on their own time from the log ging camps in order to reach their work areas. The lumber operators, including Weyerhaeuser, opened the con tract to revise the hours of labor clause, the payment of overtime and the grievance procedure. At the present time the contract pro vides for a work week begin ning on Monday and ending on Sunday. The normal work sched ule consists of five eight - hour formed by an employe on the sixth and seventh days in his work week shall be paid for at time and one-half. We have had this provision in our contract since 1M2. It is the desire of the company to amend this provision so that they can split the work week up and work the employes Saturday and Sunday for straight time, taking away any increase they have offered. It is also the desire of the company to amend the grievance procedure which is the very heart of any labor contract, to work in exactly the reverse manner than it has been working in for the past 20 years or more. These ale tile issues which led to the breakdown in negotiations. The last proposal of the union to the lumber operators called for 15 cents per hour wage increase for 1963 seven and one-half cents per hour in 1964 and three and one-half per cent wage in crease in 1965 plus 2 per cent wage increase for certain job classifications where gross ine quities are known to exist. In making this proposal the Union scaled down tlieir demands from 40 cents to 35 cents over the three-year period. On May 31 the "Big Six" lum ber operators olfered the union a package deal amounting to 20 cents per hour spread over the three-year period with the provi sion that the union accept the changes in the hours of labor clause as the company had pro posed. They offered nothing for travel time pay for loggers. On Tuesday, May 4, the union mcti with the lumber operators in Port-1 land in a final effort to reach an agreement with the "Big Six" association. At this meeting the "Big Six" spokesman stated that they had no proposal to make to the union and negotiation!: were discontinued. At midnight Tues day, June 4. which was the dead line set for the completion of ne gotiations, tlie Lumber and Saw mill Workers and the Internation- al Woodworkers of America set up picket lines at United States Plywood and St. Regis Paper ; Company, both members of the1 "Big Six" lumbermen's associa tion. On Thursday, June 6. IWA Lo cal 3-12 received a letter from J. B. Bishop, branch manager ol the Klamath Falls' Weyerhaeuser plant, informing the union that the company w as closing their op erations at the end of the day shift on Friday, June 7. The local union had no pickets out and had no intention of put ting any out, as it was decided at the meeting in Portland by the IWA Executive Board that they would not strike Weyerhaeus er. This amounts to only one thing, a layoff of the employes by Weyerhaeuser Company and the "Big Six" Association. The employes of the IWA at Weyerhaeuser arc ready and will ing to return to work anytime the company is ready to end the layoff. As to the claims by these lum ber operators that they arc un- IContinurd on Page S-A) FIRST FEDERAL ministration NASA to find some , achievement could have the effect rommcnted ,hal hc areas where cutting can be done So far, NASA has not supplied the requested information. While the Senate committee is examining several aspects of the budget, the key question is wheth er the Russians are trying to beat the U.S. goal of putting a man on the moon by 1970. Several scientists told the com mittee that the resources required . .v. i-c . k .j! profit factor in this phase of the er cuts in the U.S. space budget .' . , ' ; . . ., . ... v iindustrv actua y comes from the that appear to be in the works. , , , ,,, lactor." lie said, "is the gain on the value of timber from when we bought it until its value today. The prolit is not from our ply wood or softwood operations. These, in themselves, are n t HORSE SIGHT A horse can see forward, side ward and even a little way back ward. Pupil of the equine's eye is oval-shaped, cutting down the scope a horse can see when it is paying propositions. t. . mnnt i,.nr fliohi a .n'KwKing siraiem aneaa. ine am- ne rannimra. u is i o ,. ,k ,;.. ma hv mal cannot see above the level picture nor a happy one." v.,t ...,..,o 1 cided to concentrate instead on!" 113 other areas of space and tech-1 n)Iot;y . J0" Provist began acting at the The space program will cost the i age of three, made 10 motion pic United Stales about $35 billion dur-1 lures before he joined the CBS ing the next 10 years, space chief Telev ision Network's "Lassie" at James Webb said. ace seven. a! DDtklC THE g FAMILY Broasted Chicken Spaghetti Pizza Pie Try Our New French Fried Ravioli Eat 'Em Here or Orders To Go. LUCCA CAFE Ph. TU 4-3276 2354 S. 6th Y6!LRj prepared for. oiriexpecfeci filings OUR.. U l AIL Now in progress! 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