Western Pulp and Paper

February 1964 Page 11

Ocean Falls Report by Peter Marshall ... regular correspondent Gordie Griffin is away ...

... Crown Zellerbach is once again violating one of our local agreements. This time it was the manning agreement concerning the crew size for the loading of the deep sea ships Rondeggen and Bessegen. The company operated with less than the required number of men on two successive visits by these boats over a ten day period. We now have so many apologies from the Company for violations of local agreements, and assurances that it will not happen again, that we are thinking of purchasing a special filing cabinet to keep them in.

A rowdy minority created pure bedlam in the local company owned hotel under the excuse of celebrating the arrival of New Year, as a result there were no less than five evictions, several warnings and one individual fined $200.00 in the local magistrate's court for throwing beer bottles out of a hotel window ... The antics of these adult(?) residents included slashing fire hoses, damaging fire extinguishers, turning in a false fire alarm and smashing beer bottles in the hallways.

Partly because of the problems encountered at New Year, the company decided that they no longer needed a night watchman to cover the hotel. They seemed to feel he was not too effective.

The man who has been doing the job is just over 60 years of age and in poor health. He has been a watchman for fifteen years. The company offered him alternative employment as either a dishwasher or a houseman, both of which jobs were beyond his capabilities. He asked for some other type of work and was told there was nothing else available, so this forced him into the position of reluctantly accepting early retirement; this had been suggested to him by a company official.

The man was immediately rushed over to the Industrial Relations Office where he signed the early retirement forms, expecting to continue at work until February 1. He then returned to the hotel and was told that he was finished effective immediately.

This man has twenty two years service with CZ. So anxious was the company to get this man to accept early retirement that they violated the Retirement Plan which states that retirement shall take place effective the first day of any month subsequent to the date of early retirement forms being signed. Harsh treatment for someone who has given a quarter of his life to a company.

Housing continues to be the number one problem for many people in the Falls. Reductions in the Townsite maintenance force resulted in a staggering backlog of repair and renovation work.

Charging as high as $80 per month for an attic and $45 for a single room when the total rent to the company for the whole house is only in the $30 to $35 range seems a little unfair.

Concerning those people whose family has grown up and just the man and wife are left with two and three bedroom accommodation. With the housing situation as it is in the Falls, wouldn't it be fairer to have these people relocated into one bedroom apartments?

The membership rejected the idea of Job Evaluation in the recent referendum. 57% of the ballots cast were opposed to the idea.

The membership supported an executive recommendation that for financial reasons we do not send a delegate to the CLC Convention in Montreal. The money being better utilized to get shop stewards time off to attend a training course put on by John Montage in Ocean Falls scheduled for January. However, no plane ticket was booked for John, so the whole thing fell through.

Congratulations and support are due to Mike Heseltine and his executive for their efforts to put the Ocean Galls Community Film Council back on its feet.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to hospitalized Brothers Mike Marchuk, Pat Kennedy and Jim Reed, Sr.

Brother George Pembleton is stepping down as President of Local 360 UPP.