During the late 1950's certain members of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPS&PMW) began to feel that constitutional reforms were necessary in order to democratize the International and make its administration more responsive to the wishes of the rank and file. President John P. Burke was growing old, and they feared that Burke's successors might be less restrained in their application of the broad but poorly-defined powers granted the office by the union's constitution. Moreover, they felt they were not being adequately represented by the International's appointed bargainers in contract negotiations with employers, and that certain of the International's vice presidents were already abusing their powers.
The crisis came in January of 1961 when George Brooks, Director of Research and Education for the IBPS&PMW, and respected by the reform elements within the union, was asked to resign by the International Executive Board. Various ad hoc committees sprang up within the union to protest this action.
In March, 1961, representatives from many areas of the United States and Canada met in Denver to establish the Rank and File Movement for Democratic Action (RFMDA). Its initial purpose was to demand reinstatement of George Brooks, but soon adopted a broad platform of reform (much of which had been included in the “Program for Militant Democratic Unionism” which had been widely circulated within the union during the previous year). Many of the proposed reforms centered around the demand for regional election of vice presidents.
The new movement grew, supported by per capita contributions from affiliated locals. Much of the impetus came from the west coast, but other areas were also active. From within the IBPS&PMW the RFMDA established its own skeletal administrative structure, with chairman, vice-chairman, secretary-treasurer, area executives, and organization committee. In general these officers were also leaders in their local unions, and continued to be supported financially by their respective locals. Most of the RFMDA funds appear to have gone into expenses involved with their monthly publication the Amplifier.
Officers of the International became alarmed at this challenge to their authority. They argued that at the very least the new movement could only hurt the union by creating discord, and pointed out that among unions in general, the Pulp and Sulphite Workers had had one of the best records of industrial peace and honest administration. In an anonymous publication, Truth, more bitter opponents charged that the reform leaders were merely petty empire builders, and that some of them were perhaps even communist sympathisers. The reformers retorted with charges of abuse of power and, in some instances, corruption and collusion with employers on the part of certain officers. President Burke attempted to remain as neutral as possible under the circumstances.
In the meantime RFMDA leaders remained optimistic that the 1962 Detroit Convention would offer them an opportunity to have some of their reforms enacted. They were disappointed, however. Some of the western Canadian locals had already been threatening to withdraw from the union, and after the defeat of the RFMDA proposals at the 1962 Convention they established an independent union, the Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada. Reform leaders in the United States were as yet reluctant to consider such a step.
During this same general period (late 1950's and early 1960's) the other large AFL-CIO paper workers union, the United Papermakers and Paper-workers, was undergoing a parallel movement for reform, known as the Better Union Committee, which was strongly opposed by UPP President Paul Philips. Although there was no formal connection between the reform movements in the two unions, they followed each other's progress with interest.
The final crisis came on the west coast in 1964 during a “Pre-Wage Conference” of the Pacific Coast Pulp and Paper Mill Employees Association. This organization represent locals of both the Pulp and Sulphite Workers and the United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP) unions for purposes of unified industry-wide bargaining. Its officers included leaders in the RFMDA. The Association felt that although international officials and staffs involved with West Coast operation were familiar with existing conditions, they were friendly with the employers rather than militant union leaders. Representatives at the Conference wanted to adopt rules which would permit delegates to industry negotiations to elect a labor co-chairman of the negotiations. This would have been a change from previous years when labor co-chairmen had been selected by mutual agreement among the joint staff of the two international unions. West Coast international vice presidents in attendance to the negotiations refused to allow the labor co-chairman to be elected, and announced that an international vice president would be in charge of the bargaining, as in the past.
Dissident locals of the IBPS&PMW and the UPP withdrew from the conference and from their respective international unions. They formed an entirely new union, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW). It is not surprising to find that AWPPW President, William Perrin, and the Secretary-Treasurer, Burt Walls, also held high office in the RFMDA.
Further information on the reform movements in the IBPS&PMW and the UPP, and on the formation of the AWPPW, may be found immediately following this inventory at the beginning of the film, in extracts from two issues of Union Democracy in Action, an independent publication edited by Edmund Benson, a sympathiser with the movements.
