] Export of logs blasted Continued from page 1 Japan, and their protest has sharply escalated with the closure of wood and pulp mills and the layoff of thousands of workers across the province. On Sept. 2 several woodworkers from Vancouver and the Island halted log shipments for one day at Berry Point in Burnaby. The union has attacked weak provincial legislation which has allowed forestry companies to greatly increase log exports because of the downturn in the domestic wood processing: in- dustry. The increased exports now include No. 1 grade logs normally processed in B.C., which means jobs are exported along with the logs, the union has charged. “Tt is time to discard the selfish short term gain of a fast buck for forest companies and a mere handful of jobs for wood- workers that are created by in- creased log exports. It is ab- solutely essential that we em- bark on a long term plan which would require that all quality logs be manufactured in our own mills,’’ said Local 1-217 president Doug Evans in a re- cent issue of the Barker, the local’s paper. It was in that spirit that the jobless workers from Port Alberni and other Island centres converged on the Port Alice operation, to temporarily halt the shipment of logs to Japan by | Western Forest Products. That forest company’s ac- tions are particularly significant since the corporation plans to close its Wood Fiber pulp mill near Squamish next February, according to Local 1-85 spokesman Monty Mearns. “It’s IWA regional policy that we condemn the export of logs wherever it happens,”’ Mearns explained. Neither he nor Foxcroft were certain of the figures involved, but, said Fox- croft, ‘‘We are against the ex- port of logs — period.” (Last July NDP forestry critic Bill King released figures showing that log imports had in- creased more than 10 times in the first half of 1982 over the amount shipped in the last half of 1981). The union is not simply con- cerned with the current layoff Situation as affected by the ex- ports, ‘‘we’re also looking at the future,’’ said Foxcroft. ““A few years ago, we were told we were overcutting. Now we're exporting jobs along with logs,”’ he said, citing the long term damage to the industry if the exports continue. The local also plans to fight the injunction, said Foxcroft, in the hope that it can be overturn- ed or at least limited in its scope. Bypassing as it does the LRB, and granted wide-range applica- tion solely on the arguments of one of the parties — the ship- ping companies—the injunction revives the spirit, if not the let- ter, of the sixties and the union- busting legislation of that “TI think everyone can understand the importance of this case,’” Mearns told the Tribune. i} U.S.-Canada wood tariff dispute is ‘a symptom of a deeper crisis’ — By MAURICE RUSH With about one third of the pro- vince’s 96,000 forestry workers laid off, the moves being made in the ° U.S. to impose tariffs on Canadian lumber poses a grave threat to B.C.’s number one industry. But more than that, it puts the spotlight on the severe crisis facing B.C.’s forest industry which goes far beyond the immediate issue of U.S. trade restrictions. The immediate threat stems from the fact that the right wing Reagan administration is engaged in a world-wide drive to shift the burden of the economic crisis to other countries. This is taking the form of increased pressure on its trading partners to lift trade restric- tions and allow U.S. goods freer access to markets, and through protectionist measures which are aimed at Canada’s auto industry and the forest industry. Hearings into charges that Canadian forest companies are be- ing subsidized and are thus able to sell forest products cheaper on the U.S. market, will be investigated by the International Trade Ad- ministration (ITA), an agency of ' the U.S. Department of Com- merce. The ITA will make a preliminary decision by next March 7 and could decide to impose an in- terim duty at that time. Whether or not the federal or provincial governments subsidize the forest companies through low stumpage rates or forms of forest tenure such as tree farm licences is not really the issue, although it is being made so by the U.S. The fact is that the stumpage system andtree farm licences have been in effect for many years, and have been severely criticized by various organizations including the Com- munist Party. But why is the U.S. raising it now? Obviously because protec- tionist forces in the U.S. want to shift the growing crisis they face in their forest industry onto the Cana- dian and B.C. forest industry. This move by the U.S. should be con- demned and fought by the Cana- dian and B.C. governments, by the unions and the public as being against Canadian interests and as an anti-Canadian act. For many years the Communist Party in B.C. warned that it was a serious mistake to depend so com- pletely on the U.S. market for lumber, pulp and newsprint and that to continue to do so would make the B.C. forest industry and B.C. woodworkers the victims of every economic downturn in the U.S. Last year about 71 percent of B.C.’s lumber exports and about two-thirds of B.C. newsprint went to the U.S. ' Heavy dependence on the U.S. market has also determined the raw material nature of wood products produced in B.C. B.C.’s forests have been devasted, without ade- quate reforestation, to meet the | -_Make Canada Nuclear-free in 1983 A happy and peaceful New Year Vancouver Island Regional Ctte, CPC | PACIFIC TRIBUNE— DECEMBER 17, 1982—Page 4 demands in the U.S. for wood pro- ducts which are not labor intensive and do not return the greatest benefits to B.C. The Communist Party has repeatedly urged that B.C. markets for wood products be diversified and that a program of manufactur- ing and processing be undertaken to give B.C. a wider range of forest ce products to sell on the world’s markets. The crisis that B.C.’s forest in- dustry now faces goes far beyond the immediate threat posed by high U.S. tariffs. The fact is that the forest industry in the U.S. has undergone a vast expansion and now produces more wood products than the U.S. needs and the U.S. is engaged in a drive to find markets for surplus wood products around the world. While B.C. lumber is still popular on the U.S. market it faces increased competition from U.S. products. The same is true of newsprint. Even if the present drive to impose tariffs is defeated, B.C.’s forest industry will face a growing market crisis if it continues to de- pend for its prosperity on the U.S. market and the unstable U.S. economy. This point was underscored at a seminar of leading U.S. forest companies held in Portland, Oregon in June, 1982. A paper presented by the vice-president of Weyerhaeuser Company, the largest forest firm, pointed out that the market no longer demands enough timber to keep the entire U.S. industry alive, and that export markets are vitally important to keep the U.S. forest industry work- ing. Two other papers presented at that seminar made these points: B.C. forest companies won’t see their slumping lumber sales revitalized by the U.S. housing . market, and B.C. newsprint manufacturers will ‘‘have to look elsewhere for sales’’ because U.S. producers have increased produc- tion sharply. ‘ It’s obvious from the above facts, that the crisis B.C.’s forest industry faces it not only the im- mediate crisis brought on by the collapse of the U.S. market and the threat of new tariffs. The more FOREST a eememnme! INDUSTRY serious crisis we must face, if B.C.’s forest industry is to have any future, is the need for a complete overhaul of the forest industry and the adoption of new policies which will aim to diversify wood pro- ducts exports to more countries gppatatanintsla og yan: a mata oth ated elt gee ce New Year’s Greetings May 1983 be a year of_ peace and friendship throughout the world. around the world, includir socialist and third world countri Those new policies should tum the industry to manufacturing processing and the establishm of such new industries as furnit manufacturing, prefab housi fine paper products, fibres 2 other processed wood produ the launching of a program wood conservation to get a bettef use of our forests, and the under- taking of a comprehensive pro gram of reforestation; a comple overhaul of B.C.’s forest legislé tion to end the present tree farm licenses and restore control of th resource to the people of B.C. The fight for these new polici must go hand in hand with the figh to defeat the attempt by the Reagan administration to shift the crisis i the forest industry in the U.S. ont the backs of B.C. woodworkers. Maurice Rush is B.C. provinci leader of the Communist Party. — Celebrate traditional ‘Malanka’ Ukrainian New Year Sat., Jan. 15, 1983, 7 p.m. Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender Sumptous holiday fare, entertainment by AUUC Jubilee Choir and Dovbush Dancers. Two orchestras. Limited seating, advance tickets only, $15 at Global Imports, 253-3032, Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 254-3436. OS OS HOG OTR OSE: OSA IOGR FR OFA OLR HOF OLR SR GR OTR SOL GR OLR SR IOGR OTR SOG OTR OSH OSA ; o Association of United Ukrainian Canadians Season’s Greetings To our members, | friends and supporters MAKE CANADA A NUCLEAR-WEAPONS FREE ZONE — not a nuclear weapons testing zone. B.C. Provincial Committee Communist Party of Canada a