“CONVENTION”

In spite of the stupidity of the posed
question, you, our members gave us an 86%
strike mandate. Additionally, the results of
the ballot gave a clear indication to the
Industry that your Committee was indeed
speaking on behalf of the membership. The
Industry should have received that message
loud and clear and should now attempt to
amend their, so far, inflexible position.

Common front meetings have been going

on between the IWA, CPU and PPWC aimed
at keeping all three unions abreast of each
other’s position. It was hoped important
decisions could have been made during
negotiations on issues which concern all
three organizations.
i The recent appointment of lawyer Allan
Hope was an example of the collective
decisions worked out by all three parties. The
CPU and IWA have exchanged observers at
Negotiating sessions from the start. This
will be expanded now to include an
exchange of observers with the PPWC.

It is too early to report on the status of
negotiations since the appointment of the
Mediator at this writing but an up-date will
be given at this 46th Annual Convention.

7 PENSIONS

Over the last four years the fund has
earned an average of 16% return. This
investment performance is better than 80%
of the other 850 funds our plan is compared

to.

-_ Pension income for survivors of deceased
IWA members has been under serious study
by the Trustees since the Fall of 1982.
Greater protection for the survivors of
members who die before retirement is also
an item in the composite demand for
pension improvement during the 1983
negotiations. Many appeals on behalf of
survivors who applied but were not eligible
for benefits have been received and
successfully dealt with where proof of an
administrative error, or mental anguish,
have been proven.

Pension credits lost or deferred as a result
of employers being delinquent or going into
bankruptcy before all contributions have
been paid has always been an unacceptable
situation to the Trustees. Legal action is
taken against all such companies. IWA
members who are known to have worked for
these companies are asked to retain proof of
hours worked each year on their annual
pension statements. To date, pension plan
members have not lost service credits due to
inappropriate conduct by the employer. The

unemployed,
oueck, damnit!”

number of employers who are severely
delinquent has diminished over the last two
years due to the legal action taken by the
Trustees.

The AfterWork newspaper continues to be
an important vehicle in communicating
with plan members.

The 17,568 members who broke their
serevice under the pension plan are under
active review by the Trustees with
paraticular emphasis on those people who
received the maximum layoff credits during
1981 and 1982. Further meetings are

scheduled during October to review the ©

options available to the Trustees. Older
members breaking their service before they
are eligible or make application for early
retirement benefits are of particular
concern. A decision by the Board of Trustees
is expected before the end of the year.

The pension Trustees approved a major
change to the plan for disabled members.
Everyone who receives WCB wage loss
benefits, weekly income and/or long-term
disability benefits will automatically be
credited with pension hours as if they had
worked.

Those members who are not covered by a
long-term disability plan will also be
eligible for disability pension credits.

The pension plan used to limit total
disability credits to vested plan members
and the definition of disability was more
stringent.

Long-Term Disability Plan (LTD)
During November 1982, the terms of our
LTD plan in British Columbia were agreed
to and the first claim payments were in the
mail to disabled members in December.
Many of the early LTD applicants
received retroactive payments back to June
15, 1982 along with a reinstatement of
medical, extended health and dental
coverage.

Today there are 400 people in receipt of
LTD benefits. The benefit payments are
approximately $250,000 and about 40 new
claims are approved each month.

The appeal process for members who have
been turned down as eligible applicants or
terminated from continued payments
continues to receive a high profile to ensure
everyone is treated fairly.

Our plan is unique in having its own
rehabilitation officers out in the field
actively seeking employment and/or
retraining possibilities for members who are
disabled from working in the forest
industry. Improving the quality of life for
totally disabled people who may never work
at any occupation is another important
aspect of the program.

Breaking new ground does not come
without some problems; our rehabilitation
program is being monitored constantly. 51
members are involved in programs or work
through our LTD plan’s rehabilitation
arrangements.

Lengthy layoffs in our industry have
caused some members to be without health
& welfare plan coverage at the time of their
disability. The industry is saying that LTD
coverage does not exist for this category of
disabled members while the IWA LTD
‘Trustees are arguing strongly that their
negotiations on the terms of the plan did
provide coverage for this group. This matter
is on the agenda for the next meeting of the
Trustees.

Weekly Income Plans

Those plans jointly trusteed by the IWA
and industry representatives met several
times prior to the commencement of our
negotiations in B.C.

(a) Northern Interior Forest Industry
Benefit Plan

Continued efforts were made by IWA
Trustees to reach agreement on certain
provisions of the plan, particularly on
behalf of WCB claimants who have been
denied or terminated from wage loss
benefits.

The objective is to obtain comparable
benefits under the health & welfare plan,
extended health and dental plans as are
enjoyed by Coastal and Southern Interior
members. Plus, approval was sought for the
printing of the much needed booklet for plan
members, (which is still in draft form).

The complexity of the problems encoun-
tered by our Trustees are difficult to explain.

A simplistic description of the events that
have taken place with the result that major
decisions have been stalemated is that a
surplus of money has accumulated in the
trust fund. The employers are claiming
ownership to this money and the IWA
correctly maintains that the beneficiaries of
the Trust Fund (i.e., IWA members) “own”
the surplus. The IWA trustees feel that the
surplus should be used to pay for some of the

SEE “CONVENTION” PAGE EIGHT

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Lumber Worker/Fall,1983/3