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EDITORIA

EDITORIA

EDITOR

FREE TRADE

Whose Canada is it?

After the long months of negotia-
tions Brian Mulroney was finally
able to deliver on one of his prom-
ises. The problem is that it’s the
wrong promise. Instead of jobs or a
comprehensive forest policy or just
better more open government we get
Free Trade. This agreement has the
potential to change Canada in a way
that we may not like. In essence we
are creating one large North Ameri-
can economy by signing the Free
Trade Agreement with the U.S. and
in that large North American econ-
omy there are many pitfalls. There
are elements to the agreement that
will help the forest industry. Speci-
fically it would remove the U.S. Cus-
toms user fee and some additional
costs which represents a saving of
about 1% on exports. The other item
is that it will force Canadian pro-
ducers of plywood to upgrade to U.S.

UPDATE

Continued from page 2

STRIKE

Negotiations commenced for Zeid-
ler’s Edmonton plywood plant. The
demand for one agreement for both
Slave Lake and Edmonton opera-
tions was flatly turned down by
Zeidler’s negotiators. No surprise to
the IWA, but now the pressure can
be increased on this bizarre employ-

ir.
. The demands of the Edmonton
and Slave Lake crew are basically to
achieve parity with other plywood
operations in B.C. and Alberta. The
main stumbling block at the Slave

standards, which ultimately should
mean more plywood sales south of
the border, hence more jobs in Can-
ada. But there is no doubt that this

our Canadian identity intact. The
great nation to the south of us has a
tendency to shape and mold every-
thing in its own image. There is no

US that this

government is moving closer
to being nothing more than the
United States of Canada.

is going to weaken our sovereignty
overall. The minor gains that the
industry picks up in the new agree-
ment are outweighed by the over-
whelming cost to our independence.
It is going to be even harder to keep

UPDATE UPDATE

Lake operation is the firing of 26
strikers, plus concessions demanded
by management.

Zeidler’s have not claimed inabil-
ity to pay, thus avoiding opening
their books to the IWA, plywood
markets have been excellent, partic-
ularly in eastern Canada. IWA nego-
tiators made it clear there will be no
end to the dispute without a return
to work of the fired strikers.

Local 1-207 has negotiated con-
tracts with this employer since 1961
without a single strike. Since man-
agement was placed in the hands of

reason for us to think that we should
or would be treated any differently.
As the details of the agreement be-
come public, it is increasingly obvi-
ous that this government is moving
us closer to being nothing more than

UPDATE

the Zeidler son-in-law in 1985, a total
reversal of policy has been imple-
mented, causing constant conflict
between union and management.

The Slave Lake strike caught the
attention of IWA Locals across Can-
ada. Support for the strikers and
their families has been outstanding.

Meetings have been held with all
Federations of Labour to set up the
machinery for a boycott and other
actions against Zeidler’s, should
negotiations fail to produce a satis-
factory settlement.

the United States of Canada. They
have been moving us on this path
slowly but steadily since day one.
The scrapping of the Foreign Invest-
ment Review Agency shortly after
the Tories took office has resulted in
over two thousand Canadian com-
panies being taken over by Ameri-
cans. That means a lot less control

October 3, 1987
The day the Free
Trade agreement
was reached will
go down in history
as a dark day
for Canada

over our own destiny. There are some
positive elements to the agreement
but they are things that could have
been negotiated on a sector by sector
basis instead of this sweeping un-
necessary agreement.

Many are calling this an historic
agreement. There is no doubt it is
historic, but for all the wrong rea-
sons. Brian Mulroney is the first
Prime Minister in our history to
have truly lost sight of the funda-
mental question any government
leader must ask, what kind of Can-
ada do we want. He has lost sight
because he has turned to the Ameri-
cans for the answer. There is no
doubt that they will be answering
that question, but the answer will
not be in Canada’s best interests.
October 3, 1987 the day the Free
Trade Agreement was reached will
go down in history as a dark day for
Canada. Yes, Brian Mulroney has
ensured his place in the history
books, but because of this free trade
agreement those history books will
now be printed and published in the
United States and then imported

into Canada.

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1987/3