ee ee
Kamloops holds

© Local 1-424 President Frank Everitt addresses delegates at their Annual Delegated
Meeting. To his right is Roger December, Financial Secretary.

Northern B.C. local meets

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Nearly
200 IWA members attended Local
1-424’s annual delegated meeting on
April 1 and 2 in Prince George, B.C.
The unionists, from all parts of the
northern British Columbia local,
heard speeches, debated resolutions,
and made nominations for local office.

Local President Frank Everitt
expressed optimism that future or-
ganizing will be successful. Efforts to
sign up a majority of employees at

Louisiana-Pacific’s Dawson Creek
waferboard plant convinced a large
number of workers that the IWA will

represent them in the future.
Everitt welcomed delegates from
C&C Wood Products in Quesnel who

a
© National Secretary-Treasurer Terry Smith.
approved IWA membership a month
earlier. Local negotiators are trying
to get a first contract for the new
members.

Terry Smith, National Secretary-
Treasurer, was in attendance to con-

duct nominations for local office and
address the delegates.

Brother Smith updated the dele-
gates on IWA’s efforts to persuade the
B.C. government to ban log exports
and set up a Royal Commission in the
forest industry.

During his speech, Smith also said
that the National office is working
with local staff to set up a new job
evaluation system for all northern B.C.
sawmills and planers. Test mills at
Northwood (Houston Division), Hous-
ton Forest Products, Canfor (Ilse
Pierre), and The Pas Lumber (Hart
Division) are on the agenda for an
evaluation tour.

Guest speaker Harvey Arcand,
President of Williams Lake Local
1-425 said that sawmills in northern
BC. are facing a crisis of excessive
stumpage fees and poor prices for
wood chips.

Arcand, who spent his early work-
ing years in Fort Saint James, said
that mills throughout the north that
are not connected to large integrated
forest giants are in for a rough ride in
the future.

He also said that IWA-CANADA
must form a common front with pulp
unions in future sets of negotiations.

Delegates to the meeting debated
other issues such as per diems, wage
and expense allowances, and better
representation of the membership in
remote areas. Other debates revolved
around international human rights
and minority language rights in
Canada.

3ist Annual

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Nearly 70
delegates were in attendance at Local
1-417 (Kamloops) Annual Delegated
Meeting held on April 29th and 30th
at the Stockman Motor Inn.

Third Vice-President Ted Byers
said that the IWA local is still strug-
gling to represent owner-operators in
the area.

“With our knowledge of the indus-
try and the relationship between log
hauling and manufacturing opera-
tions, it only makes sense that the
same bargaining unit represent both
parties. Neither has a job without the
other,” added Byers.

In an emotional debate on log
exports, members from mills shut
down due to log shortages, demanded
that the IWA go on a massive public
awareness campaign to prohibit such
exports.

In another debate, delegates car-
ried a motion to insist that all con-
tractors be members of the IWA and
have a signed agreement with the
local union before commencing work
in union operations.

In attendance to conduct election
nominations was Gerry Stoney, First

National Vice-President. Brother
Stoney gave the delegates an update
of IWA activity across Canada.

Stoney also criticized the federal
government for not creating a full
Ministry of Forests. He also said that
the government must plan for a full
range of reforested raw materials, not
just fibre for pulp operations.

The speaker also told the delega-
tion that the “provincial government
(forestry department) is as irresponsi-
ble as the forest companies.” Stoney
said it is offensive that the govern-
ment’s forest service doesn’t expose
wood waste but that rather we rely on
journalists and unionists to do so.

Member of Parliament Nelson Riis
(Kamloops-Shuswap) was present
and praised IWA-CANADA’S ap-
proach to land-use conflict. He said
that the union’s willingness to sit
down and discuss issues with other
interested groups is open and honest.

“We have to be intellectually honest,
about recreational land use,“ said Riis.
The M.P. said that recreational users
and the public must also bear some of
the burden in future land-use con-

eS

2

LOCAL I[- 4]7
(WWUAL DELEGATED MEETING

flicts.
ray

© Kamloops-Shuswap Member of Parliament Nelson Riis was a special guest at

Local 1-417's Annual Delegated Meeting.

@ Kelowna holds 17th Annual Meeting

© Ben Landis (3rd V.P.), Troi Caldwell (ist V.P.) and Bill Schumaker (President) during

annual meeting.

KELOWNA, B.C. — Sixty-seven
delegates attended the Seventeenth
Annual Delegated Meeting here on
May 5 and 6. The members represent-
ed 18 certifications within Local
boundaries. ,

The Local paid tribute to retired
First Vice-President Jack Welder.
Brother Welder who retired in March
of this year, became active in the
union in the early 1950s and served as

Local President from 1956-60. During
his 17 years as a Business Agent,
Brother Welder was deeply involved
in safety and fighting WCB claims for

the members.
In an officer’s report to the meet-

ing, the delegation was told that the
Local predicts future problems with
alternate shift schedules. The Local
has remained steadfast in letting the
crews determine which shifts are

acceptable. To date the Local has
received three requests for shift
changes.

Delegates were urged to participate
in the North Okanagan and South
Okanagan-Boundary Labour Coun-
cils. The Local has delegates, trained
at CLC Seminars and Winter School
who are capable of contributing to the
local labour scene.

Congratulations were given to [WA
members who assisted local NDP can-
didate Bill Barker, who made a major
breakthrough in winning a provincial
by-election seat in Boundary-Sim-
ilkameen.

The delegation was also updated on
the efforts of a Manpower Search
Committee formed to deal with 93 job
losses at Lumby Sawmill on March 1.
The committee has been successful in
relocating 46 workers. Twelve workers
took early retirement, and 15 are still
looking for employment.

Delegates to the meeting debated
and discussed nearly 50 resolutions
including such subjects as job stew-
ard training, injured workers, log
exports, and future trades apprentice-
ship programs.

a Ores
OVE RLANDER
1th is

ARCAND ADDRESSES EIWA
© Addressing the tenth annual gathering
of the East Indian Workers Association in
Williams Lake, B.C. on March 25th is
Local 1-425 president Harvey Arcand.
Brother Arcand was a guest at the meet-
ing which included speakers from the
local Peace Movement, South Cariboo
Labour Council and the EIWA’s Vancou-
ver Chapter.

The Association, with over 200 mem-
bers in the Williams Lake area is a collec-
tion of both union and non-union workers
and family members. Among its func-
tions is to help East Indians with immi-
gration problems and provide education
and information on issues that affect
workers.

The Association has been successful in
building coalitions with other labour
groups in the area.

LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1989/15