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© Local 1-2995 members at United Sawmill Ltd. in Hearst Ontario are, L to R Claude
Couture, Rosaire Landry, and Yvon Hardy. Members at the mill are seek joint bargain-
ing with other sawmills in northern Ontario.

Northern Ontario locals
seek joint bargaining

A Wage and Contract Conference
held in Timmins, Ontario, on April 13
and 14 saw Northern Ontario IWA
Locals 1-2995 and 1-2693 adopt a
motion to seek joint negotiations with
employers in 13 sawmills.

Thirty-nine delegates from the two
locals attended the Wage Conference,
which is held under the auspices of
the Northern Ontario District Coun-
cil. Such conferences are normally held
prior to the re-opening of all negotia-
tions to discuss common demands to
be presented to the companies. Both

locals support the council, which func-
tioned under the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners before the
locals joined I[WA-CANADA in 1987.

Fred Miron, Local 1-2693 President.
sits as President of the NODC, while
Norman Rivard, the Kapuskasing

local President, is presently First
Vice-President of the Council.

This first attempt at joint bargain-

ing is a departure from previous years

where agreements were reached on a
pattern basis. The first company to
reach a settlement would set the pat-
tern for the rest of negotiations.

Brother Rivard says the union is
still awaiting the response of the com-
panies on joint bargaining before all
the collective agreements reopen on
September 1, 1989.

One of the major obstacles that
negotiators foresee in the upcoming
round of negotiations will be the 15%
surtax imposed on softwood products
in 1986. The tax has had an adverse
effect on production costs in recent
markets.

Among the larger IWA certifica-
tions seeking the joint bargaining
approach are Domtar-White River
(1-2693), Normick Lumber, Cochrane
and Kirkland Lake Divisions (1-2995),
McChesney Lumber (E. B. Eddy),
Timmins (1-2995), and Mallette Lum-
ber, Timmins. (1-2995).

© Local 1-76 member Gato Farriguia works on a Rotary Steel Die at MacMillan Bath-
urst’s corrugated plant in Etobicoke. Workers at three plants ratified a three year deal in

April.

Corrugated settlement

TORONTO, ONT. — Union work-
ers at three MacMillan Bathurst cor-
rugated container plants in Southern
Ontario reached an agreement with
their employer in mid-April.

TWA-CANADA members at plants
in Etobicoke (Local 1-76), Whitby
(Local 1-242) and St. Thomas (Local
1-337) voted more than 75% to ratify a
three year agreement which expires
on December 31, 1991.

@ Breakthroughs in the agreement
include a new benefit plan for vision
care, company payment for additional
medical fees, increased dental cover-
age, and pension improvements.
Included in the pension improvements
are bridging provisions to allow some
members early retirements.
increases are 35 cents the
first year, 45 cents the second and
4.5% the final year. The settlement is
an improvement in the corrugated
sector com] to the agreement
negotiated by the Canadian Paper-
workers Union.

Negotiator Bill Pointon says that
all CPU agreements had already been
settled, which established a pattern
in the industry. The improvements to
the patterns established came from
tough negotiations with the employer.

According to Pointon the joint bar-
gaining process of the three plant
locals was a key to a successful
settlement.

“The fact that we are a national
union with resources to back ourmem-
bership up in the event of a dispute
was also important in reaching an
agreement,” added Brother Pointon.

During the crucial stages of negoti-
ations, National First Vice-President
Gerry Stoney assisted negotiator
Pointon, Tom Lowe, and plant com-
mittee representatives, in reaching an
agreement with MacMillan Bathurst.

The union negotiating team made
it clear that their demands were
backed up by a union with a solid
membership and financial resources.

Saskatchewan has second LADM

PRINCE ALBERT, SASK. — Del-
egates from seventeen operations were
here on April 29 at Local 1-184’s
second annual delegated meeting.

Guests from Manitoba Local 1-324
and Alberta Local 1-207 were present
along with second National vice-
president Neil Menard, representing
the National Office.

Also present were Barb Byers, pres-
ident of the Saskatchewan Federation
of Labour and Eldon Lautermilch,
NDP MLA for Prince Albert.

In the officers’ report to the delega-
tion, members were updated on the
local efforts to reach contract settle-
ments in a wide variety of industries,
from a Sash and Door manufacturing
in Moose Jaw (R. L. Cushing Mill-
work) to an egg tray manufacturer in
Tisdale (Fripp Fibre Forms).

Poplar Bush workers in the Hudson
Bay area reached an agreement with

their employer despite interference
from MacMillan Bloedel. The agree-
ment includes future rate increases
similar to increases in the nearby
Aspenite Board plant.

Contract negotiations are under-
way with Saskatchewan Forest Prod-
ucts — Carrot River Sawmill and
Hudson Bay plywood plant.

Delegates were told that despite
Simpson Timber Company’s (Hud-
son Bay) announced mill closure in
1990, the local believes that there is
sufficient timber in the area for a
viable wood products operation in the
community.

The Saskatchewan local has formed
an organizing committee of two offi-
cers and two staff to look at the organ-
izing possibilities in local boundaries.
A number of educational courses should
be held in Saskatchewan in the next
year to strengthen organizing efforts.

© Production worker Marcel Frechette inspects a fresh-sawn plank at Repap sawmill
in The Pas. The Montreal based giant recently took over the provincially owned
corporation with public guarantees of no job losses.

Repap takes over Manfor

THE PAS, MAN. — Repap Enter-
prises Corp. of Montreal has taken
over control of Manfor Ltd., Manito-
ba’s former Crown Forest Corpora-
tion. The buy-out, completed on May
4, makes Repap the second largest
holder of Canadian timber lands,
quadrupling its holdings to 16 million
acres. Only Canadian Pacific Forest
Products holds more land area.

Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon has
said publicly that the most important
impact of the takeover will be job
creation. The deal is a result of a
special effort of the government’s Cab-
inet Privatization Committee headed
by Provincial Finance Minister Clay-
ton Manness.

The takeover cost Repap $132 mil-
lion in cash and preferred shares. The
company has announced an invest-
ment of $1 billion in the province’s
industry, along with an assurance
that 850 jobs will be preserved and
350-400 new jobs will be added.

However expansion will take place
almost entirely in the pulp and paper
sector. There will be modernization of
the unbleached sack kraft pulp mill
here (Phase 1) and building of a new
1200 tonne/day bleach kraft softwood
mill in The Pas, construction should
start by the end of 1990 (Phase 2).

At present Repap is doing an evalu-

ation of its sawmill operation for
future investment decisions.

According to Jim Anderson, IWA-
CANADA Local 1-325 President, the
union has had good discussions with
Repap and from the actions taken so
far on the part of the employer, the
Manfor takeover may be positive for
members.

Negotiations with the new employ-
er begin in August of 1989.

“We don’t expect to see Repap
playing dead during our negotiations
this fall and I know we don’t intend to
either,” says Anderson.

The union has 350 logging jobs,
including contractors during peak sea-
sons, which should be maintained.

As for layoffs, Brother Anderson
says job loss should be avoided if
Repap continues to live up to state-
ments made by them.

“They appear to be going to great
lengths to convince the workers and
the total community to believe in and
trust them,” comments Anderson.
Over the past months Repap has
flown labour reps, townspeople, and
community leaders to their Wiscon-
sin operations and reports are very
positive.

Repap has interests in New Bruns-
wick and British Columbia in addi-
tion to the world’s largest coated
paper mill in Wisconsin.

_LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1989/11