Nib ce IWA CANADA LOCAL 1-207 ON STRIKES *3pAy's SUPPORT THE LINIDN SCAB LIST | ON STRIKE in © On strike for more than 1,300 days, Zeidler picketers have erected a scab list outside company property. The prolonged strike has created divisions in the small municipality of Slave Lake, Alberta. ¢ Out on the picket line in front of the Zeidler plant are (I. to r.) Local 1-207 President Mike Pisak, and Union members Walter Gambler, Carl Davignon, Ed Courtereille, Charles Twin, and Joe Martha. Another Holiday Season on the picket line Since April of 1986, the Zeidler strikers have been out at Slave Lake Alberta. And this December will mark their fourth Christmas holiday on the picket line in a strike that seems to go on forever. But Plant Chairman Joe Martha says the crew is still going and hang- ing right in there. Today, forty of the ninety-three original strikers are sharing picket duties in front of the plywood veneer plant and stud mill. Only fourteen of the original crew have decided to become “scab” labour, and the bal- ance of them have found work elsewhere. They have done IWA-CANADA proud. Treated cruelly by their employer, arrested and harassed by the RCMP, and ignored by a govern- ment of right-wing zealots, the Zeidler strikers have been fighting the tough- est battle in IWA history. Their commitment to the union is unquestionable and their courage admirable. Situated in a makeshift shack just outside the property, the members keep track of the trucks, cops, and scabs that help to run the plant. They are limited to eight pickets within one-half mile of the plant prop- erty. The Alberta Labour Relations Board has slapped injunctions on them to render their picketing in- effective. © Mike Pisak, strike supporter Gerda Martha, and Joe Martha, Plant Chair- man, inside picket shack. Winter temperaturse can dip to more than forty degrees fahrenheit below zero and the wind-chill factor can make it even colder. Each time they go near the plant gates, a security guard comes out to observe them. The rest of the time two cameras record their every move. “When Shirley Carr had Lech Walesa in Canada she should have brought him out here,” says Martha. “Tt’s not only behind the Iron Curtain that workers have no rights.” To intimidate the strikers, Zeidler has had a german shepherd police dog and pit-bull terrier close to the plant gate. The picketers always keep at least two people in their shack. They’re worried that if they leave it, some- thing will happen to it. So they spell each other off in twelve-hour shifts. Some of the crew feel that Slave Lake is a “pretty poor town” for turning its back on its own citizens. Scabs from the community have been sent down to the plant by Canada Manpower. Others such as trades have come in from the Athabasca and Peace River country. There’s a few oil rig rough necks who have crossed the line too. At one time in June of 1986, says Joe Martha, thirty-two RCMP were around to escort the scabs past eight picketers. Four armed goons for each IWA member. And one picketer was choked nearly unconscious. During that month, six union mem- bers were harassed, dragged off the picket line, and thrown in jail to have the charges later dropped. There have been protest rallies, and Zeidler boycotts, and negotiations but the company refuses to rehire twenty- three workers fired for what the Alberta Labour Relations Board called an anti-union grudge. The com- pany has to rehire the twenty-three and drop its demand for concessions. Zeidler can try for years to break the IWA, but they won’t be successful. The brave people at Slave Lake and their brothers and sisters on strike at Zeidler’s Edmonton plant, won’t give in. They've stuck it out too long to give up now. Organizer battles company and Chamber of Commerce COCHRANE, ALBERTA — IWA- CANADA’s Local 1-207, in an applica- tion to the Alberta Labour Relations Board on October 3, named the Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce as party to an unfair lab- our practice during an organizing drive at the nearby Spray Lake Saw- mill (1980) Ltd. sawmill. National Organizer Lyle Pona, who was organizing the mill, says a full- page anti-union advertisement in the local weekly paper had an effect in helping the employer to defeat union certification. The advertisement expressed the Chamber of Commerce's support in keeping the mill operation non-union. The advertisement stated: “Our Chamber realizes that once a union gets started we have closed our doors to further industrial development. Large employers generally reject any community that is union oriented.” The advertisement also falsely said that: e Unions make promises but employ- ers still must have the ability to deliver, e Advancement of local employees can be overridden by outsiders. e The high cost of unionization is borne by both employer and the employee. - e Spray Lake Sawmill’s unionization will eliminate the ability of all non- union contractors to work for them. In its decision handed down on October 20, the Board said although the Chamber of Commerce acted on its own in conceiving, drafting, and placing the advertisement, that “we find it most unfortunate that a Cham- ber of Commerce would intrude upon a union organizing campaign in this manner... During a union organizing campaign, employees may experience a number of pressures. It is very unfortunate when an outside organi- zation, such as the Chamber, attempts to intrude in such a situation.” After placing the advertisement, Chamber of Commerce President Maureen Arnold told a local paper that opinions expressed in the letter © National Organizer Lyle Pona. were a “majority opinion of the execu- tive and directors who were con- sulted” and that “not all directors and executive members were canvassed.” The Chamber of Commerce was subsequently hammered by local resi- dents for its intervention in the organ- izing drive. However, the ALRB found that the company did commit unfair labour practices during the campaign. “We knew there was intimidation going on in the form of one-on-one interviews and understood the seri- ousness of these anti-union actions,” say Pona. During the drive in late Septem- ber, Barry Mjolsness, the owner- manager of the mill arranged for a meeting of employees at the Civic Centre in Cochrane to explain a new “open door” policy to deal with prob- lems between management and employees. The Board found that the “volun- tary” meeting, set up and not paid for by the employer, could have put pres- sure on employees to attend, since their absence might have appeared to indicate support of the union. “This kind of intervention by a company and the Chamber of Com- merce is inexcusable,” said Local 1-207 President Mike Pisak. “It looks like there must be a pretty strong connection between the company and the Chamber.” It was the third attempt that the Alberta Local had at organizing the plant. Previous attempts were in 1983 and 1985. In its decision, the ALRB awarded the IWA a Certification Vote after finding the unfair labour practice. The union narrowly lost the vote 49-41. The plant’s ninety-seven employees work on a J-bar sawmill system, planer and post and lumber chemical treatment facility. At present IWA officials are still keeping an eye on the plant. “We've got a pretty solid support base that didn’t move despite all the shenanigans on the part of the employer and Chamber of Com- merce,” says Pona. aE] LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1989/3