CONVENTION

1989

+ Some members of the Convention's Health and Safety Committee were (I. to r.)
Rolando Quintul, Local 1-2693; Ray Dease, Local 1-184; Jack Ralla, Local 1-217; Peter
Hayes, Local 1-357; Don White, Local 1-367; Ross Davies, Local 1-80; Edith Skiber,
Local 1-405; Doug Singer, Local 1-405 and Tom Graham, Local 1-417.

Convention calls for
increased organizing

National Organizing Director John
Smithies told the Convention that the
new program of training Local Orga-
nizers is starting to pay off.

He told delegates that the Union is
faced with membership losses through
technological change and closures in
various mills and camps.

.The functions of National Orga-

nizers this past year have been to help
out in ‘trouble spots’, assist with put-
ting on seminars and to get organiz-
Ing campaigns going where we have
used committee people from the
Locals to assist us...”
__ Since the 1988 Convention, accord-
ing to Smithies, the IWA has signed
up 314 new members on voluntary
agreements and 597 members on cam-
paign certifications.

The Organizing Report Committee
recommended that more of an effort
be made in the area of secondary
manufacturing.

Delegate Glenn Whilsmith of Local
1-700 said that secondary industry in
Southern Ontario can be a source of
growth for the union. He said that the
population from the Niagara to Que-
bec region offers the IWA thousands
of potential members.

© Delegate Glenn Whilsmith, Toronto
Local 1-700.

National Third Vice-President
Fernie Viala, Officer responsible for
organizing, said he was pleased that
Eastern delegates are showing an
interest and willingness to get
involved.

Brother Viala said the next areas of
concentration of the IWA will be in
Eastern Canada and Alberta.

Local 1-71 delegate Murray Can-
telon said the Union made a commit-
ment to the east when the IWA became
a National Union.

Joe da Costa, President of Local
1-1000 told the delegates that the
United Steelworkers of America,
Region Six is going great guns in
Northeastern Ontario, signing up
everything from veneer plants to tex-
tile mills. He said the IWA must get
active in the area.

Local 1-80 delegate Archie Statts
said it is important that a Local Union
organize within communities to build
strength for strike and boycott
support. :

“As union people, we will be remiss
in our duties if we don’t try to help
(working people) as much as possi-
ble,” said Williams Lake, B.C. Local
1-425 delegate Brian Symmes. He also
said that his Local has organized a
group of home support workers which
enjoy the second highest rates of pay
in the province.

Esther James from a mobile home
plant in Local 1-207 (Alberta) said
that “... there are people out there
that want fair representation and we
shouldn’t be turning them away.” __

In his report, John Smithies said
that in addition to legislative barriers
in British Columbia and Alberta, the
Union is also encountering the com-
mon use of “employee associations’
and “team systems.”

“Without a doubt, employers are
adopting their use from the U.S. and
Japan to defeat Union certification,
said Smithies. “Although these sys-
tems usually eventually break down,
they can be very effective in counter-
ing union interests for many years.

Dave Wohlgemuth from the Alberta
Local told the Convention that Canfor
in Grande Prairie is using the “team
system” to undermine the IWA.

IWA's new system of training Local
Organizers has met with popular sup-
port. The Organizing Committee
Report stated that it- feels it is the
obligation of every Local to partici-
pate in and follow through with the
program.

Change recommended
for H&S conferences

Delegates to both the National
Health and Safety Conference and
Constitutional Conventions adopted
a resolution, submitted from New
Westminster Local 1-357 that a 1990
spring conference be held in Eastern
Canada.

The New Westminster Local also
submitted a successful resolution to
change the IWA’s national constitu-
tion to help pay expenses of delegates
from locals which can less afford the
related costs. A new formula will allow
all delegates attending a Health and
Safety Conference travel and accom-
modation expenses.

Recommendations from IWA-CAN-
ADA’s Health and Safety Council to
the National Executive Board, include
that no National Fall Conference be
held, but that three separate geogra-
phical conferences be held in its place.
The areas to be considered for separ-
ate conferences are British Columbia;
the Prairies, and Northern Ontario;
and Southern Ontario (including Que-
bec and the Maritimes).

Delegate Glenn Whilsmith of Local
1-700 said the new initiatives are a
very welcomed step. He says that it is
positive that Health and Safety will
lead the way in bringing together the
national union.

In Southern Ontario where there is
more manufacturing, a thorough
safety program would be helpful in
bringing members into the IWA said
Brother Whilsmith.

The Health and Safety Council rec-
ommends that the Spring Health and
Safety Conference be held in Thunder
Bay, Ontario in April of 1990. It also
recommends that IWA-CANADA’s
Health and Safety Guide Book be
completed and produced in loose-leaf
form in 1990.

A New Westminster resolution
passed which stipulates that a full
and accurate taped record of proceed-
ings of National Health and Safety
Conferences be obtained and circu-
lated on request.

Health and Safety
delegates urge
conference on death

and injury

During debate of resolutions for-
warded to the National Convention,
delegates adopted a motion to call for
a conference on fatalities and injuries
in the forest industry.

The resolution says that IWA
-CANADA must call on the forest
industry, and provincial governments
to sponsor a conference that would
enable workers, employers and gov-
ernment to discuss and make recom-
mendations for reducing fatalities and
injuries.

The resolution has been forwarded
to the next CLC and all Federation of
Labour conventions.

Bob Patterson, Loggers’ Local 1-71
Safety Director said the IWA has to
get governments and the media to
listen to the plight of forest workers.

Tony Ferreira, of Cranbrook Local
1-405, which submitted the motion,
reminded delegates that a conference
of a similar format held in Vancouver
in 1980 called “Challenge of the 80’s”
ended in dismal failure.

That conference, sponsored by the
Council of Forest Industries, the IWA
and the two pulp unions was initiated
to set up a format for future discus-
sion.

However, when COFI spokesperson
Don Lanskail brought out accident
statistics from the 1930’s and early
1950's which largely blamed workers

al

Tony Ferreira of Cranbrook, B.C. Local
1-405.

for their injuries, the WA vehemently
protested.

The forum fell apart and Brother
Ferreira warned delegates that indus-
try’s attitude must change.

Duncan Local 1-80’s John Little
told the convention “if we had 51
people killed in any other industry in
this country ... they (the public)
would be screaming blue bloody mur-
der and demand that something be
done about it.”

Local 1-405’s Klaus Offermann said
our union must be spokesman for
non-union workers as well.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1989/71