New plant salvages lumber from pulp logs ¢ Any portion that can’t be sent to sawmill goes through a 42” chipper. @ (Continued from page 1) Mr. Allen anticipates that by March a new log splitter will be in place to break up the wood that is over 42 inches so all pulp grades will be chipped on the premises. The plant currently runs four 10 hour shifts and does maintenance work and some log chipping on Fridays. Twenty-five Local 1-80 members have been hired, of which five are in the Maintenance Department. The plant merchandises about 75% hemlock and balsam while fir pulp logs largely make up the balance. Construction of the plant was done by Gisborne Construction, an IWA contractor from Vancouver Local 1-217. On some days more than 20 high- way truck loads of good sawlogs are pulled out of the log merchandiser. “With the remaining forests we’ve got left, we have to be innovative in the way we handle our resources,” says Routley. “What goes through Doman’s log merchandiser is only a small fraction of the pulp booms that move around on the B.C. Coast. The Doman opera- tion shows that there is a huge poten- tial for value-added production in this province.” Routley also says that log mer- chandisers should be built in other locations where there are large vol- umes of pulpwood generated. He also points to the province's flawed stumpage system which col- lects little from the pulp and paper industry. “The big bucks are in pulp and if the Government wasn’t so dishonest it would make these corporate giants pay a helluva lot more for pulp logs,” says Brother Routley. e Lumber graders Jim Charlton (I) a dimensional sawmill. EC. sawmill sold to Proctor and Gamble GRANDE CACHE, Alberta — Proc- ter and Gamble Cellulose Ltd. has moved in to purchase the assets of Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd.’s sub- sidiary Grande Cache Forest Prod- ucts Ltd. The deal, completed in the second week of February, should cre- ate longer term job security in the mill according to Local 1-207 presi- dent Mike Pisak. Procter and Gamble is already sending its higher quality sawlogs from its forest licence near its pulpmill in Grande Prairie about 145 miles north of Grande Cache. Part of the takeover will see wood chips from the sawmill now being sent nd Steve Wentzell at F-C’s high speed up to the Grande Prairie pulp opera- tion. In addition, Weldwood Canada’s pulpmill in Hinton will receive a por- tion of the chips produced. Prior to the takeover, Weldwood was the sole recipient of the chips from the Grande Cache mill. Approximately 135 IWA-CANADA members will retain their jobs through the takeover. Local union officials will be keeping a close eye on the plant during its transition under Procter and Gamble’s ownership. The workers are covered under a collective agreement which will expire at the end of February in 1992. The sawmill, which first began oper- ation in 1982 can produce in excess of 400,000 finished board feet per day. Although a pulp and paper facility was supposed to be built in the Fox Creek-White Court area by Fletcher Challenge’s predecessor, B.C. Forest Products Ltd., the facility never became a reality. __ The Grande Cache sawmill became increasingly unviable for long term operation under its volume based tim- ber agreement with the Alberta government. e Front end loader loads semi-trailer with sawlogs destined for Doman's Nanoose Division in Chemainus. Workers get closure payments from company ELORA, ONTARIO — More than a month after company lawyers indi- cated that Simmons Limited furni- ture manufacturers would award 89 unionized workers for failure to give notice of the company’s permanent closure here. The workers have finally collected the promised payments. In early February, eighty-eight members in Local 1-500 received addi- tional payouts from Simmons, who avoided being taken in front of the Ontario Labour Relations Board for failure to notify the employees that they were closing permanently. On August 30, 1989 Simmons closed down its furniture plant here after union workers refused to take cutbacks that would destroy their seniority rights and impose an unfair piece-work system. After the closure, Plant Manager Brian Wilson admitted to a local news- paper that the plant might have closed anyways had the union agreed to accept the company’s demands for concessions. The concessions demanded by the company included a $1/hr. wage cut, a two year suspension of payments in a company pension plan and reduced sick pay premiums paid for by the company. Local 1-500 President, Bruce Weber, himself an employee at the plant, says the company bargained in bad faith and never had any intention of reaching a collective agreement. He also says the plant management was very poorly organized and disrespect- ful of the workers. Sub-Local Secretary-Treasurer Georgie McInerney, an employee of the plant for more than 14 years, says that labour relations in the plant weren't very good and that her fellow employees were under a great deal of stress. Since the closure, Simmons, a U.S. based furniture giant with more than 780 employees in seven other plants across Canada, has moved production of its sofa beds to the Kroehler Furni- ture company’s plants in Stratford, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta. Brother Weber also believes that the layoffs were a result of Simmons trying to release itself from paying seniority related benefits contained in the union agreement. During the first day of negotiations in May of 1989, Simmons threatened the union with plant closure unless the union accepted complete rollback. Company negotiators made the very unusual first step of applying to the OLRB for conciliation prior to the second meeting. By mid August both sides were looking at a piece-rate system docu- ment supplied by Simmons. The sys- tem if adopted was seen by union officials as an effort to smash union rates of pay and seniority protection. The plant closure, which stunned this local community, was termed asa “necessary business decision based on economics” by Plant Manager Wilson. The closure settlement offered by the company included severance pay in addition to the payment in lieu of notice of the plant’s shutdown. ¢ Standing outside Simmons’ deserted plant in Elora are (I-r), Local 1-500 president Bruce Weber, Vangie Evers, Edyth Dobberthein, Georgie McInerney, Anne Roth, and Shari Weber. LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1990/7