Cross)

e Loader with aspen logs at MacMillan Bloedel’s yard in Hudson Bay. (Photo: Bob

© New IWA crew at Timber Specialties Ltd. National Organizer Rick McRae (sixth
from left) and Local 1-357’s Bob Donick, to McRae’s left, teamed up to certify the
new members.

Pole plant organized

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. —
Local 1-357 reports a successful certi-
fication at Timber Specialities Ltd.
on nearby Annacis Island. On Febru-
ary 2, ten of 14 employees at this
hydro and telephone pole manufac-
turer voted for union certification.

Getting the new certification were
National Organizer, Rick McRae and
local union member, Bob Donick, out
of 1-357’s Fletcher Challenge Cana-
da’s Delta Plywood Division.

Timber Specialties, a subsidiary of
the American owned B.C. Clean Wood
Preservers Ltd., has operated non-
union on the site since 1989. Previous
to that MacMillan Bloedel (Delta Pole
Division) operated the pole yard and
eventually shut down, severing its
union membership.

Brother McRae says the workers,
over half of whom had previously

been IWA members, simply wanted
back in the union. The workers had
been feeling lack of respect from
management.

At press time, local financial secre-
tary, Ken Isomura and Brother
Donick are in negotiations for a first
agreement. During the certification
drive the employer jacked up the
workers’ wages to union rate.

Union sources anticipate that the
plant will relocate within 2-3 months
to a nearby industrial site and will
expand its operations. However, the
plant’s long term expansion plans
may be limited because of the export
of raw logs.

Elections for plant committee were
held on February 19. Mike Cail was
elected as chairman and safety
delegate.

The facility treats cedar, fir and
pine poles for its Canadian customers.

Stumpage review
slated for B.C. interior

VICTORIA, BC. — B.C. forests minis-
ter Claude Richmond, in a press
release on February 28, announced a
review of the B.C. interior stumpage
system, to address allegations of
unfair fees paid by interior logging
companies.

“Tn order to address allegations by
several companies that their stump-
age rates are unfair and that the
system for determining interior rates
in inequitable, we are conducting an
independent review,” said Richmond
in the press release.

IWA-CANADA interior locals have
been very concerned about the sky
high stumpage rates paid by interior

mills and unfair wood chip prices paid
for by major pulp companies.

After the Canada-U.S. softwood
fight in 1986, the transferral of a 15%
export tariff to soaring stumpage
rates in the B.C. interior all but crip-
pled many operators in the interior.
Skyrocketing interest rates and the
high Canadian dollar have made many
interior mills marginally competitive.

Vancouver consultant Howard
Saunders should complete the $20,000
assessment by the end of March.

In the last fiscal year the B.C. gov-
ernment collected more than $568 mil-
lion in stumpage revenues from the
entire province.

Productivity plan causes
morale problem in plant

HUDSON BAY, SASK. — Here at
MacMillan Bloedel’s Aspenite Divi-
sion union employees are uneasy
over a Productivity Improvement
Plan (P.1.P.) which has turned out
to be a big disappointment in the
past year.

The P.I.P. was first introduced by

the Company during its moderniza--

tion drive in 1985 as an incentive to
help in the plant’s restructuring.

During negotiations for a one year
contract in the spring of 1989, the
P.I.P. with much hesitation and skep-
ticism on the Union's part, became a
backup for a wage package which
included an hourly increase. Since
that time the employees have been
disappointed in the benefits they have
received from the program.

_Although productivity remained
high, increasing uncontrolled volumes
of aspen had been going through the
production facility, resulting in no
payouts on the workers’ cheques. The
Company had no explanation at the
time for the extra wood consumption.

Wage bonuses in the plant are based
on additional payouts for increased
production from a base production
standard which has been calculated.
When employees were able to assist in
increasing efficiency in terms of wood
and resin usage and minimizing
claims, bonus payouts were supposed
to be forthcoming.

Since the wage package has been

adversely affected, morale ee
workers has slumped, and a lot
hard feelings have arisen in the work
place over the deal.

One hundred and forty-three work-
ers in production and maintenance
have been severely disappointed with
their pay cheques since the one year
contract was ratified.

“T now believe that a P.I.P. should
never be allowed to be a part of a
general wage package in the collective
agreement,” says Plant Chairman
Paul Hallen. “If it is going to be used
at all, it should be placed along side of
a wage package, where people's expec-
tations aren’t based on it.”

During a meeting in Vancouver
between IWA-CANADA and MacMil-
lan Bloedel officials held in December,
1989, the Union expressed concern
over the perceived breakdown of the
system. The P.I.P. has caused too
much friction amongst the workers in
its present form. It has also taken
time away from the Shop Committee
which could be used in making the
plant run more smoothly.

“This type of P.1.P. is the kind of
program that should be taken with
much precaution,” says Hallen.

_, Dennis Bonville, Local Union Pres-
ident says, “Wage increases must con-
tinue to come through the bargaining
process at the negotiations table, not
at the whim of the Company, when it

is strategically advantageous to
them.”

commitment. (Photo: MB Journal)

Workplace awareness award
goes to MB’s Ray Smith

© MacMillan Bloedel’s president Ray Smith (1) accepts the Canadian Mental
Health Association's 1989 Workplace Awareness Award which recognizes
“outstanding achievement in cooperatively promoting well-being in the work-
place.” To his left is IWA-CANADA’s National second vice-president Neil
Menard who nominated Mr. Smith for the prestigious award. MB is deeply
committed to participation in a nation-wide joint Employee and Family Assis-
tance Program. Across Canada, MB is involved in 34 EFA Ps which cover all 45 of
its operations. It participates, along with IWA-CANADA in 14 Assessment
Referral Services in western Canada. Brother Menard, who has also played a key
role in the development in most of the ARSs, says one of the major reasons for the
success and continuation of the EFAP has been Mr. Smith’s high level of

10/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1990